Google is an incredibly giant tech company entangling most aspects of the internet and modern life (assuming it involves technology).
As opposed to Apple, the company still could be described as having an innovative spirit. This can be shown by its pursuit of lots of ideas that have no direct link to its existing revenue model.
It beats Microsoft in the ability to understand people well enough to give them comfy interfaces and for the most part software they release remains glitch-free. Regardless of all these positive sentiments many argue that Google must be stopped in its pursuit to dominate the field of AI.
The race to dominate the personal AI space—to build the artificial intelligence that each of us will use as an all-purpose digital assistant—is closer to being over than most people realize. And Google is poised to win. And if ever there was a business that we can’t let any one company dominate, it’s AI. Using the government’s antitrust powers in new ways to stave off monopoly, and preserve a healthy oligopoly, is the only way to keep humankind from buying a one-way ticket to the Matrix.
This is a very interesting notion which I completely agree with. Whenever so much power is centralized it is hard to find a case in both ancient or modern history in which power is not abused. The fall of Rome would be a good comparison!
Even during the next few years, when digital assistants will barely qualify as intelligent, they’ll shape more and more of a person’s information flow, subtly influencing shopping, lifestyle choices, even political views. And these assistants will know more and more about us, compiling deeply revealing databases that sit on the server of some company that may or may not keep them safe from hackers, that may or may not resist government nosiness.
The addition of modern AI into people's lives will certainly do what the author describes above, subtly changing habits and behavior in its users and transforming society in ways that may not be completely visible to the untrained eye.
Today the key arena of competition for eventual AI dominance is the voice assistant—Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana.
The race is on to create the best AI digital assistant and whoever wins the race, wins the prize. You see, when you use these assistants you generate data which can then be used to refine a product. Essentially you pay to be part of a study while not really knowing it.
The reason Google is poised to win the AI race is because they have dominance in two major sectors, smartphones and the smart speakers. In the smart speaker arena, Apple’s HomePod is less friendly to third-party developers than Google Home or Amazon’s Echo. This puts Apple at the back of the pack at the moment.
The value of a personal AI depends partly on how much it knows about you, and Google has more kinds of data about more people than either Apple or Amazon. The pre-eminence of Google Maps—the go-to map app even on many iPhones—is by itself massively consequential when it comes to building an AI that makes your life easier. To say nothing of the information gathered via Gmail, Google search, YouTube, etc.
This is a valid point in itself. Who has more information about you than Google? Who is better at organizing information and acting upon it?
These questions all seem to ring true with the same answer...
Google!
Google’s move towards victory in personal AI is powered by their vision, creativity, and industriousness. They have proven to be the masters of data so there is little doubt as to who will win this race.
Google's main philosophy is driven by the simple notion of 'not being evil.' But history has shown companies can quite easily change especially when they get to a point of total dominance. We cannot wait until everyone who asks questions about antitrust policy first uses the phrase “OK, Google.”
We must grab this tech AI bull by its horns now and direct the course of development through anti-trust litgation. One of the reasons the world hasn't been in major conflict for so long is due to the fact that superpowers of the modern age have relatively equal arms capabilities. If one side gets the advantage it will most certainly be bad for everyone.
What do you guys think of this AI dominance topic? Will Google eventually come out on top of this race? Could they even be stopped at this point if we wanted them to be stopped?
Please leave your thoughts below!
Source:
Google Must Be Stopped Before It Becomes an AI Monopoly - Wired
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Wired