by WorldTribune Staff, June 1, 2017
A new study says that artificial intelligence will outperform humans at all tasks within the next 50 years.
Dubai is already making an AI investment in one of those tasks – policing.
The largest city in the United Arab Emirates has assigned its first robocop for duty near the tallest building in the world. Wearing a police cap and moving about on wheels, the robot officer features a computer touch-screen on its chest that can be used to report a crime or inquire about speeding tickets, AFP reported.
Dubai, which spares no expense in policing having bought Lamborghinis and Ferraris to patrol roads, plans on having robots make up a quarter of its police force by 2030.
The robot, to be deployed mainly at tourist spots, is equipped with a camera that transmits live images to the operations room and it can identify suspects wanted by police.
The main purpose is to “find a new way to deal with people,” said Brig. Khaled al-Razzooqi, head of Smart Services at Dubai police. Razzooqi did acknowledge that robots could not replace humans on tasks such as making arrests.
Meanwhile, researchers from Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute, Yale University, and AI Impacts said that, within the next ten years alone, AI will outperform humans in language translation, truck driving, and even writing high-school essays.
By 2049, robots will be able to write a bestseller, and by 2053, they’ll be working as surgeons, the researchers said.
They say machines could take over all human jobs in 120 years.
While AI is expected to benefit society in many ways, the researchers also say machines will present a new set of challenges.
“Advances in artificial intelligence will have massive social consequences,” the authors of the study wrote.
The researchers also determined the probability of an “extremely bad” outcome – like human extinction – as a result of AI is only 5 percent.
Letters to the Editor __ Subscribe to Geostrategy-Direct __ Support Free Press Foundation