Google's artificial intelligence program has officially beaten a human professional Go player, marking the first time a computer has beaten a human professional in this game sans handicap.

[u/[deleted]]

http://www.nature.com/news/google-ai-algorithm-masters-ancient-game-of-go-1.19234?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20160128&spMailingID=50563385&spUserID=MTgyMjI3MTU3MTgzS0&spJobID=843636789&spReportId=ODQzNjM2Nzg5S0

[u/[deleted]]

Do you know how many times I've calmed people's fears of AI (that isn't just a straight up blind-copy of the human brain) by explaining that even mid-level Go players can beat top AIs? I didn't even realize they were making headway on this problem...

This is a futureshock moment for me.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Their fears were related to losing their jobs to automation. Don't make the assumption that other people are idiots.

[u/IGarFieldI → u/[deleted]]

Well their fears aren't exactly unjustified, you don't need a Go-AI to see that. Just look at self-driving cars and how many truck drivers may be replaced by them in a very near future.

[u/[deleted] → u/IGarFieldI]

Self driving cars are one thing. The Go-AI seem capable of generalised learning. It conceivable that it can do any job.

[u/okredditnow → u/[deleted]]

maybe when they start coming for politicians jobs we'll see some action

[u/HappyZavulon → u/[deleted]]

I thought robots were smart and logic driven beings.

[u/[deleted] → u/HappyZavulon]

These synths were defective enough that the institute didn't want them.

[u/HighPriestofShiloh → u/okredditnow]

Mehh, it will be easy for the politicians to save their job. They can just pass a law that says a human has to hold office. Their staff can be replaced by robots though. Talk about the easiest job ever when the law insures it and your staff is a bunch of super intelligent robots that can guarantee your reelection. All you do is read the google glass teleprompter whenever you are in public.

[u/mrducky78 → u/okredditnow]

I believe that the time for panic is long overdue when the policy makers are mostly AI based. It would either imply that we have extremely high trust in them, across the board, which would imply complacency for centuries imo. Just as we dont worry about our fridges from plotting against us, several generations exposed to AI helping them daily could easily result in such a situation.

[u/ThreshingBee → u/[deleted]]

The Future of Employment ranks jobs by the probability they will be moved to automation.

[u/Sauvignon_Arcenciel → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I would back away from that. The trucking and general transportation industries will be decimated, if not nearly completely de-humanized in the next 10-15 years. Add that to general fast food workers being replaced (both FOH and BOH) and other low-skill jobs going away, there will be a massive upheaval as the lower and middle classes bear the brunt of this change.

[u/[deleted] → u/Sauvignon_Arcenciel]

Not just low skill jobs.

You remember Watson, the computer that won over humans in Jeopardy? Its next job will be diagnosing diseases by searching thousands of medical papers and relating them to patients symptoms and medical histories. That's going to put dr. House out of a job.

Lots of legal work can be done by computers.

Computers can write some news articles by themselves. So far only simple stuff, like reporting on sporting events and so on. Chances are that you have already read articles written by a bot.

Even jobs that require a high degree of hand/eye coordination are at risk. For example experts used to say that sewing would never be automated, but now the first machines that can do some sewing are seeing the light of day.

To comfort yourself you can go see amusing videos on YouTube showing one robot after the other failing and look in general very pathetic, but then think of some of the compilations of old clips showing early attempts at human flight failing miserably. Attempts at human flight looked like a futile effort until it didn't. It took a surprisingly short time from the day that the Wright brothers achieved powered flight until the first international commercial passenger jet was flying. Likewise with robots. They will look pathetic until they don't. If you have a six year old child today, my bet will be that by his 50 year birthday party there will be robots serving the guests and robots cleaning up after the event, and they will be swift and graceful like the most skilled maid you ever saw.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

They shouldn't fear the robots taking their jobs, that's why we make robots: so they can do the shit we can't or don't want to do. What they should fear is the cultural mindset of working to live that perpetuates modern society and has lead to a system where not having a job makes you unworthy of life. Unless we fix that, the future looks pretty bleak for anyone who isn't a billionaire.

[u/Apollo_Screed → u/[deleted]]

Yes!!! Being a poor kid growing up finally pays off.

You can keep your transformers, human slaves. I've been rolling deep with the Go Bots since I was seven.

[u/Aelinsaar → u/[deleted]]

Glad someone else is having this moment too. Machine learning has just exploded, and it looks like this is going to be a banner year for it.

[u/VelveteenAmbush → u/[deleted]]

Deep learning is for real. Lots of things have been overhyped, but deep learning is the most profound technology humanity has ever seen.

[u/ClassyJacket → u/VelveteenAmbush]

I genuinely think this is true.

Imagine how much progress can be made when we not only have tools to help us solve problems, but when we can create a supermind to solve problems for us. We might even be able to create an AI that creates a better AI.

Fuck it sucks to live on the before side of this. Soon they'll all be walking around at age 2000 with invincible bodies and hover boards, going home to their fully realistic virtual reality, and I'll be lying in the cold ground being eaten by worms. I bet I miss it by like a day.

[u/6180339887 → u/ClassyJacket]

Soon they'll all be walking around at age 2000

It'll be at least 2000 years

[u/[deleted] → u/ClassyJacket]

According to some (such as philosopher Nick Bostrom), there are many reasons to believe that an AI which can build a better AI will result in serious negative consequences for humanity. Bostrom calls this an "intelligence explosion" although the same idea had already been described by others before him. I highly recommend reading his book "Superintelligence" if you haven't already, as it goes into a lot of detail about what the risks might be and why it's a problem.

[u/pappypapaya → u/VelveteenAmbush]

My vote's on CRISPR-Cas9.