In principle, super-intelligent artificial intelligence could not be controlled for humans. At least this is the conclusion reached by a group of scientists who have carried out theoretical calculations on the problem. They went through two possible scenarios, they now explain. On the one hand, you could specifically withhold resources from super-intelligent AI, but then you would no longer be super-intelligent. On the other hand, one could program ethical rules directly into it, but that also has fundamental limits.

Science fiction closer than expected As the researchers around Manuel Cebrian and Iyad Rahwan from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development explain, their analysis assumes that someone is programming an AI “whose intelligence would be superior to humans and who could learn everything independently “. Connected to the Internet, it could not only access all human data, but also control machines. Based on their calculations, it would be fundamentally impossible to control such an AI so that it does not harm humanity. That sounds like science fiction, says Cebrian, but the first steps on the way have already been taken.

One possibility to undermine such super-intelligent AI Keeping control, be it simply withholding resources from the start, write the researchers. For example, it could be denied access to the Internet and operated separately from machines in some other way. Without such contact with the outside world, however, it would be significantly less capable: “It would not solve the great problems of mankind in this way.” Even minimal communication options could not guarantee complete security, but without such communication channels the whole purpose of such a machine would be reduced to absurdity.

Algorithm controls AI? An alternative would be to program an algorithm that monitors the super-intelligent AI and prevents harm to humanity. To do this, however, he would have to simulate the behavior of the AI ​​in order to intervene in good time if necessary. According to the current state of computer science, however, such an algorithm cannot be programmed in principle. In addition, we may not even be able to tell if an AI is super-intelligent, the researchers write. They have published their results in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research.

(mho)