Download Developing regulations concerning artificial intelligence

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Developing regulations concerning
artificial intelligence
Special Conference 2
President
Fabianna Flores
Introduction
Over the years, there have been many technological advances linked to artificial intelligence.
Computer scientists have the ultimate goal of getting computer systems to perform tasks
that would usually require humans to use our intelligence. These tasks include those that
require humans to carry out decision-making, perception, recognizing and translating
speech. There have already been advances that have allowed models and computers to
gather information and keep this information to be able to carry out tasks that need human
intelligence. However, scientists have not yet had a breakthrough in getting computer
systems to have the same complex thinking methods as seen in humans.
Furthermore, the term artificial intelligence was first introduced in 1956. Ever since then,
scientists have continued to create models to further develop artificial intelligence. These
include projects such as the Turing Test and IBM’s Watson. Both these models have used
computer systems that are artificially intelligent as a means to show the development of the
theory that computer systems can be as smart as humans, act similarly to humans and
exceed human intelligence in some cases. The reason behind this is the fact that computer
systems use algorithms in their neural networks so that patterns can be followed through
inputs so as to produce an output using the information given. This reflects the way that
humans would perceive the information and how humans would react to it, meaning that the
output of the computer system closely resembles the conclusion that a human would draw
from the situation. In the Turing Test, scientists were able to see this close resemblance
between artificial intelligence and human intelligence.
Additionally, this has led to the growth of developing artificial intelligence since it would make
tasks performed by humans more efficient and allow humans to use their skills elsewhere.
However, problems do arise from the inevitable growth of artificial intelligence. The future of
artificial intelligence shows the high possibility of high levels of unemployment, as computer
systems and models will do many jobs. Also, the legal status of these systems will need to
be considered when they begin to become more lifelike. Another possible problem is the fact
that these systems may have negative effects on the world in terms of the environment. It is
because of these possible problems that regulations need to be set up to prepare the future
generations of the great impact artificial intelligence has and will have on the human race.
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Definition of Key Terms
Algorithms
Algorithms are formulas used in computer programs that can solve a problem through
assigning specific actions to the program. Therefore, a computer program will follow a set of
rules (the algorithm) to calculate or solve a problem. In AI (artificial intelligence) the
algorithm used tries to mimic the way the human mind would process the information.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability that a computer system has that enables them to mimic
human intelligence. With the use of artificial intelligence, computer systems are able to do
tasks that typically require humans to use their own intelligence to solve a problem or make
a decision. These tasks include abilities such as making decisions, perceiving visual stimuli,
recognizing speech.
Computer system
A computer system is a system that is able to execute actions or process information in an
automated way. It uses a hardware system that works together with a software program that
allows the computer to work and carry out a specific task.
Hardware system
The physical parts that make up a computer system such as the keyboard, monitor, and
hard drive.
Human intelligence
The ability that humans have to use memory, imagination, reason and judgment to
understand and make sense of their surroundings. It is used by humans to gather
information to make decisions and solve problems.
Neural network
It is a computer system that aims to resemble the way the human mind and nervous system
work. Neural networks are used in artificial intelligence since the end goal is to make a
system that mimics the processes that occur in the human mind.
Software program
A software program is a program that does a certain task given to it through an algorithm.
Examples of software programs include the Internet browsers Google and Firefox.
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General Overview
Background Information
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be dated back to Greek mythology, when mechanical systems
were shown to act with some form of intelligence. After World War II, humans were able to
build computer programs to complete simple tasks and problems with the use of algorithms.
However, AI was not formally introduced until 1956.
Developments
IBM, a computer hardware company, first introduced artificial intelligence at a conference in
Dartmouth College in 1956. Here the theory of ‘artificial intelligence’ and its future was
discussed between scientists. After this, many experts began developing systems that each
had a specific task to complete which used AI. An example of one of these systems is the
MYCIN system developed by Feigenbaim Bachanan and Edward Shortlife. The MYCIN uses
an algorithm, which includes around 450 rules that it needs to follow in order to diagnose
blood infections. This showed the possibility of using AI to aid humans with tasks so that
they can be done more efficiently.
However, soon after the conference, the AI field went through a period of time known as the
‘AI winter’. It was called that way since not many advances were made, regardless of the
amount of funding received for projects. This AI winter occurred from 1974 to 1981. It was at
the end of this period that the British and Japanese regained interest. The British
government began funding projects once again in order to compete with the advances seen
in Japan. A couple of years later, in 1997, a breakthrough occurred when IBM created a
computer system that was able to beat world champion chess player Gary Kasparov. More
recently, in 2011, another artificially intelligent system was able to win the quiz show called
Jeopardy!. Both these advances showed the possibility of using neural networks that can
outsmart humans and respond in ways similarly to them.
Machine Learning
Many of the most recent developments have been based around machine learning, which
aims to develop AI systems to respond to inputs in ways that resemble how humans would
respond. An example of this firstly began in 1950. It is known as the Turing test, which
aimed to test whether an AI system could be seen as intelligent by mimicking human
conversation. Only one machine was able to pass the Turing test in 2014 when over half of
the test subjects believed that they were talking to a human when in fact they had been
talking to a machine. This success of the Turing test showed that AI systems have been
developed to a point where they are able to mimic human conversations.
Many other developments in AI have been linked to transportation and healthcare. For
example, Google has come together with UK’s National Health Service to develop a
software that is being taught to be able to diagnose cancer from scans, identify heart
disease and Alzheimer’s. This is linked to machine learning because these systems will be
able to take in information, process it and act upon their software to improve healthcare.
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The Future
The advancement of AI will bring many opportunities for humans. AI systems will be able to
take over many tasks and therefore change our daily lives by making them more efficient.
The main developments so far have been in developing machine learning, which is when a
computer is able to improve its function by receiving more data and being able to process it
faster to provide better solutions or recommendations. This has already been introduced to
our daily lives through the use of technology that recognizes our speech and systems that
recommend specific things to us such as movies. We have already begun to become reliant
on these day to day uses of technology. It is because of that reliability that many companies
will begin to use these wants of consumers to develop even more AI systems. The main goal
of the future of AI is to improve education, healthcare and transportation.
Firstly, with the use of AI, transportation will be made easier through automated vehicles.
These vehicles use artificial intelligence system to replace the driver, meaning an actual
human driver is no longer required. This can already be seen through the fact that autopilot
is an option in many vehicles. In 2012, Google tested a self-driving car, which was classified
as one level below full automation by the US Department of Transportation. Other types of
vehicles are close to becoming fully automated. This includes all trains being automated as
this is already seen in the Vancouver SkyTrain. Also buses are close to being automated,
with Mercedes-Benz has designed and tested an automated bus. The future implications of
this are to make transport safer.
Another possibility that AI will bring to humans in the future is the fact that robots that use AI
can perform dangerous jobs. These dangerous jobs include defusing bombs. Robots have
already begun doing this but these robots require human control, as they do not yet use AI.
Once further developments are made in AI, the machines will be able to work independently
to prevent humans from harming themselves in dangerous jobs such as those that include
toxic substances.
Additionally, artificially intelligent systems have the ability to retain more data than a human
since they can store all the information given to them. This means AI systems could be given
lots of data and information which can be processed into an output much more quickly than
if a human did this. This process could potentially lead AI to use the information to make
judgments and find solutions to large problems we currently face, such as climate change.
This will benefit us, as they will be able to find patterns and trends that we may have never
been able to notice. This has already been seen through IBM’s Watson AI system: it
analyzed 25 million medical studies to be able to analyze 1000 oncology cases. In the
results it was seen that 99% of the time this AI system was able to come up with the correct
conclusion but what was surprising is that Watson was able to find something that these
doctors had missed 30% of the time. This shows that in the future, AI will help humans in
many different areas, because they have the ability to do similar tasks as humans can do,
but more efficiently or even better.
Possible Threats
Artificial Intelligence has not yet reached its peak. Until now, we have only been developing
AI systems that will potentially proliferate once more advances are made. Since this is a
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relatively new field, no regulations have been set up and the advancements are outpacing
policies. This may cause even more problems, as there will be no way to regulate
technology that has potential threats to society.
Potential problems include the fact that technology that uses AI will become more powerful
and in the end may begin to be used for dangerous reasons. These dangerous reasons
could include the use of robots that use AI to replace soldiers or also the creation of
autonomous weapons. Therefore, a main factor that needs to be dealt with is cyber security
that is linked to the development of AI.
Another problem is the fact that the revenue may be unfairly distributed in the economy. This
unfair distribution will occur because currently there is a higher demand on a human
workforce, but once AI advances, many jobs will be taken over by these systems. Once this
occurs, a lot of the revenue will then be given to the companies that own the systems. Since
many AI systems will take over jobs, the rate of unemployment will increase. There is also a
fear that at one point humans will no longer be able to control AI systems. Therefore, steps
need to be taken towards developing regulations to ensure that these threats are researched
into and specific policies are made.
Major Parties Involved
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has been contributing to the development of artificial intelligence
through many of its start-ups and universities. However, the British government has not yet
taken the impact that artificial intelligence could have on the future of the country into
account. There could be a lot of opportunities but also many threats. It is expected that by
2035, the use of AI could add 814 billion USD to the country’s economy since it is likely that
artificial intelligence will increase economic growth of many developed countries. Many
Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom have noticed the absence of the government
in educating and training people about AI. Since the 1980s, the United Kingdom has been in
the lead in regulating technology, and therefore it would be wise for them to continue
regulating AI so that AI benefits society and the threats are diminished.
United States of America
The United States of America has had extensive AI research seeing as a lot of funding is put
into this development. Firstly, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
has funded projects that will later be used by the military. For example, the Mind’s Eye
Program is a program being developed by the US military that will use an artificially
intelligent camera so that the camera can make judgments and analyze what it sees. Also,
many tech giants such as Google have been funding AI in the US. One of their main focuses
is on speech recognition as seen with Apple’s Siri-feature. Google has stated that they are
interested in robotics, particularly self-driving vehicles. Another source of funding is the
National Science Foundation that fund projects that link neuroscience and AI. As we can
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see, the United States of America is very interested in the future of AI seeing that there has
been a lot of funding for projects with different goals in mind.
Japan
In Japan, universities as well as companies have been seen to be interested in robotics.
This is linked to artificial intelligence as they are focusing their robots to work in industries to
take over jobs, which is different to the US goal that is focused on military based AI. The
Japanese want to make human-like robots that can work in restaurants for example.
Therefore the development of AI is crucial for Japan, since the robots will need to use the
neural network to allow the robots to act like humans. Tech giants in Japan are not as
interested in using AI to create computer systems like as the United States, but establishing
regulations on AI will benefit them as well since it will make the future clearer and prevent
possible issues for both humans and robots.
Timeline of Key Events
April 3rd, 1956
1973
1981
May 11th, 1997
February 28th, 2011
October 4th, 2011
June 9th, 2014
Artificial Intelligence is defined in a conference in Dartmouth
University.
The AI winter begins during the early 1970s since no large
breakthroughs occur, despite the millions being spent.
The end of the AI winter because its commercial value has
begun attracting investors.
IBM builds a machine able to evaluate 200 million chess
positions per second and was able to win against world
champion Garry Kasparov.
IBM’s Watson goes on the show Jeopardy! to answer
questions that require it to process information similarly to
humans. Watson, an AI machine, wins the show.
Apple introduces Siri that is able to recognize speech which is
now 92% accurate.
Chatbot Eugene Goostman passes the Turing test.
Previous attempts to resolve the issue
Artificial intelligence is still in development and therefore no clear regulations have been set
up. Bill Gates once stated his fear that proliferation of AI, as it becomes more advanced,
may possibly threaten the existence of humans. The problem is that governments have not
begun setting up these regulations since there is still much research and development done
on AI. However, with the passing of the Turing test in 2014, it is shown that AI systems have
the ability to resemble human intelligence.
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Also, usually the implementation of regulations is set up after technological advances.
However, the power and impact that AI will have on the human race will be large, seeing that
they have the capability of doing tasks better than us. This in turn means regulations should
be set up now in order to prepare ourselves for the future. Also there should be regulations
set up during the process of researching and developing AI. One attempt at trying to make
sense of AI is in Matthew Scherer’s article called ‘Regulating Artificial Intelligence Systems’.
This paper states the difficulty of regulating AI, but tries to develop a plan on how to find a
way to approach these regulations.
Possible Solutions
Proliferation of AI is inevitable and has already begun. It will continue on developing into
more advanced computer systems and robotics. With this in mind, we must begin
developing regulations that will make the future of AI safe for the generations to come, since
currently the advancements in technology are outpacing the legislative aspect of it. A first
step that needs to be taken could be to establish a commission that will begin leading the
advancement of AI so that the same regulations are followed worldwide. This commission
would need to look at the social, ethical and legal consequences that come from AI. These
implications that AI can have on humans will then be turned into regulations so that these
weaknesses are avoided.
Furthermore, since AI is still developing and will keep changing, the regulations that are
developed should also be able to adapt to any changes. This means nations should focus on
beginning to find the implications of AI on human lives in order to find any problems that may
arise. These problems should then be noted, and solutions in the form of regulations are
needed so that many of the nations involved in developing AI comply with these regulations
for the safety of others, as it will tell the companies involved what they can and cannot do.
For example, the National Science and Technology Council has analyzed that the
implantation of AI in current products, including vehicles, will change many of the current
regulations that there are.
It is also feared that there will be possible downsides to the proliferation of AI. An example is
that there will need to be regulations to avoid high levels of unemployment. Also, the future
of AI shows that revenue may be unfairly distributed since many of the jobs will be done by
AI systems, and revenue will therefore go to the owners of the AI companies. These
downsides of AI must be addressed individually with solutions so that the risk of threats to
humanity is lowered since regulations will be set to ensure we are prepared.
Furthermore, when looking at the AI systems, they will begin to become more complex and
also more lifelike. This will mean that we need to consider their legal status as they may also
end up having the same rights as humans do. Also, ethics will come into play as we need to
find out what the possible ethical risks are behind the enhancement of AI systems.
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Also, it is essential that the next generation is prepared. This is because many of the current
jobs in different industries will be taken over by AI systems. So to prepare the future
generation, there is a need to ensure that artificial and human intelligence can live together
in the world. To do this we need to research further into the skills that these AI systems can
master and what will no longer be required from humans so as to lead the focus of humans
towards skills and knowledge that will still be needed.
Appendix/Appendices

http://theory.stanford.edu/~amitp/GameProgramming/AITechniques.html

http://hplusmagazine.com/2015/07/15/is-regulation-of-artificial-intelligence-possible/

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2609777
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