Does the Matrix have you? A discussion of AI.

Whenever I rewatch the Matrix, I get all sorts of funny ideas. For example, how can Neo get his powers transferred over into the real world? Why do people have white hair when they're totally not that old? Why do the second and third movies suck so much?

But tonight, after watching the movie for at least the 1,316,928,561st time*, I have a new thought:
Is it possible to create AI (artificial intelligence) that could overthrow the entire human race?

From watching the movie, one would be inclined to say 'yes'. A technology junkie like me who goes crazy at the simple sight of the acronym 'AI' would be inclined to say 'yes'. That is why it is shocking when I tell you quite frankly, 'no'.

Here's my (weak and unresearched) argument. What creates "smart" AI? We have AI now. When you play chess against your computer, that is AI. When your computer decides things without asking, that is AI. But I don't see my computer trying to take over the world. It obeys every single command I input. That's what a computer is - an input/output machine. (I could try to make a BIOS joke here, but I don't know any.)

When I make a chess move, say, pawn G4 to G5 (like the Macs from a few years ago, teeheehee!), it moves it and then, through a series of complex equations, determines the "best" move based on the "intelligence" level the user sets. Logically, then, each of its own moves is dictated by you, the user.

Is this what we call "intelligence"? I call it "brainlessness".

The day when AI can finally overthrow us is the day it stops depending on human input. And what day will that be? Never. Even if I tell a computer with my own voice to, say, "wash the dishes", it will simply take its robotic arms through a preset path, calculate distances to the plates that need washing, determine rotation and speed to that plate, grasp it after going through calculations of what force will not break the plate, determine rotation and speed back to the water, use preset time to leave plate in water...

Need I continue? Every action it would go through, no matter how autonomous it would look like, is based on physics and mathematics. Nothing that it would come up with itself.

So, then, if it shows creativity, is it intelligent

Maybe so, maybe not. If by "creativity" you mean creating a piece of original artwork, I would again be inclined to say 'no'. Why? You can use math to create pictures. You can program a style of art into a machine. But the machine would still be incapable of producing something completely original if the user did not preset the boundaries for it.

AI overtaking us? Not likely. Unless we're in the Matrix right now, I doubt we will ever be.


FOOTNOTE:
*13 squared = 169. 169 squared = 28,561. 13 is my favourite number. Go figure.