WebProNews

Tag: Robots

  • Working With Robots Stresses American Workers

    Working With Robots Stresses American Workers

    Robots may be all the rage, but American workers are stressed out by working with them, according to a new report.

    Companies are increasingly turning to robots to help ease labor shortages, improve productivity, and decrease safety issues. While they certainly bring much to the table, they also tend to stress out their human counterparts – at least in the US.

    The issue stems from the relatively lax labor laws in the US, creating an environment where workers feel less secure about their future employment when robots are an option.

    “Robots are good for physical health – they usually take on jobs that are physically intensive and may even hurt you. But in the U.S., there’s this understanding that the robots may take your job because there’s a less protective labor market,” study author Osea Giuntella, assistant professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, told UPI.

    In contrast to the US, workers in Germany appear to have little to no concern over the introduction of robots in the workplace.

    “German workers were better protected in their work from German robots,” Giuntella added. “In Germany, the introduction of robots was not related to job displacement. Instead, new and young workers were brought to other sectors of the industry, while the job security of incumbent workers was not affected.”

    The study illustrates a significant concern companies will need to address as continue to deploy robots.

  • Amazon Turns to Robots to Address Warehouse Safety

    Amazon Turns to Robots to Address Warehouse Safety

    Amazon is doubling down on robots in an effort to improve its warehouse safety, unveiling fully autonomous models.

    Amazon is sometimes criticized for having higher warehouse injury rates than the industry average. In 2021, its injury rates among warehouse workers went up some 20%. CEO Andy Jassy, while saying its injury rates are “misunderstood,” nonetheless emphasized the company’s commitment to improving safety. Two big steps in that direction are its Proteus and Cardinal warehouse robots.

    Amazon’s robotics efforts have their roots in Kiva, a robotics company Amazon acquired a decade ago. While some speculated Amazon was looking to replace people, it has developed Kiva’s tech to assist human workers and make their workplace safer, as the company outlines in a blog post.

    Proteus is the company’s first fully autonomous robot. Integrating an autonomous robot in a warehouse with human workers presents safety challenges of its own, but Amazon believes they’ve cracked the code.

    Proteus autonomously moves through our facilities using advanced safety, perception, and navigation technology developed by Amazon. The robot was built to be automatically directed to perform its work and move around employees—meaning it has no need to be confined to restricted areas. It can operate in a manner that augments simple, safe interaction between technology and people—opening up a broader range of possible uses to help our employees—such as the lifting and movement of GoCarts, the non-automated, wheeled transports used to move packages through our facilities.

    Similarly, the company’s Cardinal robot is designed to handle the twisting and lifting that goes along with finding and retrieving a single package from a pile of packages.

    Enter Cardinal, the robotic workcell that uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision to nimbly and quickly select one package out of a pile of packages, lift it, read the label, and precisely place it in a GoCart to send the package on the next step of its journey. Cardinal reduces the risk of employee injuries by handling tasks that require lifting and turning of large or heavy packages or complicated packing in a confined space.

    After becoming CEO, Andy Jassy looked for a “silver bullet” that would improve warehouse safety in one fell swoop, ultimately realizing there was no single thing to magically address the issues.

    “But, we still have a ways to go, and we’ll approach it like we do other customer experiences—we’ll keep learning, inventing, and iterating until we have more transformational results,” he said. “We won’t be satisfied until we do.”

  • Liability Is the New Driving Force for Robot Adoption

    Liability Is the New Driving Force for Robot Adoption

    Robots are already being widely adopted by a variety of industries, but legal liability is emerging as the new driving force motivating some companies to make the transition.

    Companies have been turning to robots to help ease labor shortages, especially in industries that have struggled to regain employees as things return to normal. According to Rest of World, South Korean manufacturer Speefox is adopting robots to avoid potential liability in the wake of a new law that could hold executives legally liable if a company is found to be negligent in an employee’s serious injury or death.

    “Throughout our history, we’ve always had to find ways to stay ahead,” CEO Kim Yong-rae told Rest of World. “Automation is the next step in that process.”

    The new law is especially concerning to many companies due to its vague wording. Critics have said the law doesn’t clearly indicate exactly what constitutes culpability. Given that executives could end up being fined or going to jail if they’re found liable, the uncertainty is causing a fair amount of angst among South Korea’s businesses.

    “The law is a huge issue in business right now,” said Kim Hyo-jin, a managing director at Speefox and Yong-rae’s daughter. “Fortunately for us, we were already automating, so when the law came, we were ready.”

  • Robots Now Taking Service Jobs

    Robots Now Taking Service Jobs

    Robots and automation are moving into an unexpected sector, taking service jobs many once thought were safe.

    Robots and automation have already made major headway in manufacturing and industry, but many experts thought customer-facing service jobs were safe. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the game, and service jobs are now up for grabs.

    According to AP News robots are increasingly being used for drive-thru ordering, tossing pizza dough, sorting goods, transporting goods and inspecting gauges.

    Robots have a number of advantages, especially in the midst of a pandemic. Robots don’t call in sick, they don’t spread disease, they don’t complain and they don’t take time off. Adding to their adoption is the fact that AI and robot development has reached a point where most tasks can be handled with little to no errors.

    One thing is certain: As the technology advances, robots and automation will increasingly spread into a wider range industries, including ones that were thought to be a safe haven.

  • Boston Dynamics’ Robots Dance Together

    Boston Dynamics’ Robots Dance Together

    Boston Dynamics’ robots showed some impressive dance skills, with four robots dancing to The Contours’ Do You Love Me.

    Boston Dynamics is one of the leading robotics firms in the world, and has a history of showing off its robots in whimsical ways. In 2018, its SpotMini danced to Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk.

    The company’s robots have now upped their game, with four robots, representing three different models, dancing in sync to Do You Love Me.

    Hyundai recently announced it was acquiring a controlling interest in Boston Dynamics. Hyundai is working on non-traditional automobiles, including ones that switch from wheels to walking legs for travel over uneven terrain that would otherwise not be traversable, making Boston Robotics a perfect fit.

    With Hyundai’s stake in the robotics firm, who knows, perhaps we’ll one day see dancing cars.

  • Volkswagen Offers First Glimpse of Mobile Charging Robot

    Volkswagen Offers First Glimpse of Mobile Charging Robot

    Volkswagen has provided the first glimpse of a mobile charging robot, designed to provide autonomous vehicle charging.

    One of the biggest challenges to the wide-scale adoption of fully electric vehicles is a charging infrastructure. With multiple automakers committed to transitioning to electric vehicles within the next two decades, the race is on to provide the charging infrastructure that will be needed.

    “A ubiquitous charging infrastructure is, and remains, a key factor in the success of electric mobility. Our charging robot is just one of several approaches, but is undoubtedly one of the most visionary,” explains Thomas Schmall, CEO of Volkswagen Group Components.

    Volkswagen’s mobile charging robot, complete with blinking eyes, is designed to charge vehicles in close-quarters areas where a traditional charging station is not an option. The robots may be used in underground garages, restricted parking areas, or other places where space is at a premium.

    Users will be able to use to app or Car-to-X communication to summon the robot for charging. Once summoned, the robot will autonomously take over the entire process, including communicating with the vehicle, opening the charging port, plugging in, charging and disconnecting.

    “Setting up an efficient charging infrastructure for the future is a central task that challenges the entire sector,” says Schmall. “We are developing solutions to help avoid costly stand-alone measures. The mobile charging robot and our flexible quick-charging station are just two of these solutions.”

    https://youtu.be/Fk_j1m7ck0c

  • China Relying on Robots to Help Fight Coronavirus

    China Relying on Robots to Help Fight Coronavirus

    China may have finally turned a corner in its fight against the coronavirus, and it has robots to thank for helping it do so.

    Throughout the coronavirus pandemic China has issued cutting edge technology in an effort to combat the virus. Early on Chinese authorities used AI-driven robots to scold people for being in public without wearing masks, while companies worked on using drones to deliver medicine and supplies to patients without endangering healthy people.

    As China has continued to fight the pandemic, robots continue to play a significant role in the ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the virus. According to All About Circuits, in addition to the robots scolding people for not wearing masks, authorities are also relying on robots that scan crowds for raised temperatures, one of the earliest symptoms of infection. The robots “include high-resolution cameras and infrared thermometers that are capable of scanning the temperatures of up to 10 people at once who are in a radius of 5 meters. If one of these robots discovers somebody who is not wearing a mask or who has a high temperature, an alert is sent to the authorities.”

    China’s success with robots is only possible due to a combination of 5G, AI, edge computing, cloud computing and IoT. The end result are robots capable of interacting with people in a way never before seen. As All About Circuits highlights, that interaction can be eerily lifelike:

    “You there! The gentleman wearing a red coat holding an umbrella in your left hand—yes, you. You are not wearing a face mask, please put one on immediately. If you do not have one, come to the police car and we will provide you with one.”

    With robots finally beginning to deliver on the promise proponents have long held out, it’s little wonder Microsoft, AT&T, Google Cloud and Verizon are all working hard to capitalize on the emerging technologies.

  • Elon Musk Believes AI Development Should Be Regulated, Even Tesla’s

    Elon Musk Believes AI Development Should Be Regulated, Even Tesla’s

    Elon Musk, a long-time critic of AI, has come out in favor of government regulation of AI development, including at his own company.

    While many working on AI believe it is the key to solving countless world problems, there are just as many who are convinced the technology will create far more problems than it solves, perhaps even bringing about the downfall of humanity. Musk has tended to be in the latter camp, even being quoted as saying “I have exposure to the most cutting-edge AI and I think people should be really concerned about it. I keep sounding the alarm bell but until people see robots going down the street killing people, they don’t know how to react because it seems so ethereal.”

    That concern didn’t stop Musk from co-founding OpenAI, dedicated to the ongoing development of the technology, however. In fact, Musk’s concerns were one of the driving motivations, as he believed the technology needed responsible development, as opposed to being left in the hands of just a few companies—such as Google and Facebook—who have poor track records protecting user privacy.

    Now, in response to a piece by Karen Hao in the MIT Technology Review that covers “OpenAI’s bid to save the world,” Elon Musk has tweeted his support of AI regulation.

    All orgs developing advanced AI should be regulated, including Tesla

    — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2020

    When a user asked whether that regulation should be enacted by local governments or on a global scale, Musk replied “both.”

  • FedEx Delivery Robots Receive Chilly Response in New York City

    FedEx Delivery Robots Receive Chilly Response in New York City

    TechCrunch is reporting that New York City has made it abundantly clear autonomous delivery robots are not welcome.

    FedEx, like Amazon and Postmates, has been experimenting with autonomous delivery robots, some of which were in NYC over the weekend to be previewed at the company’s Small Business Saturday event. After some of the bots—called Roxo—were spotted, Mayor Bill de Blasio and transportation officials wasted no time making their position known—again, despite the fact the bots were only there for a presentation and not actually delivering anything.

    According to TechCrunch, “the mayor tweeted that FedEx didn’t receive permission to deploy the robots; he also criticized the company for using a bot to perform a task that a New Yorker could do. The New York Department of Transportation has sent FedEx a cease-and-desist order to stop operations the bots, which TechCrunch has viewed.

    “The letter informs FedEx that its bots violate several vehicle and traffic laws, including that motor vehicles are prohibited on sidewalks. Vehicles that receive approval to operate on sidewalks must receive a special exemption and be registered.”

    The bots use machine learning, in combination with an array of sensing technology and cameras to plot a safe route, while at the same time avoiding obstacles and obeying traffic or sidewalk rules.

    While FedEx has been testing “the bots in Memphis, Tennessee as well as Plano and Frisco, Texas and Manchester, New Hampshire,” it’s a safe bet NYC won’t be seeing them anytime soon.

  • U.S. Government Looks To Restrict Exports Of AI, Quantum Computing And Self-Driving Tech

    U.S. Government Looks To Restrict Exports Of AI, Quantum Computing And Self-Driving Tech

    According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration has floated a proposal that would limit high-tech exports to China.

    Under the proposal, artificial intelligence (AI), robots, quantum computing, image recognition and self-driving tech would all be prohibited from being exported to China. This would include the tech that drives smartphone assistants, such as Siri.

    “If you think about the range of products this potentially implicates, that’s massive. This is either the opening of a big negotiation with the industry and the public or a bit of a cry for help in scoping these regulations,” R. David Edelman, the director of the Project on Technology, the Economy, & National Security at MIT, told The Washington Post.

    At the very least, the administration seems intent on extending the restrictions to those countries that are already subject to U.S. arms embargoes, including China.

    Needless to say, industry experts are not happy with the proposal. In a separate report by The Washington Post, individuals with the National Venture Capital Association expressed concern about how effective these proposed restrictions would be, versus the damage they would cause.

    “Almost everything is using AI in one way or another,” said Jeff Farrah, NVCA’s general counsel. “So then is everything subject to export controls?”

    Farrah continued: “There’s not a lot of faith from people in the industry that the government will get this right.”

  • Yum CEO: Driverless Cars, Robots Making Pizzas, This is All In Our Future

    Yum CEO: Driverless Cars, Robots Making Pizzas, This is All In Our Future

    Yum Brands which owns Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and other restaurant brands are at the forefront of technological innovation. Yum also isn’t afraid to experiment with seemingly outlandish ideas either such as their announcement of the Toyota Tundra Pie Pro which makes pizza on the go.

    Yum Brands CEO Greg Creed recently discussed Yum’s use of technology:

    We Love Our Relationship with Grubhub

    “We love our relationship with Grubhub, it’s a great partnership,” says Yum Brands CEO Greg Creed. “By the end of the year in the U.S., we’ll have about 2,000 KFC’s and probably close to 4,000 Taco Bell’s delivering. In the stores that are already delivering we’re getting check increases and incremental sales that are coming from it, so we’re very excited about this partnership. We think it obviously bodes well for the future sales growth for both KFC and for Taco Bell in the U.S.”

    Driverless Cars and Robots Making Pizzas is Our Future

    Pizza Hut has partnered with Toyota to develop a zero-emission Tundra PIE Pro, a mobile pizza factory with the ability to deliver oven-hot pizza wherever it goes. The full-size pizza-making truck was introduced at Toyota’s 2018 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show presentation.

    “I love our partnership with Toyota,” added Creed. “This is really about technology, this is about robotics, this is about what the future is envisioning. Driverless cars, robots making pizzas, this is all in our future. Is it in our future next week? No, but is it in our foreseeable future, absolutely. Everything that we can do to make the brands more relevant, make them easier to access and more distinctive, that’s what will lead to continued success, not just for Pizza Hut but also at KFC and at Taco Bell.”

    Pizza Hut Partners with Toyota on the Tundra PIE Pro

    Pizza Hut has partnered with Toyota to develop the one-of-a-kind, zero-emission Tundra PIE Pro, a mobile pizza factory with the ability to deliver oven-hot pizza wherever it goes. The full-size pizza-making truck was introduced at Toyota’s 2018 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show presentation.

    “Nothing tastes better than a fresh Pizza Hut pizza straight out of the oven,” said Marianne Radley, Chief Brand Officer, Pizza Hut. “The Tundra PIE Pro brings to life our passion for innovation not just on our menu but in digital and delivery in order to provide the best possible customer experience.”

  • Walmart’s Got Robots Running Loose In Its Stores

    Walmart’s Got Robots Running Loose In Its Stores

    In a bid to improve its services, Walmart is currently testing automation in several of its stores across the country. The robots are designed to manage repetitive tasks and give the staff more time to focus on helping customers.

    The retail giant has deployed around 50 robots that scan shelves to check for mislabeled items, products with incorrect prices and out-of-stock goods. The collected data is then relayed to a cloud database. Workers can then check to see what products are running low and have to be restocked.

    The robots are developed and produced by Bossa Nova Robotics. Officials from the San Francisco-based company said it took them almost six years to develop the automated units’ shelf-scanning technology.

    According to Walmart’s management, the robots will free employees from repetitive and predictable tasks and give them more time to concentrate on giving their customers better service. Walmart says the project is still in its initial stages and the company is still gathering feedback from customers and colleagues on the robots’ performance and whether they get in the consumers’ way.

    The units are like self-driving vehicles and are typically used early in the morning. But the company is amenable to testing the robots at other times—like the midday and at night – when there are more customers in the store.

    The shelf-scanning robots are just the first in a series of changes Walmart appears to be considering. The company has already filed several patents on technology that they plan on using, including a wearable device that will track shoppers’ movements.

    Walmart isn’t the only company checking out what Bossa Nova Robotics’ machines can do. Three other major retailers have contracted the company to test its automation technology.

    The use of automation in retail has already been the topic of debates. Some consumers have raised questions on what the role of robots would be while others have concerns about how this will affect jobs. But there are also those who believe automation can make shopping trips easier.

    [Featured image via Walmart Canada]

  • Watch This New Robot From Alphabet (Formerly Google) Do Human Things

    I know it’s cliche at this point to mention Terminator and Robocop in articles like this, but sorry, I call ’em like I see ’em.

    As you may know, Google bought Boston Dynamics, makers of humanoid (and other) robots in 2013 before becoming Alphabet last year. Boston Dynamics is now showing off its latest masterpiece, and it’s basically the most shiver-inducing coolest one yet.

    Boston Dynamics says:

    A new version of Atlas, designed to operate outdoors and inside buildings. It is specialized for mobile manipulation. It is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated. It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with navigation and manipulate objects. This version of Atlas is about 5′ 9″ tall (about a head shorter than the DRC Atlas) and weighs 180 lbs.

    Go ahead and marvel at the sight of this robot casually doing human things and thinking about replacing helping humans in a variety of scenarios.

    Yikes Awesome!

  • Google’s Humanoid Robot Can Stalk You Through the Woods Now

    Google’s Humanoid Robot Can Stalk You Through the Woods Now

    In that’s just wonderful news, the Google-owned Boston Dynamics is now testing its ATLAS humanoid robot outdoors, which led to this incredibly creepy footage:

    No, ATLAS isn’t particularly agile – yet. But the way it ambles along, like a drunk, homicidal toddler, is more than a little unnerving.

    That’s a Google-owned robot that can pretty much ruin your camping trip.

    According to Boston Dynamics, ATLAS is “a high mobility, humanoid robot designed to negotiate outdoor, rough terrain. Atlas can walk bipedally leaving the upper limbs free to lift, carry, and manipulate the environment. In extremely challenging terrain, Atlas is strong and coordinated enough to climb using hands and feet, to pick its way through congested spaces.” It’s meant to be a rescue bot.

    It’s partially funded by the US military (DARPA) and includes “28 hydraulically-actuated degrees of freedom, two hands, arms, legs, feet and a torso.”

    Boston Dynamics was acquired by Google in 2013 and put under its X labs. With the new restructuring efforts, it’s unclear if this robotics division will remain under Google or be put under Alphabet.

  • Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Hundreds More Call for Ban on Autonomous Weapons

    Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Hundreds More Call for Ban on Autonomous Weapons

    According to Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Noam Chomsky, and hundreds of AI and robotics researchers, governments should ban autonomous weapons in order to prevent a “military AI arms race.”

    In a letter signed by over 1,000, Musk, Hawking and others say that most AI researchers “have no interest in building AI weapons, and do not want others to tarnish their field by doing so, potentially creating a major public backlash against AI that curtails its future societal benefits.”

    The letter, which will be officially announced at the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) in Buenos Aires, is organized by the Future of Life Institute. FLI “are a volunteer-run research and outreach organization working to mitigate existential risks facing humanity. We are currently focusing on potential risks from the development of human-level artificial intelligence.”

    According to the organization, its mission is “to catalyze and support research and initiatives for safeguarding life and developing optimistic visions of the future.”

    And to FLI and the signatories of this open letter, flying death robots do not an optimistic future make.

    Here’s the full text of the letter:

    Autonomous weapons select and engage targets without human intervention. They might include, for example, armed quadcopters that can search for and eliminate people meeting certain pre-defined criteria, but do not include cruise missiles or remotely piloted drones for which humans make all targeting decisions. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has reached a point where the deployment of such systems is — practically if not legally — feasible within years, not decades, and the stakes are high: autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.

    Many arguments have been made for and against autonomous weapons, for example that replacing human soldiers by machines is good by reducing casualties for the owner but bad by thereby lowering the threshold for going to battle. The key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI arms race or to prevent it from starting. If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable, and the endpoint of this technological trajectory is obvious: autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow. Unlike nuclear weapons, they require no costly or hard-to-obtain raw materials, so they will become ubiquitous and cheap for all significant military powers to mass-produce. It will only be a matter of time until they appear on the black market and in the hands of terrorists, dictators wishing to better control their populace, warlords wishing to perpetrate ethnic cleansing, etc. Autonomous weapons are ideal for tasks such as assassinations, destabilizing nations, subduing populations and selectively killing a particular ethnic group. We therefore believe that a military AI arms race would not be beneficial for humanity. There are many ways in which AI can make battlefields safer for humans, especially civilians, without creating new tools for killing people.

    Just as most chemists and biologists have no interest in building chemical or biological weapons, most AI researchers have no interest in building AI weapons — and do not want others to tarnish their field by doing so, potentially creating a major public backlash against AI that curtails its future societal benefits. Indeed, chemists and biologists have broadly supported international agreements that have successfully prohibited chemical and biological weapons, just as most physicists supported the treaties banning space-based nuclear weapons and blinding laser weapons.

    In summary, we believe that AI has great potential to benefit humanity in many ways, and that the goal of the field should be to do so. Starting a military AI arms race is a bad idea, and should be prevented by a ban on offensive autonomous weapons beyond meaningful human control.

    Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and Stephen Hawking have all gone on record plenty of times with concerns about artificial intelligence.

    Image via Stephen Hawking, Facebook

  • Steve Wozniak Is Also Concerned About Our Future Robot Overlords

    Steve Wozniak Is Also Concerned About Our Future Robot Overlords

    Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has become the latest tech figure to warn us that the computers are learning and they’re going to destroy us all at some point.

    “Computers are going to take over from humans, no question,” said Wozniak in an interview with the Australian Financial Review.

    “Like people including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have predicted, I agree that the future is scary and very bad for people. If we build these devices to take care of everything for us, eventually they’ll think faster than us and they’ll get rid of the slow humans to run companies more efficiently.”

    You might recall that others have recently spoken out about the existential threat that unchecked Artificial Intelligence poses to the human race.

    “I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence. First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don’t understand why some people are not concerned,” said Bill Gates in a recent reddit AMA.

    Tesla and spaceX founder Elon Musk has been the most vocal about his AI concerns.

    See?

    “Will we be the gods? Will we be the family pets? Or will we be ants that get stepped on? I don’t know about that … But when I got that thinking in my head about if I’m going to be treated in the future as a pet to these smart machines … well I’m going to treat my own pet dog really nice,” says Wozniak.

    Be nice to the machines, guys. They might remember.

  • Bill Gates Is Concerned About the Rise of the Machines, and Why the Hell Aren’t You?

    Bill Gates Is Concerned About the Rise of the Machines, and Why the Hell Aren’t You?

    Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, who knows a thing or two about technology, is concerned about the day when our artificial intelligence gets a little too smart for its own good and decides it probably doesn’t have to listen to the dumb humans anymore.

    Also, why aren’t you concerned?, he wonders.

    Gates hosted a reddit AMA on Wednesday, and was asked about the “existential threat” of machine superintelligence. His answer? Hell yeah it’s a issue.

    “I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence. First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don’t understand why some people are not concerned,” said Gates.

    As of late, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has been the most outspoken rich tech dude when it comes to the dangers of AI. He recently called for extensive research to make sure AI doesn’t kill us all, and even make a huge donation to the cause. In the past, he’s said things like …

    We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes.

    and

    You have no idea how fast [AI] is growing at a pace close to exponential. The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five year timeframe. 10 years at most. This is not a case of crying wolf about something I don’t understand.

    Gates also had this to say during his AMA:

    “There will be more progress in the next 30 years than ever. Even in the next 10 problems like vision and speech understanding and translation will be very good. Mechanical robot tasks like picking fruit or moving a hospital patient will be solved. Once computers/robots get to a level of capability where seeing and moving is easy for them then they will be used very extensively.”

    Oh goody.

    Image via thegatesnotes, YouTube

  • Elon Musk Calls for Research to Make Sure Artificial Intelligence Doesn’t Kill Us All

    Elon Musk Calls for Research to Make Sure Artificial Intelligence Doesn’t Kill Us All

    UPDATED BELOW

    For Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, figuring out how to avoid the “potential pitfalls” of artificial intelligence is just as – if not more – important than advancing it.

    Musk, who has been warning us about the possible dangers of AI for some time now, is once again calling for more research into AI safety. Musk has signed and is promoting an open letter from the Future of Life Institute that calls for “research not only on making AI more capable, but also on maximizing the societal benefit … ”

    “The adoption of probabilistic and decision-theoretic representations and statistical learning methods has led to a large degree of integration and cross-fertilization among AI, machine learning, statistics, control theory, neuroscience, and other fields. The establishment of shared theoretical frameworks, combined with the availability of data and processing power, has yielded remarkable successes in various component tasks such as speech recognition, image classification, autonomous vehicles, machine translation, legged locomotion, and question-answering systems,” says the letter.

    “There is now a broad consensus that AI research is progressing steadily, and that its impact on society is likely to increase. The potential benefits are huge, since everything that civilization has to offer is a product of human intelligence; we cannot predict what we might achieve when this intelligence is magnified by the tools AI may provide, but the eradication of disease and poverty are not unfathomable. Because of the great potential of AI, it is important to research how to reap its benefits while avoiding potential pitfalls.”

    The Future of Life Institute is a “a volunteer-run research and outreach organization working to mitigate existential risks facing humanity.” The group’s current focus is on “potential risks from the development of human-level artificial intelligence.”

    You may be unfamiliar with this specific interest of Musk’s, but the billionaire has been rather outspoken about it – especially in the last year or so. In June of last year, Musk pretty much admitted to investing in an up-and-coming AI company to keep an eye on them.

    “Yeah. I mean, I don’t think – in the movie Terminator, they didn’t create A.I. to – they didn’t expect, you know some sort of Terminator-like outcome. It is sort of like the Monty Python thing: Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition. It’s just – you know, but you have to be careful,” he said.

    Soon after, he tweeted that AI was “potentially more dangerous than nukes.”

    Then, a few months later, Musk had this to say as a reply to an article on a futurology site:

    “I am not alone in thinking we should be worried. The leading AI companies have taken great steps to ensure safety. They recognize the danger, but believe that they can shape and control the digital superintelligences and prevent bad ones from escaping into the Internet. That remains to be seen … ”

    Point being – Elon Musk is pretty concerned about the robot apocalypse, and think you should be too.

    “We recommend expanded research aimed at ensuring that increasingly capable AI systems are robust and beneficial: our AI systems must do what we want them to do,” says the letter.

    Yeah, not what they want to do. That’s when everything goes to hell in a handbasket.

    UPDATE 1: Musk has just donated $10 million to The Future of Life Institute.

  • Elon Musk Once Again Warns of the Looming Robot Apocalypse

    Elon Musk Once Again Warns of the Looming Robot Apocalypse

    Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has once again taken to a public forum to warn everyone that they shouldn’t sleep on recent developments in the artificial intelligence field. In short, Musk says that the chance of “something seriously dangerous happening” is likely in five years or so, and a near certainty within a decade.

    Musk posted his warning on science and futurology site edge.org, as a reply to an article titled The Myth of AI. At some point, Musk deleted his comment – but quick redditors over at the futurology subreddit caught it.

    Here’s what he had to say:

    The pace of progress in artificial intelligence (I’m not referring to narrow AI) is incredibly fast. Unless you have direct exposure to groups like Deepmind, you have no idea how fast-it is growing at a pace close to exponential. The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five year timeframe. 10 years at most. This is not a case of crying wolf about something I don’t understand.

    I am not alone in thinking we should be worried. The leading AI companies have taken great steps to ensure safety. They recognize the danger, but believe that they can shape and control the digital superintelligences and prevent bad ones from escaping into the Internet. That remains to be seen…

    This is by no means Musk’s first warning of the type.

    In August, he tweeted that AI was potentially more dangerous than nukes.

    A few months ago he vocalized his concerns regarding a possible Skynet scenario. In fact, he pretty much admitted to investing in an AI company so that he could keep an eye on them.

    And barely three weeks ago, speaking at MIT’s Aeronautics and Astronautics department’s Centennial Symposium, Musk compared harnessing AI to controlling a demon.

    “I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I were to guess like what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful with the artificial intelligence.

    “Increasingly scientists think there should be some regulatory oversight maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish. With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon. In all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it’s like yeah he’s sure he can control the demon. Didn’t work out.”

    I don’t know if you’re inclined to buy into the plausibility of a robot apocalypse but if you’re going to listen to someone, Elon Musk has to be near the top of the list. Ignore at your own risk.

  • Microsoft’s Knightscope Robots Guard Silicon Valley

    Don’t be alarmed when you’re strolling along the roads of Silicon Valley and you happen to be stalked by a cold, heartless, egg shaped machine on wheels; it’s happening.

    Microsoft, the multinational technology corporation, has finally decided to hire robot security guards that will serve to protect the streets surrounding their branch in Mountain View, California, according to GdgtArena.

    As if it was invented by a bunch of nerds, the Knightscope K5 robots are equipped with measuring lasers, GPS, and heat-detecting technology. The robots predict where criminals are most likely to commit offenses as well as the probability of future crimes.

    Wheeling around without the need of human control, the Knightscope stands at 5 feet tall and weighs 300 pounds. It’s installed with four surveillance cameras, microphones, weather monitors, a laser based range finder, odor detectors (just in case someone decides to defecate in public), and scanners that can read 300 license plates per minute.

    Fortunately, the Knightscope K5 machines are not armed (yet.) The lasers in the robot are used to read and measure the distance in front of it, as well as utilize a GPS system so it’s aware of its own location.

    The Knightscope K5 units gather information from government, businesses, and social media sources, running it through a sophisticated algorithm and predicting the likelihood of criminal activity in a certain area.

    Knightscope (the company that makes the Knightscope K5 units) are hoping their obese robot will cut crime down to 50%. If you happen to be a criminal, the K5 will beep at you with extreme prejudice, sending a signal back to its control center where authorities will be notified. If you’re in danger, never fear, just run up to the K5 and slap its head for help, or speak to security over its intercom.

    Four robots have been deployed, wheeling around in Silicon Valley, protecting the country like true patriots. Slashgear reports that the robots are meant to serve as patrol units, monitoring colleges, corporate campuses, parking lots, and shopping malls.

    A Knightscope probably won’t kill you unless it somehow falls off what appears to be its only weakness as of now: steps.

    “I noticed that a K5 in the distance had somehow toppled over the edge of the sidewalk onto the parking-lot asphalt several inches below. A couple of Knightscope folks were needed to pull it upright,” Rachel Metz, a reporter for MIT Technology Review said.

    Scared? The Knightscope official website assures us that we’re in good hands:

    “Imagine a friend that can see, hear, feel and smell that would tirelessly watch over your corporate campus or neighborhood, keep your loved ones safe and put a smile on everyone passing by. Imagine if we could utilize technology to make our communities stronger and safer…..together.”

    What could go wrong?

  • Apparently Google Is Building Karate Kid Robots

    I’m sure you’re familiar with the famous Crane kick in The Karate Kid.

    Boston Dynamics, which Google bought nearly a year ago, has a new video of one of its Atlas robots seemingly trying to mimick the famous move. Just in case you think that’s a stretch, the video is actually called “Atlas KarateKid”.

    It’s unclear if sweeping the leg will take this guy out.

    Oh, and his name is Ian, and he also drives. The Daily Mail reports:

    The robot boasts 28 hydraulically actuated joints and stereo vision, and is one of the most advanced robots ever created. However, it’s not just karate – Ian has another trick up his sleeve – software written by the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Interaction which allows him to drive a car.

    Here’s a look at some other terrifying robots from Boston Dynamics.

    Image via YouTube