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Recent startling successes in machine intelligence using a technique called 'deep learning' seem to blur the line between human and machine as never before. Are computers on the cusp of becoming so intelligent that they will render humans obsolete? Harry Collins argues we are getting ahead of ourselves, caught up in images of a fantastical future dreamt up in fictional portrayals. The greater present danger is that we lose sight of the very real limitations of artificial intelligence and readily enslave ourselves to stupid computers: the 'Surrender'.
By dissecting the intricacies of language use and meaning, Collins shows how far we have to go before we cannot distinguish between the social understanding of humans and computers. When the stakes are so high, we need to set the bar higher: to rethink 'intelligence' and recognize its inherent social basis. Only if machine learning succeeds on this count can we congratulate ourselves on having produced artificial intelligence.
List of contents
- Chapter 1. Computers in Social Life and the Danger of the 'Surrender'
- Chapter 2. Expertise and Writing about AI: Some Reflections on the Project
- Chapter 3. Language and 'Repair'
- Chapter 4. Humans, Social Contexts and Bodies
- Chapter 5. Six Levels of Artificial Intelligence
- Chapter 6. Deep Learning: Precedent-Based, Pattern-Recognising Computers
- Chapter 7. Kurzweil's Brain and the Sociology of Knowledge
- Chapter 8. How Humans Learn What Computers Can't
- Chapter 9. Two Models of Artificial Intelligence and the Way Forward
- Chapter 10. The Editing Test and Other New Versions of the Turing Test
- Appendix 1: How the Internet Works Today
- Appendix 2: Little Dogs
About the author
Harry Collins is a Fellow of the British Academy, and Distinguished Research Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University
Summary
Recent startling successes in machine intelligence using a technique called 'deep learning' seem to blur the line between human and machine as never before. Are computers on the cusp of becoming so intelligent that they will render humans obsolete? Harry Collins argues we are getting ahead of ourselves, caught up in images of a fantastical future dreamt up in fictional portrayals. The greater present danger is that we lose sight of the very real limitations of artificial intelligence and readily enslave ourselves to stupid computers: the 'Surrender'.
By dissecting the intricacies of language use and meaning, Collins shows how far we have to go before we cannot distinguish between the social understanding of humans and computers. When the stakes are so high, we need to set the bar higher: to rethink 'intelligence' and recognize its inherent social basis. Only if machine learning succeeds on this count can we congratulate ourselves on having produced artificial intelligence.
