DeepMind AGI paper adds urgency to ethical AI
It has been a great year for artificial intelligence. Companies are spending more on large AI projects, and new investment in AI startups is on pace for a record year. All this investment and spending is yielding results that are moving us all closer to the long-sought holy grail — artificial general intelligence (AGI). According to McKinsey, many academics and researchers maintain that there is at least a chance that human-level artificial intelligence could be achieved in the next decade. And one researcher states: “AGI is not some far-off fantasy. It will be upon us sooner than most people think.”
A further boost comes from AI research lab DeepMind, which recently submitted a compelling paper to the peer-reviewed Artificial Intelligence journal titled “Reward is Enough.” They posit that reinforcement learning — a form of deep learning based on behavior rewards — will one day lead to replicating human cognitive capabilities and achieve AGI. This breakthrough would allow for instantaneous calculation and perfect memory, leading to an artificial intelligence that would outperform humans at nearly every cognitive task.
Despite assurances from stalwarts that AGI will benefit all of humanity, there are already real problems with today’s single-purpose narrow AI algorithms that calls this assumption into question. According to a Harvard Business Review story, when AI examples from predictive policing to automated credit scoring algorithms go unchecked, they represent a serious threat to our society. A recently published survey by Pew Research of technology innovators, developers, business and policy leaders, researchers, and activists reveals skepticism that ethical AI principles will be widely implemented by 2030. This is due to a widespread belief that businesses will prioritize profits and governments continue to surveil and control their populations. If it is so difficult to enable transparency, eliminate bias, and ensure the ethical use of today’s narrow AI, then the potential for unintended consequences from AGI appear astronomical.
