Will Future Technologies Turn Artificial Intelligence Into Skynet?

Do you think the world depicted in the Terminator films was just the stuff for speculative science fiction? Think again! Some of those future technologies are already available today. Right now there are examples of artificial intelligence at work. They might not be self-aware like Skynet, but alarmists can be forgiven for thinking that some of these technologies could become more dangerous than expected. We all seemingly love Siri with its almost human like voice recognition software (or at least that’s what Apple tells us), or Google Street View which uses machine vision to identify specific addresses.

With examples of future technologies to include intelligent robots working in factories (presumably to assemble Apple products), software installed in cars to do all the driving for us and robot childcare workers to take care of the kids when we have no time to, it is not hard to see that these machines are going to require some serious brains.

The issue will be whether or not a significant enough “off” switch is built into these future technologies so they don’t go manic on us. Perhaps of more concern is the autonomous weapons industry. As an example, the Israeli Defense Shield can, on its own, detect incoming fire and shoot it down before that incoming fire can do any damage. This defensive network of machines is an amazing piece of military hardware, but can you image what would happen if a device like this was intelligent enough to protect itself?

Military technology has always been at the forefront of all technological advances, with consumer equivalents eventually filtering down to the general populace. Creating a weapon, such as a killer robot soldier, which is fully autonomous and can think for itself, should not even be an option. Without a human EQ driving it, an autonomous weapon or other future technologies might just use its cold, hard logic against us. And that’s when Skynet will appear.

We may not be seriously looking at creating a singular, widespread intelligence like Skynet, but we will have to be careful how we proceed into this new technological future. Machines can be smart, but they should only ever be invented as tools to help us achieve what we need to achieve in faster, more accurate, and more efficient ways. As long as we keep ourselves in the loop, we will be moving into a future filled with amazing devices that can help us do things we never thought possible before.