[DriverR]

I think this is a very relevant article on this subject.

Google sells the future, powered by your personal data

It explores various aspects of the kind of information beign collected, uses of the information and what Google says as part of Privacy. Particularly interesting was this statement.

"Dylan Curran, an information technology consultant, recently downloaded everything Facebook had on him and got a 600-megabyte file. When he downloaded the same kind of file from Google, it was 5.5 gigabytes, about nine times as large."

There is no doubt that technology is slowly becoming an integral part of our lives. The question we have to ask ourselves as individuals is how much of our personal information are we willing to share in order to get some benefit out of the technology we are using. For eg: if we want to use real-time navigation , we need to share our location information. Some people are fine with what is being shared, others are not. I think it all depends on an individual's trust level and perceived value from technology.

[nishsingh]

I for one would be happy to let Google Assistant take calls for me while I am driving. If it can get the caller details, ask them why they are calling, and let them know I am driving, I will be more than happy.

[T-Bone]

I fear some day this may happen "A robot must protect its own existence". One of the rules that robots may have to follow.

The whole concept or the idea behind "The Terminator" or "i, Robot" movie, may soon become a reality

Today G. assistant installed herself on abhi7013's phone. Tomorrow it will take some more decisions if she feels that is right.

[alpha1]

Looks like the future will be of the AI, by the AI and for the AI ... pretty soon.
Imagine what more will it take for the other side also to employ AI ... almost nothing.
And now think ALL such verbal transactions happening all across the globe?

I wonder what are we humans supposed to do? Live in a psychedelia?
Or perhaps we will come out with some other new and novel way of social stratification (which have have been doing creatively) that will keep us engaged till our respective deaths?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by alpha1

I wonder what are we humans supposed to do? Live in a psychedelia?

Actually, there is a book that explains two alternatives. One is capitalist, and the other socialistic.

Check it out. It is a free book on the web.

[grkonweb]

Being an Information Security professional, I'm concerned about the day when AI-enabled machines - virtual assistants to self-driving cars - drive our schedules, makes decisions for us and control our activities....we are in effect trading security for convenience!

And the disaster scenarios are mind boggling to say the least...by then we would have replaced our natural intelligence with artificial intelligence. Though don't want to sound like a doomsday advocate, the day is not far off when hacking groups take control of these devices and we would be powerless or worse as Stephen Hawking said machines would become more powerful than humans becoming a danger to the human race!

[rvd8732]

Originally Posted by abhi7013

What freaked me out today morning was seeing an icon of the Google Assistant on my home screen! Neither did I download it, nor did I have automatic downloads or updates enabled. And what's more, the app would not uninstall! Quite freaky but am still curious to know how it happened! If there's anyone else who witnessed this, let me know!

It did happen with me, I see Google Assistant on my phone which I did not download and couple of days later it disappeared. I downloaded it again as I am experimenting something on AI.

However, how the app got installed is a big question. Can this be considered breach?

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Actually, there is a book that explains two alternatives. One is capitalist, and the other socialistic.

Check it out. It is a free book on the web.

Thanks for introducing me to Marshall Brain.
I have glimpsed through the Manna stuff. Brilliant and it echoes with that I feel and think about our future, though not as hopeful .

However the Australian Project may not happen with real humans because:
1) our uncontrollable primal survival and spreading the gene instinct: which causes the following
2) our tendency to (as I mentioned in my previous post) make social strata out of anything: Food, clothing, housing, looks, intelligence, education, gift of gab, money, resources, power / dominance, fashion, etc
3) strive to be / rise to the top of such social structures (by eliminating / displacing others)
4) recent and growing tendency to monetize every aspect of life
5) the lack of foresight about long term effects of current actions


Couple this with spread of artificial intelligence - I really don't know whether the artificial intelligence will get seed programmed or realize on it's own that this is how humans and their societies are formulated and it will have to play by those rules to be in the game.

[V.Narayan]

A contrarian view -- Could the world have lived comfortably for another 75 years without AI or Siri or Facebook? We seem to be on an inexorable unstoppable journey hurtling down the tracks of exotic technology being developed simply because we can do it...and really because that's where the money is. Would it not be far better (and I am getting utopian here) if humankinds energies were directed to some more fundamental problems that have persisted for the last 2 generations - good universal primary schooling; eradication of malaria and tuberculosis; flexi-time for mothers - I mean all mothers not just the microscopic minority who have it today; free medical support for the poor....I could go on endlessly. The real world has such gargantuan problems to solve that need money, organization and most important compassion and a giving attitude. Playing around with AI is not going to address the bigger problems just as making nuclear power and space rockets and super computers did not.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

if humankinds energies were directed to some more fundamental problems that have persisted for the last 2 generations - good universal primary schooling; eradication of malaria and tuberculosis; flexi-time for mothers

Advances in AI help with these problems as well. These projects are not as widely known. These solutions take much longer to mature + validated + approved (and be introduced to general public).



Examples are :

1. Technology that generated these demos also brings down cost of medical diagnosis by orders of magnitude. For example, these devices were approved for this year (work started in 2004, early patents were filed in 2007) 1 and 2.
2. Same AI tech can do the job of a teacher by answering questions in classroom (thus increase reach of education).
3. Cost of Drug discovery for diseases can be reduced. https://www.techemergence.com/machin...zer-roche-gsk/

[Debajyoti]

Originally Posted by abhi7013

...Does google have that level of control over one's device?

Every Google certified android device has a system app called "Play Services" which is invisible in the app drawer but can be seen in the all apps list but can't be uninstalled. This app updates itself automatically even if auto update is disabled, has control of all the APIs, can install apps without user's consent or notification. "Google Assistant", "Instant apps" etc apps are automatically installed by play services, because these apps can make the user's experience better (according to google) Even if someone uninstalls these apps, they get installed again within few minutes. This can give you an idea about how much control Google has on any android device.

Google Duplex: Homewrecker

Btw the AI based calling feature of Google assistant is actually called Google Duplex. This is a funny take on how this Duplex can become a homewrecker (pun intended)

[Victor-whiskey]

As @DriverR and other worthy seniors have mentioned, Google is keeping a track of every move we make. It can be from lifting our phone and going to the nearby park for walk or for grocery shopping; it keeps a log of it correct to the time. So, an analyser can make our life pattern/ preferences just by studying our digital log. The reason of this lies in the fact how google has been designed way back in 1994 and why it became so popular. It records your data along with search results and then gives you results filtered for you. Just try to view “my activity “ on your Gmail account and you will be shocked. Just imagine if one day your entity as a person is lost and one has to prove his/ her identity.

As a sincere request, please shift to DuckDuckGo in lieu of Google and opt for better secure handsets like Blackberry, or at least don’t use Gmail for your personal email. Rather keep Gmail as show window email is and shift to other secure encryption email providers

Regards

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by Victor-whiskey

As @DriverR and other worthy seniors have mentioned, Google is keeping a track of every move we make. It can be from lifting our phone and going to the nearby park for walk or for grocery shopping; it keeps a log of it correct to the time. So, an analyser can make our life pattern/ preferences just by studying our digital log. The reason of this lies in the fact how google has been designed way back in 1994 and why it became so popular. It records your data along with search results and then gives you results filtered for you. Just try to view “my activity “ on your Gmail account and you will be shocked. Just imagine if one day your entity as a person is lost and one has to prove his/ her identity.

That's so true. There was a time in the past when Saturday mornings i used to take my daughter to her swimming class. Start the car, and once BT is established, i see the alert on my screen about time to the aquatic center. Similarly, more currently, i see the same which prompts me of the time to drive down to the local Costco, which is not something i do on a regular basis on weekends!

[ZedMae]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

A contrarian view -- if humankinds energies were directed to some more fundamental problems that have persisted for the last 2 generations - good universal primary schooling; eradication of malaria and tuberculosis; flexi-time for mothers - I mean all mothers not just the microscopic minority who have it today; free medical support for the poor.....

Very true. But the fact is most of the developed world does not have these issues. So the focus is on, as you say, exotic stuff. While you mention Malaria, TB - Silicon Valley is interested in immortality . There is a start up which has the technology to preserve your brain with all your memories intact.

When Geoffrey Hinton - regarded as the father of deep learning, was asked about the existential risk of AI and why he continues his research despite concerns, he remarked that the prospect of discovery is too sweet.

[rajathv8]

My crappy Vodafone internet service seems to be helping me here. No way Google can get my phone data without Wi-Fi. Thank you Vodafone!