Today, technology is moving faster than ever. What crazy new technologies do you think we’ll have in the near future? In today’s Chatterbox episode, Andrew and Suzanne have a conversation about one of the most exciting new technologies: artificial intelligence. Join them as they discuss a possible future where machines can think like human beings!

  

Fun fact

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a concept with a receding definition. This means that what we consider AI today will no longer be considered AI in the future. This is because once people understand how something “intelligent” works, they no longer believe it is truly intelligent. For example, Apple’s Siri would have been considered marvellous AI 40 or 50 years ago, but today people understand it as voice recognition software, not as artificial intelligence.

Expressions included in the learning materials

* Gloom and doom

* To put on your thinking cap

* Rip it off like a Band-Aid

* To take over

* Robot

For a complete transcript, click:

  

Sample transcript

Andrew:           Some people are really interested in artificial intelligence and the role that it will play in the future. Other people don’t care at all. So I would say that I’m in the first camp. I really am interested in this topic. What about you, Suzanne? Are you interested in it? Have you thought about it much? What camp are you in?

Suzanne:        I’m definitely not in the camp of I don’t care or don’t think about it. I have only seen examples of artificial intelligence on TV or in movies. But I haven’t really experienced artificial intelligence, except for my robot, Susan. Ugh … I do think about it, but it kind of scares me because I find the human qualities and human connections so important in the world that I get kind of scared that maybe robots would take over the world.

Andrew:           Well, you’re not alone in this thought, because some of the world’s smartest people—like Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates—they’ve all warned about the potential dangers of AI, of artificial intelligence. But I also think there can be good things with AI. And so today, you and I will have a chat about AI, and we’ll break this episode into two parts. The first part, I want to talk about the good news, the potential benefits of AI, the positive aspects. And then in the final half of the episode, we’ll go to the gloom and doom and we’ll talk the potential negative aspects of AI. Does that sound good to you?

Suzanne:        That sounds good to me.

Andrew:           OK. Let’s start with the good news.

Suzanne:        OK. Good news first. Can you put on your thinking cap for a second?

Suzanne:        Mmhmm.

Andrew:           Thinking into the future, if artificial intelligence becomes a thing, if we can figure out how to invent artificial intelligence, what would be a potential positive aspect, in your opinion?

Suzanne:        I think we would have access to even more of the world, and more information.

Andrew:           Hmm.

Suzanne:        I think the speed at which we could communicate would be even faster than it is now, and that is exciting.

Andrew:           That is exciting. Can you imagine an artificial intelligence supercomputer that could act as a translator, a perfect translator for all of the world’s languages? How cool would this be?

Suzanne:        Yeah! That would be amazing. And what about the idea of cars that can drive the...