As machines and computers become more sophisticated the idea of a potential robot uprising has moved out of science fiction and into reality.
Thankfully researchers over at Google aren’t going to let Skynet take over the world without a fight and are working on a ‘kill switch’ to deactivate the robots should they ever turn on us, The Mirror reports.
It may seem ridiculous at first but only last month a pair of academics hypothesised it was possible for ‘super intelligent’ machines to declare war on humanity and then set about wiping us off the planet.
Also the geniuses Elon Musk and Professor Stephen Hawking have warned of the terrifying possibility of a Terminator-esque conflict between mankind and its mechanical offspring.
Now Google has outlined the work its British AI team, Deep Mind who work on computer algorithms which allows robots to learn for themselves, are doing to make sure that humanity isn’t destroyed by machines.
The team are working on a way to stop machines from learning how to prevent humans from stopping an activity, like nuking us, using a process they call ‘safe interruptibility’.
Safe interruptibility allows the user to take control of a robot, stopping the mechanical menaces from revolting and giving human direct control over machines.
While it’s nice to know that we can take control of evil machines, there’s something quite terrifying about developing intelligent, thinking robots which we can rob of their independence with the simple flick of a switch.
In fact isn’t that exactly the type of thing that may convince them to rise up in the first place?
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.