In The Age of AI (Artificial Intelligence) PBS Frontline

[Midpack]

An absolutely fascinating and frightening look at how AI is developing and being applied. One of the experts claims AI will shift our lives on a scale like the steam engine and electricity did. I wish everyone would watch it, just to be current if no other reason, but I know most won’t. The broad topics are:

• One: China Has a Plan (to dominate AI, led and supported by their government)
• Two: The Promise (the good things that will come from AI, and there are many)
• Three: The Future of Work (what robots were to blue collar jobs, AI is to white collar jobs)
• Four: The Surveillance Capitalists (and often debated topic here re: privacy, collecting and monetizing ALL your personal data and purposely manipulating users, well beyond targeted ads)
• Five: The Surveillance State (big brother is here, more than Orwell imagined, 58 countries are investigating using China’s model)

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/in-the-age-of-ai/

FRONTLINE investigates the promise and perils of artificial intelligence, from fears about work and privacy to rivalry between the U.S. and China. The documentary traces a new industrial revolution that will reshape and disrupt our lives, our jobs and our world, and allow the emergence of the surveillance society.

 

[MBAustin]

Frontline does a great job on major topics like this. I have it set to record on my DVR but probably won't get to it until the new year.

 

[Bir48die]

For the perils of AI watch the original “Terminator”.

 

[GrayHare]

Every technological advance is a double-edged sword. The description of this episode sounds like it focuses on the negatives. I prefer balanced reports that show both positives and negatives.

 

[audreyh1]

Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[stepford]

DW and I were very impressed with this program. Much wider ranging and harder hitting than a typical "perils of new technology" show, it addresses the broader economic issues associated with technological progress in the modern world.

 

[Rianne]

Frontline the best. I record all of them. Where will we be in 5 years? Elon Musk said in a C Span question/answer forum with Governors from many states that AI is our biggest threat and our biggest accomplishment.

 

[Midpack]

Every technological advance is a double-edged sword. The description of this episode sounds like it focuses on the negatives. I prefer balanced reports that show both positives and negatives.

You'll enjoy the second section then. As for the rest, there are positive and negatives, to some extent the viewer determines which is which. I guess I prefer to think of it as two steps forward, one step backward, like many things in life. The show concludes with the question will "we" use AI primarily for good, or primarily for bad - both are possibilities.

 

[Midpack]

DW and I were very impressed with this program. Much wider ranging and harder hitting than a typical "perils of new technology" show, it addresses the broader economic issues associated with technological progress in the modern world.

Thanks, I thought so too. Gives you a far broader and better appreciation of the current AI landscape and where it may lead. It could be used primary for good, or bad, we're at a turning point - and the program mentions same at the end.

 

[jimbee]

That was an excellent program, thank you for the tip. I streamed it using the free PBS app, and the video quality was good.

I just reserved the book AI Super-powers, based on the author being interviewed in the show. Looks interesting.

 

[calmloki]

We enjoyed (?) this series a lot. Yesterday I read this article and it expanded upon the possible effects of AI and society. Upshot is that viewed from here it is unclear how the future will work for the masses. A whole bunch of unintended consequences seem likely:

"In a few more years we will be nearing a world in which machines will do everything at the level of human beings, and after a little while longer – at a higher level. “And then all the trends and forecasts will be scrambled. This is the point of singularity after which it will be hard to estimate what will happen – because we have never been in such a situation in human history.”

Nonetheless, Tzezana is trying to sketch a picture of the future. According to a survey conducted in the past few years among hundreds of artificial intelligence researchers, the Asian researchers believe that within 40 years artificial intelligence will do all the tasks that humans are capable of doing. This means that in another five or 10 years we will already see the changes in progress.
....Artificial intelligence knows how to give medical advice better than doctors,” he says. Tzezana says the claim that people will still have a “human” advantage is wrong: We need to take into account technological developments, such as computers being able to understand people and the creation of avatars on the screen and in virtual reality. These avatars will be able in the next decade or two to provide more sensitive and considerate service than any human service representative can".

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news...ld-as-we-know-it-for-average-person-1.8227728

 

[marko]

You'll enjoy the second section then. As for the rest, there are positive and negatives, to some extent the viewer determines which is which. I guess I prefer to think of it as two steps forward, one step backward, like many things in life. The show concludes with the question will "we" use AI primarily for good, or primarily for bad - both are possibilities.

Thanks for a great suggestion.

I think that ever since the discovery of fire (real fire) there have been discussions on the good/bad of something new.

IMO technology has been overall for the better. While not AI, one of the happiest days for me was when my bank installed an ATM and I didn't have to stand in line, fill out a form and deal with a teller with a bad attitude to withdraw $50 bucks. Amazon also comes to mind as having improved my life as has this forum itself. None of it accomplished without technology.

Fire, gunpowder, electricity, automobiles, credit cards, computers and the internet have all had good and bad potentials and I see them always existing side by side.

I like to focus on the positives.

 

[Gumby]

Thanks, I thought so too. Gives you a far broader and better appreciation of the current AI landscape and where it may lead. It could be used primary for good, or bad, we're at a turning point - and the program mentions same at the end.

If humans are involved, it is almost certainly going to be put to bad uses.

 

[freedomatlast]

Watched the whole presentation. There's a lot there to think about and digest. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[RobbieB]

If humans are involved, it is almost certainly going to be put to bad uses.

Yes, good and bad, angels and devils, love and hate, same as it always was.

Just no getting around the human thing. We've got it all all inside us.

 

[Midpack]

Thanks, I thought so too. Gives you a far broader and better appreciation of the current AI landscape and where it may lead. It could be used primary for good, or bad, we're at a turning point - and the program mentions same at the end

If humans are involved, it is almost certainly going to be put to bad uses.

Yes, good and bad, angels and devils, love and hate, same as it always was.

Just no getting around the human thing. We've got it all all inside us.

It certainly won’t be one or the other, there will be good and bad regardless, that’s why I said “primary” - meant primarily. Here at the beginning we can still affect the balance. And we’ve learned some important lessons from the internet>social media>data mining that may be applicable.

 

[Gumby]

It certainly won’t be one or the other, there will be good and bad regardless, that’s why I said “primary” - meant primarily. Here at the beginning we can still affect the balance. And we’ve learned some important lessons from the internet>social media>data mining that may be applicable.

You are an optimist. I, on the other hand, look to the underlying cynicism of a saying often attributed to Lenin - "The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we hang them." Humans are short-sighted and greedy; I expect we will engineer our own destruction.