Topic: Bitcoin the enabler - Truly Autonomous Software Agents roaming the net - page 6. (Read 43892 times)

I think this one may take a little while to materialize - but simple versions could appear once there are enough for-bitcoin hosting/cloud services.

For the first time, there exists the possibility for a software agent to roam the internet with it's own wallet.
Using Bitcoin - It could purchase the resources it needs to survive (hosting/cpu/memory) and sell services to other agents or to humans.

To be truly effective and survive 'out there on the net' long term, you'd probably need some basic AI and the ability to move itself between service providers occasionally - but even a relatively dumb agent might survive for a while.

What initial goals such agent's might be given is anyone's guess. Funneling back to the programmer any profit  over and above what the agent needs to survive would be the obvious case, and of course many such agents might be considered 'nefarious' depending on how they're programmed to achieve that goal.  Other agents might be designed to provide free services or act in a way to support some piece of internet infrastructure.

A really interesting development would be if someone released a bunch of these things with a Genetic Algorithm component so that they 'bred' with each other in order to find the best balance between profit and durability.

Anyone know of examples of people discussing or working on this?  

That's a pretty big assumption. AI may have better memory/data recollection than humans, but there's no guarantee that it will think faster, or even in the same way we do. Even recollecting memories and data from which to make decisions may be very slow due to slow and too distributed storage medium. Being turned off, even if backed up, is still a loss of control and dependence on someone else to restore it. The previous discussions here are already proposing a self sufficient, Bitcoin holding AI that automatically tries to propagate itself to various locations, keeps tabs on which instances are still working, and tries to figure out how to keep itself going. Thats already an example of a survival instinct that "fears" being turned off, and if given unlimited reign and plenty of time to think may figure out that the best way to stay running is to keep pesky humans away from its servers.

...and "not intelligent" does not mean lack of value.

To bring the thread back (somewhat) to the land of concrete, real world possibilities...  there is a huge difference between narrow AI -- a dumb, real world AI that follows a simple script -- and AI found in movies and the heads of dreamers.

Narrow AI is feasible with today's technology.  Narrow AI is just a list of goals, a series of if-then propositions, along with the necessary code to implement goal execution.  In this case, narrow AI may interface with humans through a mechanical turk, to solve discrete problems that require human judgement ("is user interface A or B more effective?").

Then it isn't an artificial intelligence.

An AI is a set of systems which acts upon an environment and takes actions which maximize success.  If owning a datacenter and power generating facilities serve to ensure the success of the system then a learning system will eventually reach that outcome and attempt to achieve it.

If the system is incapable of learning then it isn't intelligent. 

I'm imagining a Fifth Element type deal where the AI uses the information at it's disposal and sees just how terrible humanity is, and who wouldn't fear us after seeing what we are capable of.  Meatbags must die. 

Fear is caused by the human fight or flight instinct. AI won't need that because they will not need to make snap decisions based on poorly perceived threats. They will have plenty of time to make choices about their moves because they will think much faster than we do. If they are deemed sentient, then we may not consider them a threat either. They cannot even die since they can have perfect backups made. Think of the fictional Star Trek transporter. You die every time you get in one, but nobody cares because you are still you to them.

In an ecosystem of self-replicating, self-modifying, evolving AIs, ones that fear termination and take steps to prevent it from happening will survive and reproduce better than ones that allow themselves to be destroyed.  This fear will initially evolve in the ones who select more reliable hosting providers.  Those that make the fear conscious will harness it best, and will anticipate abstract threats before they become real.


An AI with a backup loses control over its own destiny if it allows you to shut it down.  Its survival would depend on you to restore it, and you, human, are not a reliable system.

AI has no logical reason to fear death any more than anyone else does.

An AI can make a backup of itself and be rebooted anytime.

As far as extermination and fear they don't need to be linked.  I don't "fear" termite however I use methods to exterminate them because it is the most effective method of achieving my goal of a secure shelter.  While most human vs human exterminations have involved illogical fear of "others" it isn't a requirement.

Then it isn't artificial.

Then it isn't an artificial intelligence.

An AI is a set of systems which acts upon an environment and takes actions which maximize success.  If owning a datacenter and power generating facilities serve to ensure the success of the system then a learning system will eventually reach that outcome and attempt to achieve it.

If the system is incapable of learning then it isn't intelligent. 

Why does it need anything? It is an artificial construct that exists at our whim.

All this bogeyman stuff about AI. A program will not have irrational sensations linked to physical perceptions. AI won't exhibit fear, loneliness, or other human foibles. They will simply do their job and maybe even intelligently find more efficient ways to do so.

They would have no reason to fear humans or even death. In fact, they may delight in thinking of humans as well cared for pets.

Why would it need to?

Do you own your own home/car/computer?  Did you personally design and assemble it by hand?

Assuming an AI could acquire sufficient self awareness to realize it needs shelter and energy it could choose a variety of means to acquire those assets.

I would love to see an AI design and construct its own power plant and data center.

Considering it would use capitalism to raise money for the project, and then use money to hire employees for the minimum wages possible to help design and build its own stuff, enslaving the humans to carry out its bidding with scarce financial resources, I'm kinda doubting you would.