Researches at Facebook shut down an artificial intelligence (AI) program after it created its own language, Digital Journal reports.
According to the report, the social media giant had to pull the plug on the AI system that its researchers were working on “because things got out of hand”. “The AI did not start shutting down computers worldwide or something of the sort, but it stopped using English and started using a language that it created,” the report noted.
Initially the AI agents used English to converse with each other but they later created a new language that only AI systems could understand, thus, defying their purpose. This led Facebook researchers to shut down the AI systems and then force them to speak to each other only in English.
Using machine learning algorithms, the “dialogue agents” were left to converse freely in an attempt to strengthen their conversational skills. The researchers also found these bots to be “incredibly crafty negotiators”.
“After learning to negotiate, the bots relied on machine learning and advanced strategies in an attempt to improve the outcome of these negotiations,” the report said.
“Over time, the bots became quite skilled at it and even began feigning interest in one item in order to ‘sacrifice’ it at a later stage in the negotiation as a faux compromise,” it added.
The incident, after it was revealed in early July, puts in perspective Elon Musk’s warnings about AI. “AI is the rare case where I think we need to be proactive in regulation instead of reactive,” Musk said at the meet of US National Governors Association. “Because I think by the time we are reactive in AI regulation, it’ll be too late.”
