Keep Calm and “Reboot for AI revolution”

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A friend just asked me to comment on the article “Reboot for AI revolution” by Yuval Noah Hararion @NatureNews. Very interesting read, but I am not convinced by many of his points.

Firstly, Harari is a historian, from that perspective he more than any one else should know about human resilience and ability to strive from seemingly adversary situations. I am not convinced that AI will bring about the end of this immense human capability.

AI will contribute to make us better. I am not denying that there are rough times coming up, but in the large scheme of things, I believe on the power of humans to strive and get better.

Moreover, he portrays a very narrow view of artificial intelligence, directly derived from the mostly probabilistic approach in which deep learning is based. Intelligence is much more than “analyse massive amounts of data and recognize patterns with superhuman efficiency”. Intelligence is not one-dimensional, nor cognition only.

So, yes AI will provide us with better tools for many of the tasks we do know, in the same way calculators enable anyone to calculate square roots without any maths knowledge. AI will not, at least not in the coming times, replace us. In the same way, we need to know when and what for use the calculator, we will still be the ones that are able to decide when and which questions to ask (and yes, AI will be better than us answering many of those questions).

I fully agree with Harari on the need for lifelong learning, and moreover, the need for a radical transformation of education: we need to learn which questions to ask, not anymore need to learn the answers. This will be the key to ensure continued role of humans in the economic area.

Finally, more than anything else before, AI requires global, worldwide approaches and solutions for governance and development. Only when we have a participatory, inclusive approach to AI, and one that can reach all, we will truly have AI for Good

in short: #AIforGood = #AIbyAll + #AIforAll