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As the development of true artificial intelligence (AI) continues and experts work towards the singularity the point where machines will become smarter than humans researchers are examining ways of how to keep humans as the top beings on Earth.

Many experts have warned on the perils of developing machines that are as capable as us, as it could realistically make humans obsolete as they could take our jobs, and eventually see us as more of a hindrance and wipe us off the face of the Earth.

To combat this threat, scientists are proposing ideas that could prevent this, with one new idea being that developers should give AI self-doubt.

The idea goes that if AI has self-doubt, it will need to seek reassurance from humans, much in the same way a dog does, which will consolidate our place as top of the totem on Earth.

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A team from the University of California has conducted studies and shows that self-doubting robots are more obedient.

The team wrote in a paper published on arXiv: "It is clear that one of the primary tools we can use to mitigate the potential risk from a misbehaving AI system is the ability to turn the system off.

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"As the capabilities of AI systems improve, it is important to ensure that such systems do not adopt subgoals that prevent a human from switching them off.

Our goal is to study the incentives an agent has to allow itself to be switched off."

In one simulation, a robot mind was turned off by a human and allowed to turn itself back on.

Robots without the self-doubt reactivated themselves, but the one that did have it did not as it was uncertain of the outcome if it went against human wishes.

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The team concluded: "Our analysis suggests that agents with uncertainty about their utility function have incentives to accept or seek out human oversight.

Thus, systems with uncertainty about their utility function are a promising area for research on the design of safe AI systems.

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Give AI self doubt to prevent RISE OF THE MACHINES, experts warn - Express.co.uk