Keeping AI Well Behaved: How Do We Engineer An Artificial System That Has Values?

Imagine you're sitting in a self-driving car that's about to make a left turn into on-coming traffic. One small AI system in the car will be responsible for making the vehicle turn, one system might speed it up or hit the brakes, other systems will have sensors that detect obstacles, and yet another system may be in communication with other vehicles on the road. Each system has its own goals -- starting or stopping, turning or traveling straight, recognizing potential problems, etc. -- but they also have to all work together toward one common goal: turning into traffic without causing an accident. Harvard professor and Future of Life researcher, David Parkes, is trying to solve just this type of problem. Parkes told FLI, "The particular question I'm asking is: If we have a system of AIs, how can we construct rewards for individual AIs, such that the combined system is well behaved?"