The Emergence of AI in Pop Culture

When you think about Artificial Intelligence, what comes to mind? Many of us associate AI with images from popular cultures, such as the dark takeover by robots capable of independent thought or the tragic narrative of a robot kid taught to love, to mention a few.

 

All of the stories of self-determining robots, AI with emotions, and robots with jobs are just that: stories. We appear to be a long way from Artificial General Intelligence. 

 

How close can we go to popular culture's AI? Is there a risk that intelligent machines may emerge?
 

 

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The Emergence of AI in Pop-culture

 

Most of us have fantasized about self-driving automobiles and robots that would make our daily lives easier. What was previously merely a fantasy has now become a reality. 

 

Self-driving cars are now a reality, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk announcing that the company will have fully autonomous vehicles on the road by the end of 2020, and robot waiters are becoming a phenomenon, with the potential to replace the mundane, repetitive work done by individuals in the service industry.

 

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The big screen and television have played a huge role in bringing AI into our homes, but how does this portrayal affect how we create and apply the technology?

 

Robots and cars are not a daily focus for people attempting to incorporate AI technology into goods and discover new methods to use it. Instead, the areas of advancement look at AI that learns from our behaviors and uses speech recognition and language processing at work and at home to better assist us in our daily lives, answering questions for us and accomplishing chores.

 

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But, in order to enhance everyday adoption, how can we harness the excitement surrounding AI's fantasy? That's why we have used pop culture and science fiction AI as inspiration to see how far we've come in real life. Here is all you need to know

 

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1. Self-determination

 

Self-determination is one of the most significant traits of human beings, and it is one of the key themes repeated throughout many examples of Artificial Intelligence in popular culture and science fiction. 

 

The narrative goes that intelligent machines begin innocently as someone's experiment with the next big invention, but over time, they gradually learn to develop their own thoughts, preferences, and impulses, eventually becoming self-aware AI.

 

In the 2004 science fiction film I, Robot, highly intelligent computers, and robots fill public service roles with the goal of keeping humans safe in the year 2035. 

 

Everything they do is supposed to be based on logic and data analysis, which Will Smith's character Del Spooner despises after he is rescued from a car accident, but a 12-year-old girl was left to die since her survival was statistically less likely.

 

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Although the film does highlight how AI systems can fail in the face of very "human" actions, logic and data analysis appear to be harmless. This raises the question of what occurs when decision-making takes on a new meaning. 

 

The plot revolves around thinking machines and robots plotting to take over and abolish humans' free will in order to save them from extinction.

 

Are we on the verge of entering a planet populated by fictional robots? In a nutshell, yes and no. Artificial Intelligence can now perform "Machine Learning," which advances data analysis and logic to new levels. 

 

Many complex applications that leverage the potential of Artificial Intelligence are now being created, such as DeepCoder, a bot that can write code on its own to solve math problems.

 

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Today's Artificial Intelligence can learn and make judgments, but it operates under rigid logical limits and is nothing like the AI depicted in science fiction. 

 

Although some academics are split on whether we should be concerned about self-aware AI in the future, we are unlikely to see the human race enslaved by bots anytime soon. So, for the time being, we shouldn't be concerned about self-determining AI taking over the planet.
 

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2. Cybernetics

 

Another common topic in popular culture and science fiction is the usage of cybernetics, which involves a person having robotic parts that perform certain body functions via a link to the human brain. 

 

The Justice League's Cyborg is an excellent example of this type of humanoid robot. Is this something that could be done? Is a human-machine fusion possible yet? 

 

Many scholars believe that we will see more cybernetics in the future, despite the fact that its application presents ethical concerns. What if, for example, we possessed the technology to grant the human race talents beyond our current capabilities? That's correct, right? Will this have a negative impact on human life?
 

Thanks to MedTech advancements, we now have some degree of human brain-computer connections, particularly when employed for therapeutic purposes. Deep Brain Electrodes (DBS), for example, are used to treat Parkinson's disease symptoms. Kevin Warwick of Coventry University argues that improving humans through new abilities is a possibility. 

 

Technology can be very useful for persons who have had limbs amputated and seek to replace them with prosthetics. The science-fiction version of cybernetics isn't quite there yet, but research is underway to investigate the potential.

 

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3. Experiencing Human Feelings

 

Can a bot learn to feel human emotions if it can learn to learn? When it comes to human-robot interaction, this is one of the most frequently asked questions. Many examples may be found in popular cultures, such as Dolores' awakening on Westworld or Ex Machina's longing for independence from Ava, the android.

 

Although AI does not yet have the ability to feel human emotions, we are making strenuous efforts. The Foundational Research Institute's research is based on the idea that AI will need to grasp human values in order to respect them. Their goal is to see if AI can learn value notions in the same manner that humans can.

 

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A Nerdist essay examines the topic of machine consciousness and concludes that like the computer Hal in Stanley Kubrick's Space Odyssey, whatever it becomes will not appear human. We can make a similar parallel with flight: man-made flying machines don't resemble those created by nature. They will undoubtedly be other living forms, whatever they turn out to be.

 

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4. Human Jobs Being Replaced by Machines

 

For years, there has been talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking over human occupations. Consider Rosie, a robot from the Jetsons cartoon, or C-3PO, a robot from the Star Wars films.

 

While today's AI thinking machines lack the humanoid traits of earlier robots, there are various use case examples where AI is assuming the place of human operators. Here are a few examples:

 

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• Taking Investment Decisions

 

Making FinTech app investment considerations. Machine Learning technologies are constantly reading patterns and data in order to make quick investing selections based on an individual investor's preferences. 

 

Instead of people sifting through postings for hours to uncover the ideal opportunity, bot technology can spot it seconds after it is posted and seize it.

 

• Housekeeping

 

Roomba's AI is being employed for domestic tasks, however, it's not quite Rosie or C-3PO. The vacuum cleaner is the most common, although other machines have been developed for tasks such as weeding the garden.
 

• Personal Assistants

 

Personal assistants are individuals who provide assistance to others. Voice-activated assistants like Siri and Alexa assist us in playing music, placing orders, and just finding information.

 

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• Self Driving Vehicles

 

Automobiles that drive themselves. Tesla, Google, Toyota, and now GM are all working on self-driving car technology and improving it. Regulation has made it possible for self-driving cars to operate on public roads. When will an Uber or taxi request be answered by a self-driving vehicle? Soon, we think.

 

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Final Thoughts

 

The future of Artificial Intelligence remains a big mystery, and films like Ex Machina, Space Odyssey, and I Am Legend can give us some speculative notions about what it might look like. 

 

It is already being incorporated into apps, personal computers, and technologies that we use in our daily lives; it is no longer confined to the science lab.

 

Jobs are being enhanced rather than fully replaced by AI, and technology is being introduced to take over ordinary chores. However, in terms of a genuine "human" level of intelligence, including independent thought and emotions, pop culture is still a long way off.