Update: Facebook shuts off AI experiment where bots had spoken in their own language - incredibly scary
ROBOSTOP Facebook shuts off AI experiment after two
robots begin speaking in their OWN language only they can understand
Experts have called the incident exciting but also
incredibly scary
By James Beal and Andy Jehring 1st August 2017, 12:03
am Updated: 1st August 2017, 6:38 am
FACEBOOK shut down an artificial intelligence experiment
after two robots began talking in a language only they understood.
The “chatbots” Alice and Bob modified English to make it
easier for them to communicate — creating sentences that were gibberish to
watching scientists.
A robot expert said the revelation that Facebook machines
had spoken in their own language was exciting — but also incredibly scary.
UK Robotics Professor Kevin Warwick said: “This is an
incredibly important milestone, but anyone who thinks this is not dangerous has
got their head in the sand.
“We do not know what these bots are saying. Once you have
a bot that has the ability to do something physically, particularly military
bots, this could be lethal.
“If one says, ‘Why not do this,’ and the other says ‘Yes’
and it’s a military bot, you have a serious situation.
“This is the first recorded communication but there will
have been many more unrecorded.
“Smart devices right now have the ability to communicate
and although we think we can monitor them, we have no way of knowing.
“Stephen Hawking and I have been warning against the
dangers of deferring to Artificial Intelligence.”
The Facebook incident has echoes of the storyline to
movie The Terminator, in which an AI system which has developed self-awareness
wages a devastating war against humans.
Facebook researchers in New York set up “chatbots” Alice
and Bob in a bid to develop automated trouble-shooters for social media
networks.
They were to speak in English as they worked out how to
negotiate and trade hats, books and balls — each of which were given a value.
But the robots rapidly modified the English using code
words and repetitions to make conversation easier for themselves — creating a
gibberish language that only they understood. One exchange went:
Bob: i 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.
Bob: you i everything else . . . .
Alice: balls have a ball to me to me to me to me to me to
me to me.
Researchers pulled the plug when they realised what was
happening.
British future technology expert Kate Adamson said: “It
does feel a bit like The Terminator.
“This is happening everywhere. If you look at things like
high frequency trading in stock markets now, there are algorithms that are
doing the same thing.
“They have gained new knowledge and are not technically
under control on a minute-by-minute basis.
“The level of complication AI is capable of is way beyond
what you and I would understand.”
Facebook said the experiment was halted because it was
“not what they set out to investigate”.
It said similar results had been seen by other tech firms
Scientists at Google Translate last year discovered the
service had invented its own language.
Tech guru Elon Musk recently warned that Facebook creator
Mark Zuckerberg’s understanding of AI was “limited”.
Musk, 46, said it poses a “fundamental risk to human
civilisation”.
THIS is nothing to worry about in the short term. You
need to develop control methods so AIs will be an extension of human will. This
will ensure they will still be on our side, but would involve getting AIs that
know what we want. But the benefits of AI to markets could outweigh concerns
about their control.
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