SUMMARY https://erm76.substack.com/p/artificial-intelligence-where-we-47f ----------------------------------------------------------- We introduced our first AI piece in the last podcast. This is the second of the ongoing series and focuses on some of the earlier AI applications and projected implications. Some of the material for this program is from the book, The New Communications Technologies, published a number of years ago. It focuses on communication and information technologies, including a look at some key AI subjects from that era. * A number of additional references tied to this podcast are also included. They similarly provide information about earlier AI developments. We think this information gives context to some of the contemporary AI issues you hear and read about in the news and that we’ll be exploring in future podcasts. This includes the Trump Administration’s refusal to take a measured look at the technology and its applications. Some of the earlier applications, which still exist today in more advanced iterations, include Natural Language Processing or NLP, expert systems, neural networks and autonomous vehicles. AI opponents, both past and present, have painted a bleak picture about AI. Jobs will be lost, our humanity will be diminished and AI systems could potentially wreak havoc and kill us all. On the flip side, proponents have argued, for years, that AI will free up our time so we can pursue other ideas and goals. It would give us the time and tools to potentially enhance our humanity. Finally, Isaac Asimov’s prescient Three Laws of Robotics can serve as an inspirational guide for developing AI guardrails. First articulated in the 1940s and 1950s, Asimov’s laws or rules govern robots and their actions. I. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. II. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the first law. III. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law. Notes: * The New Communications Technologies, by Michael Mirabito & Barbara Morgenstern, Focal Press. 2005. ** Michael G. Buffa, “Neural Network Technology Comes to Imaging,” Advanced Imaging 3 (November 1988), 47. *** 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick (1968; Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2001), DVD. **** Isaac Asimov, The Robots of Dawn (New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1983), back cover. 1. Texas Instruments, “French Expert System Aids in Cancer Treatment,” Personal Consultant Series Applications, product information release. 2. This includes novel situations where a human expert, in contrast, may be able to adapt to the new condition. 3. Edward Warner,“ Expert Systems and the Law,” High Technology Business (October 1988), 32. 4. G. Steven Tuthill, “Legal Liabilities and Expert Systems,” AI Expert 6 (March 1991), 46–47. 5. Michael G. Buffa, “Neural Network Technology Comes to Imaging,” Advanced Imaging 3 (November 1988), 47. 6. Gary Entsminger, “Neural-Networking Creativity,” AI Expert 6 (May 1991), 19. 7. Maureen Caudill, Neural Networks Primer (San Francisco: Miller Freeman Publications, 1989), 4. See also Andrew Stevenson, “Bookshelf,” PC AI 7 (March/April 1993), 30, 38, 57, 58, for an in-depth review of In Our Own Image, by Maureen Caudill (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), a book relevant to this overall discussion. 8. Louis E. Frenzel, Jr., Crash Course in Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems (Indianapolis, IN: Howard W. Sams & Co., 1987). 9. As described in “Machine Vision,” by J.R. Wilson, Military & Aerospace Electronics 12 (August 2001), 14–18, 10. Isaac Asimov, The Robots of Dawn (New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1983), back cover.
