Google developing AI that can make more AI

Google’s AI software learns to make more AI software

Google’s AI research lab, Google Brain is reportedly developing AI (artificial intelligence) software that can build more machine learning software. The ultimate aim to design such software is to reduce the costs of hiring experts for making machine learning software and make it more accessible and efficient in the future by spreading the benefits of the technology far and wide.

If using AIs techniques become more practical, they could increase the speed at which new AIs can be made and implemented across the economy. Currently, companies are paying a premium to hire machine-learning experts, who are in short in supply.

In recent months, several other groups have also reported progress on getting learning software to make learning software. They include researchers at the non-profit research institute OpenAI (which was cofounded by Elon Musk), MIT, the University of California, Berkeley, and Google’s other artificial intelligence research group, DeepMind.

However, on the downside, AI building more AIs sure seems like it’s inviting a runaway cascade and, eventually, Skynet. In order to prevent a Skynet type catastrophe, Google plans to gently discourage AIs from disabling their own killswitches as they are being trained.

Currently, Google says its AI maker is not advanced enough yet to compete with human engineers. However, this may be no longer true in the coming years given the speed at which AI is developing rapidly.