PSEUDO-INTELLIGENCE IN AN ILLUSORY AGE
A SMALL GIRL AND A ROBOT:
A Thought Experiment on Emergent Abilities of Artificial Intelligence
An emergent ability is a definitive example of the breadcrumb trail that evolution leaves behind of the advancement of a species.
Picture the scene.
Without elaboration, a botanical researcher, sitting among a small unrelated group of observers, hands a five year old human test subject a novel object unknown to western science, discovered in the remote tropics.
The young girl extends two hands, takes it and smoothly lifts it up toward her nose to sniff it, as she had witnessed her mother doing with other large fruits and vegetables, when grocery shopping.
“It smells ‘orangey’. It looks like a mango but it’s darker, heavier, not as smooth. What is it?”
“Well, it doesn’t have a name in English yet. We’re going to have to come up with one.”
“OK. Tell me when you do, so I’ll know what to call it.”
Meanwhile, a functional, untethered, free-ranging, web-connected robot, coded with LLM-trained (so-called) artificial intelligence software on board, presented with the same task as the girl, would most likely fail on multiple fronts.
With no prior exposure, knowledge or prompting, the young girl inferred the size, relative weight, the appropriate level of grip to apply and number of hands she would need to use to hold and examine a novel object, while also instinctively adjusting her anchoring and posture to counter any potential of the weight of the object to cause her to topple forwards or overbalance backwards. She makes the correct choices each time.
She also anticipated what consequent actions were expected of her, by accurately reading the expressions and body language of individuals in the group. She ran an informed comparative analysis, identified and stated the exceptions she noted, while sharing the rationale for her accurate, broad categorisation of an unknown object she correctly identifies as a foodstuff. She does this by comparing its scale with known objects in her surroundings, by noting the adult botanists’ manual articulations and transposing them to someone of her smaller size, smaller hand span and less muscular strength. She recalls contextual evidence from past experience of witnessing similar objects of comparable scale and weight being handled. She gleans what additional visual and aromatic information she can from it. She gives useful feedback she can see is expected of her and presents sound conclusions. She candidly admits the limits of her understanding. She asks the most appropriate question and requests future input, whenever it becomes available, to add to her understanding. The entire experience, including the feedback she receives is then filed away in her long term memory, ready to be recalled and applied whenever needed again.
The robot, by contrast, would lack the data required to identify the object, not know what level of force to apply to grip it or how much upward force to apply to bear its weight or how much rearward counterbalancing to apply to its articulated lower limbs in order to avoid being pivoted into overbalancing and toppling forward by the weight of the object. It would not know what feedback was expected of it and would have no common frame of reference on which to draw, to assist it with the unspecified tasks before it.
Emergent abilities require more than storage, recall and rearrangement of extant data. They require ideation, intuition, imagination, interpretation, insight … and intelligence. A pseudo-intelligent, obsolescing machine can exhibit none of those.
The proponents of free-ranging, generative artificial intelligence as a revolutionary, constructive, broad-based technology appear to find it difficult to specify its ‘endless’ opportunities. They can cite little beyond it acting as an unreliable pseudo-conversational search engine result summariser and imperfect, plagiarised or paraphrased text, image, sound or computer code replicator, rephraser, reformulator, regurgitator (or fabricator of any number of answers to exam questions matched with past papers, all conveniently stored in its training database).
In contrast to elusive benefits, potential wilful falsification failings, copyright pitfalls, academic integrity trap doors, misinformation detriments, imposter-enabling, scammer-empowering, fraudster-reinforcing, impersonator-arming and other crime-enhancing dangers are so obvious they barely need description or enumeration. The consequences of pseudo-intelligence masquerading as intelligence.
I read many very long articles from credible institutions, replete with quotes from a long list of luminaries whose major contributions to the fields of machine ‘learning’ and artificial ‘intelligence’ are widely recognised but every one of whom struggles to articulate with any specificity where the benefits of generative AI lie for humankind. What I find in them reminds me of similar [as yet unfulfilled] portents of widespread disruption, broad adoption and extensive transformative capacity made of: Google Glasses, Virtual Reality, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Non Fungible Tokens, the Metaverse … and, not to forget – Space Tourism.
We pay a heavy price for the many misconceptions arising from disinformation around pseudo-intelligence in an illusory age.
MSB
February 28, 2024
■ Thought Experiment on Emergent Abilities of Artificial Intelligence
Pseudo-Intelligence in an Illusory Age:
A SMALL GIRL AND AN AI-ENHANCED ROBOT
M. S. Tafawa Balewa
Published Online: February 24, 2024
https://disabilitymatters.co.uk/neuralnetworks-308215313-10-01-24/
■ Remarks the Impact of Disinformation & Misinformation in AI
Disinformation & Misinformation in AI
M. S. Tafawa Balewa
Published Online: February 24, 2024
https://disabilitymatters.co.uk/neuralnetworks-128251593-24-02-24/
■ Remarks on Neural Networks in Memory & Cognition
Organic Neural Net versus Artificial Neural Net:
The Role of Event Boundaries in the Disruption of Related Sequential Actions
M. S. Tafawa Balewa
Published Online: February 24, 2024
https://disabilitymatters.co.uk/neuralnetworks-128251593-24-02-24/
■ What is Neurocybernetics?
Dave Andre
Published Online: January 8, 2024
https://www.allaboutai.com/uk/ai-glossary/neurocybernetics/
■ Introduction to Neurocybernetics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. (U.S.A.)
Netherlands Central Institute for Brain Research, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
N. Wiener; J. P. Schadé
Published Online: February 29, 2008
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0079612308620555
■ Neurocybernetics and Rehabilitation
Neuromodulation and Neurocybernetics:
Translational Cognitive Neuroscience
Online Neuroscience Research Resource
https://www.neurocybernetics.net
■ Neurocybernetics: Contents and Problems
O.G. Chorayan
Department of Physiology
Neurocybernetics Research Institute
State University
Rostov‐on‐Don, Russia
Published Online: 1 July 2000
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/03684920010333224/full/html
■ Remarks on Neurocybernetics and its Links to Computer Science
In memory of Prof. Luigi M. Ricciardi
Roberto Moreno-Díaz; Arminda Moreno-Díaz
Instituto Universitario de Ciencias y Tecnologías Cibernéticas, Parque Científico-Tecnológico, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35017 Las Palmas de G.C., Spain,
Institute of Sciences and Cybernetic Technology, Science & Technology Park, University of Las Palmas (Gran Canaria), Las Palmas 35017, Gran Canaria, Spain
Published Online: November 3, 2012
Elsevier Biosytems
Volume 2, 1963, Pages 1-7
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234122675_Remarks_on_Neurocybernetics_and_its_links_to_Computing_Science_To_the_Memory_of_Prof_Luigi_M_Ricciardi
■ Homeostatic Systems, Biocybernetics, and Autonomic Neuroscience
David S. Goldstein, MD PhD; Irwin J. Kopin, MD
Published Online: September 5, 2017
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5819891/
■ Maturation of the Adolescent Brain
Mariam Arain; Maliha Haquel; Lina Johal; Puja Mathur; Wynand Nel; Afsha Rais; Ranbir Sandhu; Sushil Sharma
Published Online: 03 Apr 2013 | Pages 449-461
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2147/NDT.S39776
■ Anticipation in Neurocybernetics
Slawomir J. Nasuto; Yoshikatsu Hayashi
Published Online: 02 August 2019
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-91554-8_61
■ The Implantable Neurocybernetic Prosthesis System
National Library of Medicine
National Center for Biotechnology Information
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
R. S. Terry; W. B. Tarver; J. Zabara
Published Online: January 14, 1991
PubMed
Pages: 86-93
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1705341/