Lecture at Web Science Institute, University of Southampton, UK, 9/11/2018

1. Web Science Institute, University of Southampton
September 11, 2018
George A. Tilesch
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2. My early influences
Cyberiad Paranoia RPG

3. “Artificial intelligence is the future (…)
for all humankind,”. “It comes with
colossal opportunities, but also threats
that are difficult to predict.
Whoever becomes the leader in this
sphere will become the ruler of the
world.”
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4. Before the Storm
• Timeline: Incrementalism vs Sci-fi?
• Expected Impact: Disjointed
Narratives & Sense-making
• AI is here and now: Adoption Trends
& “Domestication”
• $60B Industry by 2025
• 1.7 million new AI robots in factories
by 2020
• 55% of households worldwide will
have an AI voice assistant by 2022

5. AI Trajectory: winner takes it all?
Weak/Narrow
AI (ANI = the
Present, the Tip
of the Iceberg)
Strong/
General
AI (AGI = Holy
Grail,
currently
“Enfants
Terribles”
Artificial
Super
Intelligence (
ASI =
Speculation,
Scifi)

6. Snapshot: The Global Race for AI
States
US: 66% of investments historically,
abundance of AI startups +
DoD/DARPA but no natl strategy
EU: Prio but behind; EUR 3 B
investment. Focus: ethics &
impacts, H2020 funding, boards
and committees
China: national prio, closing in
concentration of startups, funding
surpasses US (Cca. $5Bn)
Russia: state-driven “hustle”,
cyberwarfare/EWF edge
Corp
Investment, Acquisitions: Google,
Apple, FB
AI Platforms/ Projects: Watson,
TensorFlow, Azure ML, SF Einstein
etc
Recent trends
•Opensourcing boosts startups,
skills & adoption
•Academic brain drain
“Startups”
Funding up 150% YoY, $10 B in
2017 only
Top 100 has $12B in Funding
China’s Bytedance top funded $3.1,
but 76/100 US
“Instant AI Unicorns”
Stewards
Future of Life; Asilomar AI
Principles endorsed by Big Tech, CA
State
EU MS Forum: AI 4 People
Standards: IEEE Ethical Design
Open AI: nonprofit Safe AGI
research funded by Elon Musk etc.

7. AI Sense-making:
Does it make sense?

8. Main current trends in AI Technologies
Robotic Process
Automation (RPA)
Expert Systems
(Decisions support
continuum)
Computer Vision
(CV)
Natural Language
Processing (NLP)
Neural Networks
(NNs or ANNs)
Autonomous
Systems (AI +
Robotics)
Distributed
Artificial
Intelligence (DAI)
Affective
Computing:
(Emotions)
Evolutionary
Algorithms
(EA): Genetics
Inductive Logic
Programming (ILP)
Decision Networks
Probabilistic
Programming
Ambient
Intelligence (AmI):

9. Challenges
and fears
framework
AI-supported Bias
People-centered values
Consciousness vs. Hardwiring
Trust/identity
Cognitive: Dependence &
Resilience
Data: Ownership, Consent,
Privacy
Delegation: Human supervision
Responsibility: Distributed?
Automation: Job/Tax loss
Misinformation/Democratic
collapse

10. The AI Landscape
Notes from the field

11. The Google Assistant
Conundrum
• “You are already a Cyborg”
(Musk)
• Bookings: First world
problems
• Why not a scheduling system
instead in Gsuite?
• “Automatons” talking to AI
agents: Loss of job dignity &
meaning
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12. AI & jobs: Future of
Work
• Recent political turmoils: AI/RPA links? Skills
gap/mismatch?
• Automation: Wipe out/Replace or
Symbiotic/Assist?
• Cashierless stores with retail gong down
• Driverless truck: labour 45% costs, 5.5 M jobs impacted
• Workerless factory: AI-augmented productivity
but jobs “automated out”?
• Are “smart” jobs safe?
• Doctors. e.g 82% Cancer detection, learned in 2 hours
• OMG, not the lawyers!

13. Autonomous
Machines of War
• AI Blitzkrieg (AWS, 0-
casualty war etc.)
• AI MAD vs. winner
takes it all
• Project Maven (Google
backlash & PPP
analysis)
• UN LAWs Consensus
seems far: blockers US,
Russia, Israel etc.

14. Nascent AI-triggered belief
systems
• Silicon Valley Techno-optimism  AI Church: e.g.
Way of the Future
• Transhumanism: Rise of the Centaur
• Neoluddism
• Consciousness Schools of Thought
AI & The Divine

15. THE A/IS Ethical Framework (draft)
Human Rights A/IS shall respect, promote, and protect internationally recognized human rights.
Prioritizing Well-Being A/IS shall adopt increased human well-being as a primary success criterion for
development.
Human Data Agency Developers and operators of AI/S shall develop effective models of consent for the
capturing, sharing and use of personal data.
Accountability It shall always be possible to find out who is responsible for an A/IS at any point in
time and in any stage of operation.
Transparency It shall always be possible to discover why an A/IS made a particular decision.
Measurability Always be possible to measure and provide evidence of the effectiveness (fitness
for purpose) of an A/IS.
Competence Designers shall specify the knowledge and skill required to apply the AI/S effectively
and safely, and operators must be trained accordingly.
A/IS Technology Misuse and Awareness Developers shall guard against all potential misuses and risks of AI/S.

16. The Light at the End?
• We need empowered multi-stakeholder structures to
guide an AI Future
• New models for innovation stewards: guardians &
curators & doers, all in one
• Conscience & Consciousness for machines and humans
alike
• A new core: Upgraded, flexible, strong belief and ethical
systems
• Mental Resilience, also offline/online, global/local
balance
• New collective creativity collaboration tools needed
• Cross-disciplinary will be the new normal/desired
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17. The job (and the
responsibility) is yours
“Nobody phrases it this way, but I
think that artificial intelligence is
almost a humanities discipline.
It's really an attempt to
understand human intelligence
and human cognition.”
Sebastian Thrun