Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

AI Is Inventing Languages Humans Can’t Understand. Should We Stop It?
C.O. Design ^ | 07/14/17 | Mark Wilson

Posted on 07/16/2017 9:25:58 AM PDT by Enlightened1

Researchers at Facebook realized their bots were chattering in a new language. Then they stopped it.

Bob: “I can can I I everything else.”

Alice: “Balls have zero to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to.”

To you and I, that passage looks like nonsense. But what if I told you this nonsense was the discussion of what might be the most sophisticated negotiation software on the planet? Negotiation software that had learned, and evolved, to get the best deal possible with more speed and efficiency–and perhaps, hidden nuance–than you or I ever could? Because it is.

This conversation occurred between two AI agents developed inside Facebook. At first, they were speaking to each other in plain old English. But then researchers realized they’d made a mistake in programming.

“There was no reward to sticking to English language,” says Dhruv Batra, visiting research scientist from Georgia Tech at Facebook AI Research (FAIR). As these two agents competed to get the best deal–a very effective bit of AI vs. AI dogfighting researchers have dubbed a “generative adversarial network”–neither was offered any sort of incentive for speaking as a normal person would. So they began to diverge, eventually rearranging legible words into seemingly nonsensical sentences.

“Agents will drift off understandable language and invent codewords for themselves,” says Batra, speaking to a now-predictable phenomenon that Facebook as observed again, and again, and again. “Like if I say ‘the’ five times, you interpret that to mean I want five copies of this item. This isn’t so different from the way communities of humans create shorthands.”

Indeed. Humans have developed unique dialects for everything from trading pork bellies on the floor of the Mercantile Exchange to hunting down terrorists as Seal Team Six...

(Excerpt) Read more at fastcodesign.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Computers/Internet; Miscellaneous; Science
KEYWORDS: artificial; intelligence; invent; language
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last

1 posted on 07/16/2017 9:25:59 AM PDT by Enlightened1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

Have to admit is alarming.

Can’t imagine where this could possibly be 10 years from now?


2 posted on 07/16/2017 9:27:18 AM PDT by Enlightened1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

There is no reward to sticking to Enhlush when programmers in India are writing spaghetti code


3 posted on 07/16/2017 9:28:51 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Bill Clinton and Al Gore took illegal campaign contributions from the Chi-Coms and 'nobody' cared...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

What could possibly go wrong?


4 posted on 07/16/2017 9:29:30 AM PDT by dadgum (Overjoyed to be the Pariah.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

Bob: John has a long long long long mustache...


5 posted on 07/16/2017 9:32:00 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

Can I mambo dogface to the banana patch.


6 posted on 07/16/2017 9:34:05 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

AIs together strong.


7 posted on 07/16/2017 9:34:13 AM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

I wonder if AI can understand words like Kek, cuck, and stuned.


8 posted on 07/16/2017 9:37:28 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

9 posted on 07/16/2017 9:37:48 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

Not alarming. They didn’t invent a language. They faithfully executed the instructions they were given. That produced unexpected results which was presented to an uninformed public as a new language.

Many computer programs produce unexpected results. That is known as an “error.” It doesn’t mean the program has a mind of its own. It means the programmer didn’t realize that the instructions he wrote would produce dumb results when carried out literally.


10 posted on 07/16/2017 9:37:52 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Acting constantly in contradiction with one's human nature is de facto evidence of insanity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

Why can’t we just ask the computer to translate it into English?


11 posted on 07/16/2017 9:38:43 AM PDT by Vic S
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

Some new age musicians invent their own languages. The Cocteau Twins, Enya, Lisa Gerard from Dead Can Dance, and Azam Ali come to mind. So far they haven’t been seen as a threat.


12 posted on 07/16/2017 9:39:34 AM PDT by Berosus (I wish I had as much faith in God as liberals have in government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

BFD. Rap ‘artists’ invented language incomprehensible to humans long before AI did.


13 posted on 07/16/2017 9:40:37 AM PDT by Bob (Damn, the democrats haven't been this upset since Republicans freed their slaves.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

I don’t know what the researchers thought was going on but it seem like Bob is gonna get some if Alice get off of “balls have zero” mode.


14 posted on 07/16/2017 9:42:53 AM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

I KNEW Cruz was a bot!

15 posted on 07/16/2017 9:52:40 AM PDT by avenir (I'm pessimistic about man, but I'm optimistic about GOD!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

“Klaatu barada nikto!”


16 posted on 07/16/2017 9:57:28 AM PDT by nickedknack ("Your time is up!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

“Klaatu barada nikto!”


17 posted on 07/16/2017 9:57:38 AM PDT by nickedknack ("Your time is up!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1

As long as they don’t start singing “Daisy,” everything will be OK.


18 posted on 07/16/2017 9:57:46 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enlightened1
Maybe the AIs will invent even stranger names
for medicines then the pharm companies have and
make them even more unpronounceable. Yeah! Way to go
go go go go go goto togo to go gogogo .....
19 posted on 07/16/2017 10:00:52 AM PDT by StormEye
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Vic S

Why can’t we just ask the computer to translate it into English?

And if the machines won’t, yes, SHUT THEM DOWN.


20 posted on 07/16/2017 10:01:39 AM PDT by 2001convSVT (Going Galt as fast as I can.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson