I've read a number of articles like the one in today's Guardian and I have to say I'm not too happy about so-called "AI" myself. It draws some pretty pictures and can write a kids' story in 2 seconds, but on the downside it can produce bullshit in such incredible volumes that a lot of people are going to drown in it.
Deep learning pioneer Geoffrey Hinton announced on Monday that he was stepping down from his role as a Google AI researcher after a decade with the company. He says he wants to speak freely as he grows increasingly worried about the potential harms of artificial intelligence.
It's interesting to compare the gung-ho attitude of the gigantic silicon valley companies on this matter with that of the scientists who developed genetic engineering in the seventies. After the first few tentative steps, scientists quickly demanded a moratorium, held a symposium to discuss the issues and developed a safety system - within a few months. It's certainly possible to argue that the scientists got it wrong or didn't do enough but at the least they didn't shrug and say, "Aw fuck it, it might be okay," and just carry on with it.
I wrote about that moratorium in 1979 and you can read a transcript here on the blog.
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