Essay by Prof. Hiroi Published in the 4/10/18 Edition of the Kyoto Shimbun Newspaper as Part of its "Contemporary Words" Series

Essay by Prof. Yoshinori Hiroi was published in the 4/10/18 edition of the Kyoto Shimbun Newspaper as part of its “Contemporary Words” series

An essay by Prof. Hiroi, entitled “What AI Can do and Cannot Do” discusses how the recent discourse surrounding AI tends to view AI as either overrated or as divine. Prof. Hiroi points out that we need to get to the bottom of what AI can and cannot do, taking into consideration the history of the second AI boom of the 80′. He also discusses the strengths and limitations of AI by drawing from Paul MacLean’s Triune Brain Theory, which explains the evolution of the brain.

Contemporary Words
Prof. Yoshinori Hiroi, Kyoto University’s Kokoro Research Center

“You can come across the word “AI” (Artificial Intelligence) practically everywhere these days. But recent discussions about AI seem to either overrate its ability or to worship it…
What is needed in this situation is a basic discussion of what AI can and cannot do. MacLean’s Triune Brain Theory may give us a clue regarding this. MacLean was an American neuroscientist whose evolutionary theory proposed that the human brain was actually three brains in one, as its structures were sequentially added to the forebrain over the course of evolution.”
Excerpted from the Kyoto Shimbun, 4/10/2018

2018/04/25