Google Sets Up AI Ethics Board To Control Any Rise of the Machines
There’ s been alot of questions regarding Google’s recent purchases of several robotics & Artificial Intelligence companies.Most recently, the search giant has purchased Deep Mind, a British firm creating software that tries to help computers think like humans.
Speculation about a potential ‘SkyNet/Terminator’ scenario has made lots of people legitimately concerned about what could happen if things got out of hand. So to curb some of the anxiety, Google has established an ethics board to oversee its work in robotics & artificial intelligence.
However, one of Deep Minds own founders warned artificial intelligence is the ‘number 1 risk for mankind this century,’ and believes it could play a part in human extinction of not carefully managed.
Google recently bought a series of robotic companies including California-based Meka, which makes humanoid robots, pictured. The firm isn’t expected to make these technologies available to consumers but instead could use them to automate deliveries of goods
‘Eventually, I think human extinction will probably occur, and technology will likely play a part in this,’ DeepMind’s Shane Legg said in a recent interview. “The ethics board was established to ensure the projects are not abused.”
Neuroscientist Demis Hassabis, 37, co-founded DeepMind with the aim of trying to help computers think like humans. Although the company has yet to produce anything commercially, Google still paid £242million for its expertise in the pioneering field of artificial intelligence. It represents Google’s largest single acquisition in Europe.
This latest acquisition follows Google’s recent purchase of seven other robotics firms, including Boston Dynamics, Meka, which makes humanoid robots, and Industrial Perception, which specializes in machines that can package goods and load up lorries, for example.
This isn’t Google’s first foray into artificial intelligence and machine learning. Google’s most recent Hummingbird search update, for example, was created to make Google ‘more human’ and searches can now understand context, like a human brain.
What do you think about these types of projects? Let us know in the comments below.
