Artificial Intelligence

During Andrew's lecture and in my brief research, this is the definition I locked onto: 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence exhibited by machines. In computer science, an ideal "intelligent" machine is a flexible rational agent that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of success at some goal.

In class we had some discussion about dog being intelligent or not.  Given I am the guardian of two dogs and have trained many, by this definition I can argue that dogs can be intelligent.  They perceive their environment and take actions that maximize the chance of success at some goal.  Examples - chasing and catching squirrels or other wildlife by out smarting them in their chosen path; figuring out the treat ball and emptying it in minutes rather than the extended feeding it is supposed to enable.  

Now, how do I feel about Artificial Intelligence?  At first blush, the concept is exciting and there could be many tasks accomplished by machines thus creating efficiencies in our work, increasing safety and throughput.  But, with deeper investigation and consideration, I agree with Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and others in their warning that, "artificial intelligence can potentially be more dangerous than nuclear weapons."  "Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history,” wrote Stephen Hawking in an op-ed, which appeared in The Independent in 2014. “Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks. In the near term, world militaries are considering autonomous-weapon systems that can choose and eliminate targets.” Professor Hawking added in a 2014 interview with BBC, “humans, limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete and would be superseded by A.I.” (Michael Sainato. Observer. 08/19/15) 

Yes, there are benefits to be brought to humanity by artificial intelligence, but given the state of our world; I do not believe we can risk AI getting into the wrong hands.  We cannot implement a fail-safe system.  The threats to our world as we know it are too many to be put at risk.  We must tread lightly.  We must call for greater investigation into the pitfalls, before we are too far down the rabbit hole.  Humans must remain in control of the machines.