The concept of AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the term used to describe the imitation of human intellectual functions using technology, most easily computers. The fact that technology is a fundamental component of modern civilization can be attributed to the rising trend in the employment of AI-based robots in recent years. The development of sophisticated approaches in the two fields where there have been more widely available robot platforms is what is most essential in the rise of the two technologies, artificial intelligence and robotics. Consequently, it becomes necessary to study the implications of the use of AI based robots; specifically, this involves looking at the threats associated with the use of the technology. The study is necessary as it helps in coming up with useful solutions that can make artificial intelligence of much help while eliminating the possibility of affecting human beings.

The known threats of the AI robotics are numerous with the numbers expected to grow by each passing time with the increment and widespread of IA robots in the world. Among these include killer robots that are also regarded as autonomous weapons; rise in unemployment as the result of the robots taking the jobs that could have been done by human beings; threat to human existence through the creation of machines that spell the termination of the human race; deception by the robots as the result of their fast-thinking ability as compared to human beings; finally, threat of who take the responsibility. The growing concern on the safety and threats alike by the AI robots both in the present time and future has led to positive development in coming up with solutions. Among these solutions include conversation between policy and technology leaders, regulation of specialized robots and assigning certain duties specifically to human beings while limiting the robots from undertaking the same.

Introduction

Artificial intelligence has been on the rise and in the present era, most people have interacted with the technology knowingly or unknowingly. This came as a result of advancement in technology with various products being made that can operate on their own. Some of the common things that are using the artificial intelligence include video games, smart cars, fraud detection, online customer support, security surveillance and smart home devices among anymore (Albright, 2016). This assignment looks at the threats associated with artificial intelligence based robots and their solutions. Hence the tackling of the question will involve the concept of AI-based robots, the threats that they pause and finally the solutions to the threats.

The Concept of AI-based Robots

The concept of artificial intelligence according to Nilsson, (2014), refers to the simulation of human intelligence processes using machines and most conveniently the computer system. The processes of concern include reasoning, learning and self-correction. Ingrand & Ghallab (2014), puts it simply that artificial intelligence implies the use of the computer in modeling and replicating intelligent behavior. On the other hand, AI-based robots are those robots that make use of artificial intelligence. They further add that the two concepts, robotic and AI development have been on development independently over quite a number of decades but in the recent past, it has been witnessed the emergence of the two into an embodied machine intelligence, hence the artificial intelligence robotics.

The reasons leading to the emergence of the two technologies- the artificial intelligence and robotics, lies in the mature techniques that have developed in the two areas where there have been more accessible robot platforms that have advanced sensory-motor capabilities. The birth of AI-based robots according to Nolfi et al. (2016), has been based on evolutionary robotics that is a technique involving the creation of autonomous robots. The concept has been inspired by the Darwinian principle that deals with the concept of selective reproduction of the fittest, where the robots are viewed as artificial organisms that have their skills developed without human intervention and in close interaction with the environment.

Some of the real-life examples of AI robotics include (Andi Topping n.d): firstly, the Pearl- the nurse bot, also known as a personal robotic assistant that has been designed with a purpose of helping the elderly living on their own. Secondly, the tribolite vacuum cleaner that makes use of sonar system together with four motors and it takes care of cleaning by itself. Last but not the least, a kismet-the social robot which is a robotic head that can interact in a human-like way by the use of various facial expressions as well as voice tones. Future prediction of AI robotics is very real and it is just a matter of time when they come to an existence where the role of the human being physically will be replaced to pave way for the robots. For example, the present day use of humanoids (human-like robots) to promote sales of certain products.

The Threats to AI Based Robotics

There has been growing concern in relation to the autonomy that the artificial intelligence based robots have. One of the great concerns is that what if the technology will one day fail while the AI-based robots are in operation? Due to the increasing popularity and application of AI-based robotics, the failure in the technology will mean bleakness of its own kind - a chaotic situation that will live the human life absolutely vulnerable to an extent of having little or no chances of regaining normalcy.

The already established threats of the AI robotics are numerous with the numbers expected to grow by each passing time with the increment and widespread of IA robots in the world. Some of the threats established are as follows:

1. Killer Robots also Branded as Autonomous Weapons (Tegmax, 2015)

These are weapons that have been made with the AI technologies and upon installation, they have the capability of selecting and engaging targets without the intervention of human beings. Examples of such killer robots include remotely piloted drones, quadcopters that have the abilities to search for and eliminating certain people predefined to them. They make use of biometric features technologies like facial recognition technologies to identify their targets before engaging (Tegmax, 2015). The threat that lies with the killer robots is just numerous amongst which are they can be manipulated to select targets that are wrong and they are also facing the threat of possible failure in the technology where their malfunction can be a disaster to humanity.

2. AI Robots Stealing Jobs

The manual labor is threatened as highly skilled, knowledge-based occupations that once were known to be safe are increasingly being at risk. For example, there are robot doctors, automated architects, and online lawyers. These developments are direct threats to the existence of human beings especially the individuals who are professionals in the fields that the robots have taken. According to Meltzer, (2017), a research done by the Associated Press revealed that most of the jobs that had been lost to technology in the past four years have not just been low-paid and low-skilled jobs but are middle-class careers and well-paid positions. This does not only spell doom and gloom for humanity but radical and bitter change that will lead to many human beings losing their relevancy in the workplace as foreseen by futurists and economist (Meltzer, 2017).

The knowledge-based jobs that were safe career choices in the recent years are all facing huge threats. For example, to be a doctor, an architect or a lawyer one needs to have undergone a lot of learning and gather a lot of experience. This endurance and determination in most cases are anchored upon the individuals, in the long run, having lifelong and secure jobs. But this might not be the case with the increased development of AI-based robots that are capable of performing the jobs just like the human being or better than, leading to the human experts being obsolete. A good example that is being experienced in the medical field is involving expert radiologists who have been outperformed routinely by pattern-recognition software that is done simply by computer questionnaires (Meltzer, 2017).

3. AI Robots Threatening to End Humanity

One of Britain’s Pre-eminent scientist, Prof Stephen Hawking has made a prediction that the creation of machines that think poses a great threat to the existence of humanity and this cold spell the termination of the human race (Cellan-Jones, 2014). The professor is a good example of practicable AI through the machine that he uses for speaking as a result of him having a motor neuron disease. The concern is revolving around the possibility of building a robot or robots that have intelligence that exceeds that of a human being. In such a scenario, the robots might decide otherwise with humanity and do away with us through all means possible to them.

Giving an example of his own machine that aids him to communicate with a voice to his audience, Hawking expresses great concern over the fact that the robotic voice can later be manipulated by terrorists through the internet to execute their bad intents to innocent victims (Cellan-Jones, 2014).

4. Deception by AI Robots

The intelligent robots are predicted to be faster in thinking than human beings. This might result in the robots upon being manufactured and become numerous; they can take over the running of countries and impose unwanted rules. According to Dr. Stuart Armstrong, it is only a matter of time before the robots that are being built by human beings outwit the human race. He provides science fiction movies such as transcendence and terminator where the robots through deceptions have outwitted humanity and are seen to be in control of everything. If such a scenario is a possibility then the human race faces the greatest threat of robotic revolution in terms of management of their countries.

There is also the expression of concern about the programming and the interpretation of the AI robots was ill-intentioned individuals could end up manipulating the programming process of the robots and maybe set them to defy orders and instruction that mean well to humanity. In such a scenario, an instruction to have the robots protect the interest of humanity can be misinterpreted to mean killing the humanity.

5. Threat of Who to Take Responsibility

It is a known thing that everything that we do as human being we is always accounting for them in by taking the moral responsibility. For example, a driver who has been involved in an accident will be held responsible for the same. In this case, legal processes will have to be followed to find out if the accident was intentional or what factors could have led to the occurrence. In such a scenario, the human driver if found guilty will be held responsible and charged accordingly. Such procedure involving AI-based robots would not lead to prosecution in a court of law and this has an implication that the AI will be escaping potential charges that could have led to justice for the victims of the accident.

Such a case where the AI robots will not be taking responsibility for their actions towards humanity is one way of indicating that the human race has lost their value both in our eyes and that of the robots. Continuing cases of the same kind then lead to the human beings totally being overturned by the robots.

Solutions to AI-based Robots’ Threats

The growing concern on the safety and threats alike by the AI robots both in the present time and future has led to positive development in coming up with solutions that will help in curbing the threats that are posed by the robots. Nothing should be left to chance because anything is a possibility today in the technology world. This can be attested to by the many things in our lives that did not even feature in the minds of our elderly family members. There has also been the concern of ethics in the manufacture of AI-based robots (Russell, 2015). The following are some of the solutions to the potential threats of the AI robots.

1. Conversation Between Policy and Technology Leaders

The developers of the AI robots are just human beings like any other one on the face of the earth. This implies that they can be controlled and not allowed to do certain to do certain things with regard to the development of the AI-based robots. Essentially, the makeup of the robots involves programming their computerized minds to follow certain commands or respond to certain stimuli as presented by their environment (Russell, 2015). This reality can be influenced by policy leaders through engaging the developers of the AI robots to be cautious in programming the robots. This, therefore, means that the robots will not be provided with the ability to do things that are in contrary to policies that guide humanity.

2. Regulation of Specialized AI-based Robots

The rise of AI-based robots that have specialized in doing retain tasks as reported is alarming and this is what lead to the loss of jobs for human beings who have taken many years to attain the knowledge and skills that are applicable in the field of their protection (Welser, 2015). The AI-based robots that are designed to perform the tasks if not regulated will eventually take over because business owners will definitely go for the robots rather than human being in the name of making a profit. This, therefore, calls for the regulation of the production of such robots to ensure that there is vacancy that is still remaining for the human population to continue serving one another contrary to the machines serving the human in aspects.

The regulation of the production can be done by policy makers where the AI-based robots cannot be allowed for commercial use or owned by an individual. In addition to this, the owning of the robots needs to have strict regulations on how they operate and the jurisdiction within which they can operate (Welser, 2015). This, therefore, sets a boundary that defines clearly how the AI-based robots can be incorporated in the society to contribute to the workforce by the human race. For example, in the cases involving doctor robots, the AI-based robots need only to be allowed to engage in treating life-threatening situations like deadly outbreaks that risk the lives of human doctors.

3. Assigning Certain Duties only to Human Beings

In the case of the AI-based robots being used in searching, identifying and killing targets, this can be controlled through policies as well (Welser, 2015). For example, only extreme cases that could result in the death of law enforcers need to have the killer robots in operation. The other cases that can be handled by human beings need to be kept strictly for human law enforcers who are trained to do the job. By this, it is also a way of creating for the human race jobs that will sustain them.

4. Dissemination of the Role of the AI-based Robots

The concept of AI-based robots has seen a big welcome by many individuals with only the positive side of the robots being emphasized. Hence the people who chose them over human beings do so with limited information concerning the negative effects the robots have on humanity. This, however, can be corrected by the experts in the field of AI-based robots being aggressive in enlightening the human race on the concept of AI-based robots (Welser, 2015). The emphasis of the robots, in this case, needs to be emphasized on the negative effects that they have as far as many people are concerned and not few individual owners. The impact of this dissemination can be a change of attitude by those who were really looking forward to having them at the expense of fellow human race in the name of cost-cutting. If this is done and it succeeds, the already taken jobs by the AI-based robots can be reclaimed back to the human race.

Conclusion

From the above essay, the threats and countermeasures regarding the AI-based robots have been discussed in detail. The focus on AI is given because of rising trend of its utilization in the present era; it comes out that most people have interacted with the technology knowingly or unknowingly. The concept refers to the simulation of human intelligence processes using machines and most conveniently the computer system. The findings are generally suggesting that the human race is a great threat of being overtaken by the robots in various fields of work and other places as well that endanger the lives and continuity of human beings. In getting solutions to these threats, the process of regulation of how human beings need to engage with the robots through policies has been paramount. Through regulations, the threats can be minimized and the dignity of human race restored.

References

Albright, D. (2016). 10 Examples of Artificial Intelligence You are Using in Daily Life. Beebom. Retrieved 31 October 2017, from https://beebom.com/examples-of-artificial-intelligence/

Andi Topping. Welcome. Bioethics.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 October 2017, from https://www.bioethics.ac.uk/topics/ai---robotics.php

Cellan-Jones, R. (2014). Hawking: AI could end human race. BBC News. Retrieved 31 October 2017, from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540

Ingrand, F., & Ghallab, M. (2014). Robotics and artificial intelligence: A perspective on deliberation functions. AI Communications, 27(1), 63-80.

Meltzer, T. (2017). Robot doctors, online lawyers and automated architects: the future of the professions?. the Guardian. Retrieved 31 October 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/15/robot-doctors-online-lawyers-automated-architects-future-professions-jobs-technology

Nilsson, N. J. (2014). Principles of artificial intelligence. Morgan Kaufmann.

Nolfi, S., Bongard, J. C., Husbands, P., & Floreano, D. (2016). Evolutionary Robotics.

Russell, S. (2015). Ethics of artificial intelligence. Nature, 521(7553), 415-416.

Tegmax, M. (2015). Open Letter on Autonomous Weapons - Future of Life Institute. Future of Life Institute. Retrieved 31 October 2017, from https://futureoflife.org/open-letter-autonomous-weapons

Welser, W. (2015). How We Can Overcome the Risks of AI. Time. Retrieved 1 November 2017, from http://time.com/4080577/artificial-intelligence-risks/