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AI Rights

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Gelrir:

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--- Quote ---Quote from: jwhouk on 23 Dec 2011, 07:23
Given the dates that Jeph gave for the UN speech on AI rights, I'm getting the feeling that 9/11 may have never happened in the QC universe.
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It would make sense. Conspiracy theories notwithstanding, 9/11 was caused by a massive failure of our ridiculously idiotic, bumbling intelligence groups. In the QCVerse, with advanced military AI Pintsizes running intel operations instead of fleshy fools, it stands to reason that the hijackers would have been uncovered and caught before they enacted their plans.
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Dunno about "morality programming" or whether AIs would be better at uncovering spies (smarter or more intelligent doesn't mean better in all cases), but if semi-employed twenty-somethings can afford AIs, all commercial aircraft would have them installed before 2001 I suppose (click to show/hide)(since the speech happens in 1999). An autopilot who doesn't want to fly into buildings sounds good to me.

"Morality programming" is still programming; even if it works as designed, it's still designed. Some software engineer, or committee, or prior AI, makes the decisions about morality and how it should be implemented. Maybe "Kill the Infidels" is moral for your group ... your mileage may vary. It seems likely that an AI in this comic can sometimes/eventually exceed, avoid, override, improve, degrade, delete or alter its morality programming; human beings change their beliefs, too. Being able to think outside the simple rules is probably part of what makes intelligence (if not sentience, sapience, etc.).

jwhouk:
(applauds)

Great first post.

Is it cold in here?:
Indeed! Welcome, new person.

techkid:

--- Quote from: Gelrir on 29 Dec 2011, 15:12 ---but if semi-employed twenty-somethings can afford AIs, all commercial aircraft would have them installed before 2001 I suppose (click to show/hide)(since the speech happens in 1999). An autopilot who doesn't want to fly into buildings sounds good to me.
--- End quote ---

Indeed, welcome Gelrir.

Considering that in the QCverse that AIs are available at your local mall or retailer, it would indeed be most sensible that AI be installed in commercial airliners and probably trains and ships, too. Think of the sorts of things you need to consider in those sorts of scenarios:

- Braking/stopping distances at speed (trains, ships)
- Turning points and collision avoidance (ships, planes)
- Threat detection, system security (IDS, firewalls, encryption etc), and automatic notification to authorities (all three)


--- Quote from: Gelrir on 29 Dec 2011, 15:12 ---It seems likely that an AI in this comic can sometimes/eventually exceed, avoid, override, improve, degrade, delete or alter its morality programming; human beings change their beliefs, too. Being able to think outside the simple rules is probably part of what makes intelligence (if not sentience, sapience, etc.).
--- End quote ---

I don't know so much about "morality" in the case of this comic (Pintsize being who he is, is anything but moral), but most AIs more run on common sense and some measure of "emotional connection" (in so far as an AI has a conscience) with their owners. Not so much as "my programming tells me not to", as "doing this wouldn't be right".

jwhouk:
The only wrench to the idea about placing AI's in machinery is that we don't know exactly when the AI made the "champagne" comment.

If it was made several years prior to the UN speech, then there is a distinct possibility that AI's may have prevented the hijackings. Tech generally takes a while to take hold, but once it does - well, let's just point out that cell phones were a quaint plaything of the rich not more than 25 years ago, and 20 years ago weren't even close to the ubiquity they are today.

If the AI "moment" was only recently achieved prior to the speech (perhaps only a few months), then AI "tech" may not have been as widespread - which may have resulted in the hijackings happening anyways. The AI's may have shown their worthiness by tracking down OBL faster than you can say "oops", and the whole Iraq and WMD thing could have been bypassed or minimized.

I truly doubt that Jeph thought things out that far in advance, and I REALLY doubt that, based on how APC's "evolved" over the course of the strip, that he ever considered things like the destruction of the WTC and Pentagon in relation to AI's.

Tl;dr - Hodgson's Law and Bellisario's Maxim.

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