By Google’s artificial intelligence plays better the game of Go than man. …
Google Deepmind artificial intelligence will pay Lee Sedol, the best player of the game of Go, 1 million dollars if he wins against Google’s artificial intelligence. If he loses Google will give the 1 million to a charitable institution.
Shall we go back 25 years, not a lot of time, this story would have been totally un-understandable. The game of Go was created 2500 years ago in China. It is, and has been, one of the most extraordinary games in human history. Today 40.000 players exercise their talent around the world. Some 1000 of them are considered to be excellent. Suddenly, comes artificial intelligence or a robot which beats humans at that ancestral game. A few days ago, the Alpha Go machine beat Mr Fan Hui, the European Go champion by 5 games to 0. Zero for the man, 5 for the machine.
I listen and look at the developments at artificial intelligence. I listen and look at the triumphant declarations of inventors. I must say that I am puzzled by this progress.
The machine will help the human to resolve problems, says one. Of course, but in a very simplistic way, who is going to be the master of the planet, of teaching, of industry, of accomplishments? The machine, not the man. This is not philosophy; this is for each of us a basic question: do we want to be in charge, or do we want to be led?
In a report, published by the Financial Times a few days ago, it is written that “a brave new era needs new ethics. Advances in technology pose difficult moral questions for humanity and it is not clear who is responsible for providing answers.”
That is a subtle way to put forward a question: who will be the boss at the end of the day? The machine or the human?
