AI is Already Here: Rethinking Scale and Responsibility

Artificial intelligence isn't some distant, futuristic concept. It's already integrated into our daily lives, often in ways we don't even realize. Think about the lifts in modern buildings, like the one at 1 Bligh Street in Sydney. These lifts are often controlled by sophisticated algorithms that anticipate your needs and optimize their movement. This is just one example of how AI is quietly shaping the built environment.

The Subtle Integration of AI

Lifts powered by AI represent a form of protoartificial intelligence. Before you even press the button, the system is already working, rearranging carriages to minimize energy consumption and predict traffic flow. You're already part of a system that's making sense of the building and its occupants.

While many associate AI with robots, the reality is that it's increasingly embedded in our systems and infrastructure. The challenge lies in making the connection between this ubiquitous AI and the world around us.

Beyond Technology: The Need for Responsible Scaling

Scaling a technology requires more than just technological advancement. In September 2017, the 3Ai Institute at the Australian National University was founded with a deceptively simple mission: to establish a new branch of engineering to take AI safely, sustainably, and responsibly to scale.

This involves:

• Teaching: An experimental education program.
• Researching: Diverse locations, from Shakespeare's birthplace to autonomous mines.
• Theorizing: Paying attention to the complexities of cybernetic systems.

The goal is to create a new generation of critical thinkers who can approach AI with a richer understanding of its past and its potential.

Learning from the Past: Brewarrina Fish Traps

To ground this endeavor, we must look to the past. The ancient Brewarrina fish traps in New South Wales, Australia, offer valuable lessons. This complex system of stone walls, some estimated to be 40,000 years old, demonstrates how technical, cultural, and ecological knowledge can be integrated to create sustainable systems.

The fish traps serve as a constant reminder of the challenge and promise of building something meaningful, emphasizing that we're building systems in a place where people have built and sustained systems for generations.

Framing the Future: Six Key Questions

To navigate the future of AI, we need a clear framework for asking questions. It's about more than just problemsolving; it's about question asking and question framing.

Here are six critical questions that guide our approach:

1. Autonomy: Is the system autonomous? Can it act without being told to act?
2. Agency: Does the system have controls and limits that prevent it from doing certain things?
3. Assurance: How do we ensure safety, security, trust, risk management, and ethical considerations?
4. Interfaces: How will we interact with these AIdriven systems? Will they communicate with us and each other?
5. Indicators: What indicators will show that the systems are working well beyond traditional metrics like productivity and efficiency?
6. Intentionality: What is the system designed to do, and who decided that was a good idea? What kind of world is it building?

These questions frame what's possible and what we need to imagine, design, build, and regulate.

Cybernetics: A Holistic Approach

The Institute is influenced by the Macy Conferences on Cybernetics, which emphasized the relationship between humans, computers, and the broader ecological world as a holistic system. This systems thinking is core to our work.

A Diverse and Collaborative Effort

The 3Ai Institute brings together a diverse team of experts, including anthropologists, engineers, computer scientists, and policy experts. We are also committed to bringing others along on this journey through our education programs.

Our students come from diverse backgrounds and experiences, united by a shared sense of purpose and a commitment to building something new.

Acknowledgement and Responsibility

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land upon which we stand, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. We recognize that we live in a country that has been continuously occupied for at least 60,000 years. We carry a privilege and a responsibility because of this history.

The Path Forward: Collective Action

Thinking differently, asking different questions, and looking holistically at the world are essential. But the only way to truly think about the future and scale responsibly is to do it collectively, ensuring that our technologies are safe, sustainable, and serve the best interests of humanity.