April 15, 2018

Artificial Intelligence Not Replacing All Humans

Saw an article this week the 100% of all human jobs will be replaced with Artificial Intelligence by 2050. I respectfully disagree.

Computers are easy to program to do linear thinking well. But that is a group of humans telling computers what to do. Computers do not extrapolate and apply knowledge to different situations near as well as a child.

Humans know how to experiment, to combine lessons learned, and to make jumps in logic to solve problems.

The first hint is the self-driving killing a pedestrian in Arizona. She was walking a bike across the road in the dark. There were no vehicles nor obstacles to possibly block the lidar & radar views of her. Yet the car still hit her.

Self-driving cars should have been programmed to avoid people walking into the street, and avoid bicyclists. But were they programmed to avoid a person walking a bicycle? 

Suspect the issues is what happens when the self-driving vehicle comes into situations it does not expect. Nature, other drivers, pedestrians, skateboarders, bicyclists and children do not always act in predictable ways. Can you program a machine to avoid a tornado driven house on the road?

As a technologist / engineer think quite likely we will see self-driving vehicles. It will take longer than the optimists think. Self-driving trucks are set up for well mapped out freeways with limited on and off ramps. City streets and country roads are still too difficult. What would they do in a blizzard without human intervention? 

Drove from my brother’s rural house in New York down to JFK airport on a narrow parkway and city freeway. Was able to use the radar cruise control most of the trip, and appreciated the lane drift warnings. However could a self-driving car on an unfamiliar road know to move to different sides of the lane or straddle the lane markers to avoid potholes and wet patches? 

What about dogs, cats, deer and other animals crossing its lane?

What about the parking at McDonalds with a dead truck in the middle of parking lot lane and cars parked all over? Would it know how to figure a safe place to park out of the arriving tow truck’s way? Could it manage the drive thru?

Does AI know a ball rolling into the street means a child may follow?

AI will be a helper for humans, and make roads safer in the long run. Lets face it the biggest safety problem today is distracted drivers. Computers will not replace creativity and deep thinking.

Scientific American interviewed Leonard Mlodinow about his new book, “Elastic”. Leonard Mlodinow believes the future belongs to the elastic mind. Read here: 

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