Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the current hot item in
"tomorrow world," as techies see it as the next new thing to take
over outmoded human brains, some of which actually do possess a modicum of
native intelligence. AI algorithms have been successfully implemented by many
enterprises to do such tasks as determining credit risk, consumer marketing
optimization, credit card fraud detection, investment decision making, x-ray
and electrocardiogram interpretation, and efficient travel and navigation
choices. So far, so good.
In the mold of "I am from the government and here to
help you," AI is being promoted to even more critical tasks – say, driving
a car. However, programmers and engineers might reflect a bit more on one of
the more pervasive and deadly laws of the universe – the law of unintended
consequences – and the limits of programmed intelligence.
Consider the recent crash of a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft,
operated by Indonesian Lion Air, killing all 189 people on board. Flight data
reports detail the vain struggle of the pilots trying to keep the aircraft
level while the latest addition to the automated functions of the aircraft had
erroneously declared an imminent stall and put the plane into a sharp,
corrective dive. Attempts by the pilots to pull the plane to level flight were
apparently overridden by the newest enhancement of the on-board computer
system, and it nose-dived into the sea.
While the AI computer was making a billion calculations per
second in a game of "match the output of the sensors to the library of
stored known objects," the pilots of the doomed aircraft probably could
tell that the aircraft was flying level in spite of questionable sensor input
to the contrary.
Replacing human sensory input with
electro-mechanical devices is common enough that the possibility of malfunction
of either is a real consideration. Humans have the evolutionary advantage in
that their brains have an innate ability to make distinctions in the real
world. AI systems require learning exercises to identify objects and situations
already mastered by a six-month-old child.
The AI computer must build its own library of objects against which it
will base future decisions as it navigates its decision tree based on sensor
inputs. What happens when a bug or ice fouls a sensor? AI also lacks the adaptability
and value-judgement skills possessed by humans to deal successfully with a
situation for which it has no prior training or reference data in its
decision-tree core.
The unnecessary death of 189 people is a high price to pay
for a computer programming glitch.
"To err is human" is good advice for AI programmers as well.
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