The fabrication of fanciful imagination from science fiction movies is becoming more tangible than ever imagined. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging in the business environment with new and innovative concepts ready to change the world.
JIBO is the world’s first family robot and is set to be in the homes of many families during 2016. This little innovation will use algorithms to communicate and interact with people. It will be like a personal assistant that proactively helps you and learns your preferences. It has generated more that $2,300,000 in crowd funding from the believing public. Primarily designed as a social robot for the home, commercial uses are very likely. JIBO associate Casey Pechman has confirmed that Boston Children’s Hospital will receive a donation of JIBO’s to be able to interact with patients during their stay. If you’re struggling to get along with your friends or colleagues, a robotic replacement may not be that far away.
A very likely role of robots in the near future and to a small degree currently is for them to take the roles of monotonous and dangerous work. Some of the current usage of robots is electronically controlled industrial robots, aerospace robots, used in healthcare delivery, military robots, bomb disposal, and to resemble human beings and robotic pets. Knightscope, a startup company based in Mountain View, California, revealed the first transition of robots into a service area last month. Five-foot-tall, 300-pound white robots could be the newest security guards. Knightscope is making accelerating progress towards robots that are smarter, more agile and with the ability to work alongside humans.
No one doubts the benefits that could be achieved from robots becoming more prevalent in the business sector but there are also potential disadvantages. It seems that with each new era comes the redundancy of some human labor. The industrial revolution saw millions of jobs replaced with machines. Robots may see agriculture workers relegated, driverless cars will eliminate many jobs, robots will replace porters, and as seen with JIBO, personal relationships might even begin to be formed with artificial intelligence.
Stephen Hawking warns that the development of artificial intelligence could pose a major threat to humanity. Hawking says that we must be fearful for the day where machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence. Billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, Elon Musk, also believe AI to be a threat. Musk believes we must be very careful with AI but despite the risk he is at the forefront of the innovations. Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Ashton Kutcher jointly invested $40 million in a company working to create an artificial brain.
Ideas that were once only dreamed of are now becoming ever more tangible, evoking a mixture of emotions. It is quite impressive the amount of progress and advancement that has occurred in the last one hundred years. However, could it be that our goal of efficiency, connecting each other and saving money are in fact creating a divide and deteriorating human relations? Do we want to be driven around by a robot? Will we respect a robot security guard who tells us we cannot enter? Do you want your dying days in hospital to be comforted by a shiny white machine with an automated voice? No matter where you stand, you have to be impressed and at least a little curious to see where technology takes us and just how real science fiction can become.
Aaron
Account Coordinator from New Zealand
