There’s quite a big noise among trade unions, socialists and many others, even capitalists, about how robots are inevitably going to replace all our jobs in the future. Robots seem to be developing at a rate that has a lot of people up in arms because some of what we humans do to earn our living seems to be what’s targeted by the development of these robots. In their most well-developed state, robots can do any labour intensive or repetitive job with much better efficiency than any human in that they can do it quickly and they effectively don’t get tired or sick as a human would.
Along with the development of robots though, Artificial Intelligence (AI) forms a big part of proceedings and AI is perhaps an even scarier development to think about in relation to the jobs which are supposedly under threat. Well, there is another way of looking at it however, from the point of view of the development and evolution of the human race. Ideally, the jobs will only undergo somewhat of a paradigm shift in that more employment will be created at the level of the production and maintenance of robotics, programming and all the other industries which branch out of that sector. That’s perhaps a discussion for another day however…
What we’re really concerned about right now is what the development of AI could mean for security, particularly for the security of your family. As with the development of any piece or realm of technology, there are as many arguments for its continued development against it and AI is no different, particularly that AI which is aimed specifically at the home security market.
Security Deployment of AI
If one were to peel back each of the layers the specific field of AI concerned with security has, it very quickly becomes apparent that there are just so many different ways in which this technology could be developed and deployed. It may have been unthinkable to have a fully automated, independent-“thinking” robotic security guard, but that’s very well within the reach of anyone who would have the budget to have it developed and customised to their specific needs.
This “robo-guard” unit would perhaps be most effective when one considers factors such as the fact that it doesn’t get hungry and its deployment poses none of the risks associated with situations that could otherwise put the life of a human armed security guard under threat, amongst many other things.
This is entirely possible, as “science-fictiony” as it may sound, but there are many other ways through which AI could develop in the home security segment of the market. Face-recognition technology is one such additional example and just in case you don’t know it, face-recognition technology is developing at quite a rapid rate. You may even be contributing to its development by the simple act of uploading your “selfies” to your social media accounts and then tagging yourself.
The Associated Risks
It would be unrealistic to only focus on the positive side of the implications of AI on home and personal security without addressing the potential risks. And yes, the biggest risk is perhaps the hacking element because as history has repeatedly proven, when there are enough people working to hack something, they eventually realise some sort of success. The challenge would then perhaps be focussing on how to limit the damage such hackers could cause, but what happens if for instance your resident face-recognition technology mistakes your children’s friends for an armed and dangerous burglar and the neutralising robo-guard is deployed?
When AI is finally deployed in home security, all the potential risks will have to be built-into the technology as inherent security features.