“Marked”

By Scott Hamilton

“Our lives are gonna be intertwined with robots and Artificial Intelligence (AI) increasingly, in complex ways that we can’t even imagine today,” said Columbia University engineering and data science professor Hod Lipson in October of 2022. Reading his quote today, I have to say we have made vast advancements in terms of technology. However we must begin to ask ourselves if it is a real advancement in society, or have we marked ourselves for destruction? Several of the advancements that Lipson lists in his paper have already come to pass, and some are yet to come.

The biggest change I have seen in the last few years has been around the increased use of big language models and AI video creation. Within the last few months I have noticed several advertisements that are clearly generated by AI, however it is getting increasingly difficult to recognize AI generated content. There are still a few tell-tale signs of AI generated content and most of them are now in the background imagery. The creation and animation of seemingly real people has gotten so good that you can no longer easily tell the difference between a real person and an animation generated by AI. However, the AI generated backgrounds are more symmetrical and tend to be more repetitive than scenery in the real world.

The second area of advancement in technology is the science behind the brain/computer interface. Early advancements in this technology have allowed us to control computers to some degree with our thoughts. The systems from 2022 were mainly around detecting eye movement and facial expressions, so it was not really a direct interaction with the brain. However there were some early attempts at direct brain interaction, which read the electrical signals from the brain via an external probe near the temples. There are even a few toys out there that work on these early concepts.

So where has the brain/computer interface improved? Elon Musk has completed some very limited human testing on an implanted chip that reads a stronger signal from the brain, allowing for tighter control of the computer and making these control interactions much smoother. He has used this technology to do things like replace a severed spinal cord with electrical stimulation of the muscles from reading signals from the brain. This research is fascinating and can provide a new quality of life for those with severe injury. If we were to stop here, this technology would be great, but that is not the case.

The second area of advancement has been in making the interface work both ways, now instead of the brain sending the signals and the computer receiving them, they have an interface that works the other way around. It really is not that different from watching a TV show, reading a book, or playing a video game. Computers have always been able to communicate with our minds through sight and sound. What makes this new technology different is that it now interfaces directly with the neural pathways between the eyes, ears and brain. You no longer have to hear or see in order to receive information from the computer.

This second area is what worries me the most. We are already controlled to some degree by what we watch, listen and read. Imagine how much more we can be controlled if we are fooled into thinking the things we experience are coming from our own thoughts when they are actually coming from an AI? This is where I make the claim that we are marking ourselves for destruction.

We need to be very cautious in the coming years of the new technology designed to make our lives easier. A couple of great examples are Digital Currency linked to our identity. I have written in the past about biometrics, which is simply a way of uniquely identifying an individual by some physically measurable trait that cannot be changed. Biometrics are a form of computer security which relies on a new technology; prior to biometrics high security was achieved by verifying something you have and something you know (for example an ATM card and a PIN number). Biometrics changes this to add something you are, creating three levels of security (for example your ATM card, your PIN and your fingerprint).

The first step in marking us for destruction will be the implanting of the ATM card chip, closely followed by the requirement of a biometric at the card machine. I am not sure if this will come before or after the elimination of real money, being replaced by digital currency. All these ease-of-use and high security features will eventually result in a loss of freedom. We must be very careful to protect our rights in the digital world and avoid being “marked” if we want to maintain our freedom. Until next week, stay safe and learn something new.

Scott Hamilton is an Expert in Emerging Technologies at ATOS and can be reached with questions and comments via email to sh*******@te**********.org or through his website at https://www.techshepherd.org.