How smart can our machines make us? “What’s the purpose of artificial intelligence?” asks Tom Gruber,
AI developer and co-creator of Siri. Is it to make machines
intelligent, so they can do automated tasks we don’t want to do, beat us
at complex games like chess and Go and, perhaps, develop
superintelligence and become our overlords? No, says Gruber — instead of
competing with us, AI should augment and collaborate with us.
“Superintelligence should give us superhuman abilities,” Gruber says.
Taking us back 30 years to the first intelligent assistant he created,
which helped a cerebral palsy patient communicate, to Siri, which helps
us do everything from navigate cities to answer complex questions,
Gruber explains his vision for “humanistic AI” — machines designed to
meet human needs by collaborating with and augmenting us. Gruber invites
us into a future where superintelligent AI can augment our memories and
help us remember the name of everyone we’ve ever met, every song we’ve
ever heard and everything we’ve ever read. “We have a choice in how we
use this powerful tech. We can use it to compete with us or to
collaborate with us — to overcome our limitations and help us do what we
want to do, only better,” Gruber says. “Every time a machine gets
smarter, we get smarter.”
How you’ll be able to fly … by the end of the year. In 2015, engineer Todd Reichert set a record for human-powered speed in an ultra-lightweight bike that traveled 89.6 miles per hour — with no engine. But he’s not on the TED stage to talk about that. Instead, to gasps, he introduces us to an all-electric, ultra-light aircraft called the Kitty Hawk Flyer, which his company plans to make available by the end of 2017. The pilot sits aboard it as if it were a motorcycle — only instead of wheels below, there’s a mesh platform that suspends eight rotors. In a video we watch together, the craft flies about 15 feet over the water, the rider out in the open air. Reichert explains the two technologies that make this possible: simple electronics that let the flyer control and stabilize the rotors like a video game, and rapidly advancing batteries. “Your flying dreams are potentially a lot closer than you think,” Reichert says to anyone who’s ever wondered when their jetpack or flying car is coming. His team is working with regulatory bodies to figure out the steps for making this craft available (first step: because it weighs less than 254 pounds, you don’t need a pilot’s license). As Reichert says: “I realize we aren’t The Jetsons yet. But this is the first step in a totally new type of freedom.”
The power of the collective. In sci-fi visions of the future, we generally see AI modeled on a human-like intelligence, only amplified — but there are many kinds of intelligence found in nature that are very different from our own, like the collective intelligence displayed by insects and fish schools. Computer scientist Radhika Nagpal has spent her career studying systems of collective intelligence, searching to understand the rules that govern them so we can create our own using, say, robots. “Once you understand the rules, many different kinds of robot visions become possible,” she says.
How you’ll be able to fly … by the end of the year. In 2015, engineer Todd Reichert set a record for human-powered speed in an ultra-lightweight bike that traveled 89.6 miles per hour — with no engine. But he’s not on the TED stage to talk about that. Instead, to gasps, he introduces us to an all-electric, ultra-light aircraft called the Kitty Hawk Flyer, which his company plans to make available by the end of 2017. The pilot sits aboard it as if it were a motorcycle — only instead of wheels below, there’s a mesh platform that suspends eight rotors. In a video we watch together, the craft flies about 15 feet over the water, the rider out in the open air. Reichert explains the two technologies that make this possible: simple electronics that let the flyer control and stabilize the rotors like a video game, and rapidly advancing batteries. “Your flying dreams are potentially a lot closer than you think,” Reichert says to anyone who’s ever wondered when their jetpack or flying car is coming. His team is working with regulatory bodies to figure out the steps for making this craft available (first step: because it weighs less than 254 pounds, you don’t need a pilot’s license). As Reichert says: “I realize we aren’t The Jetsons yet. But this is the first step in a totally new type of freedom.”
The power of the collective. In sci-fi visions of the future, we generally see AI modeled on a human-like intelligence, only amplified — but there are many kinds of intelligence found in nature that are very different from our own, like the collective intelligence displayed by insects and fish schools. Computer scientist Radhika Nagpal has spent her career studying systems of collective intelligence, searching to understand the rules that govern them so we can create our own using, say, robots. “Once you understand the rules, many different kinds of robot visions become possible,” she says.
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