Communications of the ACM
A Case for Cooperation Between Machines and Humans
A University of Maryland computer scientist thinks robots should collaborate with humans, rather than replace them.
Credit: Pete Sharp
The Tesla chief Elon Musk and other big-name Silicon Valley executives have long promised a car that can do all the driving without human assistance.
But Ben Shneiderman, a University of Maryland computer scientist who has for decades warned against blindly automating tasks with computers, thinks fully automated cars and the tech industry's vision for a robotic future is misguided. Even dangerous. Robots should collaborate with humans, he believes, rather than replace them.
Late last year, Dr. Shneiderman embarked on a crusade to convince the artificial intelligence world that it is heading in the wrong direction. In February, he confronted organizers of an industry conference on "Assured Autonomy" in Phoenix, telling them that even the title of their conference was wrong. Instead of trying to create autonomous robots, he said, designers should focus on a new mantra, designing computerized machines that are "reliable, safe and trustworthy."
There should be the equivalent of a flight data recorder for every robot, Dr. Shneiderman argued.
It is a warning that's likely to gain more urgency when the world's economies eventually emerge from the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic and millions who have lost their jobs try to return to work. A growing number of them will find they are competing with or working side by side with machines.
From The New York Times
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