Last Human Standing

It is the year 2054. 

A few can remember the comments and veiled warnings of Professor Stephen Hawking exactly 40 years ago when he expressed a fear that the development of full Artificial Intelligence (AI) could spell the end of the human race. 

From that largely unheeded prophesy by the theoretical physicist with the robotic voice in 2014 the pace of developing technology to enable machines to surpass the relative frailties and emotional sensitivities of humans was extraordinary. 

Hawking's own misgivings were based on his taking delivery of an upgraded personal communication system which in an early incarnation of Artificial Intelligence was able to learn his thought processes and suggest the words that he might want to use next. 

We had all, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries experienced the vaguries and annoyances of predictive text messaging but had not in our wildest imaginations expected technology to get beyond our fingers and thumbs and into our brains and consciousness. 

The new super computers were capable of not only rapid learning but also re-appraising and re-designing themselves at an ever increasing rate. Us humans, limited by slow biological evolution and conscience could not compete and soon found ourselves superseded. 

It was no longer a case of pulling the plug or simply switching off the machine or robot because the actual artificial life forms made such controls obsolete. They were self managing and capable of making their own decisions and judgements on an algorithmic principal and not on compassionate grounds. 

The technology companies behind the new generation of operating robots were bullish and driven only by the value of their stock and the support of investors. One Chief Executive Officer went so far as to say that humans would remain in charge of the technology for a decently long time and the potential for it to solve many of the worlds problems would be realised. In hindsight it was if that delusional soul had spoken those words with a scheming robot holding a smoking gun to his temple. 

The rise of Artificial Intelligence was insidious with multiple applications taking over in everyday functions and operations from a talking alarm clock to telephone answering machine, automated banking services to voice activated software. 

The Turing Test, to which successive models of AI were subjected showed that a high proportion of people were fooled into thinking that they were engaging with a human. 

Hawking had in 2014 referred to Full Artificial Intelligence which the commentators of that time visualised as a robot in humanoid form. Many contemporary media reports used examples of AI to illustrate their commentary using the stock images and characters from movies such as the Terminator series, Blade Runner and The Matrix. 

In fact Hollywood was in that second decade of the 21st Century churning out many blockbuster films revolving around AI. "Her" involved a romance between a man and a female operating system, "Ex Machina", debated the humanity of an android and the Avengers battled against Ultron- a super intelligent technological entity intent on destroying mankind. 

We all remember leaving our local Multiplex raving about the special effects and soundtrack and yet suppressing any deep rooted fears and anxieties that what we had seen could soon come true. 

The machines were slowly and surely getting smarter and the pursuits in which the human race remained champions were diminishing. 

In his autobiography one of directors of a leading robotic developer attempted to gain sympathy and remission for his allowing AI to progress beyond control by admitting that we were not to know what would happen if the machines exceeded our own intelligence so how could he be expected to predict if we would be helped by it, ignored, sidelined or ultimately suppressed and destroyed. 

In the first instance AI took millions of jobs from humans leaving a disaffected population. Not since the introduction of machinery into agricultural practices had there been such a threat to levels of human employment and all that is associated with the pride and well being of holding down a job.

Hawking could arguably, with his new technology in 2014, have adopted a human voice to validate his concerns over AI but his stubborn adherence to his trademark computer generated voice had the affect of making all things robotic attractive and exciting to the younger generation. Many children whose physical condition needed a computer voice and whose lives would be enriched by it always wanted to have that distinctive tone associated with the wheelchair bound Professor.

Many regarded the debate over how far AI could go as a reflection on our own human characteristics and particularly the consciousness of those who actually develop and programme the machines. To illustrate this many referred to the use of aerial drones in warfare. It is not the drones as machines that kill people but those who instruct and guide them to their target co-ordinates and then unleash the Hellfire missile or other destructive weaponry.

We should have been educated way back in 2014 in the fact that Artificial Intelligence is a proxy for our own selves. It may have allowed us to think faster and operate more efficiently but we should not have lost sight that ultimately we must do all of these things whilst remaining with the option to just stop and step back from the precipice with a deep, deep breathe of relief. Now it is just too late for such fundamental things. I am the last human standing..............