Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: robotics/AI

Frankly brainwashing tactics never worked with me. I am not sure what the media is up to; but this is truly become a bit ridiculous. Up until last week; the media and dooms day believers where telling everyone in the next 10 years; most of the jobs would no longer be held by humans. Until me and a few other folks on the web started sharing the facts on why that was not a reality. So, recently, the journalists new story is in 30 years most of the jobs will be taken by robots.

Again, we will settle down from the hype and learn that the reality is people will have jobs because new careers will be created plus some of the corporate and special skilled jobs that we have today have too much access to IP and other private information. And, this type of information most companies will want some level of human oversight managing the information and operations around it. Also, we will see that in order to keep creativity and real innovation moving forward that we will always need humans involved.

Besides, in the 1950’s robots and computers was suppose to have taken over by 1970; and in 1970 the humanoids (like in the movie WestWorld) was suppose to exist and we were to colonized the moon by 1999; and the same stories continue today.

A life of leisure could be the norm for a majority of people in decades to come, according to Moshe Vardi from Rice University in Houston, Texas, who spoke at the annual AAAS meeting.

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I believe it is wonderful to think about cognitive computing. However, as a fellow CIO & CTO, I would suggest a key priority has to be focused on Cyber Security until it is resolved; or in a better position to proactively blocker would be intruders. Without a solid Cyber Security plan and model in place and operational; your cognitive computing capabilities will be worth nothing in the end once hackers are helping themselves to your IP and other information as well as your AI machines.

The news comes from the recent IBM Institute for Business Value study, “Redefining Competition: Insights from the Global C-suite Study — The CEO perspective.” Researchers interviewed more than 5,000 C-level executives worldwide about their perspectives on a variety of technology issues, including the importance of mobile solutions, cloud Relevant Products/Services computing, and the Internet of Things.

Torchbearers and Market Followers.

Cognitive computing, which involves developing computing resources that are capable of mimicking the way human brains work to tackle increasingly complex problems, emerged as one of the most important issues likely to confront business executives in the near future.

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I agree; still a lot of work to be done in order for AI to have a huge impact around taking most of the jobs away. Besides, with new technology comes new careers.

India’s finance minister isn’t worried about jobs being lost in the country’s manufacturing sector despite warnings that industrial robots will dramatically reduce the need for factory workers in coming decades.

“I still have faith in human ingenuity, that even when jobs are lost in certain sectors … more jobs will be created because of that increased economic activity in other sectors,” Arun Jaitley told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday at the CNN Asia Business Forum in Mumbai.

Economists are increasingly concerned that developments in artificial intelligence and robotics will disrupt the business world in a similar way to previous industrial revolutions, leading to job losses.

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I find this a bit of a stretch. Maybe some jobs; however, not all and there will be (like any new technology, etc.) new career fields created.

“Can the global economy adapt to greater than 50 per cent unemployment? Will those out of work be content to live a life of leisure?” Vardi noted.

“I believe that society needs to confront this question before it is upon us: If machines are capable of doing almost any work humans can do, what will humans do?” he said.

“The question I want to put forward is, ‘Does the technology we are developing ultimately benefit mankind?’” said Vardi, a member of both the US National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Science.

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Very good read; and hints at something that I have been highlighting for a while around AI, NextGen transformation and adoption, etc. One very large brick wall that I highlighted in my latest posts around 5 areas that need to be address for AI to be adopted more broadly is Cyber Security.

If we do not get Cyber Security address soon around hackers, cloud, etc. AI (including robotics), brain interfaces, etc. will be either rejected or very limited in its adoption. It is just that simple.

What are CISO’s (Chief Information Security Officers) worrying about in 2016?

According to the recent 2016 Security Pressures report from Trustwave, theft of information from a successful breach or cyber-attack ranks as the top worrying outcome for nearly two-thirds of respondents.

With the Identity Theft Resource Center placing the number of records exposed from data breaches in 2015 somewhere around 170 million, it’s no surprise.

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The pace at which robots and intelligent machines are able to take over the jobs traditionally performed by humans will result in more than half the population being unemployed within 30 years, an expert in computing has predicted.

While some may look forward to a life of leisure, many others face the dismal prospect of long-term unemployment as a result of the rise of smart machines, from self-driving cars and intelligent drones to smart financial-trading machines, said Moshe Vardi, professor of computational engineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

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Women will want to design their own robots especially those that would provide any companionship to them or even as a caregiver. Granted we’re still 30+ years off for that level of sophistication. And, the 1st woman owned and ran robot company with women engineers; will make billions because this is a huge void currently.

Whether robots could one day think for themselves and the how this would affect humans’ relationships with them is a common subject in science fiction. However, novelists are increasingly investigating another burning issue: could robots love a human?

Imagine a Venn Diagram with one circle representing the dark steeliness of humanoid robots and the other the flowery soft-focus pink of a Mills & Boon romance.

What would happen where the circles cross?

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This is wonderful program for students wanting to learn robotics. I do believe for real AI/ traditional Robotics (not referring to nanobots or microbots) to truly accelerate in capabilities; it will require technology like Quantum.

Two young engineering students are making robotics more accessible to enthusiasts across the country

A spartan apartment at a nondescript housing society in Pashan is filled with robots of all shapes and sizes. Among the curious looking machines are two robotic hands that mimic the movement of a human body and a large quadcopter that looks as if it’s ready to fly. This is the working space of College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP) alumni Amol Gulhane and Pratik Pravin Deshmukh — the 20-something founders of Robolab, a venture that’s making robotics accessible to the masses by building robotics labs across the country.

“We were inspired to start Robolab because of two reasons. Being members of the Robot Study Circle, a college group dedicated to robotics at CoEP, we were passionate about building robots. Although we were specialising in electronics and telecommunications, robotics brought out the best in us. When the time approached for graduation in 2013, the thought of having to give up our hobby was depressing. So, the idea to start Robolab in November 2013 was born out of the desire to stay true to our calling,” said Deshmukh. The second reason, revealed the youngsters, was more idealistic. In the course of launching Robolab, the duo conducted a survey to find out the number of colleges in India having labs dedicated to robotics. “We found out there were just a handful of colleges like the IITs who had such labs. Since not many people can make it to the IITs, we decided to take robotics to the masses with Robolab.”

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Now, we’re hearing that it will be another 30 years before we see AI take 50% of the positions. Just last week, it was reported that within 10 years we would see 50% of the jobs lost to AI. I do caution folks not to be careful in over promising and under deliver because I believe that learned from that lesson in 1999 — 2001.

Society faces its biggest challenge in finding meaning in a life mostly run by machines, warns Rice University’s Moshe Vardi.

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Why? Why are there so many folks hyping up AI devastation?

I truly caution folks from over hyping things before they hurt a lot of innocent people. Things like Quantum Computing and Internet, CRISPR, microbot technology, etc. could be badly damaged as a result of the over hype of AI and it’s under delivery.

Also, the ongoing changing numbers on when 50% of the jobs are lost or the ongoing shuffle/ changes in the capabilities of the AI story is also creating an environment of distrust which also hurts efforts around Quantum, CRISPR, etc.

Investors and consumers don’t forget things that easily; and could pull away in supporting these other much needed technologies.

Advances in artificial intelligence will soon lead to robots that are capable of nearly everything humans do, threatening tens of millions of jobs in the coming 30 years, experts warned Saturday.

“We are approaching a time when machines will be able to outperform humans at almost any task,” said Moshe Vardi, director of the Institute for Information Technology at Rice University in Texas.

“I believe that society needs to confront this question before it is upon us: If machines are capable of doing almost any work humans can do, what will humans do?” he asked at a panel discussion on artificial intelligence at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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