Readings

The readings for this week focus on artificial intelligence and automation:

Intelligence

These articles discuss what artificial intelligence is:

• What is artificial intelligence?

• Debunking the biggest myths about artificial intelligence

• The Great A.I. Awakening

• Rise of the Machines

These articles discuss AlphaGo, Watson, and Deep Blue:

• How Google's AlphaGo Beat a Go World Champion

• Is AlphaGo Really Such a Big Deal?

• Why AlphaGo Is Not AI

• How Google Plans to Solve Artificial Intelligence

• Computer Wins on 'Jeopardy!': Trivial, It's Not

• When Computers Started Beating Chess Champions

• The fraudulent claims made by IBM about Watson and AI.

These articles discuss the Turing Test and the Chinese Room thought experiment:

• Computing Machinery and Intelligence

• Searle: Minds, brains, and programs

• The truth about the Turing Test

• Do Feelings Compute? If Not, The Turing Test Doesn't Mean Much

• The Turing Test Is Not What You Think It Is

These articles further examine whether or not machines can think:

• Can We Quantify Machine Consciousness?

• Don't Be A Chauvinist About Thinking

• Machines That Think? NUTS

• Beyond "The Uncanny Valley"

These articles discuss the fears around artificial intelligence

• Beneficial Artificial Intelligence (context)

• Some scientists fear superintelligent machiens could pose a threat to humanity

• AI will create 'useless class' of human, predicts bestselling historian

• Let’s Stop Freaking Out About Artificial Intelligence

Automation

These articles discuss the economic impact of automation:

• A World without Work

• How Artificial Intelligence and Robots Will Radically Transform the Economy

• Automation and Jobs

• How Safe Is Your Job? A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast

These articles discuss how artificial intelligence is displacing human workers:

• Drones could replace $127 billion worth of human labour

• Foxconn replaces '60,000 factory workers with robots'

• Amazon, robots and the near-future rise of the automated warehouse

• The Rise Of The Robots: What The Future Holds For The World’s Armies

• Robots are already replacing fast-food workers

This is a series of podcasts from Planet Money regarding automation:

• Episode 621: When Luddites Attack

• Episode 622: Humans vs. Robots

• Episode 623: The Machine Comes To Town

• Episode 624: I, Waiter

These articles consider whether the Luddites were right regarding automation:

• Technology isn't working

• Were the Luddites right about technology and jobs?

• The Rise of Job-Killing Automation? Not So Fast

• Will Robots Put Everyone Out of Work? Automation Is Good for Humans

• The threat of technological unemployment

These articles touch on the political implications of automation:

• The CEO of United Technologies just let slip an unintended consequence of the Trump-Carrier jobs deal

• Most US manufacturing jobs lost to technology, not trade

• The Long-Term Jobs Killer Is Not China. It’s Automation.

• Trump treasury secretary: R2-D2 won't take your job for 50 years

These articles discuss the idea of a universal basic income:

• As Our Jobs Are Automated, Some Say We'll Need A Guaranteed Basic Income

• It's time to start talking seriously about Basic Income

• Silicon Valley's Unchecked Arrogance

• Commentary: Universal Basic Income May Sound Attractive But, If It Occurred, Would Likelier Increase Poverty Than Reduce It

These articles discuss other ways to address the problems caused by automation:

• Andrew Ng Wants a New “New Deal” to Combat Job Automation

• Automation, education, and the looming skills deficit

• The robot that takes your job should pay taxes, says Bill Gates

Questions

Please write a response to one of the following questions:

1. From the readings, what is artificial intelligence and how is it similar or different from what you consider to be human intelligence?

   • Are AlphaGo, Deep Blue, and Watson proof of the viability of artificial intelligence or are they just interesting tricks or gimmicks?

   • Is the Turing Test a valid measure of intelligence or is the Chinese Room a good counter argument?

   • Are the growing concerns over the power of artificial intelligence and its role in our lives warranted? Are you worried about the potential dangers imposed by artificial intelligence? Explain why or why not.

   • Finally, could a computing system ever be considered a mind? Are humans just biological computers? What are the ethical implications are either idea?

2. From the readings, how is automation impacting employment? What are the social, political, and economic implications of replacing human labor with automation on a massive scale?

   • Were the Luddites right about technology and jobs? Should we halt development of automation technology or at least temper it to ensure employment of human laborers, or does automation free humans for other endeavors?

   • Are you comfortable with artificial intelligence taking over work normally performed by humans? How about artificial intelligence performing typically "human" activities such as caregiving, creating artist works, or making life-or-death decisions?

   • Is a Universal Basic Income a viable means of addressing the concerns over loss of employment due to mass automation or is it unnecessary? How does society deal with a future with mass automation and lower employment (or is this not really a problem)? How do we prevent the rich from simply getting richer (or do we even care about preventing that)?

   • Is automation ultimately a good thing or a bad thing for humanity? What are the ethical implications for those who develop and utilize these automation technologies?

Feedback

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the course, please provide your feedback at the end of your response.