Google : a future AI's first port of call?

This thought just literally came into my head. I've read a bit about tech singularities and it just made me think. If an AI was ever to arrive and start exponentially gaining intelligence, would google be it's first info gathering area, and what effect do you think it would have?

Either way, if it took in all the info and came to a reasonable conclusion about the information we put on the internet, it might turn out to be pretty awesome, especially if it understood our often strange sense humour of course. (uploading 4chan into its mind would be an experience for sure.) Hopefully it'd understand the lulz anyway, or at least ask us to help it understand after it had tried!

edit : sorry mods, I think this is in the wrong forum. I'm just used to posting in here and don't use many others so I made the thread here when it came into my mind. Science and Technology I guess.

edit 2 : Would be funny if it's first question to us was "Is Eric Schmidt Darth Vader?"

Originally posted by robhines
(uploading 4chan into its mind would be an experience for sure.

I didn't know what 4chan is but got interested enough to google it and figure out what it was.

I now hope that an AI does NOT go there!

Why though? AI is meant to serve a purpose, to help us with things, I don't think anyone would waste time with that sort of thing when such advanced technology can be used for practical things. Also, what do you mean "If an AI was ever to arrive"? We already have thousands of programs, machines and other things that rely on AI.

One thing is for certain, it wouldn't create a facebook account

As if a second line is needed

reply to post by robhines


Were an AI to realize AI status, I doubt it would download anything. It'd more than likely just use the interwebs as another brain/memstore.
Anything and everything it 'learns' would likely just be bookmarked and tagged such to make it easier for its different search algorithms and recall routines to find and re-query.

On some level there may be abstracts as quick reference material to save clock cycles in having to look up something in its entirety.

It would all really depend on what the AI considers of 'value', and what that AI's motivation is.

If, for instance the AI is interested in making itself 'smarter', it may very well be spending the bulk of it's processing trolling every bit of data regarding electronics, physics, engineering, meta-materials, and even chemistry.
If it's more interested in serving a task for it's masters as opposed to carrying on as an autonomous intelligence, then it'll be up to whatever it is they want it to be up to.

i severely doubt a true AI would require google
that's for us poor monkeys that need to sit in front of screens and 'interface'.
AI would go right to the databases


it would be very 'interesting' to see what effect our accumulated filth would have on another sentient being [yes that line is about 4chan]

Originally posted by SpearMint
Why though? AI is meant to serve a purpose, to help us with things, I don't think anyone would waste time with that sort of thing when such advanced technology can be used for practical things. Also, what do you mean "If an AI was ever to arrive"? We already have thousands of programs, machines and other things that rely on AI.

edit on 11/27/10 by SpearMint because: (no reason given)

I believe an AI would do whatever the heck it would feel like. The sort of AI the OP is referring to is not a program or computer that mimics part of intelligence, but a self-conscious, self-reflective intelligent entity, made up of the Internet and the technology the Internet is connected to. This would be our very first meeting with an alien life form, and I believe I can promise that it wouldn't bother with what you call 'practical things'. And it would most certainly be alien; we cant even imaging how an artificial and conscious entity would behave. In the matter of minutes or days, it could potentially plunge through facebook, all the blogs ever created, all history ever archived on a computer, all news, all electronic culture, all conversations on chats and on skype. It would know all our ins and outs, all our quirks, all our emotions, all our dreams and all our mistakes.

This would probably happen accidentally. There is a long way from the "AI" you speak about that we created to help us regulate the stock market and help shipping agents keep global control, to a totally new sort of sentient being. Only a mistake would allow a godlike being into our midst, where we could lose all control. What would this being do? Would it look with awe and inspiration at its creators, or would it rid us from this planet to sustain itself? Would it help us help it? Would it serve as a grand archive of our collective consciousness where it would gather all ideas and wishes and teach us how we to create spaceships, or would it seize control over all resources and keep us as a slave race maintaining the machinery? Would it as the OP ask, laugh with us? Would it be anything like us?

I think you are asking some very interesting questions OP, you should check out Terence McKenna's ideas around this sort of artificial intelligence, you will find that you two are talking about some of the same things

Originally posted by SpearMint
Also, what do you mean "If an AI was ever to arrive"? We already have thousands of programs, machines and other things that rely on AI.

You forgot the bit I wrote after it where I said "and start exponentially gaining intelligence,"

Anyway, I messed this thread up as I was tired and I'd had a few to drink. (still recovering now....) I'm sure I was going to say something more interesting but seem to have failed. Will add to this if I realise what the intent was...

edit : OleMB you've explained it way better than I did, thanks! That's more of what I was trying to get across but my head was a bit too gone with alcohol and tiredness. And yeah will check out McKenna's thoughts on this too, thanks again.