In movies such as Iron Man and The Terminator, artificial intelligence is often depicted as either carrying out human commands or as a threat to humanity. Real-world A.I. is still weak and doesn’t fully embody autonomous learning and judgment, but the debate continues about the implications for humanity if stronger A.I. is possible through the development of artificial brains.
Iron Man, Interstellar, The Matrix, The Terminator. These movies all have one thing in common: artificial intelligence. In these movies, AI is different from the machines and objects we encounter every day. For example, the computer I use to do my assignments doesn’t understand me or move on its own. It only functions when you give it commands using a keyboard or mouse. But the AI in movies understands human speech and makes its own decisions. Jarvis from Iron Man and Tas, the robot from Interstellar, act as assistants to the protagonists, carrying out their various commands. On the other hand, the AI robots in The Matrix or The Terminator seek to destroy human civilization and even control the entire human race. Of course, this is impossible with our current level of technology. It’s just a movie fantasy, but we can’t completely dismiss the possibility that future research and development could make it a reality. Could there be a time when the existence of the human race is threatened by AI?
First, let’s take a look at what artificial intelligence is. AI can be categorized into ‘artificial’ and ‘intelligent’. Artificial refers to things that are not naturally occurring and are created by humans. On the other hand, the meaning of “intelligence” is hard to define. The dictionary definition is “the capacity for intellectual activity,” but different scholars have different definitions depending on its elements, scope, and characteristics. There is a general consensus that it is the ability to learn by utilizing previous experience and adapting to new objects and situations. This is not too different from what we usually think of as intelligence, so AI is a human-made machine or program that has the ability to adapt and learn new things. Depending on the scope of their intelligence, these AIs are categorized into weak and strong AIs.
Weak AI is AI that appears to be intelligent, but in reality, it is not. Programs in self-driving cars, programs that search the internet for you through voice recognition, or programs that play against you in simulation games are all examples of weak AI. Most AI in use and in development today falls into this category. They appear to be intelligent, but they are limited to making decisions based on the information they have already been given. They can’t adapt to new situations and objects. For example, self-driving cars may seem to adapt to new situations by recognizing objects or people that suddenly appear in their path or on their road, and stopping or bypassing them. However, these perceptions and judgment criteria are limited to what the developers have set in advance, and it is not possible to utilize heuristics such as “it was a person yesterday, so it should be avoided today”. Therefore, it cannot be said to have intelligence. Of course, there are programs that can learn and change their judgment criteria based on the events that occur, but the way they change is also within the scope set by the developer. In this sense, all current A.I. remains weak.
Unlike weak AI, strong AI refers to AI that actually has intelligence. It is an AI that can think and act like humans, or think and act beyond humans. It can adapt to completely new situations and objects, learn, and think for itself. It is also self-aware and goal-setting. The key to a strong A.I. is its ability to create something new. In other words, a strong A.I. is an A.I. with a mind, a being with an intelligence that is almost identical to that of a human being. Currently, there are no programs or robots that have minds, but there is much debate about whether such an AI could be developed as technology advances, or whether it could appear by chance.
There are two main ways to approach strong AI. One is through programming algorithms, and the other is through biotechnology. The first method of developing AI through computer programming is currently being actively researched and is relatively easy to access, but it is difficult to reach strong AI by itself. In a lecture at Ewha Womans University in 2015, Kaiser neuroscientist Professor Dae-Sik Kim said, “The resolution of language is lower than the resolution of thinking.” This means that human thinking cannot be fully expressed in language, and it is nearly impossible to program it into a machine language. For example, if a program is given the criterion “cats have fur,” it can only recognize a dog with fur as a cat, or a cat without fur as not being a cat. If you add more criteria, it might be able to distinguish between cats, but it won’t be able to identify them, it will only be able to calculate the probability of a cat being a cat. Because the abstract boundaries that separate things are hard to articulate in human language, programming them is very difficult.
Biotechnological approaches attempt to artificialize the human brain. For example, Lulu Qian’s team at Caltech (2011) created four artificial neurons from 112 strands of DNA. The system was said to be able to distinguish between people with training, but the human brain is still incomparable, with more than 15 billion neurons on the surface of the cerebrum alone. However, over time, it may be possible to create more than 15 billion artificial neurons. Synapses, the connections between neurons, are also known to change over time, and if we can fully understand this mechanism, we may one day be able to build an artificial brain. This leaves us with one final question. Does a brain alone have a mind? If a mind exists in an artificially created brain, it follows that strong artificial intelligence can be realized.
This can be proven experimentally if only an artificial brain is implemented. There are ethical issues with using humans as test subjects, but animals with the creative ability to use tools could be used. In 1970, Robert White transplanted a monkey’s brain and spinal cord into another monkey’s body and kept it alive for nine days. Although it eventually died due to immune rejection, the monkey exhibited similar behavior as before during its survival. Of course, there are limitations because it is not an artificial brain, but it is likely that similar results would be achieved if an artificial brain were implemented.
In conclusion, the realization of a strong A.I. depends on the development of an artificial brain. If an artificial brain is developed and has a mind, strong AI will be realized. However, whether such a strong AI will pose a threat to humanity’s existence is another matter. We don’t consider cows or monkeys to be a danger to human existence, and we know that humans can be brainwashed into conforming to reality even in absurd situations. Therefore, even if sentient AI emerges, it is unlikely to escape human control.
