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In experiments, an AI system successfully learned to influence human decisions.
In experiments, an AI system successfully learned to influence human decisions.
It may seem cliched to say AI is transforming every aspect of the way we live and work, but it's true. Various forms of AI are at work in fields as diverse as vaccine development, environmental management and office administration. And while AI does not possess human-like intelligence and emotions, its capabilities are powerful and rapidly developing.
There's no need to worry about a machine takeover just yet, but this recent discovery highlights the power of AI and underscores the need for proper governance to prevent misuse.
How AI can learn to influence human behaviour
A team of researchers at CSIRO's Data61, the data and digital arm of Australia's national science agency, devised a systematic method of finding and exploiting vulnerabilities in the ways people make choices, using a kind of AI system called a recurrent neural network and deep reinforcement-learning. To test their model they carried out three experiments in which human participants played games against a computer.
Comment: The problem with AI learning game theory, and really the many ways it is being researched and funded, is that many of the companies, organizations and scientists working on it are government and intelligence agency-funded. This means that there's almost a guarantee of the technology being used, and deployed, in negative and destructive ways ultimately.
And you can be sure that advances in AI are likely waaaay more advanced than the above article (meant for public consumption) would seem to suggest.