British MPs taking measures to ensure we don't live in a WallE-like AI-controlled dystopian world

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the latest buzzword. If you’ve been following the tech space over the last year, you may have noticed increased use of terms such as AI and bots. AI is definitely improving, and we’re just about getting started with bots, who can answer your queries, book your cabs and more. The underlying leitmotif of both these technologies is to take off some mental load off of us. So far, so good. Technological Singularity – that moment when AI takes over human intelligence – is still (at least) decades away. But British MPs on the Science and Technology Committee have already called for establishing a commission to address the issues raised by AI. They are calling for news skills for humans, which will ensure AI doesn’t make our jobs completely redundant. The bots are here Think about it. Till digital assistants and later smartphones came along, we used to memorise telephone numbers and birth dates of our loved ones. Since the last decade, we have conveniently outsourced this task to our digital organisers, phonebooks, Calendars and so on. The AI powering some services also send you reminders of when to call you friend on their birthdays; pulls up photos shot years ago to remind you of this day; shows you restaurants nearby based on time and location and much more. Why bother remembering things when you have information at the click of a button? Or through the voice of a digital assistant. We keep hearing about jobs that were done by humans being taken over by machines. Earlier this year, Foxconn replaced **60,000 employees with robots**. Think replacing manual labour with robots is a no-brainer? Well, then how about a robot which is writing news articles? Then there’s this short film starring Silicon Valley’s Thomas Middleditch called Sunspring, the screenplay for which was written by AI. So you still think AI will not replace your job in the years to come? Well, think again. [caption id=“attachment_224771” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Image: Associated Press[/caption] Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates have all expressed concerns over the threat perceptions of super intelligent robots and advanced AI. In his biography, Musk had even mentioned how Google buying Boston Dynamics had him concerned. Although Musk is good friends with Page, he is not very optimistic about something like AI assisted robots such as the ones Google has demoed. “He could produce something evil by accident,” said Musk about Page, alluding to the fact that Boston Dynamics made robots for US military. Alphabet, Google’s parent company has now put **Boston Dynamics up for sale.** Are we headed for a dystopian future? Robots being used in warfare is no longer in the realm of science fiction. But there are many books and movies which revolve around the theme of a dystopian future. The 2008 film Wall-E has painted a great picture of what could happen if we completely give in to intelligent robots and AI. Here’s a short video that drives the point home.

As humans, we are meant to be physically and mentally active. But over the years, at least in metros, our dependence on smart devices and propensity to lead sedentary lifestyles has reached alarming levels. Innovations in technology have surely made our lives better. But just like remembering phone numbers, outsourcing everything to something programmed is also dangerous. Else the day isn’t far when we will start resembling the obese humans in Wall-E. Skills that require human intervention So far the AI we have seen, at least on consumer products, is aimed at performing specific tasks quickly. The conversational assistants such as Siri and Google Assistant, are definitely taking it a notch higher. Like that Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johannson starrer Her, where a lonely man falls in love with his operating system. Dr Tania Mathias, acting Science and Technology committee chairwoman, says that AI machines have narrow and specific roles for now. “It is too soon to set down sector-wide regulations for this nascent field, but it is vital that careful scrutiny of the ethical, legal and societal ramifications of artificially intelligent systems begins now,” she told the BBC. She says that the government hasn’t shown any leadership on tackling the issue. According to her AI may create jobs in the future, but it will definitely be displacing many in the process. Mathias says that since we cannot pre-empt what those replace jobs will be, there should be committment from the British government to upgrade education and training systems. TechUK, representing UK technology companies has welcomed the report saying there has to be an informed and balanced discussion between business, academia, citizens and governments. Our systems and AI are getting more intelligent by the day. Google’s AI for instance is quite good at understanding context. This was ably demonstrated at the recently held Google hardware event. Supercomputers such as IBM’s Watson, which defeated a Jeopardy champion is the other spectrum. In the midst of this, what are those skills which cannot be made redundant by AI or robots? That is the question that needs a lot more discussion, not just in the UK, but across the globe.