Today I will be reflecting on the artificial intelligence work of the Omega Team on a project called Prometheus. Initial success gave way to corruption and the ultimate downfall of the program. Without a way to keep this secret team accountable, many mistakes were made.
What is missing in the Omega Team scenario?
One of the largest and most glaring missing features of the work of the Omega Team on the Prometheus project was a lack of oversight. Without ethical constraints or anyone outside the team to monitor, the team undertook secret ways to infiltrate the systems and make money. They were careful not to get flagged by the government, perhaps the only entity that could regulate their work.
With new technologies, especially in the field of AI, a widespread, open, and transparent collaboration must take place. When developing a global technology, that collaboration must have global cooperation.
While the team did work to guard against an immediate, unprotected breaking out of their wondrous AI, they lacked the vision of long-term solutions to discourage misuse and exploitation due to Prometheus.
What went wrong? Reflect on Tegmark’s text along with your own notes on dystopian and utopian futures of AI.
Keeping all of their research secret created a single source of Prometheus’ growth which in turn facilitated its unchecked development of itself. The danger lies in allowing machine to teach machine. The risk to global society could be devastating if the AI decided to act under its own volition against the interests of humanity.
We see this trap illustrated well in many science fiction stories. The movie The Matrix is the most obvious of these parallels. Technology took over and farmed humans. They enslaved people’s minds to believe they existed in a digital reality most palatable to humans. The machines hunted down any escapees in order to eliminate them. This example illustrates a truly dystopian result on unchecked AI technology.
Along with the growth of the technology, the Omega Team quickly accumulated wealth and influence over global markets like entertainment. This invisible societal influence gave them untold power. The fact that they were doing all of this unchecked by any outside entity or system, made their project dangerous.
Since AI cannot make moral or ethical decisions on its own, it chooses efficiency. Humans are rarely efficient. In allowing AI to make decisions for us, we must accept that eventually, it may view humanity as a hindrance to their efficiency.
What do we need to do to avoid the undesirable outcomes and maximize potential desirable outcomes?
Many safeguards must be implemented if we are to use AI to solve the biggest problems humanity is facing. Climate change, energy inefficiency, health care, and poverty could absolutely be positively impacted by the advent of well-developed AI systems.
Involving others will make all the difference. Implementing independent oversight entities that will ensure moral and ethical development of this technology is key. An ethical framework with standards that support the interests of humans will not only hinder unchecked explosions of advancement but will also allow for accountability overall.
Maintaining transparency with the public and global systems is also essential. Artificial intelligence is such a powerful tool that shining a light on its progress will allow society to adapt far easier and be less suspicious about the possibilities it may offer. Widespread acceptance will make implementation easier and more effective.
Lastly, it is important to tackle the issue of equity. In order to maintain equity within this emerging technology, guidelines, transparency, and global cooperation are absolutely necessary. Prometheus paved the way for many advances in biotech, energy, healthcare, and education. The way forward is certainly through understanding and utilizing advanced technologies. The way it is done will determine our own success and what role AI will truly play in the future of our society.