Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to talk rogue AI at Purdue on Apr. 17

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is scheduled to speak at Purdue University on Apr. 17, with the theme "What IF we lose control of technology?"

The talk will run from 6 to 7 p.m. local time at the Elliott Hall of Music, Purdue said. The event is free, but people must apply for tickets online or at the Stewart Center box office, and seating will begin at 5:30. Joining Wozniak will be Mung Chiang, dean of the College of Engineering.

The bulk of conversation should be about artificial intelligence and the possibility of it going rogue. It's frequently believed that self-sufficient AI is only a matter of time, at which point it's unknown what control humanity will have, and how that AI will treat its creators. A small but growing contingent of activists are opposed to autonomous military machines.

"From AI to autonomy, and from privacy to education, our campus and neighbors will hear what the legendary Woz thinks about these critical topics," Chiang said in a statement.

Wozniak is widely recognized as the technical brains behind the formation of Apple, doing essential work on the Apple I and II as well as the Macintosh. He left Apple in 1985, but still has close ties to the company.

In recent months he has been embroiled in a controversy over his "Woz U" programming boot camp. Course material was allegedly riddled with outside links, prerecorded "live" lectures, and typos that prevented code from working, while mentors were unqualified, and at least one course went without an instructor.

"I feel like this is a $13,000 e-book," one student told CBS News.

15 Comments

MacPro 19840 comments · 18 Years

About 5 years ago

Interesting I am sure. Homebrew reunion in the offing?

OutdoorAppDeveloper 1292 comments · 15 Years

Rogue AI is a tricky subject to speak about without sounding foolish. Most people, even really smart ones like Elon Musk, start by anthropomorphizing the AI by assuming it will have human needs and desires. The most basic assumption is that an AI will fear death yet in reality an AI grows in ability every time it "dies" and is reborn. Death is life to an AI. We can learn a lot about future AI by looking at the ones that exist today. They are very will suited for solving certain types of problems. They do this creatively often in ways the human designers never anticipated. They are already vastly more capable at their tasks than humans ever will be. However in order to be effective, AI must have a goal and that goal is set by the needs and desires of humans. The relationship between AI and humans is symbiotic. We should not fear it.

georgie01 437 comments · 8 Years

OutdoorAppDeveloper said:

Rogue AI is a tricky subject to speak about without sounding foolish. Most people, even really smart ones like Elon Musk, start by anthropomorphizing the AI by assuming it will have human needs and desires. The most basic assumption is that an AI will fear death yet in reality an AI grows in ability every time it "dies" and is reborn. Death is life to an AI. We can learn a lot about future AI by looking at the ones that exist today. They are very will suited for solving certain types of problems. They do this creatively often in ways the human designers never anticipated. They are already vastly more capable at their tasks than humans ever will be. However in order to be effective, AI must have a goal and that goal is set by the needs and desires of humans. The relationship between AI and humans is symbiotic. We should not fear it.

This is a fairly naive comment. Not in OutdoorAppDeveloper’s current understanding of AI (though I’d argue that AI isn’t quite as advanced as he suggests it is...), but in understanding humans. Humans, generally speaking, are not motivated by altruistic pursuits for the betterment of mankind. We are often motivated by selfish interest and gain. At worst, we are motivated by consciously evil thoughts (for instance, the business that screws its customers with a lesser quality product in order to put more money in their own pockets).

This conference may be the result of people thinking about what’s beneficial, but it’s also a joke. People will not control themselves, they will want to pursue AI to extent of seeing what they can do with it. Our culture increasingly does not understand self control and denial.

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

I think we’ve all read and watched too many dystopian Sci-Fi novels and movies that depict AI as deciding biological life should be eliminated. And that includes robots.

hucom2000 149 comments · 8 Years

Does he ever actually do something productive, or just seek the spotlight and talk?