17 July 2024
Creating artificial general intelligence is the solution most often in the spotlight. It is also linked with the possibility—or fear—of machines gaining consciousness. Alternatively, developing domain-specific artificial intelligence is more reliable, energy-efficient, and ethically tractable, and raises mostly a problem of effective coordination between different systems and humans. Herein, it is argued that it will not require machines to be conscious and that simpler ways of sharing awareness are sufficient.
There is a widespread belief that artificial intelligence (AI) should or will evolve to achieve general intelligence and even consciousness, somewhat mirroring an accelerated version of biological evolution. The feasibility and plausibility of this view are certainly debated but lacking are alternative visions where the progress of AI does not inherently require generality, nor eventually reaches human-like consciousness.
In this work, EMERGE partners add their voice to a few ones which propose that investing in specialized AI systems tailored to specific tasks can be overall more effective than developing general intelligence. This competing vision is based on the diagnosis that, de facto, many AI applications and users are currently working with fine-tuned or domain-specific AI, and that domain generality is not always required or reliable. It is also based on the idea that besides reliability, domain-specific systems can be more energy-efficient, and easier to comprehend and regulate.
Read the paper in the link below.
More Information
