Human compatible… (book review)

Human Compatible: AI and the Problem of Control : Russell, Stuart: Amazon.se: Böcker

AI is here to stay. We know that. It will only grow in its influence. We know that too. Especially after the release of ChatGPT we know that.

This book looks into different scenarios of co-existence between humans and AI. This is a novel view on the topic, which differentiates this book from the other of this kind. The previous view was either about some sort of doomsday theories how AI takes over the world. Well, there was also a view that AI will never really hit it off, because of the lack of conciousness and a human soul.

This book starts by looking at the historical development of humanity when a new technology was invented. First we have some limitations, which stop us from mass-using this technology. Then, we improve it and start using it a lot, which creates jobs and new markets. Then we automate it so that it can scale fast, which causes mass loss of jobs related to it.

Imagine banking – first, it was manual, which was cumbersome and error prone. Then came calculating machines, which required an army of operators who inputted simple instructions and got results. Then computers came and finally the Internet. Banks are still there, as institutions, but the job of a banker is not the same as 100 years ago. Well, it’s not really the same as 20 years ago; somewhat similar to 10 years ago, but not really.

The same goes with AI and therefore we need to lear how to co-exist with it. We can control it, or we can adjust to it or we can co-develop it and take advantage of it.

I strongly recommend this book as a reading about how to tackle the developments in AI, but more realistically, not doomsday profecy-style.

Continuous deployment in systems of systems…

Continuous deployment in software-intensive system-of-systems – ScienceDirect (gu.se)

Interestingly, this is a paper from colleagues of ours from the department. The paper presents how one company – Ericsson – works with continuous deployment of their large software system in 3G RAN (Radio Access Networks). The highlights from the article are as follows:

  • New software field testing and validation activities become continuous.
  • Software deployment should be orchestrated between the constituent system.
  • A pilot customer to partner with is key for success.
  • Companywide awareness and top management support are important.
  • Documentation and active monitoring are critical for continuous deployment.

I like this paper because it presents a practical approach and a good set of practices that can be taken up by other companies.