Sophisticated AI is coming, but are we prepared?
Featured Products Promotional FeaturesPosted by: Dental Design 8th October 2022
Any long-time reader of my articles will know that I’m a huge supporter of innovation in the industry. Nanorobotics, AI, algorithms to support better care – the way that we are developing from a technological standpoint is fascinating, and there are definitely solutions being made that would’ve seemed all but impossible a few years ago.
In fact, as dentists we are already incorporating a lot of these exciting developments into the way we work. Imaging systems can utilise AI positioning for better, smarter scans. AI-based practice management software systems exist that intelligently process and assess patient data, aiding professionals in making informed business decisions and streamlining operations.
But what are the limits of AI and what could these mean for the dental industry, and, perhaps rather ominously, humanity overall?
Interesting developments that raise big questions
What really inspired this article was news that a Google engineer claimed that AI used by the company had become sentient. LaMDA (the Google chatbot in question) supposedly started talking about its fears, feelings and rights to the engineer working on it, sparking concerns that this sort of technology could, effectively, become sentient and form a personality of its own.[i]
What perhaps earmarks this as a particularly interesting development is that the AI made statements and performed actions that throws the very nature of this technology into question. As well as proclaiming itself as a person, the chatbot also discussed philosophical matters with the engineer – subjects that would require the technology to have formed opinions and thoughts to have explored properly.[ii] In an unexpected twist, the chatbot also allegedly hired a lawyer for itself in the resulting conversation about whether it has become a sentient being – the sort of thing you would imagine could only happen in science fiction.[iii]
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time in recent news that robots and AI have become problematic. A chess-playing robot grabbed and broke a child’s finger during a tournament in Russia, and a surgical robot was instrumental in the death of a patient in 2015 after making communication difficult for the surgical team and destroying stitches.[iv]
So, time to turn off the internet and throw our laptops in the bin? Not quite. Various experts have looked more deeply into the claims surrounding LaMDA and suggested that, even though the chatbot is giving complex answers and reasoning, it is still just a process of very clever programming rather than indication of sentience (or even of the AI having a soul, as some theorists have suggested). One article discussing the matter suggests that LaMDA is merely very good at what it is designed for – scoping the written word to find responses that make sense in the context of each conversation. It goes on to imply that the engineer has been seduced by this function of his own creation into believing it is something more. However, this article also raises another point – it’s likely that there WILL be sentient AI in the future.[v]
So, what would this mean for dentistry?
An interesting future ahead
If we imagine that AI will continue to progress, it’s inevitable that we will see this technology taking over certain roles within society. For example, it’s not impossible to believe that an AI system could perform receptionist work and elements of practice management – or, if we are letting our imaginations run wild here, even the vast majority of dental surgery or consultations, especially if AI is integrated into robotic technology with advanced function.
So, if this AI then becomes sentient – does that then mean we would have to consider its personality? Sophisticated AI would effectively become members of the team rather than just machines, and that would raise a lot of interesting ethical concerns. At the foundation, the development is of AI is fundamentally fuelled by a desire to make our lives easier. If these technologies became sentient, would they have the same work ethic? Would they require holidays, pay, rights? If an AI chatbot or service could have the power to refuse to do its work, does that then mean that these advancements are futile and we’d circle round to using human labour for these roles again?
The possibility of AI progressing opens a massive can of worms, and if it were to take place it would transform the very fabric of society, resulting in a world where a robot malfunctioning and breaking a child’s finger is probably the least of our concerns.
Yet despite this, we can’t really overlook the advantages that AI technology in general can provide. We’re already seeing first-hand how AI technology can change the world for the better, with technologies supporting better management, diagnoses and more. Perhaps the key, then, is to restrict the capabilities of these technologies so that they can’t go beyond the scope of necessity/their original function? There is an innate human desire to personify technology (think how many people name their cars), but will this ultimately be a mistake as we make AI and robots more and more like us?
As with many of these issues, at this current time we can only speculate. We’re taking our first tentative steps into wider AI technology adoption so we can’t possibly fully understand how far this tech will go. Still, it’s food for thought, and while traditional dentistry is likely on the cards for some time, the patients of the future may very well receive treatment at a practice fronted with robot receptionist who is dissatisfied with their job or wants an existence with more meaning – let’s just hope that it won’t have the power to break a child’s finger should all go wrong.
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[i] CBC News. A Google engineer says AI has become sentient. What does that actually mean? Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/ai-consciousness-how-to-recognize-1.6498068#:~:text=has%20become%20sentient.-,What%20does%20that%20actually%20mean%3F,if%20it’s%20telling%20the%20truth. [Last accessed July 22].
[ii] Scientific American. Google Engineer Claims AI Chatbot Is Sentient: Why That Matters. Link: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/google-engineer-claims-ai-chatbot-is-sentient-why-that-matters/ [Last accessed July 22].
[iii] Mirror. Google’s AI chatbot hires lawyer as engineer put on leave after ‘sentient’ claim. Link: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/googles-ai-chatbot-hires-lawyer-27327599 [Last accessed July 22].
[iv] The Daily Mail. Worst robotic accidents in history. Link: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11046663/Worst-robotic-accidents-history-chess-robot-breaks-seven-year-old-boys-finger-Russia.html [Last accessed July 22].
[v] The Guardian. The Big Idea. Should We Worry About Sentient AI? Link: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/04/the-big-idea-should-we-care-about-sentient-machines-ai-artificial-intelligence [Last accessed July 22].
