Brown University dean weighs in on artificial intelligence and 'M3GAN' movie
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — You may have heard about the new sci-fi horror movie "M3GAN” about a robot that "short circuits."
A Brown University professor weighs in "real life" robots, "Alexa" and "Siri", and where we may be headed if we don't find a way to completely control what we've created.
Imitations of "M3GAN" have gone viral. The film follows the story of a robot doll without a kill switch paired with a lonely young girl grieving the loss of her parents.
Sydney Skybetter, deputy dean of the College for the Curriculum and Co-Curriculum at Brown University, specializes in where choreography intersects with emerging technologies.
Skybetter said the movie, "is based on things that do, on some level, exist. Not at the scale or with the complexity that the 'M3GAN' movie postulates, but we do have toys with artificial intelligence in them. Lots of toys, we've got lots of robots that are capable of violence."
He looked at a timeline and the programming involved with making of dancing robots, matched with a video of the action.
"One of the reasons why I'm so fascinated with the Boston Dynamics videos is that you can see almost in real time the evolution of robotic dexterity," he said.
Videos of those Boston Dynamics' real life robots have gone viral too. The robots can be entertaining on one hand, he said.
"They can be used by the boy band B.T.S., and that's fun. But also they are used frequently in policing and military situations," he said.
He added that we need to have more of a conversation about the implications of smart phones and all the other devices entering into our lives, like ‘Alexa’ and ‘Siri’, that are voice command devices (VCD) using voice sser interface (VUI).
"A lot of privacy and security concerns that come with that. These are devices that are always listening. They're always watching. And even if you don't notice them, they doesn't mean that your data isn't being collected," Skybetter said.
Dan Tully of Brooklyn, New York, is cautious with the technology.
"We continue to yield more ground to technology for fulfillment, understanding of our self worth, all social interaction of any kind,” Tully said, while noting the positive, noting advances in the medical field.
But largely, he said most of the technology “seems a bit dangerous."
Movies like "M3GAN" strike a nerve with those wary of humans ability to harness and control the rapidly advancing AI.
Tim Shea of Cranston thinks the world’s “at an end already”, and doesn’t think there’s a downside to AI and robots. Shea said the robots will do all the work for us, and “just let us kick back and relax."
Just in case, though, it would be good to know -- where's the kill switch?
Alexis Wilson of Providence, who recently saw and was entertained but frightened by the movie, said, "It's terrifying, that's scary. I think we're moving very fast, we as a society. I think that humans weren't meant to move that fast."
Her friend Nathalie Ventura also saw the movie, saying, in the movies, "We've been seeing what the future is going to look like and what technology is going to be and, we still don't know."