Of the many great paintings by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, one stands above all others as his most recognizable work. “The Creation of Adam” depicts God with hand outstretched to his creation, Adam. The painting raises a big question in the world of AI and Big Data—can humanity safely outstretch our collective hand to AI-controlled robots and machines, or are we likely to get our arms ripped off by imprecise electronics?
Today most people still think of AI as a mere computer program, solving problems in the digital realm. A formidable application of computer science, it can assist us with once inconceivable tasks, such as detecting cancer and analyzing data far too complex to wrap our minds around. Those AI applications, while still critical, no longer represent the state of the art. The cutting-edge work in AI now centers on how to safely introduce…