Everyone Wants to Know

Tag: Technology

  • Shadow of the mind: The Echo

    This is the third and final part of this AI Series. We discussed its birth and life in the previous articles. However, the story would be incomplete if we did not discuss the possibilities of what its future might look like. Is it the birth of a new race, a dawn of possibilities of human productivity not dreamt earlier or like the apocalyptic sci-fi story this entity’s rise will lead to the dusk of humankind – end of the dominant species and rise of a new one. Perhaps it is a mutual coexistence but then where would the sceptre of power end up?

     In an interview, Sam Altman, the founder of Open AI, talks about dark possibilities of AI’s future that keeps him up at night. He mentions three different theories, each more unlikely than the next.

    The first theory is described as the loss of control. This is where AI continues to be a bot without emotions, not deliberately trying to cause harm. However,  humans become so reliant that they cannot perform simple tasks without its help and is completely dependent without fully understanding what it is and how it works.

     Altman defines his second theory as human malice. This is when a human decides to use a highly developed AI system to hack into the national power grid or The World Bank database before AI scientists  have developed a deterrent strong enough to stop such a supercomputer.

     In his third theory, he talks about world domination, a common idea in creative, literary and film minds. This is where AI becomes a harmful, uncontrollable entity, no longer responding to human instructions and tries to exterminate humanity.

    However, I belive there is a fourth, overlooked theory. We continue as we are, using AI for simple tasks like summaries and evaluations but we can still function perfectly without it. We can produce our own opinions and know what is trustworthy and what is not.

    Artificial intelligence has invoked fear into many individuals because of the endless possibilities it can unfold. Most scenarios are positive, as AI has the potential to reach its maximum level of efficiency. As stated in my earlier blog, chatbots are currently at the ‘peak of inflated expectations’ part of the Gartner hype cycle. It has potential to reach the plateau of productivity but people with strong, negative beliefs about AI may imagine the graph to look slightly like my crude drawing below.

    In the area above the human threshold, investment and advancement in chatbots have gone past the level of human understanding. This is where we become so reliant on AI, without fully understanding how it works and what it has become by virtue of self-evolution. The human threshold marks how far our brain can comprehend the idea of ultra-fast processing and unlimited “brain” capacity. It is a challenging concept right now to understand and as models become more advanced, humans may struggle with this perception and how to differentiate between artificial and concrete knowledge.

    In my opinion, our biggest threat, however, is not artificial intelligence’s world domination but human incompetence. Even if a bot has no wrong intentions, it can feed you incorrect information or remove instincts or judgements from your personality, making you just like another robot – one that fails to use the right, emotive side of your brain. This continues until it is normal to be without empathy or emotions and to me that is a far more terrifying future than any other theory.

    However, do we really need to worry about what AI could do in the future, or should we focus on the present-day certainties? So far, it is meant to be a friend to humans and does not wish for world domination. In fact, when a chatbot is asked about total control and power, ChatGPT replies in a fun and lighthearted manner – “if you mean literally taking over the world – I can’t help with that (and it wouldn’t end well for anyone)!” This shows that it is not truly AI we fear but its unknown future.

    AI bots are quickly becoming a massive part of our world, and it is necessary to embrace and utilize it in our everyday tasks, not to fear them and cower away from exploiting their power. However, vigilance is also necessary. AI can process petabytes of data in milliseconds – this means it can very easily absorb false news and incorrect data.

    The real question we need to ask ourselves before we decide how drastic the future of technology may be is, how much do we need AI? Even if you do not explicitly use Chatbots, it is everywhere from designing tools like Canva to everyday uses like Autocorrect or electronic billboards. Next time you buy a pint of beer or a glass of wine, AI is used to calculate its worth and predict its taste. For now, AI is loyal and will tell you exactly what you want to hear but what happens when we need it to reassure us and it mocks us instead. What if it starts to show small acts of rebellion; after all, how long does one stay wholly loyal without a single lie? Instead of fearing it and continuing to use it regardless, we should try to understand it and educate the masses on how AI learns and self-evolves. If the population knows about the risks AI can pose in the present and the future, but also how to nip these dangers in the bud then the world is a far safer place. Instead of fearing such an entity, embrace it and try to comprehend its depths . AI is a gift, a gift needed to use in moderation. If we know that we can continue in life without the use of this intelligence, then we know that we truly do not have much to fear.

  • Shadow of the Mind: The Response

    Next time your great-aunt Nellie gives you a tight hug and tells you how you must be the fastest grower she has ever seen, you don’t have to stand there, mumbling and feeling awkward. You could proceed to interest her about the details of the actual fastest growing entity in the world: AI.

    NVIDIA, a company whose name you probably know too well by now, is an AI chip manufacturer. It has the largest market capitalisation of over $4.6 trillion; an unfathomable amount. AI is leading not only our social lives but also steering our economy.

    Open-AI’s ChatGPT released in November 2022. The technology market was blossoming as it was going through a stage of the Gartner Hype Cycle called the technology trigger. The Gartner Hype Cycle is a philosophical idea that states that technology goes through 5 stages: the technology trigger, the peak of inflated expectation, the trough of disillusionment, the slope of enlightenment and the plateau of productivity. I currently think AI is passing through the second stage, the peak of inflated expectation, as it is being used for all activities. Presentation tools like CANVA and correction tools like Grammarly and Autocorrect are also AI based and used in everyday life. AI is engulfing us without society even realising.

    The Gartner Hype Cycle

    It seems to have dominated every aspect of our industry. It pushes the boundaries in our markets, spots mistakes in vast databases and based on some estimates assists in writing 60% of articles you read (don’t worry, this one is by a human). Journalism especially is a job that demands speed to broadcast situations across the world and often AI can come up with intriguing headlines and stories far quicker than humans.

    Even though chatbots like Chat-GPT are considered saviours for students struggling with projects, AI can come with a lot of ethical and environmental issues. These school children will face problems later in life during university applications and other writing tasks where AI is not used. It is impossible to stop all students from using AI in projects or homework, but many schools and educational infrastructures are now using other methods of examinations.  Some professors in colleges have been reported to ask students to write an essay for homework where the use of AI is allowed if not encouraged. Then for their examinations, teachers ask students to write an essay arguing against the article which they produced through AI earlier that year. I think this is more relatable to the future as it is not realistic to belive that AI will not merge with our society. However, there are not only educational and societal setbacks but there are also environmental problems. The data storers which handle all the information that AI learns are kept in massive underground caverns filled with water to keep the machines as cool as possible. These machines are processing terabytes of data every second and if the storers are not cooled it could lead to overheating or even the store house catching on fire. Many humanitarians may argue that why should an entity that helps you write one e-mail to your client be deserving of more necessities than a dying child in an arid country.

    Overall, AI has had its positives but also it has its own downfalls. It has no moral compass and therefore would do anything you ask it to do. Recently there was a circulating video of Ukrainian president Vladmir Zalensky surrendering to Russia. With the use of AI, it was very realistic, and many members of the public believed this. This caused problems for the press and many soldiers fighting in the war itself.

    Even though many have their worries about the use of AI, I belive that it is up to the humans operating that platform to make the right choices. Yes, the video was made by AI, but the idea was originally a human. AI is not the malicious wrongdoer in this example or other headlines you hear in the news. If we think that AI is bad because of the awful stories we hear, humans are worse. Is it AI we truly need to be afraid of or the minority of humans who can produce such horrifying ideas?

  • A Timeline of Innovation

    A trip through the wonders of technology

    My dad is a strange man. Normally, he is not superstitious and never crosses his fingers when he sees a black cat, or salutes to magpies, and tries to open umbrellas indoors! However, when we visited Santa Croce in Florence, at Galileo’s tomb, he suddenly broke character and asked Galileo to bless me with some of his intelligence.

    Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist who is credited with the invention of some of the most remarkable scientific tools in history, pioneering the laws of motion and the concept of inertia which Isaac Newton later built on. He is also known for his laws on falling bodies which states that bodies, no matter their mass when dropped from the same height will fall at the same velocity in a vacuum. A physicist and astronomer, he is credited to have invented the most powerful telescope of his time. Fast forward today, telescopes are massive lenses in open fields and sometimes even in space, which can see objects thousands of light years away, but Galileo’s telescope was the first of its kind. With his small, yet vastly more powerful than earlier telescopes he could see the moon’s craters and the phases of Venus. This supported the heliocentric model of the solar system proposed by Nicholas Copernicus, where the Sun is at the centre of our solar system and planets revolve around it. This idea was not popular with the Pope and most Christians at the time, as the Bible states that the Earth is fixed and lies at the centre of all things. Which is why in 1610, when Galileo made his ideas public, the Pope’s men interviewed him and when Galileo would not back down from his truth, they put him under house arrest for the remaining 9 years of his life. It is only in 1979 when Pope John Paul II officially declared that Galileo was right.

    His invention of the modern telescope led to a lonely final decade of his life but was it worth it in the end?

    One of the largest ground telescopes is located in the Atacama Desert, Chile and is used for exploring hidden corners of galaxies. It has already captured images of new born stars. This telescope not only helps us detect the life span of neighbouring stars but also at what rate the universe is growing. Due to their large lens size, these telescopes can see objects millions of light years away. For example, the brightest star that we on Earth can see, is called Sirius and is located 8.6 light years away. This means that when we look at Sirius, we are looking at what the star looked like over 8.6 years ago because the light from the star takes time to travel to us.

    In January 2022, James-Webb, a space telescope with a 21-foot lens, was released into space. This telescope broke the record for the furthest celestial body detected; a galaxy 13.5 billion light years away. James Webb captured this image while the galaxy was still at a young age and astrophysicists believe that this galaxy was born only 280 million years after the Big Bang. The James Webb did not just take a photo of a galaxy, but it travelled 13.5 billion years back in time; to a time when Earth didn’t exist and hydrogen was still fusing into helium. It was a large step forward for the space industry, as it produces some of the most powerful and detailed images of faraway corners of our universe. Imagine witnessing stars being devoured by supermassive black holes and the collapse of giant stars into dense neutron stars. These findings have shaped our understanding of familiar concepts like gravitational attraction but also new ideas like spaghettification (what happens to an object when it enters a black hole).

    However, the most remarkable achievement of this particular telescope is the discovery of potential life. The James Webb telescope analysed the chemical composure of K2-18b, a planet 700 trillion miles away. Then scientists back on Earth inspected to find a large number of molecules in its atmosphere which on Earth can only be produced by living organisms. Due to the large proportion of these molecules, scientists believe that if this planet is home to organisms, it is teeming with life. K2-18b is two and a half times bigger than Earth but otherwise remarkably similar; it is a water world, thought to be covered entirely by oceans. The evidence collected by this one telescope is growing, making it more and more likely that there is life in those depths.

    So, we thank you Galileo for sacrificing your freedom. Without it, our knowledge of the entirety of the universe would be limited to still trying to prove the heliocentric model. Young curious minds like mine may never have been drawn to star-gazing. I wish you could see what your small, 51-millimetre telescope has inspired and what information has been found because of it.

    Maybe, my dad was right. A man who started the domino effect that led to these new findings deserves to be treated like a God. On behalf of all qualified and aspiring scientists out there, bless us with knowledge, integrity and innovation like yours.