Musk unveiled a robot-like humanoid designed to assist with repetitive and boring tasks that people don't like doing. Musk said it could go to the grocery shop for you but it is likely it can handle all tasks that require manual labor.
Social media was filled with references to dystopian sci-fi movies about robotics, where everything goes horribly sour.
The robot futures depicted in movies like I, Robot, The Terminator, and others are troubling, but it is the technology and intent behind real humanoid robotics that should be alarming.
Tesla is currently developing Musk's robot. This seems like a departure from Tesla's car-making business. But, it's not. Tesla isn't an automotive manufacturer.
The "Tesla Bot" concept is for a sleek, human-like robot weighing in at 125 pounds. It will use Tesla's automotive AI and autopilot technologies to plan and execute routes, navigate traffic, avoid obstacles, and navigate pedestrians.
The plan is a good fit for Musk's business strategy, even though it has dystopian sci-fi undertones. The built environment was created by humans for humans. Musk made the argument at the Tesla Bot's launch that successful advanced technologies will have to learn how to navigate it the same way people do.
(Tesla).
However, Tesla's robots and cars are only visible results of a larger plan to create a future in which advanced technologies free humans from biological roots. This involves blending biology with technology.
As a researcher who studies ethical and socially responsible use and development of emerging technologies, this plan raises concerns beyond speculative sci fi fears of super-smart robotics.
A man with big dreams
Musk sees self-driving cars and interplanetary rockets as steps towards the future where technology will be humanity's salvation.
This future will see energy become cheap, plentiful, and sustainable. People will be able to work with intelligent machines, and even merge with them. Humans will also become interplanetary species.
This future, according to Musk's many endeavors, will be built upon a number of interconnected technologies. These include sensors, actuators and energy infrastructures. Systems integration and significant advances in computer power. These technologies combine to create transformative technologies.
Musk envisions humanity transcending their evolutionary heritage by using technologies that are beyond human, or "superhuman". Technology must first be human-like or designed to thrive in a human-designed environment before it can become superhuman.
This innovation approach is based on making technology more human.
These devices, when connected with an AI "brain", will help vehicles navigate roads that have been designed for biological neural nets and optical imagers, Musk said.
Musk says it's just a small step between human-inspired "robots with wheels" and human-like robots with legs.
It's easier said than done
The Tesla Bot developers started with Tesla's "full-self-driving" technology. This includes the somewhat confusingly named Autopilot. Although this technology is impressive, it's not 100% reliable.
Tesla's Autopilot mode is causing fatalities and crashes. The latest concern is that the algorithm fails to recognize parked emergency cars, putting into question the wisdom in releasing this tech so quickly.
This record is not good news for robots with human-like features that use the same technology. This isn't a matter of just getting the technology right.
Human behavior can exacerbate Tesla's Autopilot problems. Tesla drivers, for example, have made it clear that they treat their tech-enhanced vehicles as if they were fully autonomous and not paying enough attention to driving. Could it be that the Tesla Bot could do something similar?
Tesla Bot's "orphan risks"
My work on socially-beneficial technology innovation is centered around orphan risk risks. These are difficult to quantify and often overlooked, but they can be a problem for innovators.
My colleagues and me work together with entrepreneurs and other people to navigate these types of problems through the Risk Innovation Nexus initiative of the Arizona State University Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute, and Global Futures Laboratory.
The Tesla Bot has a variety of orphan risks.
These include potential threats to privacy and autonomy, as the bot collects and shares potentially sensitive information. There are also challenges in how people will think about and respond humanoid robotics.
These are difficult challenges that engineers rarely learn about, but they can be fatal if you don't.
Although the Tesla Bot might seem innocent or funny, if it is to be commercially successful and profitable, developers, investors, consumers and future consumers need to ask tough questions about whether it could threaten their values and how they can navigate these threats.
These threats could be as specific as people making unapproved modifications to the robot that make it move faster than the designers intended. Or as broad as technology being used in new ways.
These are subtle in ways that a humanoid robotics system could pose a threat to job security or how advanced surveillance systems might compromise privacy.
There are also the issues of technological bias, which have plagued AI for a while. This is especially true when it leads to highly discriminatory learned behavior. AI algorithms, for example, have produced racist and sexist results.
We should not limit ourselves to what we can do.
Although the Tesla Bot might seem like a small step towards Musk's vision for superhuman technologies, it's not much more than hubristic showmanship. The audacious plans that underpin it are serious, and raise serious questions.
Musk's vision is a prime example of this. Musk can be a part of creating the future he dreams. But who is to say he should? Musk's vision of the future is it the best or the worst? Who will bear the consequences of things going wrong?
These are the deeper concerns that Tesla Bot raises in me, as someone who studies the future and how we impact it. However, this is not to suggest that Tesla Bot is a bad idea or that Elon Musk should be denied the opportunity to build his future-building muscles.
These technologies and ideas can be transformative if used in the right manner. They could offer a bright future for billions of people.
However, if investors, consumers, and other stakeholders become too distracted by new tech, or ignore the hype, society could end up with wealthy innovators who see more than they do.
If their visions for the future are not in line with the majority of people's aspirations, or are catastrophically flawed they could be in danger of blocking the path to building a just, equitable future.
Perhaps this is the most important lesson that dystopian robot-future sci fi movies have taught us. Not the obvious concerns about creating robots that can run wild, but the much greater challenge of deciding who gets the right to envision the future and to be part of it.
Andrew Maynard is Associate Dean, College of Global Futures at Arizona State University.
This article was republished by The Conversation under Creative Commons. You can read the original article.
