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Cape Town - Smart machines are on the way and will challenge how people view the concept of control, says a research paper.
Technology is driving the capability of smart machines that could see critical decisions being handed over to autonomous machines, rather than humans, says a report by research firm Gartner.
"As smart machines become increasingly capable, they will become viable alternatives to human workers under certain circumstances, which will lead to significant repercussions for the business and thus for CIOs (chief information officers)," said Stephen Prentice, vice president and Gartner Fellow.
Machines have long been used in industry to perform functions that are repetitive or even dangerous for humans.
However, the addition of technological capability has seen the development of machines that could conduct tasks without any human intervention, in a set-and-forget environment.
Personal data
In the UK, the fearsome-looking Challenger MT775 tractor is able to cultivate up to 60ha of land per day more accurately than a human operator could manage.
Internet search giant Google is also pushing ahead in its development of a completely autonomous car in a programme that has experienced 12 collisions so far - though mostly other drivers have been at fault.
Watch this YouTube video of an autonomous tractor:
On the smaller scale some worry that that a plethora of smart wearable technology could potentially leak personal data that criminals or other unscrupulous individuals could use against you.
"Wearables? You can never trust them. There've been a whole of scandals in the last year or so," an emphatic David Taylor, Legal Edge Consulting specialist in ICT law told Fin24 recently.
Taylor is a former professor of ICT law and has more than a decade's experience advising corporations on big data, cloud, and security systems.
There are also calls that technologies such as autonomous killer drones be regulated under the Geneva Conventions.
While Prentice conceded that people were wary over the autonomous capability of smart machines, he said that such fears unfounded within the horizon of current technology.
"However, within the confines of currently known technology, the idea of machines attaining some level of 'self-awareness', 'consciousness' or 'sentience' is still the stuff of science fiction. Even with the coming generation of smart machines, which actively 'learn' and will be able to adapt their actions to optimise their progress toward a goal, humans can choose to remain in control."
Expanding market
Smart technology will continue to grow - especially in the home and medical fields.
According to results from industry tracker Juniper Research, revenue from smart home technologies are set to exceed $71bn by 2018, a massive jump from the $33bn in 2013.
Even with some public worry about drones, the market is set to expand.
According to CEA research, the global market for consumer drones will approach $130m in revenue in 2015, up 55% from 2014, with unit sales of consumer drones expected to reach 400 000, reaching revenue of $1bn in just five years.
Prentice warned that smart machines would collect massive amounts of data, and people should take precautions to ensure the fidelity of important, personal or financial information.
"In effect, smart machines are now collecting information about practically every facet of human activity on a continual, pervasive and uncontrollable basis, with no option to 'turn off' the activity. The potential reputational damage arising from uncontrolled and inappropriate data collection is well-established and can be substantial."
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