The AI vs ethics row: Has Google actually taken it too far?

A few days ago, when Google displayed the wonders of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the company’s annual conference for software developers, we knew that a new age is about to dawn upon us. What we saw in science fiction films not until a decade ago is actually knocking at our reality and we are damn sure that the day is not far when we will also feel like Iron Man dictating tasks to Jarvis. I mean, this is amazing, isn’t it?

Google boss Sundar Pichai evoked a thundering applause from the crowd when he showcased the highly advanced AI driven Google assistant. Called Duplex, this new technology is able to indulge in proper human conversations without letting any hints out that it is a machine. What we saw that day is nothing less than a miracle. The AI booked a haircut appointment for an imaginary person at a real salon. It was not like that it was relaying what it was programmed to do; rather it evolved on its own and replied to all the queries made by the unsuspecting salon personnel. What’s more, the AI even had basic human expressions like ‘ummm’ and ‘hmmms’ to convince the other party that it is actually a human with flesh and blood.

More stunning was the display of Duplex’s ability to understand incomplete and abrupt conversations. As we saw, it had an extremely ‘wise’ conversation with a restaurant personnel who was clearly not comfortable with English language. She kept on getting confused with the requirement but the AI masterfully closed the call without any glitch. So yeah, on the first look, this is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

This however has a flipside to it. A section of social and internet sphere activists have risen voices of concern about AI taking over humans. One such technologist and associate professor at the University of North Carolina has harsh words for Google’s showcase. She holds that it is thoroughly unethical to deceive a human by placing a robot to talk to him/ her without any prior disclaimer. Another tech leader from Australia believes that, going by Google’s data hungry nature, it is evident that Duplex is like a Trojan Horse that will be used to learn more about everything we are doing. Kind of makes sense, doesn’t he?

And it doesn’t take a tech expert or tech leader to understand the fact that if misused, how scary Duplex can be! It can assume anyone’s identity and duped/ cheat or even worse to anyone! And if an organised crime syndicate gets hold of its technology, they can pose a greater threat. In its defence, Google holds that the technology is still experimental, and will be rolled out cautiously. It’s not yet available on consumer devices.