For better or worse, says Brian Christian, questions that link ethics and technology, particularly in the field of machine learning “are not going away. In some ways I see this as one of the defining challenges of the decade ahead of us.” By ‘this’ he is referring to the core subject of his new book ‘The Alignment Problem’, which tackles the question of how we can ensure that the growth industry of machine learning “is behaving in the way we expect it to. How do we make sure that we can trust it and that we are safe and comfortable?”
Machine learning, says the author, whose previous books have included ‘The Most Human Human’ and ‘Algorithms to Live By,’ “is the fastest-growing sub-field in artificial intelligence and one of the most exciting things happening in science today, full stop”. But addressing the ethical and moral issues that go with empowering machines to perform aspects of our decision making “can’t happen soon enough and we need to put as...