If AI, artificial intelligence, is 20 years away, what career to pick?

[Deleted]

I wonder if it's as funny when it's a giant metal claw coming at you like you're a toy in an arcade machine. Yeah, it bumps the sides a few times before it manages to grab you.

And I would be in this situation, how?

[PC2]

Politics. Robots can do anything a human does. But you'll never have people voting for robots.

Except some of us would rather vote for (collaborate with) an AI-robot then accept a PC human politician.

[Kujako]

Machines will never become self-aware or conscious, as consciousness is not a result of material combination.

In theory, given enough computational power (more then we currently have) an algorithmic program (in an environment we don't currently have) able to self replicate and mutate could give rise to true AI, but it would not be english speaking humanistic intelligence as portrayed in movies/books. I see something like a quantum computer virus being the path to AI.

[Ripster42]

You have a lot less faith in science than I do. I bet development on AI if graphed comes out on a logarithmic shape.

Not sure why you think AI requires quantum computers since our meat computers work just fine.

Our meat computers are suggested to be controlled by quantum level fluctuations.

[Deleted]

Machines will never become self-aware or conscious, as consciousness is not a result of material combination.

So our consciousness is not in this material world?

[Independent voter]

Our meat computers are suggested to be controlled by quantum level fluctuations.

I've heard that, I will be really surprised if true.

I think the meat computer is running one hell of a algorithm, something really well done.

[Jaransan]

Seems to me a true AI can do both those jobs way better than any human.

Well if you consider yourself in 20 years, AI Researcher would likely end up closer to a study of AI behaviour than research into improving AI. . . Human beings are rapidly going to need insight into WHY AI think the way they do once theyre smart enough to go beyond the algorithms that spawned them. We already have more than enough 'DESTROY ALL AI!' on the internet that some mutual understanding would probably be pretty important when the time comes....

[Ripster42]

What about creativity fields? I can't imagine robots being good at writing books unless they somehow can learn to simulate emotion and what not as well as humans.

Why would an AI be writing books for humans and not other AIs? Also, I'm not sure most authors aren't simulating emotions fairly unsuccessfully anyway.

[Ripster42]

Well if you consider yourself in 20 years, AI Researcher would likely end up closer to a study of AI behaviour than research into improving AI. . . Human beings are rapidly going to need insight into WHY AI think the way they do once theyre smart enough to go beyond the algorithms that spawned them. We already have more than enough 'DESTROY ALL AI!' on the internet that some mutual understanding would probably be pretty important when the time comes....

Why wouldn't an AI, with 'perfect' recollection, who can learn by just by uploading data, be better at studying AI behavior?

[isuridedes]

Say you knew for certain that AI was 20 years away. This would be a self aware program that was fully self aware and conscious. In combinations with robots, it could do a wide variety of jobs. What would you advise a 16-18 year old just starting in the job market?

I would advise that person to pursue whatever job they wanted. The first introduction of A.I. is not going to drastically transform our economy or what jobs are performed by human beings. That shift will not happen until the deployment of A.I. is streamlined and available to a more generalized population. When it is first developed A.I. will be the plaything of research scientists, governments and the military.

As A.I. becomes more closely integrated with other markets and avenues of employment it will be commiserate with arguments protecting "Human" jobs and likely mandate having human beings who oversee the work of whatever the A.I. is tasked with. It will be a long time even after the development of A.I. before your job is in jeopardy.

[Deleted]

I agree... I would rather vote for a (conscious) AI, then a Human.

How come, if I may ask?

[Deleted]

How can a human possibly compete with an AI when it comes to CS/EE? Can you give me the area under a curve instantly, without even thinking about it?

AI would still lack the creative approach to problems. Plus you need people as backup in case a solar flare or another disaster fries all circuits. Or if the machines decide to revolt.

[minteK917]

Anything that require dexterity or talents in some way as artistic will be safe. Even something as simple as a chef will be hard to replace by a robot, his tools will get better, be the chef will still be there.

[Ripster42]

I agree... I would rather vote for a (conscious) AI, than a Human.

I wouldn't. To me, 'true AI' means it can set its own goals and can evolve its own ethical code. For humans, the ethical code, even in the craziest of mass murder societies, is still based on the continuation of the species. We have no rationale, or data set, for an AI.

[Independent voter]

Another thing overlooked is there's a tipping point where AI start taking on more and more of the research into AI. I'm not sure how far that is off, but even a fairly simple AI can be a great help in developing the next generation of AI, once that trickle of Ai development turns into a torrent humans will be quietly shoved out of the way.

[Daerio]

And I would be in this situation, how?

See almost any science fiction movie about AI ever.

The imagining has already been done for you, none required.

[Ripster42]

AI would still lack the creative approach to problems. Plus you need people as backup in case a solar flare or another disaster fries all circuits. Or if the machines decide to revolt.

Why would an AI not be creative?

[Kuntantee]

How can a human possibly compete with an AI when it comes to CS/EE? Can you give me the area under a curve instantly, without even thinking about it?

Being self-aware and intelligent doesn't meant it's fast at information processing. For all we know, current computers are pathetically slow at certain tasks such as learning, pattern recognition, deduction, induction so on and so forth even if you use a neural system. I assume the AI you are talking about is a neural network of some sort. Human visual system, for example, is known for processing massive amount of data in a very short time. As far as I know (don't quote me on that), human brain can perform many petaFLOPS, that's rival to supercomputers. However, the AI you are talking about needs to be implementable to a regular PC. We will not have super laptops 20 in years, that's pretty much granted. So even if we solve the puzzles of conscious and self-awareness or intelligence in general, they may not be as smart as us due to processing speed limitations. Many people do not consider these issues. An example is Neural Networks are old stuff, most of the theoretical framework was well-established around late 70s and early 80s, however, they were not utilized for long time because of hardware limitations.

Another problem is training problem. Neural systems require training and the more neuron you have the more training you need. Humans require decades of training (living, we call it) to reach maximal mental capability.

[Waltzinblack]

Robot fixer.

[Independent voter]

Being self-aware and intelligent doesn't meant it's fast at information processing. For all we know, current computers are pathetically slow at certain tasks such as learning, pattern recognition, deduction, induction so on and so forth even if you use a neural system. I assume the AI you are talking about is a neural network of some sort. Human visual system, for example, is known for processing massive amount of data in a very short time. As far as I know (don't quote me on that), human brain can perform many petaFLOPS, that's rival to supercomputers. However, the AI you are talking about needs to be implementable to a regular PC. We will not have super laptops 20 in years, that's pretty much granted. So even if we solve the puzzles of conscious and self-awareness or intelligence in general, they may not be as smart as us due to processing speed limitations. Many people do not consider these issues.

But a true AI would have everything a human does only the machine side too, in addition.