Artificial Intelligence Could Replace 80 Percent of Jobs ‘in Next Few Years’: Expert

Artificial intelligence may substitute 80 p.c of human jobs within the coming years — however that’s factor, says US-Brazilian researcher Ben Goertzel, a number one AI guru.

Mathematician, cognitive scientist and famed robot-creator Goertzel, 56, is founder and chief govt of SingularityNET, a analysis group he launched to create “Artificial General Intelligence,” or AGI — artificial intelligence with human cognitive abilities.

With his long hair and leopard-print cowboy hat, Goertzel was in provocateur mode last week at Web Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the world’s biggest annual technology conference, where he told AFP in an interview that AGI is just years away and spoke out against recent efforts to curb artificial intelligence research.

– As smart as humans? –

Q: How far are we from synthetic intelligence with human cognitive talents?

“If we want machines to really be as smart as people and to be as agile in dealing with the unknown, then they need to be able to take big leaps beyond their training and programming. And we’re not there yet. But I think there’s reason to believe we’re years rather than decades from getting there.”

– AI threat –

Q: What do you consider the talk round AI corresponding to ChatGPT and its dangers? Should there be a six-month analysis pause, as some persons are advocating?

“I don’t assume we must always pause it as a result of it’s like a harmful superhuman AI… These are very fascinating AI methods, however they’re not able to changing into like human stage common intelligences, as a result of they will’t do complicated multi-stage reasoning, like you want to do science. They can’t invent wild new issues exterior the scope of their coaching knowledge.

“They may also unfold misinformation, and persons are saying we must always pause them due to this. That’s very bizarre to me. Why haven’t we banned the web? The web does precisely this. It offers you far more info at your fingertips. And it spreads bullshit and misinformation.

“I feel we must always have a free society. And similar to the web shouldn’t be banned, we shouldn’t ban this.”

– Threat to jobs –

Q: Isn’t their potential to replace people’s jobs a threat?

“You could probably obsolete maybe 80 percent of jobs that people do, without having an AGI, by my guess. Not with ChatGPT exactly as a product. But with systems of that nature, which are going to follow in the next few years.

“I don’t think it’s a threat. I think it’s a benefit. People can find better things to do with their life than work for a living… Pretty much every job involving paperwork should be automatable.

“The problem I see is in the interim period, when AIs are obsoleting one human job after another… I don’t know how (to) solve all the social issues.”

– AI positives –

Q: What can robots do for society at this time, and what’s going to they have the ability to do sooner or later, if AGI is achieved?

“You can do a number of good with AI.

“Like Grace, (a robotic nurse) we showcased at Web Summit Rio. In the US, a number of aged persons are sitting lonely in previous people’ properties. And they’re not dangerous when it comes to bodily situation — you’ve got medical care and meals and big-screen TV — however they’re dangerous when it comes to emotional and social help. So when you inject humanoid robots into it, that may reply your questions, hearken to your tales, assist you place a name together with your children or order one thing on-line, you then’re enhancing folks’s lives. Once you get to an AGI, they’ll be even higher companions.

“In that case, you’re not eliminating human jobs. Because principally, there’s not sufficient individuals who need to do nursing and nursing assistant jobs.

“I feel training may even be a tremendous marketplace for humanoid robots, in addition to home assist.”

– Regulation –

Q: What regulation do we need for AI to have a positive impact?

“What you need is society to be developing these AIs to do good things. And the governance of the AIs to be somehow participatory among the population. All these things are technically possible. The problem is that the companies funding most of the AI research don’t care about doing good things. They care about maximizing shareholder value.”

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(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated news company feed)