Personal Blogs

Artificial intelligence, could it really lead to the extinction of humanity ?

 For my EMA (in french) I had to write my dissertation about Artificial Intelligence.

At first, in my research of gathering evidence together, there was masses of information on News sites at the time, about the amazing benefits to mankind in terms of medical assistance, diagnosing serious illnesses, as well as AI in Education or AI for the handicapped, with virtual assistants that can help make all our lives a lot easier.

Then came the bad news!  News that AI could actually be sinister and could be used for bad purposes in the world. I went from feeling euphoric to being extremely worried!

There were the daily news headlines such as;

"Geoffrey Hinton - a man widely seen as the godfather of artificial intelligence - quit his job, warning about the growing dangers from developments in the field, which enables technology to create images or text that are barely distinguishable from the work of humans."

So AI is an existential risk for humanity?

Some of the top creators of AI are urging caution about the future risks of AI. Some academics and industry experts have warned that the pace of development could result in malicious AI being deployed by bad actors to actively cause harm - or choosing to inflict harm by itself."

(BBC)

"Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war" (reads AI safety.)

But surely AI is a useful tool to have? Humans programme these machines to do good and to benefit humanity.
The machines after all just respond to whatever it is they have been programmed to do don't they?
It is a machine not unlike any other a typewriter or a washing machine for example?

Since then I have learned about the many disadvantages of AI, such as the huge ammount of job losses caused by AI. This taking away of peoples livelihoods and their way of life. This will be detrimental to people, because as humans we all need occupations that we enjoy doing, that provides us with a decent standard of living.

All these redundancies brought about because a robot can do the job quicker for less money! so it makes the company richer while making the people poorer. What a shame that is, but not really surprising in todays greedy capitalist system!

What are the other risks?
Prof Bengio, who has joined AI safety calls for AI regulation, said he did not think militaries should be granted AI powers. 

Remember we are often influenced by science fiction, which can later sometimes become science fact! (Think Terminator!)

At the end of the day it's just  another technology and experts have always exaggerated new technologies and  inventions as scientific breakthroughs to sell us their products.

However, what the worrying thing is, is that the web is linked to AI and every AI is linked to the web from the smallest computer and robot to the largest intelligent machine.

What about bad actors and cyber attacks, those who could hack the system for bad purposes?

But the Centre for AI Safety director Dan Hendrycks told BBC News future risks and present concerns "shouldn't be viewed antagonistically".

"Addressing some of the issues today can be useful for addressing many of the later risks tomorrow," he said.

Personally I think that the greatest risk to humans, could come from the flawed nature of other humans beings themselves. We should celebrate the achievements of AI ! while at the same time putting together the safeguards needed for the protection of the security for future generations.

References
BBC News: AI 'godfather' Geoffrey Hinton tells the BBC of AI dangers as he quits Google
By Zoe Kleinman & Chris Vallance

Wikipedia.org
Existential risk from artificial intelligence.

The recent walk that I made last Saturday ended at the quaint little church of St Marys, but it did not end there, from here I walked onwards and upwards to the far end of the little hamlet, passing rows of cottages, as well as some modern bungalows. Further along and a steep incline to walk, I crossed the road and there is a good green grassy bridle track to walk along, this took me to the footpath sign, leading to a a wooden gate, opening onto what appears to be a very large meadow.

What an amazing sight then meets the eyes,In the distance, but not too far away, I could see the sea , which was visible glinting in the sun on the horizon. I could even see the coast and the town not far from ours, with its tall landmark church spire, that is where my eldest son lives. You can also see rivers from here on a very clear day. I followed  the path down to a quaint little old bridge, over what is usually quite a fast flowing stream. However, today it did not sound like it was flowing very fast at all, in fact more like  only a trickle, which is a sure sgn of the hot dry weather that we are having lately!

Suddenly I heard a slight crack to the left of me,  there  under the trees I saw the most lovely little munctjac deer standing  drinking from the stream! I could hardly believe my eyes! my heart was beating so fast! He had lovely big black shining eyes and was the size of a large dog, he looked about him rather nervously, ears twitching  as he drank. After watching him a little while, I stood quite motionless,  hardly daring to breathe what a beautiful charming creature! Quite rare to see them during the day, perhaps he was thirsty. I tip toed silently as I could over the bridge, then I followed the footpath.

Emerging from under the over hanging trees, there I had  three footpaths to choose to walk. I chose the other larger  path goes straight on, between fields for about a mile or two more and passes by a private nature reserve and a beautiful lake.The path there is broad enough for tractors and farm equipment to trundle up and down,  and In the fields where the wheat was already starting to grow, but had not yet turned golden with the sun.

Passed by the beautiful lake sparkling in the sun it has a boat on it and looks really pretty, I would be tempted to paddle my feet in the lake, but the lake has a small fence around and a sign saying 'Danger'  So passed quickly on,  I came to a large wood, it is a private nature reserve but a public footpath runs all the way around  the wood,  another footpath then leads to a field.

I then found myself in the same  field where last year, I had seen the beautiful red fox, which  ran out from under a thick hedgerow on the other side and crossed the field to these woods. She may have had a den in there, but I didn't want to look, so as not to disturb her. I am sure she is still around here somewhere, as I have often caught a quick glimpse of her lovely red fury coat as she was running through the field.🦊

🏞🌲🌳🌾🐿🏡

Ragged Robins

Anomes(purple)

Yellow Cowslips (photos Wikipedia)

Some flowers I saw today on my walk. I just had a short walk today, around first field near where I live, but it looked like rain and I heard a rumble of thunder in the near distance.

Then the rain came at last!

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I was watching something on the news this morning about the water being polluted at some beaches around the country.
The latest report I heard was from Blackpool where
Swimmers are being urged to avoid a stretch of coast after sewage was released during a storm. (bbc news)

People should not swim off Blackpool after raw sewage was released into the Irish Sea on Monday evening during a thunderstorm, Blackpool  have Council said. (1 day ago bbc news)
This is so annoying to know and especially with the school holidays not far away on the horizon.

Yes,  while the well off amongst us, are flying off on holiday to lovely clean beaches,  and sunnier climes abroad, spare a thought for the rest of us,  who have to suffer from the indignity of filthy beaches and sewage filled waters it's a disgrace!

There was some really nice beaches in this country I remember as a child,  with soft golden sands and lovely clear waters. I have enjoyed these  many times as a child.  

But come on this is letting the (Brits) side down a bit isn't it?

Raw sewage being released into the sea thats disgusting!

How can we hope to build up our country's economy with the tourist industries,  having such filthy sea waters.

My worst experience was at a Yorkshire beach a few years back  (but I don't like to say which one)  but this was particularly disgraceful!   I set out for a little paddle in the sea one day,  only to find myself surrounded by floating condoms, plastic bottles, ear buds, used baby nappies and
sanitary items (Yes it was shocking, but true!)

So just what is going on with these water companies? They are supposed to be the custodians of our waters. They should  be taking action to keep our waters clean, and our childrens health safe. That's what people are paying their bills for.
The public should also take responibility,  and not put such objects in the toilets or the sea. Put it in a bag and put it in the bin!

Please keep our beaches and waters clean, for the sake of the health and safety of our children!

Another pollutant is that Fish are also being poisoned by boats that empty their tanks directly into the water. There should be much tighter rules and regulations against this practise. It is extremely damaging for the environment.

The Great British sea side holiday, so lets all keep it clean for the childrens sake !

🌊💧🏖🏕🏝🏞🏕🏄‍♀️🤽‍♂️

I am still working on my gardening project but I may have to take a step back. I have also  enlisted help from a friends and family members. (Sadly I can no longer do any gardening, my caring duties are now taking priority!)

My husband took a bit of a turn in regards to his health with his hernia that he has had for about 7 years, and will now be sent to Cambridge to see a consultant there. 

It has been a series of disasters with the NHS, including the time when my husband who was due for an operation, was  placed in a room and completely forgotten about. Then they sent him home without his operation!

Since then his health has declined with other complications. He has been passed about from pillar to post. The NHS are doing their best but are underfunded and morale is low. More and more private trusts are having to fill in the gaps to support the NHS.

 This week we are travelling to Cambridge a friend has kindly agreed to drive us there  to see a consultant, hopefully it will be a favourable outcome. 

The NHS has always been a wonderful service we have always been proud of our NHS but sadly it has been neglected by those who have been in power. This government needs to take the NHS seriously and improve the conditions in the NHS for both staff and patients.

I have enjoyed being a student at the Open University for the last 6-7 years. This was my last and final year and I feel I have learned so much about the French language and French culture, also modern European languages in general, including the English language.

I came from very humble beginnings, from a working class background. Nothing was expected from me.I started off as a care assistant working in a nursing home where I quickly gained a few certificates and became a senior carer. I also cared for my mother, when I was only a young girl. I learned to talk to and care for others. This is the skill of communication that I have learned.

Communicating is an important skill,  and it is good to converse with each other and learn from each other.  I have learnt a lot from my studies at the OU, in  English language, in reading the forum posts and how to express my thoughts and feelings appropriately into words. This has been beneficial for me too, as well as a very enjoyable experience.

I am really looking forward to my results whatever they are! I wish every student here the best for their end of module assignment and for their future projects! 🙂👍👋

It has been like a rollercoaster ride lately with the EMA all written up and sent off. I feel free! 

I now seem to have become a carer for my husband Accompanying my husband to hospital appointments, he now has cataracts in both eyes and he is still awaiting a double hernia operation.

 I still have bursititis on my knee-  but it isn't getting worse but my ankle is swollen on that same side. Hopefully a few more good walks might help me to get back into  good condition again.

Going to hospital ophthomology dept with him tomorrow about his cataracts. The good news is it is 5 minutes from the hospital to the beach so we could  have a little stroll on the beach!
Hope the weather will stay fine! 🌞

Well, I managed to finish the synthese last night. I was also able to write the conclusion. 

Today I will be typing it all up and arranging it better, checking the spellings, checking for errors and just seeing if it all makes sense grammatically, and  if it flows well enough.   I will do this by reading it out loud. Next step make a reference list.

It is a beautiful day outside today. If I finish early I might take myself off for a walk.

☀️   🙂  🚶‍♀️🌳🌲🏡

It took me far longer than I thought it would to write out the anti-these in french science  for AI. It is a fascinating subject with lots of material to write about,  both from the module, TV and internet.

Just finishing off the anti-these before I embark on the synthese tomorrow. Fortunately someone can help me look after the house tomorrow, while I am busy working away on the synthese. Another 800 words for that one I think!

👩‍💻 😖 😟💨🤔😊

J'ai décidé de rédiger mon EMA en français sur l'IA (Intelligence Artificielle). J'allais écrire sur le changement climatique et l'environnement, car cela m'intéresse beaucoup, mais ensuite je me suis dit que j'étais un peu technophobe, alors pourquoi ne pas écrire sur quelque chose que je trouve plus difficile, juste pour le défi !
         

👩‍💻🦿🦾📱

The Tulips look good in the garden this year.

Cette semaine, je prends beaucoup de notes pour l'EMA. Je me lance ! J'ai dû mettre la première ébauche à la poubelle, car j'ai trouvé encore plus d'informations sur le site Internet au sujet de l'IA. Je suis donc de retour à la planche à dessin, pour changer et intégrer ces nouvelles connaissances dans ma deuxième ébauche. Au train où vont les choses, je pense que j'aurai bientôt 3000 mots !

Les fleurs rouges de mon voisin sont très jolies aujourd'hui !

Je rédige mon premier copie, pour l'EMA, ce sera mon examen final ! je prends maintenant les notes de mon cahier, avec des informations et des puces, pour souligner les points principaux de la thèse. Après cela, il s'agit de l'étoffer dans un essai en français lisible, en suivant mon plan de rédaction que j'ai rédigé hier. Je dois trouver 3 000 mots en français.
pas de transpiration ! très facile!

 Rose d' hiver