• funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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    6 months ago

    AI absolutely will not design machines.

    It may be used within strict parameters to improve the speed of theoretically testing types of bearing or hinge or alloys or something to predict which ones would perform best under stress testing - prior to acutal testing to eliminate low-hanging fruit, but it will absolutely not generate a new idea for a machine because it can’t generate new ideas.

    • lanolinoil@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      The model T will absolutely not replace horse drawn carts – Maybe some small group of people or a family for a vacation but we’ve been using carts to do war logistics for 1000s of years. You think some shaped metal put together is going to replace 1000s of men and horses? lol yeah right

      • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        apples and oranges.

        You’re comparing two products with the same value prop: transporting people and goods more effectively than carrying/walking.

        In terms of mining, a drilling machine is more effective than a pickaxe. But we’re comparing current drilling machines to potential drilling machines, so the actual comparison would be:

        • is an AI-designed drilling machine likely to be more productive (for any given definition of productivity) than a human-designed one?

        Well, we know from experience that when (loosely defined) “AI” is used in, for e.g. pharma research, it reaps some benefits - but does not replace wholesale the drug approval process and its still a tool used by - as I originally said - human beings that impose strict parameters on both input and output as part of a larger product and method.

        Back to your example: could a series of algorithmic steps - without any human intervention - provide a better car than any modern car designers? As it stands, no, nor is it on the horizon. Can it be used to spin through 4 million slight variations in hood ornaments and return the top 250 in terms of wind resistance? Maybe, and only if a human operator sets up the experiment correctly.

        • lanolinoil@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          No, the thing I’m comparing is our inability to discern where a new technology will lead and our history of smirking at things like books, cars, the internet and email, AI, etc.

          The first steam engines pulling coal out of the ground were so inefficient they wouldn’t make sense for any use case than working to get the fuel that powers them. You could definitely smirk and laugh about engines vs 10k men and be totally right in that moment, and people were.

          The more history you learn though, you more you realize this is not only a hubrisy thing, it’s also futile as how we feel about the proliferation of technology has never had an impact on that technology’s proliferation.

          And, to be clear, I’m not saying no humans will work or have anything to do – I’m saying significantly MORE humans will have nothing to do. Sure you still need all kinds of people even if the robots design and build themselves mostly, but it would be an order of magnitude less than the people needed otherwise.

      • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        can

        might

        sure. But, like I said, those are subject to a lot of caveats - that humans have to set the experiments up to ask the right questions to get those answers.

        • essteeyou@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          That’s how it currently is, but I’d be astounded if it didn’t progress quickly from now.

          • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            i would be extremely surprised if before 2100 we see AI that has no human operator and no data scientist team even at a 3rd party distributor - and those things are neither a lie, nor a weaselly marketing stunt (“technically the operators are contractors and not employed by the company” etc).

            We invented the printing press 584 years ago, it still requires a team of human operators.

            • essteeyou@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              A printing press is not a technology with intelligence. It’s like saying we still have to manually operate knives… of course we do.

              • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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                6 months ago

                the comment I originally replied to claimed AI will design the autonomous machines.

                It will not. It will facilitate some of the research done by humans to aid in the designing of willfully human operated machinery.

                To my knowledge the only autonomous machine that exists is a roomba, which moves blindly around until it physically strikes an object, rotates a random degree and continues in a new direction until it hits something else.

                Even then, it is controlled with an app and on more expensive models, some boundary setting.

                It is extremely generous to call that “autonomy.”

                • essteeyou@lemmy.world
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                  6 months ago

                  I was in a self-driving taxi yesterday. It didn’t need to bump into things to figure out where it was.

                  • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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                    6 months ago

                    Fair, I thought they all got recalled but I guess they’re back. but I’d also counter that Waymo is extremely limited about where it can operate - roughly 10 miles max - which, relevant to my original point was entirely hand-mapped and calibrated by human operators, and the rides are monitored and directed by a control center responding in real-time to the car’s feedback.

                    Like my printing press example - it still takes a large human team to operate the “self” - driving car.