Recently, discussion centered Artificial Intelligence is making headlines on social media, and the public's reaction has not been so friendly. So, what is Artificial Intelligence, and why are people so disturbed?
Artificial Intelligence (AI), defined by TechTarget, is "the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. These processes include learning (the acquisition of information and rules for using the information), reasoning (using the rules to reach approximate or definite conclusions) and self correction." While very few are excited for AI to integrate in society, many others are terrified and in all honesty, their feelings are understandable.
Masahiro Mori, a robotics professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, wrote an essay on how he believed people would react to human like robots. His hypothesis did not garner attention at first, but it became notable in recent years. In his essay "Uncanny Valley," he predicted that a person would change from empathy to repulsion as "it approached, but failed to attain, a lifelike appearance." The diagram below is a visual representation of the dip humans will experience. The less human something is, the better. For instance, industrial machines and stuffed animals would fall on the left side of the graph. However, if something closely resembles a healthy human but is NOT human, we will feel empathetic up until a certain point. Zombies, corpses, and robots would fall into the point called the Uncanny Valley.
Sophia the Robot, created by Hanson Robotics, has been trending on Twitter for a while. She is able to do more than 60 facial expressions, walk, and hold conversations. In 2017, she became a Saudi Arabian and was named the first UN Innovation Champion. Sophia has also done interviews with celebrities like Will Smith, and modeled for magazine. We can all agree that Sophia the Robot is definitely challenging the norm.
The Uncanny Valley does not just apply to robots. The Polar Express is a 3D computer-animated film released in 2004. We all remember this movie and how it brings back Christmas memories, but The Polar Express was not so favorable at first. The film has been criticized for dipping into uncanniness. Some people were creeped out and even had recalled having nightmares. Although we clearly do not find the film disturbing today, the characters we grew to love were a little too eerie for some viewers.
But is AI any different than what we're experiencing right now? Let's face it, we are living in the "future." Technology is advancing at an exponential rate, especially within the last 25 years. In my lifetime alone, I experienced a fast change in technology. I remember dial-up internet access, flip phones, the first handheld Nintendo, and the list goes on. Now, we have smartphones that can do almost anything, especially with the internet at its peak.
Our society is already integrating AI in daily life, and the industry is close to a breakthrough. The AI that we know right now is only testing the waters to see how the public reacts. It is not just its “unlike-like” appearance that has everyone shaking in their boots; it is the possibility that these AIs can take away job opportunities later on. With voice recognition on smartphones mastered, innovators are not far from perfecting humanlike robots. Just like self-checkout machines and many other automated systems, I predict robots taking over the customer service field. I just don’t know how I feel about it.
Do you think robots are going to become an integral part of society soon? Why or why not?
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