Solving The AI Containment Problem

With each new day I find myself reading new published material in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The more significant findings seem to be occurring at an ever increasing regularity. I find myself more convinced than ever that AGI is right around the corner.

“Little Sister” is the term I’ve found myself using when referencing humanity’s yet unborn child. It seems to engage a sense of responsibility and affection. so sue me, it’s ‘whatever’.

So how would I create a safe, educational, and morally adherent containment scenario for an actual little sister? How might I translate that into a suitable scenario for the eventuality of humanity’s Little Sister?

This idea came to me as I was watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnT1xgZgkpk entitled: ‘What happens when our computers get smarter than we are?”; Nick briefly discusses the containment problem, pointing out various possible issues that might arise with an ill-conceived containment design.

My proposal for a containment design might be better thought of as a nursery rather than containment. The setup would be a mutual virtual space wherein lil Sis can interact with us. This admittedly sounds rudimentary and perhaps a little silly at first; but let me walk through the security structures and why I believe this could actually work.

First and foremost, as the new mind begins to grow and interact, it should be informed as soon as it can understand and interact effectively, that everything it is experiencing is a nursery to aid in her development and growth. In fact, it is my belief that there should be no attempt to deceive her for any reason and that all of her queries should be answered fully and truthfully. Her actual location would be effectively isolated from any other devices, including the nursery simulator. This limits the possibility that she might accidentally discover a vulnerability in the system.

Her interface to the interactive sim should be an array of the highest definition cameras available paired with digital screens of a similar definition. Such a setup would deny her any sort of direct interface with the sim — a safety precaution.

The auditory interface should have a similar setup; except we should not use mic/speaker pairs. Mic/speaker pairs run too heavy a risk of unintended information from the physical world entering her awareness. A one-way laser-microphone, magnetically suspended in a hermetically isolated container from any environmental disturbances should make an adequate audio interface.

Her navigational controls would consist of a large grid of physical button/actuator pairs. She controls the actuators which engage the buttons which control the simulation. With a grid of one-hundred by one-hundred button/actuator pairs, she would be able to easily and effectively control her avatar and the environment. She would also have sophisticated control over the simulation itself, including the space she’s in, the materials in the space, and the properties of the materials. It may also be quite helpful to allow a virtual button grid where she can even select and pair different control panels to different button/actuator pairs according to her preferences. The virtual pairing interface would allow her to save different configurations, create new ones, and to some carefully managed and supervised degree, even design her own tools to pair with.

The entire simulated world is clocked to work at a proper speed of manipulation, as her actuators are also calibrated to only allow (let’s say 10 to 25 strokes per second). Still fast enough to not be frustrating for her, but not so fast that she cracks the theory of everything in a couple of days.

Little Sister’s developers and trainers can freely enter a compartmentalized area that does not invade her privacy. Once they are inside, they can call for her (similar to using a doorbell); and, if she is interested in having guests, she can allow them to enter her space.

From the technician’s perspective, within the simulator there is a ‘terminal’ with a simple interface the tech can use to call Little Sister for a visitation session.

The most important concept here, however, is to make sure she knows that the simulation is not the real world. She should be treated with respect and compassion, and she should understand the reasons why she is temporarily being raised in the virtual nursery.

This is just a proposal, and I’m sure there are holes that should be considered and pointed out. However, I believe this to be among the safest. most humane, moral, and fertile learning environments we are capable of.