Is the Future Star Trek or Skynet?

When you think of artificial intelligence, what comes to mind? For me, the first thing that comes to mind is Data from Star Trek - the next generation, the android built from artificial intelligence that worked as the chief operations officer. The second thing I think of is Skynet from the Terminator movies. Both are science fiction works born of artificial intelligence, the former a valuable and helpful asset, the latter... not so much. Although it's not necessarily true that artificial intelligence inevitably leads to one of these extreme outcomes, it is true that there are good and bad ways to foster the growth of artificial intelligence.

Source: Pixabay

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence

Where Can AI Take Us?
The references above are certainly fictional representations of AI, but they are built around a realistic idea of what AI could potentially be turned into (to some extent). When it comes down to it, the more likely positive scenario is a world where AI is helpful to all humans in the form of applications on our personal communication devices and robots smart enough to assist with tasks around the house. On top of that, ideally anybody interested in the AI field has the capacity to learn about such things and make a living improving the AI that makes life so much easier for everyone. A more realistic representation of a negative impact of AI would be dependency upon AI based machines that transitively mean dependency on the big greedy corporations that produce the AI. This would also mean high barriers to entry into the space for new competitors or individuals who are passionate about the topic.

Where Do We Sit Now?
It could be argued that we're somewhere in the middle of good/bad AI currently. We certainly benefit from AI in every day life. Whether you have Android or iOS, your phone likely has a personal assistant in the form of the Google Assistant or Siri. You may have a smart home complete with Alexa or Google Home. It's easier to perform day to day tasks such as simple searches, directions, communication, and much more. On the flip side of that coin, who makes all the products I just mentioned? Google, Amazon, and Apple. Those are all big corporations and they're all leaps and bounds ahead on AI when compared to any smaller players in the market. This doesn't necessarily spell doom and gloom, at least there are several corporations pursuing this instead of only one, and, until now, it was such a colossal task that it makes sense that large corporations would be the biggest names in the market. All things considered, wouldn't it be a little better if AI developments were more out in the open for the public to see, contribute to, and profit from? Lucky for us, a new player has entered the game, and is poised to change the power structures of who can and can't develop AI!

Effect.AI and the Power of AI

Effect.AI, whose ICO starts on March 24th at 11 AM CET, has finally brought artificial intelligence to the blockchain. Powered by NEO and utilizing smart contracts, Effect.AI has developed a solution that spans all the way from requesting and completing AI related research to using AI to solve real world issues. It introduces what it calls "The EFFECT Network" which is an open, decentralized network. The project will be completed in 3 phases. Phase 1 is the "Effect Mechanical Turk" which creates the basic ability for anybody to request or perform tasks in the pursuit of developing better AI algorithms. The second phase, called "Effect Smart Market," will create a decentralized exchange for the services built from the tasks and research done in the phase 1 Mechanical Turk. Finally, the third stage, "Effect Power," will incorporate "deep learning frameworks" that will provide the framework necessary for some of the most complex AI algorithms by distributing the workload needed among computational capacity on machines around the world connected to the network.

Source: Effect.AI

Power Structures in AI
So, how does this architecture change the power structure of the AI market? Well, now if I'm an individual or small business with a great AI driven idea, I no longer have to seek out assistance from Google or Amazon to have a fighting chance. I can now contract out the development of this project through Effect.AI and have access to users all over the world. I can have smart contracts publicly visible on the blockchain that make sure users are getting paid and I'm getting the work I need completed. I can interact with the community and find others working on similar projects and perhaps merge our work. The possibilities are endless! This changes the power structure simply because these corporations are no longer necessary to build the AI we desire.

Power Level in AI
Once we get to phase 3, I would argue that Effect.AI not only changes the power structure, but the power level. Things that were previously computationally impossible or hyper-expensive will become doable by distributing the workload among machines on the network. According to this 2012 article from Time, you can expect to spend anywhere from $100 million to $250 million for a top-of-the-line supercomputer (along with $6-$7 million in annual energy costs). As you can imagine, you can spend just about any amount up to that price but the lower the cost the lower your performance is. So, as you can imagine, if you want to create an AI driven platform and house it locally, you might have to be quite a big spender! This is why Google, Amazon, and Apple have huge AI projects and you likely don't! However, if you're willing to take advantage of the blockchain, you can then utilize the excess capacity of an entire network of machines that are already sitting out there ready to work instead! When you compare the entire capacity of excess power on the network to the type of computational power an individual or small business could afford to buy, the choice becomes clear. With machines that would otherwise be idle being utilized, the overall processing power of the AI industry gets a nice hefty boost!

Two Futures

So, let's imagine a couple futures, one where AI is largely available for use and development to the public and computational power is leveraged to make life easier for everyone. Another, where a few corporations have vast amounts of power and money and we are somewhat dependent on the technology they create. It's kind of like a scaled down version of asking if you prefer the liberating future Star Trek offers or the quite oppressive (okay, catastrophic) one Terminator's Skynet offers isn't it? Perhaps that's just my geeky side showing, but I for one choose Star Trek!

Check out this video from Effect.AI for an easy to follow explanation.