Published on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/googleduplex-2bb2de24674a?source=rss----eb297ea1161a---4">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Odair Faléco 
<h4>Should robots sound like Humans?</h4>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*nDudkM5lzaIzOZzKRn5osA.jpeg">
<h3>Google Duplex and the Point of Singularity</h3>
This week Google introduced its new (and impressive) artificial intelligence project called Google Duplex. If you have not seen I recommend seeing for yourself right now:
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Reactions around the world were different, but can be summed up in two words: “Amazing” or “Scary” — maybe both at the same time too.After watching the demonstration of the product the first question that came to my mind was: did we arrive at the Singularity Point of artificial intelligence?
<blockquote>Singularity: the moment when humans are no longer the most intelligent beings on Earth</blockquote>
This product is undoubtedly a major technological advance. However, by confusing the line between a “human” dialogue and an “artificial” dialogue, it also brings with it a series of profound ethical, philosophical and moral questions and problems, such as:
<blockquote>&#8211; Should robots sound like humans?</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; How will we know if we are talking to a robot or a real person and what the implications of this in our daily life?</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; What sets us apart from a supercomputer?</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; What differentiates our human intelligence from an artificial one?</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; Have we reached the point of singularity between human and artificial intelligence?</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; How can a robot judge whether its action is correct or inappropriate for each moment if we do not even know how to do it?</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; Is there ethical conduct within the personality of a machine? Or rather, does she have personality?</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; Will soon the machines also be able to feel emotions or have emotional intelligence?</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; Are they conscious in a certain way?</blockquote>
These are complex philosophical issues, some of which have been debated for many years and now gain more space than ever before, in no way would I (nor do I intend to) answer them here, this article is more about questions, provocations, than about answers, this article is about the Future, which will always come in the form of Now.
<h3>More human experiences?</h3>
A great differential on UX Designers work was to transform the language and tone of interfaces that used to be cold and robotic to a more human and natural language — we know that this has a direct impact on the user experience. If you are UX you have probably studied a little of this question and tried to turn the product language into what you are drawing into something more human.
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*7rfK1USIVV1Q2-gI9jSGZg.jpeg">
Well, do we exaggerate now? Is the experience now too Human? Let’s begin to leave our interfaces more robotic so that it becomes evident that this is a robot and not a person?
One of the great ethical implications of Google Duplex is that in a way, from now on we no longer know when a dialogue or phone conversation is real or fake. One of the most debated issues today is Fake News, but what are we going to talk about the recently released Fake Human?
<h4>Pain-points</h4>
Is “talking on the phone with another human” really a pain-point for us users? Does not this move us further away from social interactions with other people?
<blockquote>Thinking about it now, it would be great if my Google Home were on the phone with my insurance company trying to cancel my plan, but is that the real problem? As I see it in this example, the company should have a decent, transparent and quick cancellation service, and I do not have to use a robot to stop having that frustrating experience because of their incompetence.</blockquote>
Obviously in other contexts the situation could be different, but can we have control and predict all these scenarios and contexts of use of this product? I think no.
Do I want my assistant to talk to an employee and do the whole process for me, or just that he connects me with the person, and when she can speak, let me know and put me on the line? Could it represent me in the same way if I was not there?
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*R6zKgWotIRbDJSTdPygvBA.jpeg">
Anyway, it is a complex, delicate issue with many sides, Polarities ☯️ (good and bad sides), like everything else in Life. The same thing can have many faces and points of view, and is also important the way that a user use a tool (for good or evil). I think that the essence of a tool is neutral, and what maters is how we use it. What are the possible evil applications of this new technology? Only time will tell …
In his article <a href="https://intelligence.org/files/EthicsofAI.pdf">“Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence”</a> philosopher Nick Bostrom argues that artificial intelligence does have the ability to bring about human extinction. He claims that super-intelligence would be able to take an independent initiative, and make their own plans in anticipation of our possible reactions.
In theory, a super-intelligent AI would be able to produce virtually any possible result and prevent any attempt of sabotage, and so many unintended consequences could arise (before you think of shutting it down, it will anticipate that) becoming more powerful. It could predict and simulate millions of scenarios much faster than us, including protecting itself from possible human actions
We know this subject is not new and has inspired great science fiction films like The Matrix, 2001, Her, and many others. The Future from this movies arrived in a certain way? 🤔
<blockquote>However, it is worth pointing out the good side: super-intelligence could also help us solve many difficult problems, such as diseases, poverty, engineering, space travel, environmental destruction, among others problems like improve ourselves.</blockquote>
The question that arise is: should artificial intelligence speak like a Human? Is that “right”?
<h3>What makes us Humans?</h3>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/0*8t7Y8TOrljHr8dMx.">
This is also a very profound question discussed thousands of years ago, covering the fields of Philosophy, Anthropology, Biology, Psychology, among others.
Philosophy professor Barry C. Smith of the University of London explains that one of the key factors that makes us human is “the fact that we speak within our minds, beyond our ability to do such a thing, it allows us to know our own minds and other minds in a way no other animal does.” So language plays a great deal on what makes us humans, but is not the full story.
There are a number of other theories and studies on this subject, which is a fairly complex subject matter. Among other things that make us Humans we can highlight:
<blockquote>&#8211; Ability to feel Empathy and Compassion for other beings</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; Our Mind and our Consciousness (which until today we do not know very well what it is)</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; Our feelings and emotions</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; Our relationship with a possible God and with the Transcendent</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; Our ability to improvise quickly (or not…)</blockquote>
<blockquote>&#8211; Our Creativity and Intuition</blockquote>
<blockquote>+ a lot of other things …</blockquote>
Will one day the AI ​​have those capabilities, just as we have evolved and acquired some of those capabilities? After this Google release I confess that I have my doubts …
Both <a href="https://www.livescience.com/62239-elon-musk-immortal-artificial-intelligence-dictator.html">Elon Musk</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/06/stephen-hawking-ai-could-be-worst-event-in-civilization.html">Stephen Hawking</a> have spoken out and warned us about the potential dangers of AI when used for evil. It does not have to be a History Teacher to look at the Human evolution history and see that we are capable of using new technologies for evil and war. Unfortunately, I see our Individualism has spoken much louder than our sense of Collectivism and this is very sad.
I think it’s important to keep in mind that we do not want a relationship “Man vs Machine”, this should not be a competition, but a relationship of collaboration. Only the future will tell us how we will use this for good and evil, but one thing is clear: our generation is witnessing and will witness great changes in humanity, and I find this very exciting! 🙂
<blockquote>What do you think of all this? Cool or Scary?</blockquote>
To get more deep: <a href="https://intelligence.org/files/EthicsofAI.pdf">https://intelligence.org/files/EthicsofAI.pdf</a>
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<a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/googleduplex-2bb2de24674a">Ethics and Artificial Intelligence</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io">Prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Ethics and Artificial Intelligence

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