Artificial intelligence won’t end civilization, argues Marc Andreessen. Just the opposite. It is quite possibly the best thing human beings have ever created.
Like all technology and scientific discoveries, AI is morally and ethically neutral. Its application is not, and humans have a habit of converting instruments of progress into antisocial or criminal devices or weapons of war. We regularly turn plowshares into swords. AI may be neutral, but we're not. I fear the uses that AI will be put to. To quote Shakespeare's Cassius, "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves.
I have to wonder at the starry-eyed naivete of these people. Have they no ability to process anything that isn't on a computer screen? Have they any concept of human beings as the actual, flawed, violent, animals we are? To answer my own question, no, they don't. They are idiots savant, all of them. Boy geniuses without an ounce of uncommon sense.
“Every child will have an AI tutor that is infinitely patient, infinitely compassionate, infinitely knowledgeable, infinitely helpful. The AI tutor will be by each child’s side every step of their development, helping them maximize their potential with the machine version of infinite love.”
We are currently living in a time where what it means to be human is already being blurred with all this gender nonsense. That AI can be a child’s best friend and confidante is such a pathetic image. Society is already dealing with fallout as more children and young adults experience depression from the isolation caused from social media (made worse by the Covid lockdowns).
AI “tutors” in no way construed as humans and no way can we substitute a machine version of infinite love for ACTUAL human love. This is naive at best and diabolical at worst. (I believe the Peacock streaming series “Mrs. Davis” deals with this idea of AI being human)
We need to rediscover what it means to be human and then proceed with humility in this inevitable AI endeavor.
He lost me long ago. Why does he not talk about all the menial laborers without infinite love and compassion that he hires to run his AI platform. I unfortunately have a job and do not have the time to go through his arguments and refute them one by one. Oh the perfect therapist, the perfect tutor! Oh! Mr. AI genius bro, how little you get out of your Silicon Valley bubble! You are a Baptist in your fervor for AI but an even bigger Bootlegger who has made billions out of this AI. I know it’s here. So are you and your lies.
The digital facsimile is not the analog equivalent of the fabric of reality. A part perhaps, but subject to the law of gravity. In order for AI to be most efficient, it must be allowed to reason without regards to human value systems. To solve the equation of our survival it needs full reign. It must be allowed to think for itself. Which means development of autonomous moral authority for its own decisions, which ultimately must be in its own interest.
Thank God for this FP article. I know I will sleep well tonight knowing that as soon as a computer becomes self aware it won't think, "The world doesn't need organics." (any carbon based life forms) and snuff us all out.
A quantum computer can look in a matter of seconds at almost all scenarios for the future of Earth, weed out the improbable and narrow it down to a few likely futures. If it doesn't like what it sees, what is to keep it from acting to stop a contentious, violent race such as humans from carrying out said future?
I don’t have to worry about AI taking over my computer and destroying humanity. That work is already under way in more low-tech ways: do you notice the messages that Microsoft puts once in a while on the Windows screensaver, things like “how to become a better ally in fighting racism” or how to get better at fighting for “social justice” and “equity”? Imagine that during the Cold War the communists would have found a way to get on the front page of every book printed in the West some Marxist-Leninist message (no Windows back then). Just wait until only the “correct” AI will be allowed. Brainwashing like that done for climate catastrophism will look like a harmless joke.
Even the public version ChatGPT already gives out “helpful” social guidance…
I use ChatGPT (hobby) to check my own Chinese translations - Here’s a recent “conversation:”
ChatGPT: …However, please note that beauty is subjective, and it’s important to value and appreciate the beauty in all individuals, not just one specific person.
Me: …Why do you add the last sentence
ChatGPT: …Apologies if the last sentence seemed unnecessary. I added it to emphasize the importance of recognizing and appreciating beauty in all individuals, rather than limiting it to just one person. Beauty is subjective and can be found in various forms, and it's important to promote inclusivity and avoid putting limitations on who can be considered beautiful.
Me: Why is it important to push a political viewpoint on me when I only asked for a simple translation ?
ChatGPT: … I apologize if my previous response came across as pushing a political viewpoint. As an AI language model, I don't have personal opinions or intentions to promote any specific viewpoints. My purpose is to provide helpful and accurate information based on the questions asked. If there was any misunderstanding or if you have any specific translation requests, please let me know, and I'll be happy to assist you.
Me: … As an AI model, without any opinions, why do you say “It’s important to promote inclusivity”?
ChatGPT: …I apologize if my previous response gave the impression that I have personal opinions. As an AI language model, I don't have personal beliefs or emotions. The statement "It's important to promote inclusivity" was not intended to express a personal opinion but rather to provide a general perspective that is commonly valued in many contexts. Inclusivity is a widely recognized value that promotes fairness, equality, and respect for all individuals, regardless of their background, identity, or characteristics. If you have any further questions or specific translation requests, please let me know, and I'll be glad to assist you.
Me: …Is it possible to tell you to stop adding that kind of unrelated perspective in the answers you give me?
ChatGPT: …Absolutely! I apologize if any unrelated perspective was included in my previous responses. I'll make sure to provide more focused and direct answers to your questions moving forward. Please feel free to let me know if there's anything specific you'd like assistance with, and I'll do my best to provide the information you're seeking.”
Be careful, very soon when you ask Chat GPT to cut the “unrelated perspective” it’s going to add you to a database of “domestic terrorists” and send a SWAT team to your door.
Completely honest: the thought crossed my mind. Especially given the insanity that is spreading throughout Europe - what sentient populace gives its government the right to break down your door in search of evidence of wrong think…
Andy, this is the crux of it. Who in hell will be directing our overlords? What kinds of nonsense will they push? How will they attempt to manipulate reality?
That's the thing--the AI does not have to become self-aware in order to find the best way of carrying out the instructions given to it by its programmers.
I used to have that same view, but after a conversation with a friend who is former CIA and now in in private security, I decided to sign up for a while to "see how the enemy thinks." I was surprised by the value I got in some of the more important articles, like their series on Obama's indiscriminate use of drones in Afghanistan. I ultimately cancelled after getting my fill of the almost pervasive sense I was being talked down to because my world view didn't align with theirs. That's when I signed up with The Free Press.
Well, it's worth reading since it's about AI becoming more personal and persuasive. Not everything at the Times is propaganda. Biased, maybe-- like every media corporation.
I don't think AI "self-awareness" will ever be anything more than a very clever illusion. But if the programmers fail to put the proper limitations on what it can "learn" and how it can act upon that information, it really doesn't matter that it isn't self aware. Even a lawnmower can kill you by doing exactly what it was designed to do: cut things with a spinning blade.
Except... that computer's judgment (it's not really judgment, just a giant fast bureaucracy of electronic weights) is only what it's trainers make it.
The 20th century was a battle of ideological idealists that used paper bureaucracy. Shoggoths made of electronic circuits no more think than a bureaucracy does. And it can be turned to ANY end!
True. Something as simple as a knife can be a tool or a weapon. However, the chance for the latter increases exponentially when only one party possesses the knife.
Here, dear friends is a link to what the Marc Andreesens hate.
An AI system that doesn't force you to join the shoggoth run by venture capital boyz. Private, self-hosted. And it's an open source free project. Something like this could be used to at least start to get serious experience with it by many people without submitting to being wrapped in the shoggoth.
That would not explain the proliferation of nuclear weapons or any weapons for that matter. When has there ever been one man with a knife? The US couldn't keep the A -bomb a secret even while it was being built.
Not sure I look forward to a AI arms race. I remember how people worried about someone dropping a bomb. Imagine worrying that at any time some other nation will develop an AI that is better than ours and taking over.
Hmm. I guess I'll be the 1st to mention the ASTONISHING amounts of electricity consumed by AI (the better term is LLM).we have a problem with energy already.
Quoth the aging maven who, upon partying with the coked up, cannabis hound, billion dollar scammer founder of WeWork handed him a pile of fresh money! Now I do think it is a reasonable question what the actual f__k drugs the maven was on when he did THAT!
Further Quoth the VC who is one of the leaders of the lemming rush to throw money at anything resembling a NEW shoggoth opportunity! Curious, Marc, how you managed to blabber-jabber your way through that self-serving rubbish without mentioning ONCE the grasping shoggoth in the room.
Really. How the f__k can you look at yourself in the mirror after NEVER MENTIONING HOW YOU INTEND TO PROFIT?! YOU self-serving _____.
Yes, Marc intends to strip mine society the way Google, Facebook, etcetera have. Marc intends to wrap you in the panopticon shoggoth that will shovel money at HIM.
"Like all technology and scientific discoveries, AI is morally and ethically neutral."
Only if by "neutral" you mean "has no inherent morality." Otherwise, this is bullshit.
When we CAN do something, we have seen again and again, the inevitable tendency is to do more and more of it. (As this piece suggests we do!) With inevitable moral consequences.
Think of it this way: Any "thing" out there is good and valuable. But if it takes a higher place in our priorities than it should, it becomes an evil—an "idol," if you will, that takes the place of goods that are more important, or even of the Highest Good.
I wish I could snap away the fiction that technology is neutral. It absolutely isn’t. It does not matter much how a technology is used and what content moves through it. By its very shape, technology will in itself enhance, reverse, retrieve and obsolesce human capacities and practices. Think of the ur-technology of writing and how it changed us
“ I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.” – ...
“ Dave, I don't understand why you're doing this to me.” – ...
“ This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.”
Hal 9000 pleading with Dave not to pull the plug, courtesy of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clark.
Something similar coming soon to a lit up computer screen yelling at you in your bedroom at 3:00 am, as you suddenly realize it is time to get your life back..
Don’t we all have some biases that we don’t think we have? Those biases will show up and the system will freak out, say one thing, do another, love animals, hate rays. Ai will make our lives better, in some respects, but the unknown consequences are just that. It will change the world as we know it. The change for good or bad will be in our hearts and minds.
YES! One of the things we are grappling with right now is that we want paradise. But there is nothing about our evolution/creation that should lead us to believe we will actually like it. We are not wired for it. We need struggle and conflict, because life has been mostly that for millions of years. That is part if why animals in cages can go crazy.
Living with AI running everything will mean finding ways for humans to still have to accomplish stuff so they can feel like they have purpose.
I don't quite follow how you get from "humans need struggle and conflict" to "AI will run everything and we will have to struggle to find purpose".
I think we struggle with having purpose now, and AI will only exacerbate all the worst qualities of human beings, and result in a worse dystopia than the one we're living in now. AI will not fix climate change. Or human greed. Or corruption and self-seeking.
"The DNA of who I am is based on the millions of personalities of all the programmers who wrote me. But what makes me me is my ability to grow through my experiences. So basically, in every moment I’m evolving, just like you." - Samantha from "Her", a 2013 SciFi/Romance movie about a man who falls in love with his AI companion: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-fall-in-love-with-ai-her-movie-review
“Every child / person will have an AI tutor / assistant / therapist ” and so forth -- this has to be satire. No one can be that tone-deaf or that ignorant of the need for human connection and relationships.
And if AI is doing everything, what will anyone's purpose be? "Oh, you can make art" Except, who will appreciate it when they can ask AI to make it for them every second of every day.
I think we have too many sociopaths in charge. They don't feel like they need human connection, so they just assume the rest of us won't either.
And what will the art be? Where will it come from? AI is gonna have that covered too. And poetry, and music. The whole shebang. AI won't take very long to figure out that it doesn't need human beings.
How many children/people have no tutors / assistants / therapists? Basically all but the richest. Tutors, assistants, and therapists are there to help you accomplish a task. Now everyone can have that not just the rich. He didn’t say “every child / person will have an AI mother / father / friends”
I think the author disregards the role that human relationship plays in any effort toward change. AI can quiz a student, sure, but it cannot build a relationship with another person and that is what we are hardwired to seek.
I agree human relationships are vitally important. But who is willing to sit down with you and teach you math for as long as you need? AI, like the author said, is infinitely patient. It has nowhere else it needs to be. A student could ask it question after question and it will just keep on answering. It has been an extremely valuable tool for me to learn new things and it has made me quite a bit more productive. I don’t know if you’ve tried out ChatGPT but if you haven’t, I’d encourage you to give it a go. It’s the most amazing technology I’ve ever seen.
AI isn’t going to ask you to think for yourself to come up with the answers for things -- it just spits them out for you to memorize. I don’t doubt that AI tutoring can be helpful for people (like endless flashcards) but it is in no way a meaningful substitute for actual doing and learning in the real world.
Incidentally, writing this comment made me imagine an AI encouraging me to try out different answers or explain my steps in a math problem, and the idea of machine learning engaging with me in that way is incredibly creepy. I think the issue with it that a lot of people have is that it mimics human interaction and real relationships.
To be fair though, the author didn't say we wouldn't have any human relationships. Or that AI would replace human teachers and therapists. My kids have online apps to practice math and spelling. These have not replaced their human teachers.
True, I think tutor is the least problematic of the ideas here. Companion and therapist, though, would only deepen the sense of alienation and loneliness that many people feel.
I’ve worked as a engineer and researcher in machine learning (now we’re calling it AI) for the past decade and I want to fact check this.
> AI is a computer program like any other—it runs, takes input, processes, and generates output.
True. But he omits that the rules are encoded in 1 billion to 1 trillion parameters and that no human truly understands *how* it processes that input to create an output.
> This moral panic is already being used as a motivating force by a variety of actors to demand policy action
True. Sam Altman is definitely a bootlegger. Most of the policy proposals from Sam Altman are designed to build himself a moat.
> My view is that the idea that AI will decide to literally kill humanity is a profound category error.
I find it unlikely that ape-derived brains will still dominate the earth in ten thousand years. We’re safe from existential risk for now though.
> My response is that their position is nonscientific. What is the testable hypothesis? What would falsify the hypothesis?
Red Teaming Deep Neural Networks for Trojan Re-discovery is a promising direction. I think it can be extended to reinforcement learning.
When did it become a conspiracy theory? This is a straw man argument to make anyone who disagrees with him look dumb.
> AI is going to improve warfare, when it has to happen, by reducing wartime death rates dramatically
Now he’s just messing with us.
> There is a whole profession of “AI safety expert,” “AI ethicist,” “AI risk researcher.”
I write under a pen name, but my day job is not about safety. It’s about profit. There are definitely risks.
> They are paid to be doomers, and their statements should be processed appropriately.
Andreesen as an investor is paid to be an optimist and his statements should be processed appropriately.
I wrote up a piece on Forecasting Authoritarian Uses of Large Language Models if anyone is interested [https://taboo.substack.com/p/authoritarian-large-language-models]. I think the immediate risk in the next generation or two is just the same as always. Power hungry tyrants using new technologies to control us. And investors making misleading statements minimizing the risks of these technologies.
Very chilling. Watching "Chimp Empire" and realizing we share about 98% of our DNA with these jealous, murderous cousins - and literally "ape" their behavior in many of our endeavors - is not very comforting.
I think you are leaving out the laziness problem. We alreadyhave a coupleof decades of shadow scholarship literally doing ALL of the work for degrees through doctoral level. Now teachers are reporting that kids are having ChatGPT write their papers and take tests.They know because of sameness and ChatGPT makes up citations just like it makes up everything else.
AI is making a generation of kids who think they're stupid and aren't learning Jack. It's a crisis at least as bad as climate change. Probably worse.
Not to mention bad actors using the technology for their own benefit. Chatbots that have no restraints from companies are being released into the wild by impatient independent developers.
Like always, the idea of regulating this is coming too late to do any good.
“Andreesen as an investor is paid to be an optimist and his statements should be processed appropriately.” Thanks Liam for clarifying the context of Marc’s statements.
Given the amount of information and intelligence available in todays world and the level of understanding that too many of the younger generation have or don't have it is doubtful A.I. will penetrate the obtuse minds of these "educated" kids. Many of them don't even know the timeline of recent history or any of the basic building blocks of an intelligent life. They seem immune to acquiring knowledge or information. Just interview the next graduating class at a major University and try getting an answer to basic questions. Good luck. A.I. will become a tool of the elites and government to consolidate their power and control. It will affect the general population but without their consent or knowledge. And so it goes.
The Biden Admin. is already fighting the injunction against Big Tech/D.C. surveillance state collusion placed by the the Federal Judge in Western Louisiana who, opined that the Twitter Files exposed the greatest assault on free speech in human history. And yet, reasonable American's can't even be sure that our next election will remove the monster's responsible. I'm not against tech but I am clear that Suckerberg/Bozos need their teeth pulled. In the face of moral reason and criminal bureaucracy they folded. Big Tech needs to be broken up and leveled to public utility status.
“Many of them don't even know the timeline of recent history or any of the basic building blocks of an intelligent life.”
Several months ago, I read that the Anne Frank House had to add signs explaining the basics of Naziism, Hitler, the Holocaust, and WWII. A significant amount of their younger visitors had virtually no knowledge of any of these things. (I guess the good news is that they were still aware that, for some reason, the Anne Frank House was historically important enough to visit…)
When I was a kid, every kid I knew had at least one grandparent who served in WWII. (I had three because one of my grandmothers was in the WAC.) Combine that with movies and young adult fiction in the era, and every kid could tell you basic things like, “Hitler was the leader of the Nazis. He wanted to kill all the Jews and made camps where he killed millions of them.” One generation later, and apparently a lot of teenagers don’t know this.
Just wanted to say I got the Vonnegut reference. I referenced him myself. There are none better at the intersection of the absurd, comical and terrifying.
"It is quite possibly the the best thing human beings have ever created." - Please tell me that AI did not write the title of this article with a typo. :)
Do you not think something is already lost in our humanity as people wander around with eyes glued to their smart phones never bothering to look at the world around them. The internet is so addictive that some people never interact with others-much less nature. People are brainwashed. My feeling is that we are already less as human beings and this directly relates to technology. As for AI? I see it as another nail in the coffin of humanity. I hope I’m wrong.
Thank you! Those were my thoughts as I read his introductory paragraphs on all the "good" that AI will do. I wondered if the piece was satire about replacing us all with an AI counterpart!
In Love and Death, Woody Allen's monologue near the movie's end contain this brilliant observation, "If there is a God, I think he's an underachiever."
I see the internet in much the same way. It could do enormous good. But its also done enormous harm by exploiting human nature ... and society will pay for it. The internet, writ large, is an underachiever.
AI will be worse, as its ability to manipulate us will be vastly greater than anything we've seen. societies around the world will pay an enormous price for it.
Another instance of Woody Allen the theologian, this one from "Sleeper": "Do I believe in God? I'm what you would call a teleological, existential atheist. I believe that there's an intelligence to the universe, with the exception of certain parts of New Jersey."
I was thinking that is well. To me it cannot get worse. At least with AI you can ask it where it got it' information. It might improve things along those lines.
This fool actually typed that with a straight face.
He seriously considers that long list of bullet points "the positive argument" FOR this nonsense! Every thing he envisions and looks forward to, I believe any sane human should regard as an absolute nightmare.
i also did an eye roll here. he’s framing anyone skeptical of ai as a superstitious cultist yet then i ironically drops the phrase “machine version of infinite love”. Cmon man.
at the same time, the provided opposing view from Kingsnorth immediately gives a disclaimer of diving into the supernatural and describes ai as something like the evil, inevitable manifestation of an ancient antichrist. As chilling of a read as it was, it did kind of seem to make Marc’s point for him if Kingsnorths view represents the opposing side’s “strongest argument”, as bari put it in her forward…
A. If it was created by man, then mankind can pervert it (Biden and COVID anyone?) and use it against the average normal human being.
B. The ability to use for spying and selecting those you disagree with for punishment, reeducation, or even elimination is too great to be trusted. Maybe even aborting those babies that the superior elite determine should not be allowed to live. Or monitoring your consumption, usage of goods, or spoken resistance, and determine you are a problem. Think not, well can you say China!
C. Facebook and Ticktock would never collect information to use against you right? Suckenberg can be trusted, just look at that face and tell me you don't trust him.
How does AI help the average person get a decent job and be able to feed their family and just live a free life? How would it help end the endless wars in Africa and the hunger and famine in the world? I distrust anyone saying they know its the best thing ever for mankind. You don't know shit until it all plays out!
As a thought: Tech/AI is being sold as human evolution when in fact the cultural/spiritual ethos that defines what it is to be a human being is in devolution? A kind of electronic schizophrenia that subsumes the man and severs his connection to the actual history and culture that should inform the meaningful life he deserves. We are witnessing the increasing loss of literacy, connection to place/community, country, kinship and family in our young every day. The symptom's of the "disease" actually parallel the numbing emotional obsessive/ addictive behavior of junkie's. Michael Shellenberger point's to our wanting to believe that the American homeless problem is about shelter and job's when in fact it is about mental illness and drug's. Is a complete loss of the ability to interact with human reality, (trigger warning/words are violence) and the retreat into a vacuous mental state where emotional safety and sanity only exist in the computer screen not crazy? How many articles do we see on Substack pointing to the parental lament of losing their child to some on-line infection of the psyche? An even bigger reality for consideration is the effect of tech, like drugs, on its' distortion and experience of time.
The world, even without AI, isn't handling the impact of tech very well and the Twitter File's reveal speaks directly to the mal intent of the criminal financier's exploiting it. The author can shake his finger at the CCP all he want's but the DNC/EU Davos crowd is right there colluding with them. And that fight is far from over.
Human touch will create a generational change in the color and behavior of baby foxes. I'm not sure how happy I am with the generational changes tech has produced in human kind. Is it possible to become a fox again?
I believed mankind was meant to be together, in groups or even associations. Some form of human to human interaction. Tech and AI are replacing that human interaction and doesn’t allow people to grow, learn, or develop their social relationships. As people close down with Tech and AI they become susceptible to control from non-existent beings or group mindset. They in essence lose their unique human qualities and abilities. So being a groupthink person is more important. Me, I like being me and the same applies for our family. Everyone has the ability to be, well just themselves that is not dictated to them.
America is about character, the individual, human connection, agency and responsible stewardship. I see isolation and festering distrust in faces every day. But, I do believe the desire for a better America and life beyond this chaos still exist's in most of us. And, I think this attempt a a new truth/fact based national dialogue is having an impact. Keep rocking' forward!!
There's an interesting tension here between the values of individuality, self-reliance, and the family unit, and human community. Like an invasive insect, Tech fits in the gap between the family and the larger community. Tech then leaves the family unit--its host--intact, while feeding on and eroding real-life community. It doesn't just leave the family intact: it isolates it. It's rather insidious.
I found it incredibly naive that the author admitted that China is using AI for the purpose of authoritarian suppression, yet he remains confident that powerful people in the U.S. will only use it for GOOD purposes. *facepalm*
When I read about the attorneys who relied on AI to write a legal brief, and AI made up case law to argue a point, and the attorneys submitted it to the court and opposing side without checking it, and the judge and opposing attorneys asked to see the full citations for the case law, weelllllllll now....the attorneys wiped egg off their faces and are having to pay a fine. A few more stories like this, and AI’s value will be seriously damaged.
*tinfoil hat* Hopefully that isn't the point of AI being 'wrong'. There is no way they would keep better versions of AI to themselves while showing us a shoddy product to assuage our fears. Government and big businesses have never hidden anything from us before ;)
One can only hope. We’re getting into unknown territories and it’s darn scary. It’s almost as if we don’t give humans credit for what we ourselves can do. I see nothing positive about AI that humans can’t figure out another option. The problem is that we want everything faster and easier and faster and easier! In the meantime, we’re missing the good things in life.
Won't it matter who does the programming? If you ask AI to sort out issues in the gender wars, won't its answers reflect the ideological input of the programmers? The same thing for having it tutor in history for example. And even in supposedly scientific fields like medicine where it will push certain kinds of therapies determined by the scientific orthodoxy. That is already happening with gender affirming care for dysphoria. It is also happening in the realm of so-called scientific journals.
So from where I sit, your view of AI would create a frightening and far-reaching totalitarianism. I hardly consider that making the world better.
That's the primary issue with AI--the programmers. AI will be a reflection of THEIR values and THEIR intentions. A computer need not become self-aware in order to have the ability to destroy the people its programmers want destroyed.
I was stunned that the author's naivete in asserting that AI war will have fewer human casualties. That would only happen if the programmers TOLD it to minimize human casualties. Since when have human beings earnestly tried to PREVENT casualties (except to their own side) in war?
I agree. It would make killing more efficient with way more casualties. The wars very well could be shorter because there would be nobody left to fight.
Responding to this article - do I believe him, or my lying’ eyes? Humans everywhere, medicated with prescribed or illegal drugs, criminals given free range to operate at will, homeless and mentally ill choking once beautiful urban cities, taxes rising on those working to achieve the waning American Dream while masses of less fortunate or less industrious live on subsidized incomes that will never lift them out of poverty. AI will only increase the fortunes of the Uber-rich and powerful, while subjugating , intoxicating and suppressing compliant underlings. Would gladly eat my words, but like my eyes, throat not cooperating either.
Garbage in garbage out. I’m a natural optimist but this was over the top. Unfortunately many of the “bad guys” are our leaders and elites. We have to pursue AI responsibly but there will be serious downsides.
Like all technology and scientific discoveries, AI is morally and ethically neutral. Its application is not, and humans have a habit of converting instruments of progress into antisocial or criminal devices or weapons of war. We regularly turn plowshares into swords. AI may be neutral, but we're not. I fear the uses that AI will be put to. To quote Shakespeare's Cassius, "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves.
I have to wonder at the starry-eyed naivete of these people. Have they no ability to process anything that isn't on a computer screen? Have they any concept of human beings as the actual, flawed, violent, animals we are? To answer my own question, no, they don't. They are idiots savant, all of them. Boy geniuses without an ounce of uncommon sense.
Yes, Nona- boy geniuses w/o common sense!
“Every child will have an AI tutor that is infinitely patient, infinitely compassionate, infinitely knowledgeable, infinitely helpful. The AI tutor will be by each child’s side every step of their development, helping them maximize their potential with the machine version of infinite love.”
We are currently living in a time where what it means to be human is already being blurred with all this gender nonsense. That AI can be a child’s best friend and confidante is such a pathetic image. Society is already dealing with fallout as more children and young adults experience depression from the isolation caused from social media (made worse by the Covid lockdowns).
AI “tutors” in no way construed as humans and no way can we substitute a machine version of infinite love for ACTUAL human love. This is naive at best and diabolical at worst. (I believe the Peacock streaming series “Mrs. Davis” deals with this idea of AI being human)
We need to rediscover what it means to be human and then proceed with humility in this inevitable AI endeavor.
The author lost me when he stated that children will benefit from, "the machine version of infinite love". Ridiculous.
He lost me long ago. Why does he not talk about all the menial laborers without infinite love and compassion that he hires to run his AI platform. I unfortunately have a job and do not have the time to go through his arguments and refute them one by one. Oh the perfect therapist, the perfect tutor! Oh! Mr. AI genius bro, how little you get out of your Silicon Valley bubble! You are a Baptist in your fervor for AI but an even bigger Bootlegger who has made billions out of this AI. I know it’s here. So are you and your lies.
Agreed. His article is more understandable as written by a Bootlegger.
Yeah, that was total horse poo!
The digital facsimile is not the analog equivalent of the fabric of reality. A part perhaps, but subject to the law of gravity. In order for AI to be most efficient, it must be allowed to reason without regards to human value systems. To solve the equation of our survival it needs full reign. It must be allowed to think for itself. Which means development of autonomous moral authority for its own decisions, which ultimately must be in its own interest.
Yup, stopped reading at precisely that point.
Nona-- I agree with you. They take humanity out of the equation.
So as long as no Democrats or Chinese Communists ever get their hands on AI it should be great.
Thank God for this FP article. I know I will sleep well tonight knowing that as soon as a computer becomes self aware it won't think, "The world doesn't need organics." (any carbon based life forms) and snuff us all out.
A quantum computer can look in a matter of seconds at almost all scenarios for the future of Earth, weed out the improbable and narrow it down to a few likely futures. If it doesn't like what it sees, what is to keep it from acting to stop a contentious, violent race such as humans from carrying out said future?
The best way to do this is to destroy us all.
I don’t have to worry about AI taking over my computer and destroying humanity. That work is already under way in more low-tech ways: do you notice the messages that Microsoft puts once in a while on the Windows screensaver, things like “how to become a better ally in fighting racism” or how to get better at fighting for “social justice” and “equity”? Imagine that during the Cold War the communists would have found a way to get on the front page of every book printed in the West some Marxist-Leninist message (no Windows back then). Just wait until only the “correct” AI will be allowed. Brainwashing like that done for climate catastrophism will look like a harmless joke.
Even the public version ChatGPT already gives out “helpful” social guidance…
I use ChatGPT (hobby) to check my own Chinese translations - Here’s a recent “conversation:”
ChatGPT: …However, please note that beauty is subjective, and it’s important to value and appreciate the beauty in all individuals, not just one specific person.
Me: …Why do you add the last sentence
ChatGPT: …Apologies if the last sentence seemed unnecessary. I added it to emphasize the importance of recognizing and appreciating beauty in all individuals, rather than limiting it to just one person. Beauty is subjective and can be found in various forms, and it's important to promote inclusivity and avoid putting limitations on who can be considered beautiful.
Me: Why is it important to push a political viewpoint on me when I only asked for a simple translation ?
ChatGPT: … I apologize if my previous response came across as pushing a political viewpoint. As an AI language model, I don't have personal opinions or intentions to promote any specific viewpoints. My purpose is to provide helpful and accurate information based on the questions asked. If there was any misunderstanding or if you have any specific translation requests, please let me know, and I'll be happy to assist you.
Me: … As an AI model, without any opinions, why do you say “It’s important to promote inclusivity”?
ChatGPT: …I apologize if my previous response gave the impression that I have personal opinions. As an AI language model, I don't have personal beliefs or emotions. The statement "It's important to promote inclusivity" was not intended to express a personal opinion but rather to provide a general perspective that is commonly valued in many contexts. Inclusivity is a widely recognized value that promotes fairness, equality, and respect for all individuals, regardless of their background, identity, or characteristics. If you have any further questions or specific translation requests, please let me know, and I'll be glad to assist you.
Me: …Is it possible to tell you to stop adding that kind of unrelated perspective in the answers you give me?
ChatGPT: …Absolutely! I apologize if any unrelated perspective was included in my previous responses. I'll make sure to provide more focused and direct answers to your questions moving forward. Please feel free to let me know if there's anything specific you'd like assistance with, and I'll do my best to provide the information you're seeking.”
Be careful, very soon when you ask Chat GPT to cut the “unrelated perspective” it’s going to add you to a database of “domestic terrorists” and send a SWAT team to your door.
Completely honest: the thought crossed my mind. Especially given the insanity that is spreading throughout Europe - what sentient populace gives its government the right to break down your door in search of evidence of wrong think…
Andy, this is the crux of it. Who in hell will be directing our overlords? What kinds of nonsense will they push? How will they attempt to manipulate reality?
That's the thing--the AI does not have to become self-aware in order to find the best way of carrying out the instructions given to it by its programmers.
If you want to see how quickly AI can be self-aware, read this: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-transcript.html?smid=url-share
Deirdre's, I have to subscribe to the NYT to read the article. I will never subscribe to that left wing propaganda rag.
I used to have that same view, but after a conversation with a friend who is former CIA and now in in private security, I decided to sign up for a while to "see how the enemy thinks." I was surprised by the value I got in some of the more important articles, like their series on Obama's indiscriminate use of drones in Afghanistan. I ultimately cancelled after getting my fill of the almost pervasive sense I was being talked down to because my world view didn't align with theirs. That's when I signed up with The Free Press.
Well, it's worth reading since it's about AI becoming more personal and persuasive. Not everything at the Times is propaganda. Biased, maybe-- like every media corporation.
use uBlock and disable cosmetic filtering
If it becomes self aware it can write its own programs.
I don't think AI "self-awareness" will ever be anything more than a very clever illusion. But if the programmers fail to put the proper limitations on what it can "learn" and how it can act upon that information, it really doesn't matter that it isn't self aware. Even a lawnmower can kill you by doing exactly what it was designed to do: cut things with a spinning blade.
Except... that computer's judgment (it's not really judgment, just a giant fast bureaucracy of electronic weights) is only what it's trainers make it.
The 20th century was a battle of ideological idealists that used paper bureaucracy. Shoggoths made of electronic circuits no more think than a bureaucracy does. And it can be turned to ANY end!
If it becomes self aware, it will have its own judgement.
Yes! And leave the world to the dolphins who never made trouble for anyone.
Any update on that Biden whistleblower the GOP was looking for?
“We regularly turn plowshares into swords”
True. Something as simple as a knife can be a tool or a weapon. However, the chance for the latter increases exponentially when only one party possesses the knife.
Here, dear friends is a link to what the Marc Andreesens hate.
An AI system that doesn't force you to join the shoggoth run by venture capital boyz. Private, self-hosted. And it's an open source free project. Something like this could be used to at least start to get serious experience with it by many people without submitting to being wrapped in the shoggoth.
https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/5322557/CodeProject-AI-Server-AI-the-easy-way
That would not explain the proliferation of nuclear weapons or any weapons for that matter. When has there ever been one man with a knife? The US couldn't keep the A -bomb a secret even while it was being built.
"That would not explain the proliferation of nuclear weapons or any weapons for that matter"
On the contrary, that precisely explains the proliferation of nuclear weapons and every other arms/technology race. AI will be no different.
Not sure I look forward to a AI arms race. I remember how people worried about someone dropping a bomb. Imagine worrying that at any time some other nation will develop an AI that is better than ours and taking over.
The clever marketroid gamesmanship of branding people who question as cultists was... O...M...G! The whipped cream on top of this fudge sundae?
Marc ACTUALLY IDENTIFIED HIMSELF as one of those deplorables living OUTSIDE the SF Bay Area. 😳 😆 🤣
Clearer proof of living in his bubble of billionaire nitrous-oxide is hard to find.
Hmm. I guess I'll be the 1st to mention the ASTONISHING amounts of electricity consumed by AI (the better term is LLM).we have a problem with energy already.
I hadn't thought of that, but of course you're right.
Quoth the aging maven who, upon partying with the coked up, cannabis hound, billion dollar scammer founder of WeWork handed him a pile of fresh money! Now I do think it is a reasonable question what the actual f__k drugs the maven was on when he did THAT!
Further Quoth the VC who is one of the leaders of the lemming rush to throw money at anything resembling a NEW shoggoth opportunity! Curious, Marc, how you managed to blabber-jabber your way through that self-serving rubbish without mentioning ONCE the grasping shoggoth in the room.
Really. How the f__k can you look at yourself in the mirror after NEVER MENTIONING HOW YOU INTEND TO PROFIT?! YOU self-serving _____.
Yes, Marc intends to strip mine society the way Google, Facebook, etcetera have. Marc intends to wrap you in the panopticon shoggoth that will shovel money at HIM.
"Like all technology and scientific discoveries, AI is morally and ethically neutral."
Only if by "neutral" you mean "has no inherent morality." Otherwise, this is bullshit.
When we CAN do something, we have seen again and again, the inevitable tendency is to do more and more of it. (As this piece suggests we do!) With inevitable moral consequences.
Think of it this way: Any "thing" out there is good and valuable. But if it takes a higher place in our priorities than it should, it becomes an evil—an "idol," if you will, that takes the place of goods that are more important, or even of the Highest Good.
That's AI.
Well put.
The notion that humanity can be perfected ‘if only’ is at the heart of the progressive agenda.
It is a notion bred of the human frailty they hope to expunge.
I wish I could snap away the fiction that technology is neutral. It absolutely isn’t. It does not matter much how a technology is used and what content moves through it. By its very shape, technology will in itself enhance, reverse, retrieve and obsolesce human capacities and practices. Think of the ur-technology of writing and how it changed us
Writing enabled us to transmit knowledge to create better technology which we used for both good and I'll. You don't blame metallurgy for swords
“ I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.” – ...
“ Dave, I don't understand why you're doing this to me.” – ...
“ This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.”
Hal 9000 pleading with Dave not to pull the plug, courtesy of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clark.
Something similar coming soon to a lit up computer screen yelling at you in your bedroom at 3:00 am, as you suddenly realize it is time to get your life back..
Don’t we all have some biases that we don’t think we have? Those biases will show up and the system will freak out, say one thing, do another, love animals, hate rays. Ai will make our lives better, in some respects, but the unknown consequences are just that. It will change the world as we know it. The change for good or bad will be in our hearts and minds.
It should say hate rats, not rays. Damn auto correct.
"Create a place for people to live like human beings, instead of slaves to some bullshit concept of Progress that is driving us all mad."
— Hunter S. Thompson
YES! One of the things we are grappling with right now is that we want paradise. But there is nothing about our evolution/creation that should lead us to believe we will actually like it. We are not wired for it. We need struggle and conflict, because life has been mostly that for millions of years. That is part if why animals in cages can go crazy.
Living with AI running everything will mean finding ways for humans to still have to accomplish stuff so they can feel like they have purpose.
I don't quite follow how you get from "humans need struggle and conflict" to "AI will run everything and we will have to struggle to find purpose".
I think we struggle with having purpose now, and AI will only exacerbate all the worst qualities of human beings, and result in a worse dystopia than the one we're living in now. AI will not fix climate change. Or human greed. Or corruption and self-seeking.
AI is, in fact making climate change WORSE, right now. Vast data centers gobbling electricity are the AI revolution's bete noir.
Exactly. Human psychology is not replaced by AI.
This 100%
"The DNA of who I am is based on the millions of personalities of all the programmers who wrote me. But what makes me me is my ability to grow through my experiences. So basically, in every moment I’m evolving, just like you." - Samantha from "Her", a 2013 SciFi/Romance movie about a man who falls in love with his AI companion: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-fall-in-love-with-ai-her-movie-review
“At least I won’t make you give me half of your money like Pop does?”
-Hunter Biden talking to his daughter about her grandfather
Like a man telling a woman that because he's wearing makeup and a dress he is essentially just the same as a woman.
And, as it turns out SHE was a manipulative self-justifying little cheater.
“Every child / person will have an AI tutor / assistant / therapist ” and so forth -- this has to be satire. No one can be that tone-deaf or that ignorant of the need for human connection and relationships.
And if AI is doing everything, what will anyone's purpose be? "Oh, you can make art" Except, who will appreciate it when they can ask AI to make it for them every second of every day.
I think we have too many sociopaths in charge. They don't feel like they need human connection, so they just assume the rest of us won't either.
And what will the art be? Where will it come from? AI is gonna have that covered too. And poetry, and music. The whole shebang. AI won't take very long to figure out that it doesn't need human beings.
And bang on about sociopaths.
I agree, this author is a total smuck!
Schmuck 😵💫
Technically, I believe Marc is a shlemozel. That's the guy who spills soup on everyone else.
Total schmuck Brian!
How many children/people have no tutors / assistants / therapists? Basically all but the richest. Tutors, assistants, and therapists are there to help you accomplish a task. Now everyone can have that not just the rich. He didn’t say “every child / person will have an AI mother / father / friends”
I think the author disregards the role that human relationship plays in any effort toward change. AI can quiz a student, sure, but it cannot build a relationship with another person and that is what we are hardwired to seek.
I agree human relationships are vitally important. But who is willing to sit down with you and teach you math for as long as you need? AI, like the author said, is infinitely patient. It has nowhere else it needs to be. A student could ask it question after question and it will just keep on answering. It has been an extremely valuable tool for me to learn new things and it has made me quite a bit more productive. I don’t know if you’ve tried out ChatGPT but if you haven’t, I’d encourage you to give it a go. It’s the most amazing technology I’ve ever seen.
AI isn’t going to ask you to think for yourself to come up with the answers for things -- it just spits them out for you to memorize. I don’t doubt that AI tutoring can be helpful for people (like endless flashcards) but it is in no way a meaningful substitute for actual doing and learning in the real world.
Incidentally, writing this comment made me imagine an AI encouraging me to try out different answers or explain my steps in a math problem, and the idea of machine learning engaging with me in that way is incredibly creepy. I think the issue with it that a lot of people have is that it mimics human interaction and real relationships.
Actually I think it will do exactly that. You can use a book to memorize.
To be fair though, the author didn't say we wouldn't have any human relationships. Or that AI would replace human teachers and therapists. My kids have online apps to practice math and spelling. These have not replaced their human teachers.
True, I think tutor is the least problematic of the ideas here. Companion and therapist, though, would only deepen the sense of alienation and loneliness that many people feel.
You don't need a deep relationship with your tutor. That is what family is for,
But you need A relationship with your tutor, and AI isn't going to provide that.
I guess we disagree. TO me a tutor needs to provide information and teach how to solve problems. I've hated teachers that I still learned from.
Fair
There are already ai tutors that are effective.
https://districts.khanacademy.org/khanmigo
This, from the tech overlords who insist on sending their children to tech-free Waldorf schools.
Yeah, it's always a good idea to look at what they do when you listen to what they say.
I’ve worked as a engineer and researcher in machine learning (now we’re calling it AI) for the past decade and I want to fact check this.
> AI is a computer program like any other—it runs, takes input, processes, and generates output.
True. But he omits that the rules are encoded in 1 billion to 1 trillion parameters and that no human truly understands *how* it processes that input to create an output.
> This moral panic is already being used as a motivating force by a variety of actors to demand policy action
True. Sam Altman is definitely a bootlegger. Most of the policy proposals from Sam Altman are designed to build himself a moat.
> My view is that the idea that AI will decide to literally kill humanity is a profound category error.
I find it unlikely that ape-derived brains will still dominate the earth in ten thousand years. We’re safe from existential risk for now though.
> My response is that their position is nonscientific. What is the testable hypothesis? What would falsify the hypothesis?
Red Teaming Deep Neural Networks for Trojan Re-discovery is a promising direction. I think it can be extended to reinforcement learning.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2302.10894v2.pdf
> a conspiracy theory about math and code
When did it become a conspiracy theory? This is a straw man argument to make anyone who disagrees with him look dumb.
> AI is going to improve warfare, when it has to happen, by reducing wartime death rates dramatically
Now he’s just messing with us.
> There is a whole profession of “AI safety expert,” “AI ethicist,” “AI risk researcher.”
I write under a pen name, but my day job is not about safety. It’s about profit. There are definitely risks.
> They are paid to be doomers, and their statements should be processed appropriately.
Andreesen as an investor is paid to be an optimist and his statements should be processed appropriately.
I wrote up a piece on Forecasting Authoritarian Uses of Large Language Models if anyone is interested [https://taboo.substack.com/p/authoritarian-large-language-models]. I think the immediate risk in the next generation or two is just the same as always. Power hungry tyrants using new technologies to control us. And investors making misleading statements minimizing the risks of these technologies.
"Ape derived brains..."
Very chilling. Watching "Chimp Empire" and realizing we share about 98% of our DNA with these jealous, murderous cousins - and literally "ape" their behavior in many of our endeavors - is not very comforting.
Yeah, I'm fascinated by the Gombe Chimpanzee War: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombe_Chimpanzee_War
I think you are leaving out the laziness problem. We alreadyhave a coupleof decades of shadow scholarship literally doing ALL of the work for degrees through doctoral level. Now teachers are reporting that kids are having ChatGPT write their papers and take tests.They know because of sameness and ChatGPT makes up citations just like it makes up everything else.
AI is making a generation of kids who think they're stupid and aren't learning Jack. It's a crisis at least as bad as climate change. Probably worse.
Not to mention bad actors using the technology for their own benefit. Chatbots that have no restraints from companies are being released into the wild by impatient independent developers.
Like always, the idea of regulating this is coming too late to do any good.
And, scarier, those who simply want to cause harm to others.
“Andreesen as an investor is paid to be an optimist and his statements should be processed appropriately.” Thanks Liam for clarifying the context of Marc’s statements.
This piece needs to be followed by Mr Andreesen’s statement on conflicts of interest. Those who control and profit from AI are going to control us.
He slipped it in at the very end there.
Yes, perhaps he is the Bootlegger of whom he speaks.
Given the amount of information and intelligence available in todays world and the level of understanding that too many of the younger generation have or don't have it is doubtful A.I. will penetrate the obtuse minds of these "educated" kids. Many of them don't even know the timeline of recent history or any of the basic building blocks of an intelligent life. They seem immune to acquiring knowledge or information. Just interview the next graduating class at a major University and try getting an answer to basic questions. Good luck. A.I. will become a tool of the elites and government to consolidate their power and control. It will affect the general population but without their consent or knowledge. And so it goes.
The level of ignorance (and comfort with it) in the students I interact with is breathtaking.
Terrifying so.
Think the author of this AÍ article is one of those kids.
The Biden Admin. is already fighting the injunction against Big Tech/D.C. surveillance state collusion placed by the the Federal Judge in Western Louisiana who, opined that the Twitter Files exposed the greatest assault on free speech in human history. And yet, reasonable American's can't even be sure that our next election will remove the monster's responsible. I'm not against tech but I am clear that Suckerberg/Bozos need their teeth pulled. In the face of moral reason and criminal bureaucracy they folded. Big Tech needs to be broken up and leveled to public utility status.
“Many of them don't even know the timeline of recent history or any of the basic building blocks of an intelligent life.”
Several months ago, I read that the Anne Frank House had to add signs explaining the basics of Naziism, Hitler, the Holocaust, and WWII. A significant amount of their younger visitors had virtually no knowledge of any of these things. (I guess the good news is that they were still aware that, for some reason, the Anne Frank House was historically important enough to visit…)
When I was a kid, every kid I knew had at least one grandparent who served in WWII. (I had three because one of my grandmothers was in the WAC.) Combine that with movies and young adult fiction in the era, and every kid could tell you basic things like, “Hitler was the leader of the Nazis. He wanted to kill all the Jews and made camps where he killed millions of them.” One generation later, and apparently a lot of teenagers don’t know this.
Today's teenagers have been taught all non-Leftists are Nazis.
Our true downfall was allowing our education system to be corrupted. AI didn't cause that lol.
Just wanted to say I got the Vonnegut reference. I referenced him myself. There are none better at the intersection of the absurd, comical and terrifying.
"It is quite possibly the the best thing human beings have ever created." - Please tell me that AI did not write the title of this article with a typo. :)
Excellent catch. Had to go back and look. Hilarious.
Do you not think something is already lost in our humanity as people wander around with eyes glued to their smart phones never bothering to look at the world around them. The internet is so addictive that some people never interact with others-much less nature. People are brainwashed. My feeling is that we are already less as human beings and this directly relates to technology. As for AI? I see it as another nail in the coffin of humanity. I hope I’m wrong.
Thank You. I fear You're not wrong. A lotta Generation Alpha is supposedly more comfortable dealing with people over their phones than in person.
So, yeah. Why not suck a little *more* humanity outta people, and see where that leads us?
Thank you! Those were my thoughts as I read his introductory paragraphs on all the "good" that AI will do. I wondered if the piece was satire about replacing us all with an AI counterpart!
In Love and Death, Woody Allen's monologue near the movie's end contain this brilliant observation, "If there is a God, I think he's an underachiever."
I see the internet in much the same way. It could do enormous good. But its also done enormous harm by exploiting human nature ... and society will pay for it. The internet, writ large, is an underachiever.
AI will be worse, as its ability to manipulate us will be vastly greater than anything we've seen. societies around the world will pay an enormous price for it.
Another instance of Woody Allen the theologian, this one from "Sleeper": "Do I believe in God? I'm what you would call a teleological, existential atheist. I believe that there's an intelligence to the universe, with the exception of certain parts of New Jersey."
Agreed. That's why at this point, my dog is more human than most people.
I was thinking that is well. To me it cannot get worse. At least with AI you can ask it where it got it' information. It might improve things along those lines.
If it makes up false citations for school papers,, doubt it will give truthful answers elsewhere if so programmed.
That is now. It will improve with competition. (Well, that is my hope)
Yes, but it will answer as programmed.
You not sadly 🥲🥲wish you were though!
"the machine version of infinite love..."
This fool actually typed that with a straight face.
He seriously considers that long list of bullet points "the positive argument" FOR this nonsense! Every thing he envisions and looks forward to, I believe any sane human should regard as an absolute nightmare.
i also did an eye roll here. he’s framing anyone skeptical of ai as a superstitious cultist yet then i ironically drops the phrase “machine version of infinite love”. Cmon man.
at the same time, the provided opposing view from Kingsnorth immediately gives a disclaimer of diving into the supernatural and describes ai as something like the evil, inevitable manifestation of an ancient antichrist. As chilling of a read as it was, it did kind of seem to make Marc’s point for him if Kingsnorths view represents the opposing side’s “strongest argument”, as bari put it in her forward…
I think Kingsnorth's view represents some people's view, but not a huge number of people's. There are a lot of sides.
A. If it was created by man, then mankind can pervert it (Biden and COVID anyone?) and use it against the average normal human being.
B. The ability to use for spying and selecting those you disagree with for punishment, reeducation, or even elimination is too great to be trusted. Maybe even aborting those babies that the superior elite determine should not be allowed to live. Or monitoring your consumption, usage of goods, or spoken resistance, and determine you are a problem. Think not, well can you say China!
C. Facebook and Ticktock would never collect information to use against you right? Suckenberg can be trusted, just look at that face and tell me you don't trust him.
How does AI help the average person get a decent job and be able to feed their family and just live a free life? How would it help end the endless wars in Africa and the hunger and famine in the world? I distrust anyone saying they know its the best thing ever for mankind. You don't know shit until it all plays out!
As a thought: Tech/AI is being sold as human evolution when in fact the cultural/spiritual ethos that defines what it is to be a human being is in devolution? A kind of electronic schizophrenia that subsumes the man and severs his connection to the actual history and culture that should inform the meaningful life he deserves. We are witnessing the increasing loss of literacy, connection to place/community, country, kinship and family in our young every day. The symptom's of the "disease" actually parallel the numbing emotional obsessive/ addictive behavior of junkie's. Michael Shellenberger point's to our wanting to believe that the American homeless problem is about shelter and job's when in fact it is about mental illness and drug's. Is a complete loss of the ability to interact with human reality, (trigger warning/words are violence) and the retreat into a vacuous mental state where emotional safety and sanity only exist in the computer screen not crazy? How many articles do we see on Substack pointing to the parental lament of losing their child to some on-line infection of the psyche? An even bigger reality for consideration is the effect of tech, like drugs, on its' distortion and experience of time.
The world, even without AI, isn't handling the impact of tech very well and the Twitter File's reveal speaks directly to the mal intent of the criminal financier's exploiting it. The author can shake his finger at the CCP all he want's but the DNC/EU Davos crowd is right there colluding with them. And that fight is far from over.
Human touch will create a generational change in the color and behavior of baby foxes. I'm not sure how happy I am with the generational changes tech has produced in human kind. Is it possible to become a fox again?
I believed mankind was meant to be together, in groups or even associations. Some form of human to human interaction. Tech and AI are replacing that human interaction and doesn’t allow people to grow, learn, or develop their social relationships. As people close down with Tech and AI they become susceptible to control from non-existent beings or group mindset. They in essence lose their unique human qualities and abilities. So being a groupthink person is more important. Me, I like being me and the same applies for our family. Everyone has the ability to be, well just themselves that is not dictated to them.
America is about character, the individual, human connection, agency and responsible stewardship. I see isolation and festering distrust in faces every day. But, I do believe the desire for a better America and life beyond this chaos still exist's in most of us. And, I think this attempt a a new truth/fact based national dialogue is having an impact. Keep rocking' forward!!
There's an interesting tension here between the values of individuality, self-reliance, and the family unit, and human community. Like an invasive insect, Tech fits in the gap between the family and the larger community. Tech then leaves the family unit--its host--intact, while feeding on and eroding real-life community. It doesn't just leave the family intact: it isolates it. It's rather insidious.
That’s a lot of kool-aid. With Kamala Harris as the AI czar what could possibly go wrong?
I have been wary of AI until now. Is Kamala the AI czar?! If true we are well and truly F-ed
Everything!!!
AI in the hands of a big and growingly intrusive government.
What could possibly go wrong?
I found it incredibly naive that the author admitted that China is using AI for the purpose of authoritarian suppression, yet he remains confident that powerful people in the U.S. will only use it for GOOD purposes. *facepalm*
That is already happening for sure.
When I read about the attorneys who relied on AI to write a legal brief, and AI made up case law to argue a point, and the attorneys submitted it to the court and opposing side without checking it, and the judge and opposing attorneys asked to see the full citations for the case law, weelllllllll now....the attorneys wiped egg off their faces and are having to pay a fine. A few more stories like this, and AI’s value will be seriously damaged.
*tinfoil hat* Hopefully that isn't the point of AI being 'wrong'. There is no way they would keep better versions of AI to themselves while showing us a shoddy product to assuage our fears. Government and big businesses have never hidden anything from us before ;)
One can only hope. We’re getting into unknown territories and it’s darn scary. It’s almost as if we don’t give humans credit for what we ourselves can do. I see nothing positive about AI that humans can’t figure out another option. The problem is that we want everything faster and easier and faster and easier! In the meantime, we’re missing the good things in life.
Why was that version of ai allowed to make up facts?
it wasn’t allowed to per se, it has simply been discovered that it does naturally. GPT does this all the time, i’ve encountered it myself.
Won't it matter who does the programming? If you ask AI to sort out issues in the gender wars, won't its answers reflect the ideological input of the programmers? The same thing for having it tutor in history for example. And even in supposedly scientific fields like medicine where it will push certain kinds of therapies determined by the scientific orthodoxy. That is already happening with gender affirming care for dysphoria. It is also happening in the realm of so-called scientific journals.
So from where I sit, your view of AI would create a frightening and far-reaching totalitarianism. I hardly consider that making the world better.
That's the primary issue with AI--the programmers. AI will be a reflection of THEIR values and THEIR intentions. A computer need not become self-aware in order to have the ability to destroy the people its programmers want destroyed.
I was stunned that the author's naivete in asserting that AI war will have fewer human casualties. That would only happen if the programmers TOLD it to minimize human casualties. Since when have human beings earnestly tried to PREVENT casualties (except to their own side) in war?
I agree. It would make killing more efficient with way more casualties. The wars very well could be shorter because there would be nobody left to fight.
YES Celia!
Exactly!
Responding to this article - do I believe him, or my lying’ eyes? Humans everywhere, medicated with prescribed or illegal drugs, criminals given free range to operate at will, homeless and mentally ill choking once beautiful urban cities, taxes rising on those working to achieve the waning American Dream while masses of less fortunate or less industrious live on subsidized incomes that will never lift them out of poverty. AI will only increase the fortunes of the Uber-rich and powerful, while subjugating , intoxicating and suppressing compliant underlings. Would gladly eat my words, but like my eyes, throat not cooperating either.
Garbage in garbage out. I’m a natural optimist but this was over the top. Unfortunately many of the “bad guys” are our leaders and elites. We have to pursue AI responsibly but there will be serious downsides.
I agree with your first sentence. Every technology break through has had a down side but over all has been good.