Artificial Intelligence - The Mission (Artificial Intelligence Trilogy Book 1)

Sam Harris Can we build AI without losing control over it? When a very young child looks at a picture, she can identify simple elements: "cat," "book," "chair.
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A story of AI going wrong

The mission of Tech is to help humanity prepare for, and define what that next technological era will be. And so it was a perfect starting point for her to launch Mission AI. Her research bridges psychology, education, engineering, and robotics, to accomplish two major goals.

Randi and Charlie, thank you both so much for being here today. But first, naturally we wanna start with some questions about Mission AI. And so for example, my very first question is, Charlie can you tell us what Mission AI is? Well, I hope I can, right? Mission AI is a program that we launched at Tech And Tech was launched back in January of Which pretty much tends to be everyone, right?

And to your initial point, we learned, as I suspected early on, that there is a big, huge gap between how the general public is interpreting this, and what they expect, and how researchers are interpreting this. And how corporate America, the big companies, are interpreting this, and hope to implement these technologies. Equally, those three separate entities also have their fears, their concerns, and their expectations. We have seen the collision of all three of those things at all of our events.

So, I decided to launch Mission AI to be part of the answer to that. I mean, because as you mentioned, it is a very complicated, huge problem, monumental. And with good reason. So, we want to do three things with this program. Number one, we want to educate the general public on the AI machine learning research ecosystem. Like 30 to 35 percent of our audience are engineers, and software developers, and people in tech companies, or in companies working in tech. They also include business people, entrepreneurs, students, we have baby boomers, we have a very diverse audience.

And we designed it so that we can have a diverse conversation. So we want to give people an understanding of what AI research is, and that they can actually participate in it. I think research is intimidating for a lot of people, especially academic research. We however, will be focusing more on applied research, obviously. So our goal here is to do research on what the public thinks about these technologies, about how they should be implemented, and on the research that is being presented.

And we have done this at several events, and the results are not only absolutely inspiring, everyone involved learns so much. And then also, that extends to Corporate America. So to follow up on that a little bit, what impact do you hope this will have?

Artificial intelligence talks (and talks): the story since ' A Space Odyssey’

Sure, I can hop in. So actually a piece of my research with children is about, well when you teach a child what AI is, and how it works, how does that change their interaction with it? And how does that change the way that she feels about the system. Because we very much want to build things that are meaningful for people, and that help people reach their goals and live a better life. When we had the event, which was at NYU, it sold out in record time, like in two days. And when we got everybody in the room, it was a very diverse audience.

What do you know about it? But, by the end of the event, we help people to have these group discussions and solve problems about the technologies, together. At the end of the event there were these two guys who were like 25, they had a startup that works with agencies that develop chatbots for brands.

So they were very much immersed in the space. Because we sat in a group with five other people, and one of those people was John. And he talked to us. He said that they realized they had been building chatbots incorrectly all along. He realized that they were narrowing their conversations, in the conversational flows, in a way that restricted their technology from being appealing to someone like him.

And they said that they went back, and re-did a lot of their work to accommodate that. So I thought that was great. We want to build these technologies so that they connect with everyone. We have one side, which is about educating the public about the current state, and future of artificial intelligence. And then, I think the other side is helping researchers better understand the impact of their work by talking to these people who are outside of their bubbles.

How do you address both sides, and effect change? That is a great, great question. And I have to tell you that on both sides, we have learned so much, about both researchers, and the general public. One of the things that we learned is that we are all taking for granted what we think we know about people. I know what that black woman is thinking.

I know how researchers think. And even within the year and a half that we have been up and going, my staff and I, we sit around and talk about it, because it kind of blows our minds. Even our community has changed how they think about technologies, from January of last year, to today. I thought it would get easier. Number one, again, we all make assumptions about what the public is thinking.

Because they are changing the way that they think, just as quickly as the technologies are changing. I will give you a perfect example of that. And we had people in New York join the challenge, to figure out AI technologies that could help them in their battle against opioid addiction in their state.

And I had him come in, as well as several other people come in, to talk about the technologies that could be used in this type of initiative. And James is very excited. This is what I love about researchers, right? And when he talks about AI, he lights up.

So these are people who are living this. And the more he talked about algorithms, and machine learning, and how they could help us to understand things, and make decisions, and they can make decisions for us, the angrier people got. They became so visibly angry, that they actually started standing up. This was in December. This is about addiction. I had to pull him off the stage. That is the priceless example, perfect example, of how the conversations that we have, that we initiate between researchers and the public, are going to continue to surprise us. But we need to have them.

So, no it is not easy. The Prador are just too dark for me -- I mean, giant alien crabs that like to dismember and eat people! This one is the start of a Prador War veteran's search for a rogue AI named Penny Royal, who had killed his comrades back in the war. OK, I did remember Penny Royal. Anyway, none of the rest was familiar, except I was getting increasingly grossed out by the Prador stuff, and pretty bored with the rest.

Asher is capable of good work, but this isn't it. Here's PdF's Locus review, that led me to read it in Feb 02, John rated it it was amazing. The thing that amazes me about Mr. Asher's works in the Polity realm is that all of the books and short stories tie seamlessly into the overall timeline of the Polity Universe. Dark Intelligence is no exception and expands upon the Penny Royal character in many creative and unexpected ways. The worlds of the Polity such as Masada are revisited while new worlds are introduced with colorful characters including humans that yearn to be Prador.

I highly recommend this book to folks familiar with p The thing that amazes me about Mr. I highly recommend this book to folks familiar with previous works from Mr. Asher as well as folks new to the Polity universe.

One of the great things about the way Mr. Asher has written over the years is that you can enjoy the books in any order, reading them from the 1st Polity agent book is not a necessity.

Artificial Intelligence

Looking forward to Mr. Asher's next work as well as to re-reading Dark Intelligence. Apr 02, Robert rated it liked it Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Major spoilers not only for this book but for Asher's Polity books in general, particularly the Agent Cormac series. I was gallivanting through this, well entertained by the space opera but grumbling to myself about the lack of subtext and rather too obvious fact that the major protagonists were all being manipulated by a superior intelligence to the extent of being near enough puppets, until fairly near the end.

It seems like a lot of SF writers do this in one or more books - oh, look! The peopl Major spoilers not only for this book but for Asher's Polity books in general, particularly the Agent Cormac series. The people you've been tagging along with and got to care about? They may as well have been robots controlled by this AI! It always comes as a let down, not an exciting revelation, at least for me and it usually isn't even all that well disguised a surprise. I began to question the lack of subtext towards the end, when the motivations of said AI that's controlling events start becoming clear, though.

In earlier Polity books it's made clear that the AIs in charge hold a strict policy of capital punishment for murder and when the in-chargest-of-them-all AI is found to be untrustworthy and itself a murderer it gets it's own punishment. At the time I took the views espoused on criminality and punishment for Asher's own but in this book we have strong themes of atonement for crimes past, redemption and belief in second chances.

Has Asher changed his views? Were the views of the Polity AIs never his in the first place? Was the real point of Agent Cormac's career simply that it should be the same rule for everybody, including the power elite and if they get caught out doing what they condemn with death when others do it, they shouldn't expect any mercy? This and Jupiter War have provided much more food for thought than I would typically expect from Asher. This one also reminded me of what he's best at; alien ecologies and nefarious politics.

It also avoids egregious scientific errors sometimes present in his other books. I think if you've never read any other Polity books it's a bad place to start, however, as it takes few prisoners regarding knowledge of previous events. May 20, Scott added it. Unfortunately I cannot finish this one, or at least, I may revisit it another time.

Asher is always a guaranteed dark read, and his writing is remarkably visceral, but every page felt like the previous one, and all became too much of a blur here. I liken it to continuously looking at H. Giger's paintings one after another after another. Nov 16, Bryan Brown rated it really liked it Shelves: Somehow I entered my review into the notes field. Shamelessly copy and pasted from my notes: This is the start of a new trilogy in the Polity universe. It is primarily about the "dark" AI Penny Royal.

Dark in this case means an AI that is not predictable and hence not controllable by the Polity AI government. Some of my favorite Asher characters are his AI characters and this story does a good job of adding to the background of one of the most obscure of all his AIs. Funny enough most of the stor Somehow I entered my review into the notes field. Funny enough most of the story is told from the point of view of other characters, human, haiman a mix of AI and human , alien Prador, and Polity AIs instead of Penny Royal. In each case the other POV character has had a previous encounter with Penny Royal and as a result changed in some way.

All these changes have set them on a course to find Penny Royal. What Penny Royal gets out of all of this is hinted at and while I have my ideas I'm not prepared to share them in this review. Presumably the "Transformation" that the trilogy is titled for will reveal his final desires.

You and AI

In any case this is a highly enjoyable entry in the Polity universe books and I can recommend it to you. Sep 09, Dawn rated it really liked it. Although, not a loss since most are really nasty pieces of work.


  • You and AI | Royal Society.
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First, if you don't want to get lost in the plot you should probably read The Technician first since you probably need to know what a Hooder and a Gabbleduck is. This is a multi threaded plot following a couple of characters who have been screwed over by a rather nasty rogue AI called Penny Royal and are now hunting it down, intent on a bit of revenge.

Other threads fo 4. Other threads follow events on the planet Masada where the AI escaped from and of course, Penny Royal itself. These threads all come together for the inevitable confrontation at the end but not the expected outcome. The story line does end nicely if you want to read the book as a stand alone but there is still plenty of opportunity to continue the story as you would expect, since it's the first in a trilogy.

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Apr 27, Ben rated it did not like it. Perhaps if I had realised that rather than being the first part of a series, and so bringing me in at the beginning of what sounded like a potentially interesting story, instead I was picking up a book which is set in a universe which Asher has already written over a dozen other books about, I may have enjoyed this more. Having read one other book, Gridlinked and quite liked it, I thought I would give this one a go.

However, it did not take long for me to realise that there were reference Boring.

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However, it did not take long for me to realise that there were references galore to previous books and while an intimate knowledge of Asher's universe was probably not essential, it would probably have enhanced the reading process. This feeling grew as the book went on, and as the general plot became more and more tedious, it became steadily clearer that while for fans this may be an exciting chapter in his world building and adding to the history and perhaps the resolution of certain events, for the casual reader it is tedious trek through a remarkably boring book.

With a total lack of sympathetic characters, a mix of first person and third, space battles which are merely incomprehensible and without any dramatic scenes, aliens which are as horrific as they are stupid and a strong amount of deus ex machina in all senses, this really failed to deliver. I may go back and try one of his earlier books and give Asher another go, but to be honest this has put me right off.

I would rather go back and re-read some superior Ian M. Banks for this kind of thing where I know it is done well. Jun 04, Tim Hicks rated it it was amazing Shelves: The more books from Asher's Polity setting you've read, the more you'll like this one. It just so much richer when you have the history of the characters and places.

OK, we have smart, wisecracking AIs doing amazing and often creative things. We have species transformations, new ways to break things with physics, some nasty gory scenes that are relevant, and indeed some philosophical examination of the ethics of violence in a universe where death isn't necessarily final and even memories can't b The more books from Asher's Polity setting you've read, the more you'll like this one. We have species transformations, new ways to break things with physics, some nasty gory scenes that are relevant, and indeed some philosophical examination of the ethics of violence in a universe where death isn't necessarily final and even memories can't be trusted.

We have prador and a gabbleduck, an Atheter war drone, moons exploding, and even occasional appearances by the mighty Earth Central AI. This is a huge book conceptually, but everything ties together neatly. It's 1 of a series, but it has a satisfactory ending if you choose not to go on. Five stars are not enough. This story is far beyond what I expected. It is rich and deeply imagined, similar to a book by Neal Stephenson or William Gibson.

Perhaps a bit more approachable than theirs, and very fun to experience. The story itself moves quickly. Each page a minor revelation or discovery of what is to come. There was a tiny bit of repetition, a voracious reader will notice it, although someone who is taking their time will probably appreciate the subtle reminders.

It's not distrac Five stars are not enough. It's not distracting, but it's one of the few areas where the story could have been tightened up. I can't wait to read the next book in the series. Oct 19, Zozo rated it it was amazing. This is a good one for beginner asherists. It explains everything in the Polity universe. Sometimes I wonder if it's not too much for someone just entering this world. This book has hooders, hoopers, jain, gabbleduck, haiman, catadapts, prador, dragon, dracomen, Masada, Amistad, the brass man, damn it even has Jebel U-Cap Krong making an appearance.

Personally I like it a lot. OK, I just finished it. I'm not saying it blew my mind away but everything I like abo This is a good one for beginner asherists. I'm not saying it blew my mind away but everything I like about Asher was in there and I really enjoyed it. And it left the threads open for the sequel which I will want to read. Jan 31, Tim Tofton rated it it was amazing. I thought it looked interesting and was completely hooked by it, I have since read everything he has written and enjoyed them all But!

Nothing grabbed me the way Skinner did Read this, you won't be disappointed if you like grand space opera. Jan 11, Steven Stennett rated it really liked it. Solid piece of science fiction. The technologys within the book, are well thought out and presented in a very user friendly manner, that dose not bog down the fast pasted story in anyway. This is what I want in my science fiction ships weapons and tech that is seamlessly woven into a an engaging story!!!!

Sep 26, Terence rated it did not like it Shelves: The writing is awkward and clunky but I was willing to give it a chance since it wasn't "bad" so much as "just competent" and I hoped the story would be interesting. That, and the male adolescent sex fantasy episode before we got past page 50 were enough to make me move on without regret. Dark Intelligence by Neal Asher 13 65 Nov 10, Now I write science fiction books, and am slowly getting over the feeling that someone is going to find me out, and can call myself a writer without wincing and ducking my head. As professions go, I prefer this one: Other books in the series.

Optimistic visions of the future of artificial intelligence are possible in science fiction. Among the many possible dystopian scenarios involving artificial intelligence, robots may usurp control over civilization from humans, forcing them into submission, hiding, or extinction. Or, as in William Gibson 's cyberpunk novel Neuromancer , the intelligenct beings may simply not care about humans.

In tales of AI rebellion , the worst of all scenarios happens, as the intelligent entities created by humanity become self-aware , reject human authority and attempt to destroy mankind. One of the earliest examples is in the play R.


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A Space Odyssey , in which the artificially intelligent on-board computer H. The motive behind the AI revolution is often more than the simple quest for power or a superiority complex. Robots may revolt to become the "guardian" of humanity. Alternatively, humanity may intentionally relinquish some control, fearful of its own destructive nature. An early example is Jack Williamson 's novelette " With Folded Hands ", in which a race of humanoid robots, in the name of their Prime Directive — "to serve and obey and guard men from harm" — essentially assume control of every aspect of human life.

No humans may engage in any behavior that might endanger them, and every human action is scrutinized carefully. Humans who resist the Prime Directive are taken away and lobotomized, so they may be happy under the new mechanoids' rule. In other scenarios, humanity is able to keep control over the Earth, whether by banning AI, by designing robots to be submissive as in Asimov's works , or by having humans merge with robots.

The science fiction novelist Frank Herbert explored the idea of a time when mankind might ban artificial intelligence entirely. His Dune series mentions a rebellion called the Butlerian Jihad , in which mankind defeats the smart machines and imposes a death penalty for recreating them, quoting from the fictional Orange Catholic Bible , "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind. In some stories, humanity remains in authority over robots.

Often the robots are programmed specifically to remain in service to society, as in Isaac Asimov 's Three Laws of Robotics. A common portrayal of AI in science fiction is the Frankenstein complex , a term coined by Asimov, where a robot turns on its creator. For instance, in the film, Ex Machina , the intelligent entity Ava turns on its creator, as well as on its potential rescuer. One theme is that a truly human-like robot must have a sense of curiosity.