How does artificial intelligence help save the world?

In 2100, many of our fears, described by both futurologists and science fiction writers, can become a reality. Earth is destroyed, the Pacific Ocean is covered with a layer of plastic. People are mired in enmity, the gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow.



Imagine that in 2100 cars became smart, really smart and captured the world. After a thorough analysis of the relationship between humanity and the environment, computer rulers decided to get rid of people before people completely destroy the Earth. In general, the gloomy picture, although many futurologists and science fiction writers are inclined to such a scenario. Of course, things may not be so scary. So what can we expect from an AI?



In order for nothing like this to happen, and artificial intelligence helped a person to accomplish good goals, scientists work with a weak (yet weak) form of artificial intelligence. In June 2017, scientists from around the world gathered in Geneva to discuss the main issue - how AI can be useful for humans. The goal is not only to develop a friendly form of machine intelligence, but also to think about how AI can make the world a better place. Of course, scientists and science fiction writers talk a lot about how computer consciousness can destroy the world we know. Rather, people in this world. But the reality may be different - after all, AI can be friendly and useful to a person.

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Now we are faced with many problems that are not able to solve on their own. If urgent action is not taken, the grim fantasy described above may become a reality. With the help of AI, we can learn to solve all these problems, or at least minimize their negative impact. Here are some ways to “collaborate” with AI to help make the world a better place.

Ocean protection

Almost all people, with few exceptions, live on land. And those who are far from the coast may find it difficult to understand how important the oceans are to us. They occupy about 71% of the earth's surface, the vast majority of living organisms live in water - more than 91%. The oceans are the place where life originated and where it continues to flourish to this day.



Man does little to protect this source of life. For example, the Big Coral Reef gradually dies - it is not completely dead, but a significant part of it - yes. Corals gradually turn into a hard, dead calcareous skeleton. The vast territories where the corals used to live, turned into literally cemeteries that remind people of how strong their influence on the environment is. Despite the attempts of different countries to solve the problem, to limit fishing and the killing of marine mammals, the effect is insignificant, and poaching continues to flourish.







In November 2016, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) organization launched a system that allows you to track poaching boats and other vessels almost in real time. Fisheries inspectors, reading the data of this software platform, can understand where their attention is required.



The system also helps fishermen who work legally. Previously, they spent a large amount of time trying to detect shoals of fish. Now this time cost is reduced by about 40%.



“The project team used computer vision and machine learning technology, similar to that used in face recognition,” said Matt Marrifield, a spokesman for TNC.







As for poachers, their movement in almost real time is shown on the Global Fishing Watch website. To do this, use the SkyTruth system, which processes satellite data to determine the direction of movement of large and small ships. Over its lifetime, the system has found about 86,000 poacher vessels.

Prediction of natural disasters

Disasters caused by the forces of nature are quite difficult to predict. For decades, scientists have been trying to predict earthquakes in various regions in order to warn the population in time. Now, with the advent of artificial intelligence, experts have at their disposal a new tool - supercomputers allow scientists to receive and process much more information than ever before.







Now scientists are gradually beginning to study the nature of earthquakes with the help of neural networks. This is done in order to find signs that can predict the occurrence of earthquakes.



Paul Johnson and Chris Maron, geophysicists at Pennsylvania State University, are involved in this. “If we were engaged in this ten years ago, we would have no chance,” said Johnson. In order to study the nature of earthquakes, Johnson and his colleagues measure not only the characteristics of natural earthquakes, but also try to capture the parameters of artificial ones. They are satisfied in the university laboratory, in the field. The results are processed using neural networks in order to catch patterns, certain parameters by which one can understand where and at what time the cataclysm should occur.



The neural network, which is used by scientists to work with data, has already revealed some regularities. For example, certain acoustic signals in the lithosphere are a clear sign that a cataclysm will soon occur. “The algorithm can not just predict the time and place of the event, but it also shows some characteristics of the phenomenon that we simply did not pay attention to before,” say the scientists.



There is still much work to be done, so far the accuracy of the system is not very high. It is tuned to function in real time so that all characteristics can be predicted quickly and without problems.

What about in the future?

In addition to earthquake prediction, AI is used in many other areas. For example, to solve problems with a growing population and food shortages. By 2030, the population should increase to 8 billion people, and will grow at the same pace up to 2050 (there are simply no longer-term forecasts, but growth is unlikely to stop).







According to statistics, 1 out of 9 people go to bed with an empty stomach, and we are not talking about healthy nutrition at all, but about chronic hunger among a significant part of the world's population.



They are trying to solve this problem now - scientists from Carnegie Mellon University have created a system called FarmView. This is a hardware and software platform that helps to monitor crops, take care of plants and conduct general monitoring of agricultural land.



The main element of this platform is a robot, which is located directly on the field. He observes the crops, and the photos and videos are processed by the software platform. Scientists say that they are developing their platform not to replace a person in the field, but to make farmers work more efficiently and bring more products. FarmView allows you to harvest using fewer workers while reducing time.







“The methods currently used in agriculture require a lot of resources, and in fact there are a limited amount of resources everywhere,” say the system developers. "We want to increase the production of food while improving their quality."

And war too

One of the most ambitious plans for using AI was made by Timo Honkela, a professor at the University of Helsinki. He believes that the computing power and cognitive abilities of modern computer systems can eliminate conflicts. The professor calls his project “The Machine of the World”.







According to the scientist, there are three things that humanity needs to fix or control urgently. These are our emotions, communication with other people and inequality in society.



“We live in a complex world where we are all different,” says Honkela. He believes that cars can solve many problems, and not immediately, but gradually. For example, machine translation, if it is improved, can help people of different nations, religions and beliefs to communicate with each other. Conflicts often arise from misunderstandings. Machines will be able to solve this problem.



“My hypothesis is that if in dangerous situations we can better understand each other, this will help solve problems peacefully,” says Honkela.



The idea is to translate not only words, but also semantic constructions in the process of communication between people. For example, a conversation between representatives of different religions can go wrong due to the fact that the meaning invested in their words by one interlocutor will be misinterpreted by another person.



A practical solution is pocket translators who capture emotions, context, and other elements of spoken words. Of course, the end of wars and conflicts is almost fantastic, if it is a goal, it is very remote. After all, not all conflicts begin because of one person’s misunderstanding of another. Here we are talking, first of all, about the commercial and political component of conflicts. But this problem is extremely difficult to overcome.



Nevertheless, scientists are constantly working with AI, trying to find new ways to use machine power to solve modern problems. And gradually the specialists manage to advance in this matter, and it remains for us to follow and wait for the results of their activities.