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Ryan Pizzirusso
Honors English Composition
Dr. Abigail Heiniger
Due Dec. 11, 2012
Artificial Intelligence
When people think “Artificial Intelligence”, they think of a human mind inside of a
computer. However this is not the current understanding. In this paper artificial intelligence will
refer to a system that can easily store, access, and manipulate data, use input to find trends and
patterns, and/or use gathered data to make decisions. Artificial intelligence should be worked on
because it is able to survive in conditions where humans cannot, such as in the cases of space
travel and in the military, and it can think faster than humans and in a manner that humans
cannot, which allows for better study of ecology and overall expansion of human intelligence.
In You Should be Afraid of Artificial Intelligence, John Havens claims that artificial
intelligence, if created, would cause many problems for humans. One point Haven makes is that
robots are stealing jobs (Havens). While robots are doing jobs that were once done by humans,
those jobs are mostly dangerous, such as cleaning up radioactive waste, tedious, like attaching a
component on an assembly line, or require precision, such as soldering components. This claim
also doesn’t address the fact that, although the robot took the traditional job, people need to be
hired to design, build, and maintain the robot. Another point Havens raises is that people are not
fully sure how to control artificial intelligence if it becomes sentient (Havens). While this is true
artificial intelligence is not near a point where it could become sentient. One of Havens’ main
concerns is that the government is planning on putting AI in control of weapons, such as drones,
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that wouldn’t require human input to operate, and uses the Trayvon Martin shooting as an
example of this causing unnecessary deaths (Havens). While it seems like a bad idea to put
justice outside of human control, one must remember that AI would not make life or death
decisions based on race, emotion, or even self-preservation. This quality would mean that AI
would be much less likely to kill anyone, and would only kill if absolutely necessary to protect
others. While the problems with artificial intelligence aren’t as bad as Havens makes them out to
be, but AI also has benefits in multiple fields, as detailed below.
Artificial intelligence is useful for space travel. In “The Future of AI in Space” (2006),
Steve Chien et al. offers the idea that artificial intelligence in spacecraft allows the spacecraft to
make decisions on what to study, allowing for the study of changing environments like comets
(65). They claim that A.I. can benefit systems that monitor the Earth’s weather and other Earth
events (Chien et al. 65). This statement is backed up by explain that systems such as EO-1
already use A.I. to make decisions (Chien et al. 65). There are strange, infrequent events on the
surface of Mars, such as dust devils, and artificial intelligence onboard rovers would allow them
to track these events so scientists can learn more about Mars’s atmosphere (Chien et al. 65). In
these cases, if there isn’t artificial intelligence, if something of interest like a dust devil were to
occur, by the time the signal got back to earth, the operators respond, and their response got back
to the probe, the event would have come and gone. Artificial intelligence onboard Mars rovers
would allow them to identify geological areas, allowing for better understanding of the surface
(Chien et al. 65-66). There are objects of interest in our solar system that, to investigate, have
too many variables to preprogram craft and are too far for reliable remote control (Chien et al.
66-67). In these scenarios having an entity that is at the site that can make decisions would allow
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these missions to be possible, and that entity would most likely be an artificial intelligence
(Chien et al. 66-67).
Beyond making decisions on its own, artificial intelligence can plan and organize better
and more quickly than humans, which will be necessary to aid human beings for future space
travel (Chien et al. 67-69). On extended flights, many things such as schedules and operations of
systems will become more complex (Chien et al. 67). Traditionally, this planning has been done
by mission control on earth (Chien et al. 67). However, as humans go farther from earth
planning decisions will need to be done onboard the spacecraft due to lag and human nature, and
AIs can do this efficiently (Chien et al. 67-68). AI is also crucial to managing complex and vital
systems, such as power distribution (Chien et al. 68). While normal, simpler software can handle
distribution, AI is needed to alter the distribution based on crew needs and failures (Chien et al.
68).
While artificial intelligence is practically necessary for space travel, it also has plenty of
applications in the military. Artificial intelligence is capable of working out logistics of how to
move troops from one place to another with little cost, as DART did in the Persian Gulf War
(Lopez, Comello, and Cleckner 72). It may also play a role in locating key areas of an enemy
(Lopez, Comello, and Cleckner 72). Without artificial intelligence, humans would be in charge
of these tasks, which could lead to destructive and lethal mistakes.
Artificial intelligence allows for better understanding of ecology. Artificial intelligences
can find obscure patterns, which is useful for studying the various relationships in an
environment (Holmes 20). Some examples of this are using artificial intelligence to determine
which plants are more invasive, how birds behave during migration, and identifying what
diseases are most likely to infect humans and where that infection would occur (Holmes 20-21).
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Artificial intelligence allows for better solving of costal problems by either connecting users of
models to experts or be emulating an expert with a knowledge-based system, or KBS (Chau 49).
Genetic algorithms (GA’s) can be used for river water quality management, to predict algal
abundance, and to calibrate field date on tides (Chau 53). Fuzzy logic can be used for refining
for conventional AI’s or for comparing model results to actual results (Chau 54).
Studying ecology is only one way artificial intelligence helps humanity on an intellectual
level. AI is capable of expanding human capabilities in any department (Schoen 247). Artificial
intelligence can make decisions under pressure and account for gut feelings (Schoen 247).
Human-like AI also has applications in psychology, in my opinion. Because AI is basically a
program, and people can see the inner workings of programs using debug code, then a humanlike AI can be put I certain situations, and scientists can see exactly what it, and therefore a
human, would think in that situation.
There are many people like John Havens that think that we should stop working on
artificial intelligence. However, its benefits in space travel, military, and research outweigh the
potential problems with it. I believe we must work on AI to get at these benefits, but also plan
for any potential pitfalls.
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Works Cited
Chau, K. "A Review on the Integration of Artificial Intelligence into Coastal Modeling." Journal
Environmental Management. 80.1 (2006): 47-57. Print.
Chien, Steve, Richard Doyle, Ashley G. Davies, Ari Jonsson, and Ralph Lorenz. "The Future of
Ai in Space.(artificial Intelligence)." IEEE Intelligent Systems. 21.4 (2006). Print.
Havens, John. "You Should Be Afraid of Artificial Intelligence." Mashable. Mashable, 03 Aug.
2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2014. <http://mashable.com/2013/08/03/artificial-intelligence-fear/>.
Holmes, Bob. "Nature's Mystery, Unlocked with Ai.(artificial Intelligence Techniques )." New
Scientist. 211.2826 (2011). Print.
Lopez, Jr A. M, Jerome J. Comello, and William H. Cleckner. "Mental Preparedness - Machines,
the Military, and Strategic Thought - Throughout History, the Military Has Used
Machines to Gain Operational Advantage Over Opponents. Now the Army Is Poised to
Use Computers with Artificial Intelligence to Read Clausewitz, Analyze the Enemy's
Center of Gravity, and Share Strategic Conclusions with Commanders." Military Review.
84.5 (2004): 71. Print.
Schoen, Sy. "The Issues, Benefits, and Risks of Implementing Artificial Intelligence." National
Productivity Review. 7.3 (1988): 246-255. Print.