Today I stumbled upon this BBC tech story about the latest advances in replacing lawyers using AI…

Amid the dire – and somewhat overhyped – predictions of occupations that will be decimated by artificial intelligence and automation, there is one crumb of comfort. Yes, lorry drivers, translators and shop assistants are all under threat from the rise of the robots, but at least the lawyers are doomed too. (Some of my best friends are lawyers, honest.)

That at least may be your conclusion when you hear about a fascinating contest that took place last month. It pitched over 100 lawyers from many of London’s ritziest firms against an artificial intelligence program called Case Cruncher Alpha.
Both the humans and the AI were given the basic facts of hundreds of PPI (payment protection insurance) mis-selling cases and asked to predict whether the Financial Ombudsman would allow a claim.

In all, they submitted 775 predictions and the computer won hands down, with Case Cruncher getting an accuracy rate of 86.6%, compared with 66.3% for the lawyers.

Read the full story through the link. Did anybody else think of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Season 4, Episode 9, “Brothers Cinco?” This episode features the brothers behind the ACME company of the T&E universe: a new product launch gets snagged on a murder accusation and the Cinco Brothers are challenged by their own legally-binding courtroom software…

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As technology becomes smaller, smarter and more ubiquitous, questions about machine sentience and artificial intelligence are as common today as inquiries about long term climate change or global economic forecasts — we know it’s coming, but when? Of course science fiction is where a lot of these anxieties get worked out and recent films like Ex Machina, Her, and Morgan are just the most recent examples of cinema’s attempts to introduce audiences to its versions of ghosts in machines. Way back in 1984 a bizarre flick called Electric Dreams presented audiences with a cyber love triangle, and one of the first articulations of the problems and possibilities that arise when our personal lives become plugged-in.

Here’s the AV Club with the word…

When Spike Jonze’s Her was released in 2014, mentions of the 1984 film Electric Dreams were nearly as prevalent in reviews as “Siri” or “weird pants.” Though Jonze denied ever having seen it, the films, though separated by 30 years of technology, are at least superficially similar. Both see lonely, socially awkward schlubs using their computers to find love (though that’s a logline that could be applied to plenty of stories and users of eHarmony). Both hail from former music video directors, with Electric Dreams marking the feature debut of Steve Barron, the man behind such classic clips as Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing,” and A-ha’s “Take On Me.” And both films view artificial intelligence as invasive and omnipresent. They also believe A.I. is every bit as capable of love—and its potential for causing pain—as flesh-and-blood people.

Electric Dreams establishes this from the vantage point of the early ’80s, a time when PCs were still uncommon enough to seem like magic wizard boxes. Akin to the clunky, supernatural units that allowed suburban teens to break the nuclear code in WarGames or build the perfect woman in Weird Science, the fictional Pinecone Computer bought by Electric Dreams’ awkward architect Miles (Lenny Von Dohlen) talks to him in full English sentences right out of the box. It also immediately assumes control of every aspect of Miles’ apartment, and can do everything from composing music to impersonating a dog, to singlehandedly designing the earthquake-resistant brick he’s been struggling over. “I don’t know anything about computers,” a hapless Miles tells the woman at the electronics store. “Nobody does!” she replies, speaking for an entire generation of movies.

Those mystical, mysterious computer powers grow even stronger when Miles accidentally douses his new machine in champagne, which magically causes it to gain sentience, adopt the name “Edgar,” and—with the help of a new audio chip that Miles probably should have traded for something more pleasing—the fragile, volatile voice of Bud Cort. Completely giving itself a pass on making any sense from the get-go, Electric Dreams’ opening credits describe the film as “a fairy tale for computers.” Edgar is the digital Pinocchio who’s eager to become a real boy.

Here’s Electric Dreams…

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Whether your think artificial intelligence is fact or fiction, the beginning of a brave new world or the end of this one, for many of Japan’s robot dog owners, doomsday has already come in the form of the end of the production of their really remarkable canine companions. Here’s the lowdown from RT Daily News…

AIBO pet dogs are the world’s first home entertainment robots with artificial intelligence (AI). They can speak, sense, and express their feelings – which encourages many owners to treat the toys as real family members. The gadgets are even known for developing their own unique personalities.

Many who bought the dog robots now feel abandoned by Sony, which canceled the production of AIBOs in 2006. The last tech clinic for the toys was closed in March 2014, creating a massive shortage of spare parts.

Sony sold more than 150,000 units between 1999 – when they were created – and 2006. Each one cost 250,000 yen (over $2,000).

One of the owners, Mori, had her AIBO for eight years. “I never thought there was a limit to his life,” she told AFP. When her faithful friend broke, Sony referred her to a company called A FUN, which specializes in fixing the robots.

One of the workers at the company said that clients refer to him as a ‘doctor,’ not as an engineer. “The word ‘repair’ doesn’t fit here,” Hiroshi Funabashi said. “For those who keep AIBOs, they are nothing like home appliances. It’s obvious they think their (robotic pet) is a family member.”

But with a shortage of spare parts, the dogs are becoming more difficult to repair. In fact, the situation is starting to resemble the concerns of the popular cartoon WALL-E, which raises the issue of souls and the human treatment of machines equipped with AI.

However, many scientists have expressed the view that further development of AI could spell out doomsday for the human race.

Click the article link above to read more. Here’s a cool video showing the AIBO in action. Could you become emotionally attached to a digital dog? Is this robotic rover the messenger of a coming doomsday? Does the world end with a bang or with a bark?

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Please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I archive all of the videos I curate at Insomnia. Click here to check out more Counter Culture posts.