The promise and peril of humanityB次元官网网址檚 relationship with artificial intelligence were presented at this yearB次元官网网址檚 State of the Island Economic Summit.

Experts gave their perspectives on evolving AI and its possible benefits B次元官网网址� depending how humans apply it B次元官网网址� at a talk called B次元官网网址榁.I. meets AIB次元官网网址� on the first day of the Vancouver Island Economic AllianceB次元官网网址檚 summit Thursday, Oct. 26.

Graham Truax, Island Innovation executive director; Sean Mark, Nanaimo-based epidemiologist and data scientist; and Lauren Evanow, a health, energy and AI-inspired solutions advisor, were the presenters, and Truax opened with a story about the response from ChatGPT about his broken toaster.

B次元官网网址淚 kind of forgot it had that little tray thing that you need to empty and so I kept on forcing it down until it broke B次元官网网址� and then I kind of said, B次元官网网址榃hat does AI have to do with toasters?B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Truax said.

So he asked ChatGPT for information on improving the B次元官网网址渉umble toasterB次元官网网址� and played the appB次元官网网址檚 extensive dissertation about potential avenues of toaster development that ranged from B次元官网网址渋ntegrating sensors and machine learning algorithms that analyze the moisture content and density of the bread, optimizing the toasting time and temperatureB次元官网网址� to possibilities for toaster evolution, including the concept of Star Trek-inspired food replicators that could make traditional toasters obsolete.

B次元官网网址淓ven with food replicators, though, there will still be the need for the actual process of toasting, which adds flavour through the Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars during cooking,B次元官网网址� the app said, before closing with a quip about enjoying the finished product.

B次元官网网址淭echnology might make the toast perfect, but the jam makes it personal,B次元官网网址� it said.

The app generated its reply in a matter of seconds.

The glib demonstration was only the start of several far more sophisticated examples Truax provided illustrating the capabilities of AI apps downloadable to any smart phone.

B次元官网网址淭his crazy magic box,B次元官网网址� he said, B次元官网网址渉as been fed with everything that has ever been digitized B次元官网网址� We have to ask ourselves, B次元官网网址榃here do you want to be with this?B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

All technologies ever invented by humankind, back to learning to produce fire, have held potential for good or evil applications, the presenter suggested. Fire can cook food, warm a home or intentionally burn the home down. Truax argued that as AI continues to develop and be integrated into all aspects of society, humans will benefit by learning to understand and work with AI to get on the B次元官网网址渞ight sideB次元官网网址� of the technology.

Mark took a darker view of AIB次元官网网址檚 relationship with the human psyche, identifying a massive and potentially dangerous B次元官网网址渆motional blind spotB次元官网网址� in AI.

B次元官网网址淲hat we see happening right now in the AI field is that a lot of the top AI experts are worried that AI is going to get much more powerful, much smarter than humans, and wipe us out,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淎nd that is not a minority opinion. ThatB次元官网网址檚 a real concern among very smart people.B次元官网网址�

Mark and his team are researching ways of developing AIB次元官网网址檚 capacity to understand emotions in text to give it some context for human dialogue.

B次元官网网址淲e know that inequalities drive animosity between haves and have-nots, and if we were to teach an AI about hate speech, would that AI have an understanding of hate speech without understanding inequality?B次元官网网址� Mark wondered.

The good and bad news is the technology is B次元官网网址渋nfinitely scalableB次元官网网址� because of the virtually infinite amount of data available to AI apps. Even a small research operation in Nanaimo can draw upon billions of rows of text that can be applied to AI understanding of emotion.

B次元官网网址淪o the capacity of these AIs to understand human nuance in text is unbelievable,B次元官网网址� he said.

That understanding led the team to study the emotional dynamics of chatbots, which are B次元官网网址渆erily goodB次元官网网址� at mimicking human emotions in text and, by bombarding them with biased information, can be beneficial or used or B次元官网网址渢o sell more Coca Cola.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 really great for the user experience, but when you start feeding a chatbot hate or anger, it mirrors that back,B次元官网网址� Mark said. B次元官网网址淥ne of the things weB次元官网网址檙e finding thatB次元官网网址檚 a little bit on the disturbing side B次元官网网址� is that the model is learning some basic survival instincts from human dialogue, so this thing, when you hit it with anger, it comes back with either anger or fear and that looks a lot like the human fight-or-flight response B次元官网网址� The reason a lot of these AI experts are concerned is because there are no scalable ways to keep these chatbots in check and thatB次元官网网址檚 where we come in.B次元官网网址�

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Lauren Evanow has long been curious about ways technology can help humans do things better, starting in the 1980s when she built a model of a human body, using an Apple II-plus computer and also worked on Sophia, the first robot in the world to be given citizen status. She holds a less dire view of human-AI coexistence.

B次元官网网址淎s scientists we wanted to see how human beings interfaced with computers or digital surfaces and if they had an emotional response,B次元官网网址� Evanow said. B次元官网网址淲e didnB次元官网网址檛 think that we would see a positive response with people reacting with a screen or a robot, but in fact, human beings do react well with a robot, so we programmed Sophia to work with students and children that were suffering from loneliness, which leads to depression, anxiety, suicide, addictions as a result of social media.

B次元官网网址淐an we use artificial intelligence, general intelligence and generative intelligence to solve some of the problems in society, taking into account that weB次元官网网址檙e adding risk to society when we do that?B次元官网网址�

Evanow put it to the audience to find ways to positively and creatively work with images, language and problem solving using AI.

B次元官网网址淎nd the best way to start using AI, since itB次元官网网址檚 so available now, is just download the app,B次元官网网址� she said.

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chris.bush@nanaimobulletin.com
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