MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 21 June)—Twenty-six years ago, then-world chess champion Garry Kasparov lost a six-game match (2.5 – 3.5) to Deep Blue, a supercomputer created by IBM. It was Kasparov’s second match against his “opponent,” whose capabilities had been increased after he beat it (4-2) in their encounter the year before.
Indeed, one has to concede that a sober consideration of probabilities would point to the defeat of the human protagonist. Kasparov could only rely on his own skills and experience. On the other hand, Deep Blue (the version he faced in 1997) had been enhanced with more chips and the capacity to better “judge” chess positions with 100 to 200 million moves!
Yet, as Deborah Yao, editor of AI Business, wrote on 11 May 2022, Deep Blue, which was retired months after the second match with Kasparov, can be defeated by today’s computer chess engines. She noted that the latter “are powered by AI that learns while Deep Blue had relied mainly on a programmed understanding of chess.” [underscoring mine]
Interviewed by Yao for the article, Deep Blue co-creator Murray Campbell said, “There’s been a huge increase in the capability of AI systems since 1997. It’s mostly driven by the rise of machine learning.”
“Huge increase” sounds like an understatement. What we now have are machines attaining a consciousness of their own. Maybe not as menacing as Skynet in the Terminator saga, but there’s no telling where such advances in AI would lead humanity to.
AI may not bring about an apocalyptic scenario. There are disturbing signs though that it could bring about disruptions judging by the way—and pace—it has encroached on what most people would say must remain human domains. Why, even Google shudders at the thought of becoming irrelevant should it happen that AI replaces it as the all-knowing online guru.
Google’s possible demise should be the least of our worries. Here’s the scarier scenario: Imagine AI becoming the better writer, painter, musician, architect. We know it simply “learns” by drawing from and processing knowledge and information available online. But that’s beside the point.
Imagine, too, future elections where the outcomes are dictated by political content produced through AI. Or, perhaps, the rise of new cults and religions inspired by a brand of spirituality conceived in the fertile womb of AI.
What lies before us is the gradual demise of human interactions that have given birth to beliefs, arts, values, and even conceptions of what’s right and wrong. Soon, people will determine the necessity and propriety of their actions not by reflecting on them based on legal and cultural standards but by asking AI.
Gone will be the time when machines are merely means with which to spread ideas created by humans. Soon they will be the source of ideas. Machines dictating the minds and decisions of their creators as well as shaping history itself, a future that’s both tragic and ironic.
And we haven’t even come up with ways to exorcise the evils created by social media.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. H. Marcos C. Mordeno can be reached at hmcmordeno@gmail.com.)
