The 'garbage in, garbage out' rule applies to AI, too: People getting all starry-eyed about artificial intelligence need to remember some basic truths

American Thinker ^ | 04/22/2022 | Bill Hansmann

[SeekAndFind]

There's a well known expression regarding the use of computers: garbage in, garbage out, or GI-GO. It would be wise to keep this concept in mind when dealing with artificial intelligence (A.I.).

Over the past several years, we have become fascinated with the possibilities of A.I.

An article in Forbes from May of 2022 described five things to expect from A.I. in the next five years. The five are:

1.  Transformation of the scientific method.  A.I. and machine learning (M.L.) will streamline and significantly accelerate medical research.  Research and development by drug companies, as well as drug trials, will be accomplished in a fraction of the time it previously took to achieve these tasks.
2.  A.I. will become a pillar of foreign policy.  The U.S. government has decided to significantly accelerate A.I. innovation to continue the economic resilience and geopolitical leadership of the U.S.
3. A.I. will enable next-generation consumer experiences.  Feedback loops will make far more of our decisions regarding what we purchase and when.
4.  A.I. will be a major contributor to solving the problems of man-made climate change.  Supercomputer studies will show us what we are doing to harm the climate and environment and what we must do to correct those mistakes.
5.  A.I. will enable truly personalized medicine.  Using the mapped genome of individuals and diagnosed health problems will allow the A.I. supercomputers to rapidly develop individual health solutions.

It is easy to appreciate some of the possibilities outlined here.  An ethical acceleration of the scientific method pertaining to drug development, and the development of personalized medical treatments, is especially intriguing to someone who has suffered health problems and is observing, close-up, the race between medical technology and the disease-fueled erosion of the human body.

However, new consumer experiences, climate crisis solutions, and foreign policy, all relying on A.I., are troubling prospects.

[RoosterRedux]

You know that I share your trepidation.

If there is a God who created this joint (and I believe there is), he will have to step in shortly or there will be nothing left of humanity.

[RoosterRedux]

Your comment about "human obsolescence" reminds me of the insanity of the Left.

Anyone who says AI will never think like people has never considered the fact that most people don't exactly think like Isaac Newton. In fact, most people don't think at all.

Case in point, the Woke Movement.

As an old friend used to tell me, if you think humans are rational, go grocery shopping when you are really hungry. You will return home with the strangest mixture of irrational foodstuffs imaginable. Chips and dips, Vienna Weiners, beer (back when I used to drink), Spam, kielbasa, more beer, and an odd variety of mint-like things for sale at check out.

I think humans have been obsolete for quite a while now. Squirrels are better adapted to reality than humans are. As an aside, if sanity is defined as one's ability to adapt to reality, where does that leave humans?