Tag Archives: robots

‘killer AI robot army that could destroy humanity, scientists fear’ NOTHING to See Here…

05 Thursday Apr 2018

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This all started when an ATM talked back to me. I’m not even sure anymore if this part of our “highly respected web log” is satire or a dire warning.

Anyway, BIG doins in South Korea:

A TOP South Korean university is secretly developing a killer Artificial Intelligence robot army that could destroy humanity, scientists fear.

KAIST university allegedly launched a new AI weapons lab in February, leading dozens of researchers to believe the products will “have the potential to be weapons of terror”.

A top university in South Korea is secretly developing a killer AI robot army, scientists have warned. Could it lead to a takeover in the style of Terminator, pictured?
Toby Walsh, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, organised the boycott with 49 other researchers.

He said in an open letter: “If developed, autonomous weapons will … permit war to be fought faster and at a scale great than ever before.

“They will have the potential to be weapons of terror.”

KAIST said it had “no intention to engage in development of lethal autonomous weapons systems and killer robots”.

“We have no intention to launch a killer AI weapons lab. We merely launched a killer AI weapons lab. Launched it in secret. Possibly resulting in the end of humanity. What the heck’s the problem?”

And you thought North Korea was trouble.

They’re going to hold another Geneva Convention to head this stuff off. Better call the Avengers, the Super Friends, and Captain Kangaroo too.

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“Da, dee, da… Now to give the humans a little poison gas… The Sun.

Worse than losing the First! Vegan Farsi channel.

Be Kind to Robots??

27 Tuesday Mar 2018

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The following story is more pitiful and possibly more dangerous than John Paul’s Stevens’s feeble plea to destroy civil liberties (working on response…). Check this out:

Robot abuse is real, but maybe this little tortoise can help

Here’s a little robotic tortoise with a big lesson to teach.

Shelly is a cute little guy, with a plastic shell, wiggly legs, and a series of LEDs that light up to express its repertoire of simulated emotions. But Shelly is more than just a toy. It’s a tool designed to help children understand that while robots may not feel pain or hurt feelings the way humans do, mistreating them is not okay.

If a child hits or squeezes Shelly — or tries to pry apart its shell — the sensor-studded turtlebot pulls its noggin back into its shell and doesn’t come out again for 14 seconds.

I’m thinking a twenty-pound sledge-hammer and Shelly will clam up for longer than 14 seconds.

This is how they get you to accept the loss of jobs and then the eventual extermination. With a turtlebot. It’s not the eradication of humans. It’s robot abuse… Dear Gawd, if people accept this… Is this what teevee has done to the brains?

Anyway, as I was saying, they get you with this little fellow (almost cute in a doped-up, Japanimation kind of way):

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Then this not-so-little fellow steps in for the kill:

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Maybe in his next book or op-ed Stevens could float a ban on these things. They’re not our friends. There is no reason to be kind to them. Unless, of course, we kill them with “kindness.” So long as they die.

It Mistook Her For Sarah Connor

20 Tuesday Mar 2018

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Rise of the killer AI machines.

Uber Bot Murders Arizona Woman in Street:

Uber Technologies Inc. halted autonomous vehicle tests after one of its cars struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona, in what is likely the first pedestrian fatality involving the technology.

The 49-year-old woman, Elaine Herzberg, was crossing the road outside of a crosswalk when the Uber vehicle operating in autonomous mode under the supervision of a human safety driver struck her, according to the Tempe Police Department.

After the incident, which happened at 10 p.m. local time on Sunday, she was transferred to a nearby hospital, where she died from her injuries. “Uber is assisting and this is still an active investigation,” Liliana Duran, a Tempe police spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement.

Translation: The woman was crossing the street, constructively in a crosswalk. The murderous Uber Bot decided to terminate her by inflicting mass trauma. HAL overrode the human safety driver and proceeded at full speed. The woman died as a result of the attack. Robots: 1, Humans, 0.

First they crushed the feet of tiny toddlers. Then the shoved their way through doors. Now they’re running people down in the streets. The little exploding insect-bomb bots will visit the mall tomorrow.

It’s war.

*Critical Note: A knee-jerk reaction would be to call for a legal ban on robots. As nice as that sounds in theory we have to consider the nature of the slimy beasts who purvey legislation. They might sell it as a ban for the safety of the human race; rest assured it would do the opposite – creating a virtual open season on us. (Probably with a hidden tax increase too).

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Uber comes calling. YouTube/Orion.

The Robot Wars May Already be Over

22 Thursday Feb 2018

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Sun Tzu famously said, “Every battle is won before it’s ever fought.” Few would dispute the general.

And so it may be that the robot wars, not quite yet underway, may already be decided. Let’s hope there is a robot exception to the general martial rule.

When I was a child there was a comic book, which I sometimes read, called Magnus, Robot Fighter. Titular character Magnus – you guessed it – fought robots, in the 41st century. It was harmless fun, then.

Now we know the timing was about 2,000 years off. Word came the other day that one of Boston Dynamic’s DARPA darlings has been redesigned to fight off pesky humans. In a test the dog-like bot battled a man for entry through a door and won. The man was unarmed and was likely no Magnus. That was yesterday.

Today a scientist warns near future bots will need special control chips in order to prevent them from wantonly murdering people, door disputes or not. Maybe it’ll be like psych meds for droids. So encouraging.

The US physicist outlined the evolution of robots in future, but it’s absolutely terrifying.

He believes robots will eventually become so advanced they run the risk of replacing the human race.

And to stop them having “murderous thoughts” before killing us, humans will need to act fast and chip them with preventive technology.

Okay, my sources are The Star and a defunct 70’s comic book. But one can see where this is going.

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Magnus, Gold Key.

Fake it Till You Fake it More

27 Saturday Jan 2018

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Two issues, one Times story (good one): one, people’s online personas are misappropriated for nefarious profits by our robot “friends;” two, real people pay for fake followers. The horrors of the socials scene:

The Times reviewed business and court records showing that Devumi has more than 200,000 customers, including reality television stars, professional athletes, comedians, TED speakers, pastors and models. In most cases, the records show, they purchased their own followers. In others, their employees, agents, public relations companies, family members or friends did the buying. For just pennies each — sometimes even less — Devumi offers Twitter followers, views on YouTube, plays on SoundCloud, the music-hosting site, and endorsements on LinkedIn, the professional-networking site.

The actor John Leguizamo has Devumi followers. So do Michael Dell, the computer billionaire, and Ray Lewis, the football commentator and former Ravens linebacker. Kathy Ireland, the onetime swimsuit model who today presides over a half-billion-dollar licensing empire, has hundreds of thousands of fake Devumi followers, as does Akbar Gbajabiamila, the host of the show “American Ninja Warrior.” Even a Twitter board member, Martha Lane Fox, has some.

At a time when Facebook, Twitter and Google are grappling with an epidemic of political manipulation and fake news, Devumi’s fake followers also serve as phantom foot soldiers in political battles online. Devumi’s customers include both avid supporters and fervent critics of President Trump, and both liberal cable pundits and a reporter at the alt-right bastion Breitbart. Randy Bryce, an ironworker seeking to unseat Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, purchased Devumi followers in 2015, when he was a blogger and labor activist. Louise Linton, the wife of the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, bought followers when she was trying to gain traction as an actress.

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NY Mag.

I tried carefully to craft a craziness no one would steal. You, some of you, might recall that, a few years back, I lost “perrinlovett.com” though lazy inattentiveness. Some pirate bought it for $30 and then offered to sell it back to me, once .me got rolling well, for $2,000-ish. Ha! Now they call trying to pay me to take it! I have my price.

But my followers do not. No fakes here or on YT or at FP. Here, of my massive three-man following, only one account is a fake I set up with a floating email. One is the real me – needs to monitor, etc. The other guy is in Russia I think.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to contact the click farm in Indones.

Bolt Out of the Blue

13 Saturday Jan 2018

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This progresses faster than expected. GM begins canning the controls, not next decade, but next year.

Next year, General Motors Co. will no longer need an engineer in the front seat babysitting the robot brain that controls its self-driving Chevrolet Bolt. The steering wheel and pedals will be gone, giving total control to the machine.

When GM starts testing its autonomous electric sedan in San Francisco ride-sharing fleets, it’ll likely be the first production-ready car on the roads without the tools to let a human assume control. The announcement Friday is the first sign from a major carmaker that engineers have enough confidence in self-driving cars to let them truly go it alone.

“What’s really special about this is if you look back 20 years from now, it’s the first car without a steering wheel and pedals,” said Kyle Vogt, chief executive officer of Cruise Automation, the San Francisco-based unit developing the software for GM’s self-driving cars.

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I’ll take Level 0. Bloomberg.

From observing the way American’s absentmindedly enter freeways, one would already suspect the cars lack pedals and steering wheels. For many the robot driver will be a probable improvement.

Y’all have fun with that…

The Mechanical Hound Episode

29 Friday Dec 2017

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This is not an endorsement of any television show. I happened upon this trailer for a Netflix production: some of you into the Tube might enjoy it; all else, please at least watch this:

Netflix/YouTube.

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Entertainment Weekly/Netflix.

I won’t see this (or any other new show) though I suspect some of you might. No need, really. These mechanical devils are no longer fiction. One will likely pay you a real life visit sooner or later, maybe whilst you “enjoy” the TeeVee.

Buckshot. Lots and lots of buckshot.

Don’t Worry, Buy a Tesla!

27 Monday Nov 2017

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Mr. Musk sees a statistically unpleasant outcome from the robot wars:

Elon Musk has been very vocal about his concerns over artificial intelligence, and now the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has quantified his worries.

In a recent talk, Musk claimed that efforts to make AI safe only have ‘a five to 10 per cent chance of success.’

The warning comes shortly after Musk claimed that regulation of artificial intelligence was drastically needed because it’s a ‘fundamental risk to the existence of human civilisation.’

Of course, of course – regulation always fixes everything. Trust in the government. See their shining work in eradicating: war, poverty, drugs, terrorism, obesity, etc.

In the meantime, please by a Tesla…

OR!

Buy a FLYING CAR!!!!!

Available in 2020! (2020 in Flying Car advertising talk translates to 2220 in actual time…).

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Hanna Barbera.

Closing the Door on Killer Robots

13 Monday Nov 2017

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That’s the Journal’s survival solution: just close the door.

Robots may enslave us all someday. In the meantime, if one of them goes berserk, here’s a useful tactic: Shut the door behind you.

One after another, robots in a government-sponsored contest were stumped by an unlocked door that blocked their path at an outdoor obstacle course. One bipedal machine managed to wrap a claw around the door handle and open it but was flummoxed by a breeze that kept blowing the door shut before it could pass through.

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There are, now, plenty of machines that could simple roll or blast through the door. And the drawing board is filled with many that don’t walk, crawl, or roll anyway. The most terrifying of the lot may be a far cry from the hunter-killers of sci-fi infamy. Imagine a plague of robo insects or viruses.

And the time to imagine (and ACT) is now, says the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots (where do I join?).

Watch this:

Video by Guardian News/YouTube.

The movie portrays a brutal future. A military firm unveils a tiny drone that hunts and kills with ruthless efficiency. But when the technology falls into the wrong hands, no one is safe. Politicians are cut down in broad daylight. The machines descend on a lecture hall and spot activists, who are swiftly dispatched with an explosive to the head.

The short, disturbing film is the latest attempt by campaigners and concerned scientists to highlight the dangers of developing autonomous weapons that can find, track and fire on targets without human supervision. They warn that a preemptive ban on the technology is urgently needed to prevent terrible new weapons of mass destruction.

Stuart Russell, a leading AI scientist at the University of California in Berkeley, and others will show the film on Monday during an event at the United Nations Convention on Conventional Weapons hosted by the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. The manufacture and use of autonomous weapons, such as drones, tanks and automated machine guns, would be devastating for human security and freedom, and the window to halt their development is closing fast, Russell warned.

“The technology illustrated in the film is simply an integration of existing capabilities. It is not science fiction. In fact, it is easier to achieve than self-driving cars, which require far higher standards of performance,” Russell said.

It all started in 1979 when an Ohio vending machine “accidentally” fell over on a man, crushing him. Yesterday it was soda drinkers. Tomorrow it could be anyone, or everyone.

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And you thought the student loans were a problem.

Super Smart Robots Seek Understanding, Citizenship, End of Mankind

26 Thursday Oct 2017

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Coming like a freight train. You’ve been warned.

Of all countries, Saudi Arabia has granted the first citizenship to a robot, a “female” robot.

LONDON: A humanoid robot took the stage at the Future Investment Initiative yesterday and had an amusing exchange with the host to the delight of hundreds of delegates.

Smartphones were held aloft as Sophia, a robot designed by Hong Kong company Hanson Robotics, gave a presentation that demonstrated her capacity for human expression.

Sophia made global headlines when she was granted Saudi citizenship, making the kingdom the first country in the world to offer its citizenship to a robot.

“I want to live and work with humans so I need to express the emotions to understand humans and build trust with people,” she said in an exchange with moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Now she needs to veil up.

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Gaining the trust. Plotting the demise. Arab News.

Fools salute their doom with raised smartphones. A robot “citizen” lies about building trust. The people sleep. The machines get smarter.

Super artificial intelligence is coming, and sooner than you might expect.

That’s according to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. The Japanese billionaire spoke from the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. In about 30 years, artificial intelligence will have an IQ of 10,000, Son says. By comparison, the average human IQ is 100 and genius is 200, according to Son. Mensa, “the High IQ society,” starts accepting members with an IQ score of 130.

The idea of machine learning becoming smarter than the human brain is often referred to as the “singularity.” When exactly this will happen is oft-debated among the tech community.

“Singularity is the concept that [mankind’s] brain will be surpassed, this is the tipping point, crossing point, that artificial intelligence, computer intelligence surpass [mankind’s] brain and that is happening in this century for sure. I would say there is no more debate, no more doubt,” Son says.

Son is particularly aggressive in his prediction of how soon the singularity will happen — in the “next 30 years or so,” he says.

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“Thirty years from now, they are going to learn by themselves, they are maybe going to laugh at you and us,” Son says. “Today they look cute, they will stay cute, but they will be super smart.”

Currently, some robots are smarter than humans in some areas, says Son. “But 30 years from now, most of the subjects, they will be so much smarter than us. Because they are going to be a million times smarter than today, million times,” says Son.

“We mankind created tools, the premise was mankind were always smarter than the tool we invented so we control,” he says. “This is the first time … the tool becomes smarter than ourselves.”

Probably the last time too. The terminator will not look “cute” when it comes to your door.

The average human IQ (S.B. or Wechsler) is roughly 100; 200 is nearly unmeasurable hyper-genius. It’s a little harsh, but a “regular” genius looks (intellectually) upon a normal, 100-IQ individual the same way the average normie looks upon a retarded person. Something with an IQ 100 times the average (which sounds ridiculous, I’ll grant) will look upon all of us the way we look at ants or viruses.

We’ll be pests in their eyes; they’ll have Raid!

Cute, huh?