Tuesday 18 May 2010

Brand wars


The latest Fiat 500 is a Windows car.
The pearlescent dashboard conceals a brain designed by the accountants of Microsoft. Not that I'm complaining the eccentric voice controls add to the retro charm.
Microsoft's mission is to 'help people throughout the world realise their full potential'. Quite reasonably the car believes I could improve my driving technique. Alarmingly it does this by turning off the engine when I pull put into traffic. A very Microsoft solution which I've ignored by switching off the computer but what if intelligent devices could learn?
Dr Arkin, of the Georgia Institute, has developed an Ethical Architecture which enables pilotless drones to share data on the destructive effects of their weapons with other machines. The intention is to limit civilian deaths, creating a machine consciousness which will participate in the attack decision of human operators. The drone analyses the consequences of its actions and learns from its mistakes.
The Fiat experience suggests Microsoft's values would pervade their 'software conscience'. We could speculate an Apple or Google AI would be guided by alternative views. 'Why join the navy if you can be a pirate' Steve Jobs. 'Some say Google is God. Others say Google is Satan. But if they think Google is too powerful, remember that with search engines unlike other companies, all it takes is a single click to go to another search engine'. Sergey Brin.