Experts Fear Robots Will Outsmart Humans

By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 25, 2009 7:37 PM CDT
Experts Fear Robots Will Outsmart Humans
Actress Laurence Iseli performs during a rehearsal of the musical "Robots" at the Barnabe Theatre in Servion, near Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, April 22, 2009.set. The musical will have its world premiere May 1 and will play until May 17, 2009.   (AP Photo/Keystone, Dominic Favre)

With Predator drones bombing villages and robots plugging themselves in, is Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey around the corner? Leading researchers met recently in Monterery Bay, Calif., to address such fears. Runaway superintelligence seems unlikely, they concluded, but speech synthesis technology could aid data-hunting crooks, and autonomous robotic killers are coming—if they're not here already.

Organized by an artificial intelligence association, the conference aimed to tackle tricky questions before robotic science outpaces public concern. Its report, due out this year, will grapple with ethical and legal issues, and may recommend conducting research under tight security. “If you wait too long and the sides become entrenched like with" genetically modified foods, said one chemist, "then it is very difficult. It’s too complex, and people talk right past each other.” (More robot stories.)

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