Who controls whom: Professor Ivan Oseledets explained at the National Centre RUSSIA why control over AI will remain with humans
Control over artificial intelligence will remain in human hands, despite the fact that robots already partially control us. This was told by Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director General of the AIRI Institute, and Dean of the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence at Moscow State University, Ivan Oseledets. His lecture "AI That Thinks: Beyond Big Data" became part of the large-scale programme marking Russian Science Day at the National Centre RUSSIA.
According to the expert, the excitement around neural networks is largely driven by the fact that the results of interacting with them can be "touched with your hands", which is quite rare for technologies.
"A major driver of development has been the fact that you can communicate with a neural network as if it were a living person. And everything we can 'touch' and 'talk to' gives us completely different sensations. On top of that, AI brings significant practical benefits. That is partly why everyone is so interested in what comes next," said Ivan Oseledets.
At the same time, the professor noted that for real breakthroughs — for example, in drug development — there is still a lack of data: "That is why I think we will continue to live for quite some time in a phase of idea generation with the help of AI, following the principle 'the main thing is to come up with more ideas, and we will sort them out later'."
Answering a question about Russia’s place in the global race for neurotechnologies, the scientist stressed that successful development requires a clear link between the customer, the developer and resources, as well as accurate and complete task setting. To support his point, he cited striking examples of success by Russian developers.
"In terms of AI implementation in the banking sector, we are global leaders. Neurotechnologies are also performing extremely well in metropolitan healthcare. So we have areas where work with neural networks is not just no worse, but significantly better than elsewhere," the speaker said.
Commenting on ethical and other risks associated with the introduction of AI technologies, Ivan Oseledets advised being guided by common sense.
"Those who make no mistakes do not develop, and AI is exactly the same kind of technology — it makes mistakes on the path to improvement. As for the danger of artificial intelligence getting out of control, I would put it this way: if you sit in a car and do not steer, you may crash into a wall. So is the car to blame? Moreover, through the example of taxi automation and other 'positive' technologies, we already see that robots partly control us. But I am confident that ultimate control will still remain with humans," Ivan Oseledets concluded.
Russian Science Day on 8 February at the National Centre RUSSIA brought together more than 2,000 scientists, experts and students from across the country. Throughout the day they discussed how the scientific ecosystem operates today, where it is heading and why scientists can be regarded as heroes of a new era. The programme included thematic sessions and lectures on how scientific discoveries are made, how modern scientists build their careers and what opportunities are opening up for researchers.
The event was organised by the National Centre RUSSIA with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the VCIOM Analytical Centre and the Russian society Znanie.
The recording of the Russian Science Day livestream at the National Centre RUSSIA is available on the russia.ru website.
Event photobank
We would like to remind you that the first day of each week at the National Centre RUSSIA is traditionally dedicated to technical work and updates across all guest areas and expositions.
