Today's CPA - 14

TECHNOLOGY ISSUES
to humans also comes to mind. In business, we constantly
try to manufacture things faster, better and cheaper,
and the automotive industry is already well on its way in
using automated robots to weld parts together as they
move through the assembly line.
In another use case, AmazonTM uses automation
technology in its order fulfilment facilities and mining
companies use partial automation to extract hazardous
minerals, such as coal.

will have a very bad effect. It could be just something like
getting rid of spam email or something, and it concludes
that the best way to get rid of spam email is to get rid of
humans."
Although these examples from highly intelligent people
may seem extreme and might be easily discounted
as unlikely "science fiction," the boundaries that are
necessary to avoid creating these extremes don't seem to
exist or at least are not at the top of mind today. Consider
when automobiles first began to
gain prevalence in our society
... there were no well-developed
roads, signs or laws. There
were quite a few accidents and
fatalities that likely prompted
the creation of the laws we have
today.

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Unfortunately, making a
mistake with a technology such
as creating Type IV artificial
intelligence that could result in a
cataclysmic demise of humanity
would deserve our attention in
terms of laws and regulations.
Because laws have traditionally
trailed innovation, such a lagging
approach would not appear to be

The many use cases are clear in using technology to help
create greater efficiencies while also increasing safety to
humans.

the best approach.

The Bad

Consider the implication of artificial intelligence being
used in the construction of a dedicated killing machine.
Although this sounds "Terminator"-like, a very realistic
but fictitious YouTube video begins with a professional
sales-type conference setting. The speaker introduces
a new "drone" type of killing machine that is imprinted
with biometric specific instructions where it tracks
its target, only to self-destruct itself by exploding a
one-ounce charge of explosive sufficient to scramble
the brains of its pre-programmed target. Minus the
biometric imprinting, the attempted assassination
attempt on the Venezuelan President using a drone laden
with several pounds of explosive starts to make this
sound much less like unlikely science fiction.

In a 2014 interview with the late Stephen Hawking,
arguably one of the most brilliant thinkers of our time,
he said: "The primitive forms of artificial intelligence
we already have, have proved very useful. But I think the
development of full artificial intelligence could spell the
end of the human race. Once humans develop artificial
intelligence, it would take off on its own and redesign
itself at an ever-increasing rate. Humans, who are limited
by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete and would
be superseded."
In a 2014 interview with Elon Musk, he stated: "I don't
think most people understand just how quickly machine
intelligence is advancing. It is much faster than almost
anyone realizes, even within Silicon Valley and certainly
outside Silicon Valley, people really have no idea. If
there's a super intelligence, particularly if it is engaged
in recursive self-improvement, if there's some digital
superintelligence and its optimization or utility function
is something that is detrimental to humanity, then it

14 Texas Society of CPAs

The Ugly

Finally, another ugly aspect is the inability of
programmers to effectively program morality. The
fundamental aspects of what is inherently right and
wrong are subject to the attitudes and beliefs held by
the programmer. If the "programmer" is one day an
artificially intelligent machine, the concerns around the
"ethics" of the machine are clear, especially if the machine



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Today's CPA

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Today's CPA

Front Cover
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Table of Contents
Chairmans Message
Accounting and Auditing
Today's CPA - Front Cover
Today's CPA - Chairmans Message
Today's CPA - Accounting and Auditing
Today's CPA - 6
Today's CPA - 7
Today's CPA - 11
Today's CPA - 12
Today's CPA - 13
Today's CPA - 14
Today's CPA - 15
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