Will Robots replace Humans?

17

October

2022

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written by Robin Fieseler, 17th of October 2022, 5 min read

Google developed their newest Natural Language Processing (NLP) model Pathways Language Model (PaLM). It possess groundbreaking 540 billion parameters and aims towards generalizing artificial intelligence while being highly efficient (Narang und Chowdhery 2022).

PaLM in action:

In the picture, you could see how PaLM solves a math exercise and cretaes the necerssary text. Solving math and putting sentences together is impressive, but it doesn’t seem like it replaces us. YET.

Therefore let’s look on the most recent robto developments.

DO As I can, Not As I say.

Googles Robotic Researchers stated this year:
“We evaluate our method on a number of real-world robotic tasks, where we show the need for real-world grounding and that this approach is capable of completing long-horizon, abstract, natural language instructions on a mobile manipulator.” (Ahn et al. 2022).

But what did the researchers do? They combined the use of an algorithm called “SayCan” with the PaLM NLP model and applied the software to a robot (a mobile manipulator from Everyday Robots with a 7-degree-of-freedom arm and a two-finger gripper). In addition, reinforcement learning is used to allow the robot to learn the skills it needs. For example, grabbing a dropped cup, putting it in the bin and cleaning it. This robot selects and performs the correct sequence of skills 84% of the time, a 50% improvement over previous robots (Ahn et al. 2022).

The combination leads to a future where Robots perform tasks as requested. Did I just say future? It is clearly present even though it is applied only within the research sector and not to 100% of the time. But do you always do as your told?

Artificial Agents Mimic Human Brains

Lastly, Tim Behrens, James Whittington and others have found evidence that cognitive maping applied on artificial agents (robots) could imitate how a brain stores and accesses knowledge (Behrens et al. 2018).

To quote: “We highlight how artificial agents endowed with such principles exhibit flexible behavior and learn map-like representations observed in the brain. Finally, we speculate on how these principles may offer insight into the extreme generalizations, abstractions, and inferences that characterize human cognition.” (Behrens et al. 2018)

Key Takeaway

In conclusion, this blog has demonstrated that robots successfully perform tasks based on words and that brain activity and the way humans store and apply knowledge can be imitated.

People who believe that robots will and can replace humans have been around for a long time. These “believers” have formed groups to incorporate technology into the human body to stay ahead in the race between robots and humans. They are called transhumanists. Now the transhumanists finally have scientific evidence that the brains of robots and humans work similarly, and proof that robots can perform tasks based on spoken words in an unfamiliar environment. So for them, the question is not whether robots will replace us, but when?

Therefore, I ask you: Will Robots replace Humans?

Let me know in the comments!

References

Ahn, M., Brohan, A., Brown, N. et al. (2022), ‘Do As I Can, Not As I Say: Grounding Language in Robotic Affordances’ <https://​say-can.github.io​/​assets/​palm_​saycan.pdf>, updated 19 Aug 2022, accessed 17 Oct 2022.

Behrens, T. E. J., Muller, T. H., Whittington, J. C. R. et al. (2018), ‘What Is a Cognitive Map? Organizing Knowledge for Flexible Behavior’, Neuron, 100/2: 490–509 <https://​www.sciencedirect.com​/​science/​article/​pii/​S0896627318308560>.

Narang, S., and Chowdhery, A. (2022), ‘Google AI Blog: Pathways Language Model (PaLM): Scaling to 540 Billion Parameters for Breakthrough Performance’ <https://​ai.googleblog.com​/​2022/​04/​pathways-​language-​model-​palm-​scaling-​to.html>, updated 17 Oct 2022, accessed 17 Oct 2022.

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BIM, Meet Gertrude!

6

October

2020

Gertrude enjoying a well deserved drink during her performance. 

In August 2020, famous tech entrepreneur Elon Musk revealed his latest technological project: a pig called Gertrude. On first sight, Gertrude looks like an ordinary Pig. She seems healthy, curious, and eager to taste some delicious snacks. When looking at her, it is hard to imagine how she managed to get one of the world’s most radical and well known tech entrepreneurs so excited. Gertrude just seems normal.

This is exactly the point!

ElonMuskGotcha

Elon Musk “Gotcha”

Gertrude is no ordinary pig. She has been surgically implanted with a brain-monitoring chip, Link V0.9, created by one of Elon Musk’s latest start-ups named Neuralink.

Neuralink was founded in 2016, by Elon Musk and several neuroscientists. The short term goal of the company is to create devices to treat serious brain diseases and overcome damaged nervous systems. Our brain is made up of 86 billion neurons: nerve cells which send and receive information through electrical signals. According to Neuralink, your brain is like electric wiring. Rather than having neurons send electrical signals, these signals could be send and received by a wireless Neuralink chip.

To simplify: Link is a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires

The presentation in August was intended to display that the current version of the Link chip works and has no visible side-effects for its user. The user, in this case Gertrude, behaves and acts like she would without it. The chip is designed to be planted directly into the brain by a surgical robot. Getting a Link would be a same day surgery which could take less than an hour. This creates opportunities for Neuralink to go to the next stage: the first human implantation. Elon Musk expressed that the company is preparing for this step, which will take place after further safety testing and receiving the required approvals.

The long term goal of the Neuralink is even more ambitious: human enhancement through merging the human brain with AI. The system could help people store memories, or download their mind into robotic bodies. An almost science-fictional idea, fuelled by Elon Musk’s fear of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Already in 2014, Musk called AI “the biggest existential threat to humanity”. He fears, that with the current development rate, AI will soon reach the singularity: the point where AI has reached intelligence levels substantially greater than that of the human brain and technological growth has become uncontrollable and irreversible, causing unforeseeable effects to human civilization. Hollywood has given us examples of this with The Matrix and Terminator. With the strategy of “if you cannot beat them, join them”, Elon Musk sees the innovation done by Neuralink as an answer to this (hypothetical) catastrophical point in time. By allowing human brains to merge with AI, Elon Musk wants to vastly increase the capabilities of humankind and prevent human extinction.

Singularity
Man versus Machine

So, will we all soon have Link like chips in our brains while we await the AI-apocalypse?

Probably not. Currently, the Link V0.9 only covers data collected from a small number of neurons in a coin size part of the cortex. With regards to Gertrude, Neuralink’s pig whom we met earlier in this article, this means being able to wirelessly monitor her brain activity in a part of the brain linked to the nerves in her snout. When Gertrude’s snout is touched, the Neuralink system can registers the neural spikes produced by the neurons firing electronical signals. However, in contrast: major human functions typically involve millions of neurons from different parts of the brain. To make the device capable of helping patients with brain diseases or damaged nervous system, it will need to become capable of collecting larger quantities of data from multiple different areas in the brain.

On top of that, brain research has not yet achieved a complete understanding of the human brain. There are many functions and connections that are not yet understood. It appears that the ambitions of both Elon Musk and Neuralink are ahead of current scientific understanding.

So, what next?

Neuralink has received a Breakthrough Device Designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the organisation that regulates the quality of medical products. This means Neuralink has the opportunity to interact with FDA’s experts during the premarket development phase and opens the opportunity towards human testing. The first clinical trials will be done on a small group of patients with severe spinal cord injuries, to see if they can regain motor functions through thoughts alone. For now a medical goal with potentially life changing outcomes, while we wait for science to catch up with Elon Musk’s ambitions.

 Neuralink-Logo

Thank you for reading. Did this article spark your interest?
For more information, I recommend you to check out Neuralink’s website https://neuralink.com/

Curious how Gertrude is doing?
Neuralink often posts updates on their Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/neura.link/?hl=en

Want to read more BIM-articles like this?
Check out relating articles created by other BIM-students in 2020:

Sources used for this article:

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Cloud-Based Immortality

16

October

2019

5/5 (1) Achieving immortality has long been a vision that seems to be out of reach. However, some futurists believe that by 2045 humans will achieve digital immortality by uploading their minds to computers [1]. Today, the startup Nectome works exactly on that. Nectome wants to upload and preserve people’s minds by preserving the brain using a revolutionary technique and then uploading the information to the cloud [2][3]. However, this comes with one certain twist – the brain has to be fresh, which means you have to be euthanized first [2]. Therefore, Nectome’s mind-uploading service is rather aimed at people with terminal illnesses. Also, Netcome says they don’t plan to attempt this feat in the foreseeable future [4].

The company Netcome has been part of the prestigious startup accelerator Y Combinator and has already raised $1 million in funding [2]. Moreover, it has found a way to test its market by inviting prospective customers to join a waiting list for $10,000, which they can get refunded if they change their mind. So far, 25 people have subscribed to the waiting list, including Sam Altman, one of the founders of Y Combinator [2]. But Netcome is not the only company working on mind uploading. In 2011, the 2045 Initiative was founded, which is an organization that wants to help humanity achieve immortality by 2045 by transferring someone’s personality into a new body [3].

Still, one big question arises: Is mind uploading even possible? Some people argue this should be possible in theory. If it would be possible to find a way to map the brain’s activity, scan the brain in detail and run gigantic simulations, it should be possible to recreate a person’s mind in a computer [3]. However, some people also argue that it is not possible [5].

Uploading our minds will definitely not be possible in the near future and it remains open whether it will be possible at all. However, it still is an interesting topic to debate about. Assuming mind uploading would work and we could obtain immortality by transferring our mind to another body, this would raise some ethical and philosophical questions, such as:

  • Should we allow to do it? Do we want it?
  • What do we do with “homeless” minds?
  • Can we lose our right to have a body? Or can we sell or rent it?
  • Should we attempt to reprogram brains?

I am curious about your opinion. Could you imagine such a thing becoming a reality? And what do you think would the implications of it be? What are aspects we would need to consider?

 

References

[1]: Lewis, T. (2013). The Singularity Is Near: Mind Uploading by 2045?. Retrieved from: https://www.livescience.com/37499-immortality-by-2045-conference.html

[2]: Regalado, A. (2018). A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”. Retrieved from: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610456/a-startup-is-pitching-a-mind-uploading-service-that-is-100-percent-fatal/

[3]: Van Hooijdonk, R. (2018). In a future of mind uploading, will you still be you, and who will own your mind?. Retrieved from: https://richardvanhooijdonk.com/blog/en/in-a-future-of-mind-uploading-will-you-still-be-you-and-who-will-own-your-mind/

[4]: Letzter, R. (2018). Brain-Uploading Company Has No Immediate Plans to Upload Brains. Retrieved from: https://www.livescience.com/62212-nectome-grant-mit-founder.html

[5]: Elderkin, B. (2018). Will We Ever Be Able to Upload a Mind to a New Body?. Retrieved from: https://gizmodo.com/will-we-ever-be-able-to-upload-a-mind-to-a-new-body-1822622161

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