AI and robotics: Perfect partners

What we used to call “sci-fi” is now becoming a reality. I saw a video of a man playing ping-pong with a robot. Assuming it was not a video trick, the robot played “aggressive” ping-pong very well. It lost in the end because the man gave him a very soft shot, so it lunged forward and the ball hit the net. In another video, the robot won. The robots were agile and graceful. Gone are the days of earlier models when robots had jerky and crude movements. Today, they are not only smooth and graceful, they have better brains.

For two to three decades now, grandmasters have been playing chess against high-end computers, sometimes losing, sometimes winning. Machines have evolved to challenge the human brain. For one, they have a photographic memory to the last detail. For another, they can store all possible moves in a matrix and call up the best move in microseconds.

With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), the science of robotics made a giant leap beyond imagination. Merging AI and robotics is like the landing on the moon — “one small step, one giant leap,” the merging of unlimited information and the mechanics of agility and smoothness, the brain and the muscles, all rolled into a powerful machine.

There will be a time when we won’t need hotel porters and chambermaids. Hotel owners prefer robots who do not make sloppy mistakes and have no unions that launch strikes. The bad effect of sophisticated robots is people will lose jobs on a grander scale. The robotics industry and/or the government should have a program to re-educate employees replaced by robots, such as with training for new skills not covered by robotics.

Imagine if a team of robots joins the NBA. Is this possible? Who will rough up whom, the robots or the humans? There may be a lot of protests if things go haywire. Perhaps, a pilot project to test the physical and social factors is important.

Robot waitresses, golf caddies, tour guides will be displacing a lot of people, which may trigger violent protests against the sophisticated robots. Crime syndicates may resort to robot prostitutes, heaven forbid.

One more step up the ladder. How about robot executives, just as smart or even smarter than their human counterparts? Is this possible? How about robot soldiers? Can they take over the earth under the control of a vicious warlord? Sci-fi is moving into reality. Robot astronauts may replace humans.

Will there be a time when a majority of human functions will be taken over by robots? Can the robot industry finally lead to machines taking over from humans on a grand scale?

Right now, there is an obsession in the cyber world with the power harnessed by AI. But there is also a fear that this power can be used for good or evil beyond Man’s control. It is like nuclear energy. The good is the almost unlimited electricity it can produce that fuels fantastic economic growth. The evil is the nuclear bomb, the Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile, the Holocaust. For the first time, Man has the potential for total self-destruction. In truth, if we collect all existing nuclear weapons worldwide in a single pile, we can wipe out not only Man but all living things, plants, microbes, animals on Planet Earth perhaps 50 to 100 times over.

We are at the threshold of sophisticated robotics. There is so much possibility for limitless growth. Man must be careful treading into new grounds. We must foresee future problems with a keen eye and develop systems to avoid Evil taking over Good — before it is too late.

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