Should humans be afraid of AI, or be harmonious with AI?

That Facebook has shut down two chatbots after finding the two artificially intelligent programs appeared to be chatting to each other in a language unknown to humans has hit the headlines recently. The two robots were reportedly out of control. However, some people pointed out that this might not be the case. Many believed that it was the developers who forgot to give the appropriate order during research, such as using “Please use English” instead of the correct “Please use English grammar”. Therefore the “new language” is simply an expression, not a language.

It is not hard to explain the “uncontrolled robot” phenomenon from a technical perspective. But our attention is needed when it comes to questions including whether AI can be evil, whether we are afraid of AI, and whether we can live harmoniously with AI.

The argument between the optimistic and the pessimistic has never ended ever since AI was invented. The future of AI is largely unknown, which also means infinite possibilities. What we are truly fearful of might not be AI’s unpredictability, but our decision to stop the research. Truth cannot be found if we cease to explore. During the research process, we need to protect ourselves.