Will robots out-think humans? 6 Minute English

Dan: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English.

I'm Dan and joining me today is Neil. Hi Neil.

Neil: Hi Dan. What’s with the protective

gear and helmet?

Dan: I’m just getting ready for the inevitable

rise of the machines. That’s the takeover

of the world by artificial intelligence, or

AI, which some people predict will happen.

Neil: Inevitable means cannot be avoided or

stopped. Rise of the machines? What do you mean?

Dan: It’s our topic in this 6 Minute English.

We’ll be talking about that, giving you

six related pieces of vocabulary and, of course,

our regular quiz question.

Neil: That’s the first thing you’ve said

that makes any sense. What’s the question?

Dan: The word ‘robot’ as we use it today

was first used in a 1920’s Czech play ‘Rossum’s

Universal Robots’. But before this, what

was its original meaning? a) forced labour

b) metal man c) heartless thing

Neil: I will go for a) forced labour

Dan: We’ll find out if you were right or

not later in the show.

Neil: OK Dan. Tell me what’s going on.

Dan: I saw a news article written by BBC technology

correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones about the

recent CES technology show in Las Vegas. He

interviewed David Hanson, founder of Hanson

Robotics, who said it was his ambition to

achieve an AI that can beat humans at any

intellectual task.

Neil: Surely it’s a good thing! Better AI

and robotics could take over many of the jobs

that we don’t want to do, or that are so

important to get 100% right… like air traffic

control. We’d never have another plane crash.

It would be infallible because it would be

so clever.

Dan: Infallible means never failing. And that’s

what bothers me. What happens when its intelligence

surpasses ours? Why should it do what

we want it to do?

Neil: To surpass something is to do or be

better than it. Dan, you’ve been watching

too many movies. Robots fighting humanity

is a popular theme. Guess what… humanity

often wins. And besides, we would programme

the computer to be benevolent.

Dan: Benevolent means kind and helpful. But

that’s just it, once the intelligence becomes

sentient, or able to think for itself, who

knows what it will do. We humans are not exactly

perfect, you know. What happens if it decides

that it is better than us and wants us out

of the way?

Neil: Don’t worry. Asimov thought of that.

Isaac Asimov was an American science fiction

writer who, among other things, wrote about

robots. He came up with three laws that every

robot would have to follow to stop it from

acting against humanity. So we’re safe!

Dan: I’m not so sure. A sentient robot could

make up its own mind about how to interpret

the laws. For example, imagine if we created

an AI system to protect all of humanity.

Neil: Well, that’s great! No more war. No

more murder. No more fighting.

Dan: Do you really think that humans can stop

fighting? What if the AI decides that the

only way to stop us from hurting ourselves

and each other is to control everything we

do, so it takes over to protect us. Then we

would lose our freedom to a thing that we

created that is infallible and more intelligent

than we are! That’s the end, Neil!

Neil: I think that’s a little far-fetched,

which means difficult to believe. I’m sure

others don’t think that way.

Dan: OK. Let’s hear what the Learning English

team say when I ask them if they are worried

that AI and robots could take over the world.

Phil: Well, it’s possible, but unlikely.

There will come a point where our technology

will be limited – probably before real AI

is achieved.

Sam: Never in a million years. First of all

we’d programme them so that they couldn’t,

and secondly we’d beat them anyway. Haven’t

you ever seen a movie?

Kee: I totally think it could happen. We

only have to make a robot that’s smart enough

to start thinking for itself. After that,

who knows what it might do.

Neil: A mixed bag of opinions there, Dan.

It seems you aren’t alone.

Dan: Nope. But I don’t exactly have an army

of support either. I guess we’ll just have

to wait and see.

Neil: Speak for yourself. I’ve waited long

enough – for our quiz question that is.

Dan: Oh yeah! I asked you what the original

meaning of the word ‘robot’ was before

it was used in its modern form. a) forced

labour b) metal man c) heartless thing

Neil: And I said a) forced labour

Dan: And you were… right!

Neil: Shall we take a look at the vocabulary then?

Dan: OK. First we had inevitable. If something

is inevitable then it cannot be avoided or

stopped. Can you think of something inevitable, Neil?

Neil: It is inevitable that one day the Sun

will stop burning. Then we had infallible,

which means never failing. Give us an example, Dan.

Dan: The vaccine for small pox is infallible.

The natural spread of that disease has been

completely stopped. After that was surpasses.

If something surpasses something else then

it becomes better than it.

Neil: Many parents across the world hope that

their children will surpass them in wealth,

status or achievement. After that we heard

benevolent, which means kind and helpful.

Name a person famous for being benevolent, Dan.

Dan: Father Christmas is a benevolent character.

After that we heard sentient. If something

is sentient, it is able to think for itself.

Neil: Indeed. Many people wonder about the

possibility of sentient life on other planets.

Finally we heard far-fetched, which means

difficult to believe. Like that far-fetched

story you told me the other day about being

late because of a dragon, Dan.

Dan: I swear it was real! It had big sharp

teeth and everything!

Neil: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that’s the end

of this 6 Minute English. Don’t forget to

check out our Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube

pages. See you next time!

Dan: Bye!

Neil: Bye.