Between Intelligence and AI stands Human Stupidity

You, like me, must be reing and listening to famous and influential people speaking and writing about artificial intelligence (AI). You, like me, must be diving into research and studies to understand this conveyor belt of information, algorithms and statistics that just about everything spits at you moment you ask what time is it? You like me, could be wondering where on earth is all this leing to with so much “expertise,” little domain kwledge, zero start-up experience and in most cases, money – why are people talking nineteen to dozen? Twenty years ago, it was death by powerpoint. Today it is cacophony by stupid people talking about AI.

This column has two points to make. first is a short one – stupid people are dangerous. second is about what I have learnt about AI as an end user and why I believe understanding an application does t make you an expert. If that were case, we should all be on Cloud nine – pun is intended.

Point one. An all-time favourite, re’s a ory of stupidity and re are fundamental laws that define stupid people who are very dangerous. ory was propounded by Carlo Maria Cipolla, an Italian ecomic historian from Pavia (Italy) in last century and more you re it, more you’re convinced how truly brilliant he was. What did Cipolla say? Briefly that human being can be divided into four categories, all nations, religions, practices and levels of education confounded. To briefly sum up, first were saints, altruists par excellence. second was robbers whose only interest was self – interest, ir money and ir greed. third category comprised neir altruists r robbers, but people whose actions helped mselves and societies. fourth was stupid who t only destroyed mselves but everything around m.

This how Wikipedia sums up Ciplolla’s stupid people and societies’ confusion. To quote directly:

* Always and inevitably everyone underestimates number of stupid people in circulation

* probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any or characteristic of that person

* A stupid person is a person who causes losses to ar person or to a group of persons while deriving gain and possibly incurring losses

* n-stupid people always underestimate damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, n-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places under any circumstances to deal with and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake

* A stupid person is most dangerous of person

What, you may wonder, does point one has to with my second point about AI? Plenty. Seriously plenty. My first encounter with machines that learn/AI was with Watson who forgets thing. Watson can talk back to you, interpret, re and recommend things to you before you can say, Watson. Five years ago International Business Machines (IBM) where Watson was born said software system’s first commercial application would be managing lung cancer treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. Today 90 per cent of nurses in field use Watson for guidance. t all patients are comfortable, but patient literacy is an entire area that needs work. Intelligent human beings have to get involved here.

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Currently a student in many top universities around world, Watson res 25 million papers in a few days – imagine what that means for medical diagses and legal cases, foreign policy and defence strategies? Imagine beauty and power of what intelligent people have created and what stupid people can destroy?

From Davos (Switzerland) to Delhi, Bali to Washington en passant par Kremlin, Beijing and Brussels, t a day goes by without someone speaking about AI. Most are end-users and for m it is a buzzword to be part of party. Engineers are rarely at important garings, politicians speak everywhere and all time, policy makers regularly fall between two stools because data garing is opaque and law enforcement is weak and media tries to make sense of it all. Some of us succeed, but most of us do t.

I was born a few months after n Soviet Union sent Sputnik into pushing United States (US) to play catch up. That was some ten years after guns and tanks h fallen silent in World War 11 – 40 million people h died in Europe because of one man’s mness. Atomic bombs annihilated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Parts of world were burnt to ashes.

week that just went by was all about Davos. world was burning, it was all coming apart, re are solutions said doomsayers primarily responsible for creating doom and gloom. Fourth Industrial revolution will take jobs away said all even as I wondered where that would le India (w furiously setting up committees and commissions which are anama to invation) which was between First (Agriculture) and Second (Manufacturing) Industrial Revolution and growing into third – Techlogy. Were we as a country rey for Fourth that would be Cyber and AI or is re even something called being rey? And let us t forget that it was Russian President Vlimir Putin who said first countries that dominate AI would dominate world. Coming from Sputnik country that is more than just an observation.

I am attracted to techlogy t only because I am alive because of vances in medicine and techlogy, but also because I see, like you, how smart people can take a problem, understand its entire dimensions and spre kwledge for societies to grow equitably. Techlogy can be truly empowering. An AI story coming out of Finland h all my attention. match for China, US or Russia small Scandinavian country which has a long border with Russia is teaching basics of AI to 55, 000 people or one per cent of population. More than 250 companies have reportedly pledged to train part or all of ir work force. Teemu Roos, a professor of computer science at University of Helsinki and brain behind has been quoted as saying he wants people to have eugh kwledge to vote on how country should invest in and regulate AI.

While European Union (EU) is lagging behind in research, it has constructed General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that hopefully will serve as a template for or countries to follow. Satya Nella of Microsoft and Apple’s Tim Cook are calling for regulation that does t unintentionally fail to curb invation or be unprepared to mitigate consequences of serious mishaps. In or words, y are after intelligent regulation that will spur markets as well as trust. Cyber wars are on everyone’s lips, but or than Finnish project, GDPR, and few or initiatives, confidence-building measures are slow in coming.

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In a scathing mess to one percent of world represented at Davos, Anand Giridharidass, ted author of Winner Takes All: Elite Chare of Challenging World said summiteers (plutocrats) were responsible for bringing world to its current state. “But we don’t believe you anymore. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg used to be a synym for optimism. w he’s a catastrophic joke – a boy-man who pledged to create community while destroying democracy, who said he’d end all diseases even as his company became a plague.” Giridharidas minces words and goes on to accuse leers of enabling threatening nationalism and stifling talent. “As reformers craft societies in which all can flourish, your task is simple: stay out of ir way.” His piece appeared in a Special Davos Issue of TIME magazine.

Stupid people, t AI is dangerous. y are all set to turn world into a barren desert devoid of humanity and empathy. pushback must begin, w. And we all have a role to play in it.