[Applause]
I’ve always loved building things
inventing innovating maybe something
work better or faster or smart and then
before as a kid my first invention solve
a big problem in my life an alarm they
triggered if my sister’s enter my room
my definition of a big problem has
thankfully matured since then but my
interest in the field also grew in
overtime I’ve lived as much as possible
about different programming languages
tools cell teaching taking courses or
experimenting with classmates in the
Robotics Club when the makerspace
simultaneously my focus graduated from
simpler machines to smart machine linear
robots AI short for artificial
intelligence in science fiction
we’ll see generalize human-like robots
that can mimic complex human behaviors
like comforting a sad person generalize
that what we see in movies are so far
from reality well there’s another form
of AI that is very real right now
specialized the eye which can accomplish
one specific task for example Amazon’s
Alexa can hear things too voice
recognition technology specialized AI
are penetrating fields like natural
language processing purchase
recommendations or playing board games
this is a revolutionary period an
explosive impact of the eye and the next
decade cannot be underestimated
it will bring tremendous opportunities
but also unavoidable threats and
challenges what is certain is that all
of our lives stand to be dramatically
altered as a result so I’d like to spend
today discussing what is happening now
what lies ahead and how we can best
position ourselves to benefit from this
revolution without suffering grave
consequences this past summer I interned
at the MIT lab for about biomedics the
lab is developing a robotic cheetah
which can autonomously navigate unknown
environments too dangerous for humans
like exploring earthquake rubble for
survivors or dealing with a nuclear
reactor nuclear reactor meltdown my task
was the program the cheetah to respond
to voice commands which I did by
manipulating Amazon’s Alexa among other
tools
thanks for Vance mints in machine
learning and neural networks devices
like the Alexa and echo can decode sound
waves creating when we speak which are
incredibly complex allowing us to say
commands rather than using joysticks or
keyboards my work on the cheetah is an
exam
all of this technology bringing robots
one step closer to the most natural
human communication form speech machines
mastering complex tasks such as hearing
and seeing will quickly move into high
orders cognitive skills travelers cars
for example all right are analyzing the
streets activity recognizing pedestrian
traffic and making navigational
decisions this is a revolution in the
making until now
genius have had caught I have had
serious advantages of our machines but
these advantages erode as the machines
become incredibly intelligent and we
will experience profound consequences
there’ll be tremendous opportunities but
these advancements also pose some
serious threats so how this impact you
in every imaginable way on the positive
side with more fluent voice assistance
or most boring a petty tasks will be
assumed by machines our lives becoming
more efficient as work is redefined we
may be freed up for more meaningful
pursuits spending time with family
seeking knowledge or developing higher
order skills and sensibilities yet
there’s another side to it many current
jobs exist on the cognitive advantages
of humans of emissions as the AI
develops what will happen to those jobs
machines don’t sleep eat rest complain
or bargain for higher wages and
promotions machines will see enormous
investment returns and cost of it cost
efficiency incentives with automation
leading to massive unemployment tech
giants like Amazon are already using
Kiva robots to almost fully automate
their warehouses scientists at Oscar
University recently predicted that 50%
of future jobs will be impacted just
take to job categories unlikely to exist
in the future drivers and factory
workers and you can begin to feel the
world the destabilizing beneath our feet
with such a negative potential when a
reason we ask why pursue AI at all why
invest resources only to face such
ignition threats one consideration is
that the Industrial Revolution and
various scientific breakthroughs have
vastly improved the human existence we
still face major challenges while LED
poverty diseases servation
environmental threats to name just a few
we may well need another breakthrough
medium another revolution to bring
humans to the next level of prosperity
but there is cause for alarm Monday
through Friday parking lot of even
working American factories are empty
because robots don’t drive to work yet
with recent events like brexit and u.s.
election AI technologies nomination were
scarcely mentioned for a role in
unemployment blame placed on immigration
and trade deals how do we ensure that AI
will benefit society rather than
undermine human existence increased
centralized control or so radically
destabilize employment in our society
that it tears a part of social fabric
uninformed citizen citizenry will be
critical because in this revolution
changes will be rapid and consequences
drastic rather than seeking leaders who
Pro who promise to restore the supreme
manufacturing jobs we might seek those
whose focus on retraining workers who
support policies and regulations to
ensure that this brave new world doesn’t
accelerate trans toward rising
inequality yet if we over regulate hey I
will be developed in the shadows we need
to manage this process carefully and the
best solutions will likely involve broad
regulations with tough transparency this
will keep threats from tech companies
centralized powers hackers of evil
intents and other challenges to personal
liberties in check what can you do even
if you don’t plan to be a techie take a
computer science class or we or follow
the increasing press coverage about AI
advances we’d become informed discuss
the challenges among classmates this new
technology will touch every aspect of
your personal and professional lives we
must all take a role in actively shaping
and mastering this new technology before
to succeed in harnessing the truly
life-changing power of AI to serve the
highest goals of human progress thank
you [Applause]