Dana Remus (UNC) and Frank S. Levy (MIT): Can Robots Be Lawyers? Computers, Lawyers, and the Practice of Law. Peter Frase on robot redux. “Homo sapiens will be split into a handful of gods and the rest of us”: A new report suggests that the marriage of AI and robotics could replace so many jobs that the era of mass employment could come to an end. Robots are coming for your job, but that might not be bad news — the problem with automation isn’t technology, the problem is capitalism. Do the Robot: Rob Horning on how the threat of automation can be used to extract more emotional labor and more competitive advantage from humans — after all, one of the few things a robot can’t supply is enthusiasm. Silly robots: Yes, they’re coming for our jobs — but we’ll have the last laugh. Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee on the jobs that AI can’t replace. Cade Metz on how robots will steal our jobs, but they’ll give us new ones. Are the robots taking enough jobs? Preparing for the attack of the robots: The six-hour day sounds like a very intriguing idea, in addition to the fact that it will give people more time to do things they enjoy.
Kate Darling, Palash Nandy, and Cynthia Breazeal (MIT): Empathic Concern and the Effect of Stories in Human-Robot Interaction. John Wenz on the questions we’re not asking about sex robots: The future is going to force us to answer some uncomfortable questions about love and machines. Amitai Etzioni (GWU): The Ethics Bot: AI Needs Legal and Ethical Guidance. The Icelandic Institute for Intelligent Machines now has a unique ethics policy. Jason Millar (Queen’s): Technological Moral Proxies and the Ethical Limits of Automating Decision-Making In Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Vincent C. Muller (Anatolia): Risks of Artificial Intelligence. Cory Doctorow on the (real) hard problem of AI. Will Knight on how robots can now teach each other new tricks. Can this man make AI more human? Cognitive scientist Gary Marcus thinks the leading approach to machine learning can be improved by ideas gleaned from studying children. Jacob Brogan on how treating robots like children is changing A.I. Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel argues that conscious machines would deserve special moral consideration akin to our own children.
David Berreby on on how artificial intelligence is already weirdly inhuman. Don’t worry, smart machines will take us with them: Stephen Hsu on why human intelligence and AI will co-evolve. Human life is short, and being a part-time, part-useful robot makes it ever so slightly more interesting. Yes, we will live with artificial intelligence — but it will be friend, not foe. Robots won’t own you — you’ll own the robot. Robert Burton: How I learned to stop worrying and love A.I. Jack Clark goes inside Google’s efforts to create a general-purpose robot. Tyler Cowen reviews Humans are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will by Geoff Colvin. John Danaher on Polanyi’s paradox: Will humans maintain any advantage over machines? All too inhuman: Illah Reza Nourbakhsh on the coming robot dystopia. Steven Levy on how Elon Musk and Y Combinator plan to stop computers from taking over: They’re funding a new organization, OpenAI, to pursue the most advanced forms of artificial intelligence — and give the results to the public (and more).
John Danaher (NUI Galway): Why AI-Doomsayers are Like Sceptical Theists and Why it Matters. Raffi Khatchadourian on the Doomsday Invention: Will artificial intelligence bring us utopia or destruction? Wanted: Three boffins to save the world from the “AI apocalypse”.
