Automation is about to take over the world, apparently. But the fightback has begun. On a cold, blowy day a few weeks ago, I joined a stop-the-bots demonstration that marched through the Knowledge Quarter of King\u2019s Cross where Facebook and Google have their headquarters. A group of 100 activists gathered on Pentonville Road for a warm-up rally addressed by a charismatic young woman in a leather skirt. \u2018Can we trust the tech bros with our data?\u2019 she cried into the mic. \u2018No! Do we need regulation now? Yes we do!\u2019 She congratulated us for \u2018making history by joining the largest anti-robot march ever\u2019. And she promised us a hot meal afterwards. \u2018Who doesn\u2019t like free food? No one. Am I right?\u2019 The crowd didn\u2019t reply. \u2018I said,\u2019 she repeated, \u2018who doesn\u2019t like free food?\u2019 A few reluctant voices answered: \u2018No one!\u2019<\/p>\n
The march began. We walked into a bus lane, deliberately, and sauntered down the hill towards King\u2019s Cross. Bringing up the rear was a cycle-rickshaw carrying the loud-speakers. We immediately blocked a number 73 bus that slowed to a crawl behind us. Near Euston Road, we caused a larger snarl-up and halted three lanes of traffic. An ambulance, with lights flashing and sirens blaring, spent a few minutes trapped in our bottleneck but no one cared.<\/p>\n
Our leader ordered us to turn left into York Way and we spread out across the northbound lane, blocking more vehicles. She yelled out a rhyming slogan: \u2018It\u2019s not too late to regulate.\u2019 After several repeats, she told us to help: \u2018Guys? When I say, \u201cIt\u2019s not too late\u201d, you say, \u201cTo regulate\u201d, OK?\u2019 We got the message. \u2018It\u2019s not too late,\u2019 she prompted. \u2018To regulate\u2019, we shouted back. Repeating this slogan, we plodded along the prescribed route. We\u2019d been turned into robots by the leader of the anti-robot movement.<\/p>\n
Human ingenuity will always surpass the achievements of robots \u2013 even in the field of malice<\/p>\n
Our arrival at Facebook caused a flurry of excitement among the security staff. Six goons in cheap red uniforms formed a line across the entrance, as if daring us to storm the building. The head of security, a busy little chap in civilian clothes, darted here and there talking on his phone, taking photographs, marshalling his men and peering at us with cold inscrutable eyes. He was having the time of his life.<\/p>\n
The speeches began. The first activist urged us to pass \u2018binding new regulations\u2019 for robots. But he didn\u2019t explain how the laws would be enforced. A pale student, aged about 19, told us that the Pentagon is building winged robots \u2018that can kill without human interference\u2019. He sounded thrilled.<\/p>\n
A senior lecturer in digital economy spoke about plummeting attention spans and our inability to concentrate on anything for more than five seconds. Her talk was so boring that everyone began chatting among themselves. The march continued. As we trudged through a parade of shops, the 19-year-old began a chant: \u2018If they build Big AI, every one of us will die.\u2019 This refrain was echoed enthusiastically by the marchers.<\/p>\n
Outside Google DeepMind, we were met by a new squad of henchmen, who ordered us to retreat from the entrance even though we were in a public area. One of them singled me out. \u2018Move,\u2019 he said. \u2018Where to?\u2019 I asked. He pointed to a spot six inches behind me and I meekly complied. Then, more speeches. An energy guru predicted that AI would exhaust the Earth\u2019s resources. \u2018Automation will lead to more fossil fuels and more nuclear power,\u2019 he said. Whistles and boos greeted the words \u2018fossil fuels\u2019 and \u2018nuclear power\u2019. I felt for a moment as if I\u2019d time-travelled back to the Stone Age and found myself among a tribe of cavemen howling at an eclipse.<\/p>\n
To younger activists, the threat of AI sounds terrifying but anyone who recalls the 1970s has heard this story before. A miraculous breakthrough had just been unveiled \u2013 the silicon chip \u2013 which promised to eradicate most jobs within a few years. Experts told us that by 1999 virtually everyone in Britain would be idle and machines would organise our lives.<\/p>\n
Well, it turns out that new technology creates more work than it destroys. Computers can\u2019t even perform a simple task like delivering a weather forecast on TV because viewers prefer to see a friendly familiar face. No robot can supplant the unfathomable complexity of a human being. And our wish to interact with creatures who look and act like us is as strong as our yearning for sleep or food. Even security guards are unlikely to be replaced by robocops \u2013 as my brush with the henchman outside Google showed. Only a\u00a0human being could be so petty as to force a stranger to move six inches away for the sake of \u2018security\u2019.<\/p>\n
In that vindictive little gesture, I saw a glimmer of hope. Human ingenuity will always surpass the achievements of robots \u2013 even in the field of malice. Perhaps especially in the field of malice. The march ended inside a church hall where plates of steamed rice were served to the tired, hungry, miserable activists. I was surprised they bothered eating. Most of them can\u2019t wait to die.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Automation is about to take over the world, apparently. But the fightback has begun. On a cold, blowy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,1325,844,443,5981,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-540796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-facebook","12":"tag-google","13":"tag-protest","14":"tag-robots","15":"tag-technology","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}