3 ms·

This sounds a lot like how people get TSA redress numbers when their info falsely flags them as suspicious (https://www.dhs.gov/redress-control-numbers https://

This sounds a lot like how people get TSA redress numbers when their info falsely flags them as suspicious (https://www.dhs.gov/redress-control-numbers https://www.dhs.gov/redress-control-numbers). Or how Barack Obama suffered innuendo around the middle name "Hussein." Mistaken identity or unfortunate associations are as old as humanity. AI systems (and non-AI systems) need ways to deal with these problems, but we also have a lot of experience about how to do that.

bobthepanda 9y ago
The problem is when we hand AI full reigns over a system that should have humans with the final say, because doing it with humans is "too hard" or "doesn't scale." At least with humans you have auditable decision making and recourse via the legal system, even if it can be hard to fight. AI are essentially black boxes that unconsciously learn the biases of the datasets they are given. When AI starts determining rather consequential things like how long to send someone to prison for, that's a problem. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/us/politics/sent-to-prison-by-a-software-programs-secret-algorithms.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/us/politics/sent-to-priso...
- manux 9y ago
  > AI are essentially black boxes that unconsciously learn the biases of the datasets they are given. Please don't confuse "AI" with the current state-of-the-art of the latest deep learning model. Many of us researchers are working on interpretability and understanding of causality. Calling it "AI" makes it appear final, as if in 50 years all machine learning-based decision systems will behave exactly as they do now, without nuance.
  - bobthepanda 9y ago
    Calling currently existing models AI is no different than calling a Model T a car. It being more primitive than what may exist in the future is of little consequence to the public dealing with the consequences of AI today. AI can only learn from the data it has, so it will always carry some sort of bias, because it is impossible to collect the nuance of every last bit of context into a digestible data format. At best it's an advisor, but it should never be a decision-maker.
    - AstralStorm 9y ago
      Very different in fact. Model T had most big level components of a modern car in place. Rubbered wheel. Protection from elements. Combustion engine. Transmission. In comparison, current automated decision making systems are at the stage where we do not even know what the components are. And calling them intelligent is insulting.
    - c22 9y ago
      Existing "AI" is more like a couple of wheels and a handful of engine parts. I think it's fair to call it something more accurate so as not to mislead the public about where today's consequences come from.

bobthepanda 9y ago

The problem is when we hand AI full reigns over a system that should have humans with the final say, because doing it with humans is "too hard" or "doesn't scale." At least with humans you have auditable decision making and recourse via the legal system, even if it can be hard to fight. AI are essentially black boxes that unconsciously learn the biases of the datasets they are given. When AI starts determining rather consequential things like how long to send someone to prison for, that's a problem. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/us/politics/sent-to-prison-by-a-software-programs-secret-algorithms.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/us/politics/sent-to-priso...

manux 9y ago
> AI are essentially black boxes that unconsciously learn the biases of the datasets they are given. Please don't confuse "AI" with the current state-of-the-art of the latest deep learning model. Many of us researchers are working on interpretability and understanding of causality. Calling it "AI" makes it appear final, as if in 50 years all machine learning-based decision systems will behave exactly as they do now, without nuance.
- bobthepanda 9y ago
  Calling currently existing models AI is no different than calling a Model T a car. It being more primitive than what may exist in the future is of little consequence to the public dealing with the consequences of AI today. AI can only learn from the data it has, so it will always carry some sort of bias, because it is impossible to collect the nuance of every last bit of context into a digestible data format. At best it's an advisor, but it should never be a decision-maker.
  - AstralStorm 9y ago
    Very different in fact. Model T had most big level components of a modern car in place. Rubbered wheel. Protection from elements. Combustion engine. Transmission. In comparison, current automated decision making systems are at the stage where we do not even know what the components are. And calling them intelligent is insulting.
  - c22 9y ago
    Existing "AI" is more like a couple of wheels and a handful of engine parts. I think it's fair to call it something more accurate so as not to mislead the public about where today's consequences come from.