In addition to Quantum Brains the future may also bring us Artificial Brains, at least in the form of a new Artificial Intelligence system known as Sentient that the United States military may one day come to rely on.
As Futurism puts it:
“Since 2010, American intelligence agencies have been developing a top-secret ‘artificial brain’ military AI system that they named — seriously — ‘Sentient.’
Newly released confidential and classified documents first reported by The Verge describe the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)’s Sentient Program as a fully-integrated intelligence system that can coordinate satellite positions and may soon be used to manage battlefield operations during military engagements.”
But how exactly does it work and what will the implications be?!
The Verge offers some additional insight:
“The agency has been developing this artificial brain for years, but details available to the public remain scarce. ‘It ingests high volumes of data and processes it,’ says Furgerson. ‘Sentient catalogs normal patterns, detects anomalies, and helps forecast and model adversaries’ potential courses of action.’ The NRO did not provide examples of patterns or anomalies, but one could imagine that things like ‘not moving a missile’ versus ‘moving a missile’ might be on the list. Those forecasts in hand, Sentient could turn satellites’ sensors to the right place at the right time to catch ill will (or whatever else it wants to see) in action. ‘Sentient is a thinking system,’ says Furgerson.
It’s not all dystopian: the documents released by the NRO also imply that Sentient can make satellites more efficient and productive. It could also free up humans to focus on deep analysis rather than tedious needle-finding. But it could also contain unquestioned biases, come to dubious conclusions, and raise civil liberties concerns. Because of its secretive nature, we don’t know much about those potential problems.”
An advanced AI system like this in the hands of the U.S. military is potentially even more problematic than just a standard quantum computer! Hopefully, it winds up being used in a productive manner with the proper safeguards in place.
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