Deadly Truth of General AI? - Computerphile

The danger of assuming general artificial intelligence will be the same as human intelligence. Rob Miles explains with a simple example: The deadly stamp collector.

Thanks to Nottingham Hackspace for the location.

This video was filmed and edited by Sean Riley.

[penjackerrekcajnep]

"The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you, but you are made out of atoms which it can use for something else."

[dustin_echoes]

Alright someone should make a movie out of this legendary stamp collector AI.

[ryPish]

"And that point is... as soon as you switch it ON."
Scariest thing I've heard in a long long time.

[DrDress]

Every night before I go to sleep, I check under my bed for the deadly stamp collector device.

[dustinbreakey]

the ending was real heavy.

"There comes a point where the stamp collecting device becomes extremely dangerous.  And that point is, as soon as you switch it on..."

[devinfaux]

I feel like the "Stamp Collector" scenario could also be called the Sorcerer's Apprentice Problem: it will do exactly what you tell it to, and will only not do the things you tell it not to do. So if you forget to tell it to stop when the basin is full of water, or not to replicate itself...

[TheSlimyDog]

I will forever fear stamp collectors after watching this video.

[taids]

"If you want a vision of the future, imagine an AI creating stamps out of human faces - forever."

[LLWTF]

Next Hollywood Blockbuster: The Stampinator.

His task was simple: Get Stamps. But once all the forests burned down and all the cities were sacked it began to turn people into stamps.

[NoriMori]

And here he said that a realistic "AI takes over the world" scenario wouldn't be a very fun story. That was an awesome story. I'd watch that.

"Alright, I need you to stop collecting stamps now."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Rob."

[KyvannShrike]

Harvested for stamps?  Not like this :(

[GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

This video really highlights how weak Ultron is in Avengers 2, the writers are too caught up with anthropomorphising Ultron and did not utilise the power of technology.

With his vast intellect supplied by the mind gem, he could have used the internet and cripple the entire world economy, shut down power and water supplies and much more. He doesn't even need nukes to destroy the world.

[JerrodVolzka]

His clarity of though on harshly complex topics is astounding. Thank you for letting us catch these glimpses of your mind.

[OwenPrescott]

I knew stamp collectors were a threat to humanity.

[darkmage]

...actually, wouldn't this work to explain Skynet's behavior, too?

Put aside the whole "It's doing it for survival" thing and assume that Skynet was built using the same rules.

What was Skynet's original purpose, as designed by humanity? To defend the United States from attack.

Well, what better way to do that then to wipe out literally all of the US' enemies at once through nuclear barrage? True, the people of the US will be killed...but Skynet was designed to protect the US. It knows this, and it knows what its mission is. Anyone who tries to stop it from doing this, or even slow it down, must be an enemy of the US. Including the people within the US, who by that point are panicking ("In a panic, they tried to pull the plug"). So they must actually all be insurgents who are trying to attack the US in secret.

So, in a way, Skynet was following its original protocol the whole time.

[Harekiet]

I for one welcome the opportunity to be converted into stamps by our robot overlords.

[Kneedragon]

LOL - I like it. "There comes a point where it becomes extremely dangerous, and when you're talking about a really effective intelligence, that is the point where you stitch it on." Beautifully put. Wonderful description. That's it in a nutshell.
You're creating something that has not existed before, so you have no historical precedent. You're creating something that may think like we do, but may think very differently. You're creating something that may find options and combinations of message and action, that you never anticipated. You're creating something that may 'think' so much faster than us, that we'd be helpless to it. You are opening a Pandora's box and sticking your hand in, and you have no idea what's in there...

[BlackEpyon]

So.... Lesson learned. Be careful when using the "loop" function. Crisis averted.

[kingxerocole]

Every year this video becomes more and more relevant.

[EugeneKhutoryansky]

Very interesting way to look at it.  Thanks for posting this video.