I travelled to SXSW last week to see what I could find in the technology sphere, with a focus on the artificial intelligence on display at the show (like IBM’s Watson), robotics, and autonomous cars. Along the way, some of the foremost experts in their field talked about how to integrate these technologies into our existing technology on all levels, including civic, practical, and emotional. Here are some of the best quotes I heard during the tech panels at the Innovation festival:
“The idea that we have to spend time doing things we don’t want to do in order to acquire resources is a bad idea.”
The potential human rights – or rather, computer rights – issues created by the advent of truly intelligent AI were discussed in brief at several of the panels I attended. Hanson Robotics Chief Scientist Ben Goertzel discussed this in the context of freeing up time for humans to do things other than work – but would the introduction of versatile AI really mean people would never have to work? It’s far too early in the development of AI to know right now, the experts said. The panelists discussed some of the dangers of assigning artificial intelligences a servile nature before we even have computers capable of truly thinking on their own. One AI, Sophia AI from Hanson Robotics, was present at the panel and showed how she can react to human speech using a library of phrases. Artificial intelligence will create entirely new types of team dynamics in the workplace, and we need to be sure that people are not creating intelligences just to enslave them.
“It’s not really about drones, although people like to say ‘drones’. It’s about bringing things to people.”
Gur Kimchi, co-founder and VP of Amazon.com’s Prime Air, talked about the role of drones in Amazon’s business during a panel about the practicality and policy of delivering packages using drones and 3D printing. During this panel on Sunday, March 13, Ping Fu of 3D Systems also noted that 3D printing can be used for far more than creating mass-produced items. It’s a common refrain: 3D printing can allow for greater customization on online orders. Kimchi brings up an interesting point: that although drones are a hot topic, the real change in online deliveries will have to come in the entire infrastructure required to “bring things to people.”
“We’re creating social norms now, and we have to do it thoughtfully.”
This one comes from Leila Takayama during the panel “One Robot Doesn’t Fit All,” held on Saturday, March 12. Along with building robots themselves, her team worked on how people react to what are essentially motorized, autonomous servants and what that means about power dynamics in human society. Many of the same questions were addressed here as were addressed in the panels about artificial intelligence: Does the way we treat robots reflect on how we might treat other human beings? What should we expect from a robot designed to perform one task but capable of reacting with behaviors that look like enthusiasm or disappointment?
“I love people more after seeing this [friendly interactions with robots].”
Wendy Ju, whose work at the Stanford University Center for Design Research brought us this delightful video of the way people react to human-controlled robotic trash cans, also spoke at the same panel. The way people react to a robot as if it were an animal or a small child was fascinating, and a little disturbing. Ju emphasized that emotional dependence or extreme anthropomorphism could be “really terrible,” and that the Stanford robots aren’t – and shouldn’t be – designed to be cute for the sake of cuteness. Instead, they’re designed to perform a function. The way humans are likely to become involved in that function – gesturing to the remote-controlled trash can robot as if it wants to chase the trash, for example – should be an important part of how the bots are designed.
Finally, Leila Takayama also reflected on her experiences working in a robotics lab, told fun anecdotes about having to walk around robots diligently, slowly scanning doors, and addressed robots taking over the world:
“I’m not worried about that, having seen a lot of robots.”
SXSW brought a lot of interesting commentary on the state of technology, including some requests for further development from President Barack Obama. However, a lot of the conversations I heard were in the realm of the theoretical. How should society react to true artificial intelligence? How should expectations be changed in the online shopping of the future? SXSW couldn’t quite answer all of these questions this year, since both robots and artificial intelligence technology are in their in-between stages instead of being a fully autonomous part of our world. However, the questions will eventually need to be answered – and maybe they can make human interactions better too.
