Ethical issues in Artificial Intelligence – Problems and Promises

With the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the 21st century, the ethical issues with AI grow in importance along with the growth in the technology. Typically, ethics in AI is divided into Robo-ethics and Machine-ethics. Robo-ethics is a concern with the moral behaviour of humans as they design and construct artificially intelligent beings, while Machine-ethics relates to the ethical conduct of artificial moral agents (AMAs). In the modern world today, the countries are stockpiling weapons, artificially intelligent robots and other AI driven machines. So, analysing risks of artificial intelligence like whether it will overtake the major jobs and how can its uncontrolled and unethical usage can affect the humanity also becomes important. And to prevent humanity from the ill-effects and risks of artificial intelligence, these ethics were coined.

AI and robotics are unarguably one of the major topics in the field of artificial intelligence technology. Robot Ethics or more popularly known as roboethics is the morality of how humans interact, design, construct, use, and treat robots. It considers how artificially intelligent beings (AIs) may be used to harm humans and how they may be used to benefit humans. It emphasizes the fact that machines with artificial intelligence should prioritize human safety above everything else and keeping human morality in perspective.

Can AI be a threat to human dignity?

It was the first time in 1976 when a voice was raised against the potential ill-effects of an artificially developed being. Joseph Weizenbaum argued that AI should not be used to replace people in position that require respect and care, such as:

  • A customer service representative
  • A therapist
  • A soldier
  • A Police Officer
  • A Judge

Weizenbaum explains that we require authentic feelings of empathy from people in these positions. If machines replace them, they will feel alienated, devalued, and frustrated. However, there are voices in support of AI when it comes to the matter of partiality, as a machine would be impartial and fair.

Biases in AI System

The most widespread use of AI in today’s world is in the field of voice and facial recognition and thus AI bias cases are also increasing.  Among many systems, some of them have real business implications and directly impact other people. A biased training set will result in a biased predictor. Bias can always creep into algorithms in many ways and it poses one of the biggest threats in AI. As a result, large companies such as IBM, Google, etc. have started researching and addressing bias.

Weaponization of Artificial Intelligence

As questioned in 1976 by Weizenbaum for not providing arms to robots, there stemmed disputes regarding the fact whether robots should be given some degree of autonomous functions.

There has been a recent outcry about the engineering of artificial intelligence weapons that have included ideas of a robot takeover of humanity. In the near future of AI, these AI weapons present a type of danger far different from that of human-controlled weapons. Powerful nations have begun to fund programs to develop AI weapons.

“If any major military power pushes ahead with the AI weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable, and the endpoint of this technological trajectory is obvious: autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow“, are the words of a petition signed by Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, and many MIT professors as additional supporters against AI Weaponry.

Machine Ethics or Machine Morality is the field of research concerned with designing of Artificial Moral Agents (AMAs), robots and artificially intelligent beings that are made to behave morally or as though moral. The sci-fi director Isaac Asimov considered the issue in the 1950s in his famous movie – I-Robot. It was here that he proposed his three fundamental laws of machine ethics. His work also suggests that no set of fixed laws can sufficiently anticipate all possible circumstances. In 2009, during an experiment at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems in the Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne, Switzerland, robots that were programmed to cooperate eventually learned to lie to each other in an attempt to hoard the beneficial resource.

Concluding, Artificial Intelligence is a necessary evil. Artificial Intelligence-based beings (friendly AIs) can be a gigantic leap for humans in technological development. It comes with a set of miraculous advantages. However, if fallen into the wrong hands, the destruction can be unimaginable and unstoppable.  As quoted by Claude Shannon, “I visualize a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to humans, and I’m rooting for the machines.”Thus ethics in the age of artificial intelligence is supremely important.

Virtual Reality Explained – A deep insight

Virtual Reality (VR) is coined from the combination of two words – ‘virtual’ and ‘reality’. Virtual as from definition means near, and Reality is what we experience in our daily life. You probably won’t do things like diving deep in the oceans, standing beside a volcano, or going on a voyage to Antarctica, but with Virtual Reality, you might be able to do it all without even leaving your cozy sofa. All of this sounds tempting and proves that the future of virtual reality and artificial intelligence is bright and their scope is immense. Virtual reality is created in the real world using high-performance computers and some sensory equipment, like a headset and gloves. The idea of VR originated in the minds of the great Thomas Edison, who pioneered it with the name “Kinetograph.”

Here are a few examples of Virtual reality (VR) usage-

  • Virtual reality in education (e.g., military training, or pilots)
  • Virtual reality in games. VR systems use either the Virtual reality headsets for a portable VR experience or multi-projected environments for generating realistic images, sounds and other sensations that ensure a user’s physical presence in a virtual environment.

 

A person using VR can look around 360 degrees and can move around. This virtual effect is mainly created by the VR headsets that consist of a head-mounted display, with a small screen in the front of the eyes. Virtual Reality usually packages auditory as well as video feedback. Following are very crisp descriptions of everything you need to know about virtual reality.

Experiencing Virtual Reality can be categorized into various types:

  • Fully Immersive – Three things help in fulfilling a complete VR experience, a computer model, a powerful computer that can adjust to the actions made by the user, and some surround-sound loudspeakers.
  • Non–Immersive – An alternative way is using a widescreen and using headphones. It doesn’t fully immerse a user, though it is a kind of Virtual reality.
  • Collaborative – The virtual experience is the same as in the fully immersive state, but it offers the idea of sharing the virtual world with other people.
  • Web-based – This is a web-based virtual reality analogous to HTML namely VRML (Virtual reality markup language)
  • Augmented Reality – Mobile devices nowadays are as capable as computers used to be. It spawned the idea of Augmented Reality (AR). There are close links between virtual reality and augmented reality. (Augmented Reality also has numerous applications in the education industry).

With the introduction of power-packed features in personal computers and smartphones, Virtual Reality devices saw significant development and grew rapidly. On a large scale, Virtual Reality is used in the entertainment industry, particularly in the gaming industry for the enhanced gaming experience.

Which devices are used for VR on a Commercial Scale?

Datagloves

Giving people the ability to touch objects and feel things in the virtual world is one of the most significant achievements of the VR industry. One technical method of implementing this is using fiber-optic cables that records the data about how much a finger is stretched. Other technologies include strain gauges, electromechanical devices, or the piezoelectrical sensors to measure the finger movements.

Head-Mounted Display(HMDs)

It is the most critical component for a VR experience. The difference between a computer and a VR is the presence of a 3D screen on a VR screen which moves according to the user movements. The HMD looks like a giant motorbike helmet, which consists of two screens, a blackout blindfold that blocks outwards light and stereo headphones (not necessarily). They usually have built-in accelerometers that keep a check on the user’s movement and the direction.

Wands

Even more straightforward than a dataglove, a wand is like a stick that can be used to touch, to point to, or to otherwise interact with a virtual world. It has the position sensors or the motion sensors (such as accelerometers) built-in, along with some mouse-like buttons or scroll wheels. The advantage that the wands take over the conventional VR equipment is that they are wireless.

Concluding, Virtual Reality is instrumental in the gaming industry and the commercial use of Virtual Reality for the education industry for pilots and military training is a very creative use of VR. It is also extensively used for enhanced entertainment purposes for short VR shows for a deep insight into Virtual Reality.

Now the question arises – how much does virtual reality cost? A long time ago, the VR equipment was very costly for its personal use. However, the recent VR equipment by Google, namely Google Cards is a cheap and efficient solution for experiencing Virtual Reality in your own home. Virtual reality seems to be the future of extensive development.

Artificial Intelligence and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

There are many factors that spike up the production costs of a company. In manufacturing, ongoing maintenance of production line machinery and equipment represents a major expense, having a crucial impact on the bottom line of any asset-reliant production operation especially in this fourth industrial revolution phase. Manufacturing companies are finding it increasingly harder to maintain high levels of quality during the industrial revolution. Bringing out the best product takes time as well as large human resources. But all that is set to change.

Introducing – The Fourth Industrial Revolution

The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second Industrial Revolution used electric power to create mass production. The Third Industrial Revolution used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now the Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third and has had a massive impact on the manufacturing sector. The fourth industrial revolution, powered by technology is remolding the industrial sector, helping businesses achieve more profits and more efficiency. The sector is entering its next phase – Industry 4.0 – which is driven by automation, AI, and Internet of things, and cloud computing. The big players are already investing millions in computer intelligence so that they can save time, money, and resources while maximizing their production. The Manufacturer’s Annual Manufacturing Report 2018 found that 92% of senior manufacturing executives believe that ‘Smart Factory’ digital technologies – including Artificial Intelligence – will enable them to increase their productivity levels and empower staff to work smarter.

How is the Manufacturing Sector using Artificial Intelligence?

Through computer vision, machines can be powered to pay attention to the tiniest of details, far beyond a man’s potential. Landing.ai, a startup formed by Silicon Valley veteran Andrew Ng, has developed machine-vision tools to find microscopic defects in products such as circuit boards, using a machine-learning algorithm trained on remarkably small volumes of sample images. If it spots a problem or defect, it sends an immediate alert, an artificial intelligence process known as “automated issue identification.”

Artificial intelligence can also be used to monitor the whole process of manufacturing. Siemens, one of the leading manufacturing companies on the planet, did just that. They embarked on a digitalization strategy of which one of the major goals was Overall Equipment Efficiency. In late 2017, the company announced the latest version of its IoT operating system, MindSphere. Physical machines can be connected to Mindsphere cloud environment, enabling it to build the application that visualizes the various metrics that plant managers need to monitor in 2018. It also gives the resources needed to build an industrial Internet of Things system in a fraction of the time it would take to set up a physical environment.

General Electrics is yet another leader in the manufacturing sector that has adopted the artificial intelligence strategy. In 2015 GE launched its Brilliant Manufacturing Suite for customers, which it had been field testing in its own factories. The system takes a holistic approach of tracking and processing everything in the manufacturing process to find possible issues before they emerge and to detect inefficiencies. GE claims it improved equipment effectiveness at this facility by 18 percent.

It is powered by Predix, their industrial internet of things platform. In the manufacturing space, Predix can use sensors to automatically capture every step of the process and monitor each piece of complex equipment. You can view a short video of how its done here.

Another application of artificial intelligence is the use of generative design. Designers or engineers input design goals into generative design software, along with parameters such as materials, manufacturing methods, and cost constraints. Software explores all the possible permutations of a solution, quickly generating design alternatives. It tests and learns from each iteration what works and what doesn’t. From the many solutions that are put forward, the designers or engineers filter and select the outcomes that best meet their needs. This can lead to major reductions in cost, development time, material consumption, and product weight. Airplane manufacturer Airbus used generative design to reimagine an interior partition for its A320 aircraft and came up with an intricate design that ultimately shaved off 45 percent (30kg) of the weight off the part.

Such applications will affect the future of work. These will bring down labor costs, reduce product defects, shorten unplanned downtimes, improve transition times, and increase production speed. It all comes down to optimal manufacturing performance. If manufacturers do not invest in the long term, ignore the fusion of technologies then their profits would be affected, as prices of products as well as the raw materials would only go up. However, it is not late yet as the field of artificial intelligence is constantly evolving and these applications will be the future of artificial intelligence.