{"id":122392,"date":"2023-07-27T16:26:33","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T20:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=122392"},"modified":"2023-07-27T18:59:28","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T22:59:28","slug":"a-new-generation-of-robots-seems-increasingly-human","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=122392","title":{"rendered":"(New Yorker) A New Generation Of Robots Seems Increasingly Human"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1920, the Czech writer Karel \u010capek wrote \u201cR.U.R<\/a>. (Rossum\u2019s Universal Robots),\u201d a play set in the year 2000 that follows the evolution of robota, a new class of android worker-slaves that eventually rises up and annihilates its human masters. The play introduced both the word \u201crobot\u201d and a narrative of human-robot conflict that, by now, has become familiar in movies such as \u201cThe Terminator<\/a>,\u201d \u201cRoboCop,\u201d and \u201cBlade Runner<\/a>.\u201d Will robots fashioned to look like us, and programmed to accede to our wishes, spur people to think of them as friends and co-workers\u2014or to treat them like chattel? Onstage in Telluride, David Hanson said that the purpose of robots like Sophia is to teach people compassion. But it seemed counterintuitive to suggest that a machine that can only mimic human emotions has the ability to inculcate in us something so fundamental to the human experience.<\/p>\n

In Hanson\u2019s view, Sophia is no different than a character in a book, and we know that stories can engender empathy. But given the speed at which artificial-intelligence models are being deployed, and their tendency to behave erratically, we would be wise not to wholly abandon the caution inspired by \u010capek and his heirs. Matthias Scheutz, the C.E.O. of Thinking Robots, pointed out that unless designers build constraints and ethical guardrails into the A.I. models that will power robots of the future, there is a risk of inadvertently creating machines that could harm us in unforeseen ways. \u201cThe situation we need to avoid with these machines is that when we test them, they give us the answers we want to hear, but behind the scenes they\u2019re developing their own agenda,\u201d Scheutz told me. \u201cI\u2019m listening to myself talking right now, and it sounds like sci-fi. Unfortunately, it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere is no doubt that the A.I. revolution we\u2019re witnessing now will animate the robots of the future, giving them skills that match, surpass, or replace our own,\u201d @SueHalpernVT<\/a> writes. \u201cIt is already happening.\u201d https:\/\/t.co\/VNqhjGvleR<\/a><\/p>\n

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) July 26, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n