AI / Tech, Where is the Off switch? Will we destroy AI if it can't be turned off?

So I've noticed including myself , people love their technology. This has led to a few thoughts recently on what is going on in our society. When I said we love our technology, what where the first images of technology you had appear in your mind? Most people think smart tech, phones, tablets and televisions. However as great as these innovations are in the past tech had a larger meaning. I ask of you the reader to think about what technological improvements meant to someone in the 1940's or 50's. It meant new ways to build, mine, create rockets / space programs, tech meant new ways to generate electricity and so on. Today tech has a more narrow focus.

This narrowing of the definition of tech is a concern. You see most business investments chase the holy grail of income, "Scalability". Scalability allows a business to on board new customers with few or no extra costs. Modern software and internet business are easily scalable, it's nothing for Microsoft to charge for another download or Facebook to take on a new user after the initial setup. This creates a run and over investment on "get rich quick" tech. This imbalance means that people are less likely to improve more mundane things, like construction, farming and other vital infrastructure.

This arms race to improve computing, networking and AI is happening at the expense of other industries. With rapid growth of these things we are forgetting the most important thing in all tech... THE OFF SWITCH! Where is the off switch on a webcam? My laptop has no physical switch to shut off the microphone and webcam, Mark Zuckerberg's trick of covering the camera with a piece of paper is as good as it gets. This lack of human control over our digital devices is a frightening and dangerous precedent.

Whether we want to admit it or not we are already programming machines to decide who lives and who dies. Think along the lines of accidents with self driving cars. Suppose a pedestrian fell into the street one winter morning, perhaps crashing the vehicle off road might save the pedestrian yet kill the driver. Who lives who dies? What about drones? The US military has computers keeping track of phone calls... perhaps your in the middle east and you called the wrong person too many times, or they have a wrong number. The system shows a human the data to get permission but the human commander only truly knows what it was shown. Machine already are starting to choose who lives and who dies. Advances in robotics, loss of digital privacy & lack of off switches are a dangerous combination.

A well know scientist and thinker of our time Sam Harris does an excellent TED talk on the subject of AI and our inability to muster an appropriate emotional response to the dangers of this tech. The video is under 15 mins and well worth watching, linked below. Where does this situation of no off switches leave us in the future? I fear it could lead to a dystopian authoritarian clamping down on humanity's last freedoms, or perhaps AI takes control of humanity. In the 2002 sci-fi novel "Dune: The Butlerian Jihad" humanity ends up fighting to destroy and rid it's self of all AI at great cost.

Above: From Dune - Humanity fighting to destroy all thinking machines across the known universe.

I offer as a conclusion to this article in the short term, we as consumers should try to buy products that can be shut off. Take this into consideration next time you buy any "Smart Tech". I believe an off switch should become a consumer right. This will prevent problems with hacking, unwanted surveillance, protect our privacy from invasive advertising and save energy.

I recommend watching Sam Harris's TED talk from 2016 if your're interested in the subject of AI:

Any thoughts? Drop me a comment below.