Guest Speaker: Harry Surden, Associate Professor of Law, University of Colorado; Affiliated Faculty, CodeX

Location: Stanford Law School

First up was discussing ‘What is AI?’, generally speaking.

AI usually describes using computers to solve problems. The phrase is not universally agreed upon and can mean different things to different people.

A useful definition was given as a basis:

“AI is using technology to solve problems or make automated decisions or predictions for tasks that when people do them are thought to require intelligence. Computers make decisions very differently than people. The end decision is reached via a different journey…”

Harry repeatedly says that ‘we do not have strong AI today’. This was a surprise to me, given the amount of work I have seen expedited with artificially intelligent assistance. Harry went on to explain that lay people think AI means computers that think like people. Strong AI is perpetuated by films where humans converse with robots.

The most advanced available AI cannot think or replicate abstract reasoning. They are not thinking machines. A lot of this perception is due to media exaggeration. Thankfully, we seem a long way from computers taking over the world.

‘A 2-year-old human has better cognitive ability than the most advanced AI today’.

The term AI is a misnomer, given the state of todays’ intelligence. It’s not human-level intelligence and looks nothing like how you would expect it given the media's opinion.

So, what is the AI that we speak of?

Realistically, AI is pattern-based artificial intelligence, AKA ‘Machine Learning’. Examples of this in daily use are in the automation of driving cars and language translation. In limited domains, AI can do great things, including knowledge representation.

“We have to be realistic about AI. We have to understand what it is capable of”

In the words of my previous write-up, it is important to ‘Demystify AI’ in order to manage our own expectations. Law and policy changes will not be made by computers for a long time, if ever.

What are some major AI techniques?

• Computer logic- rules-based approach.
• Logic, Rules and Knowledge- Representation Based AI.
• Modelling real-world processes or systems using logical rules: top-down rules are created for computers which are used to automate processes.

An interesting use of AI was by the company that created ‘TurboTax’. This faithfully represents the laws and meaning of legislation. The programmers, in consultations with lawyers and accountants, examine tax codes and see these rules as computer rules that need to be followed.