Adam Connover recently posted a video talking about how the current AI hype cycle perpetuated by the tech industry is B.S.
And while he points out a lot of valid criticisms, he reaches the wrong conclusion.
Yes, human creativity and intelligence for our entire history has separated us from the rest of the natural world. But that fairy tale and comforting narrative is quickly unraveling. And there is real science to back it up.
Current State of AI
yeah, really cool. really useful. but also way hyped up.
Role of the Tech Industry
exploitation
The Unbridled Potential of AGI
Conclusion
A lot of smart people out there (way smarter than me) think we (as in humanity) our on the verge of … something.
Yes, AI is going to be in everything you use.
Yes, fuck insurance.
The future might suck…if we let it. It doesn’t have to though.
The robot apocalypse isn’t the thing any of us should be worried about right now.
“A worse version of what we alrady have” - in it’s current incarnation, I agree with this, but Adam is failing to see the trajectory here.
It doesn’t matter.
Underneath all the bullshit is real science. Real technology that is going to have real consequences in our real world.
And Adam is absolutely right to call Sillicon Valley on its hype cycle bullshit. But whether or not tech companies are pieces of shit (they are), the tech is real and it’s coming to affect all of us.
And I definitely realize I am a part of all this. I feel like I’m one of those tech bros he’s talking about. My name is Chad, I workout…sometimes, and I generally get excited about technology. Classic tech bro.
And while he is right to point out the false promises (self driving cars elon clip), even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Like most things in the tech industry, despite the real science behind it, a lot of the innovation behind the biggest tech companies is exploitation.
Exploiting real people to enrich the few.
But focusing on that part of all of this, while valid, and definitely makes me feel a lot of anger towards our society and the status quo, concluding that it’s all bullshit is the wrong approach.
7:04
Historically, yes, this has been the thing humans have always been good at compared to technology (especially the AI we are used to dealing with), this is different.
He brings up a lot of good points pointing out the “Stochastic Parrot” argument against generateive AI as well as pointing out the dangers of AI “hallucinations.”
This technology isn’t perfect, far from it, it IS being rushed out to the public before we know the conseuqnces. It is a giant experiment.
And the tech industry DOES suck. They DID fire their AI ethicists. Our capitalistic overlords ARE trying to fuck us all over.
But, the promise of AI, specifically AGI (which my last video is about) truly is a game changer.
While the current generation is hyped a lot, we are definitely building much more than “imitation systems” at this point.
And while he does point a lot of the negative conseuqneces of rushing out this technology without thinking about the ethical issues, there is a LOT to be gained from this technology.
His conclusion that human creativity is special definitely feels good to a human audience who is scared about the coming technological revolution, but it’s based on ideas and philosphies that are quickly becoming outdated.
Look, things are changing fast, it’s easy to get scared, it’s easy to get angry especially at the people who have fucked us all over so much.
This technology WILL transform the world. It definitely has the potential to entrench the status quo and lead us to a late-stage capitalistic hellscape.
But if we take the time to talk about the ethical issues, ALL OF US, and ensure that EVERYONE has access to this technology, we can truly change the world.
This is the best opportunity in a century for WE, the people, to create the world we want of it.
But it only come if we can all come together and talk about the REAL issues.
This tech is coming whether we want it to or not. It WILL change the world. Will we take back what’s ours. Take back the fruits of OUR data.
Software engineers like myself are trying. These models especially from “Open”AI are currently closed and being hoarded.
This technology should be FREE (as in freedom).
IF (big if) we can reach the goals of AGI, the UN Agenda 2030 actually becomes more than a fantasy. It becomes a possibility.
It’s easy to get angry. It’s easy to dismiss scary things and assume it’s all BS.
That would be the wrong approach with this technology.
Educate yourself. Speak up and demand this technology is used ethically.
There are a LOT of ethical and philosphical issues that are being raised RIGHT NOW.
We need to speak up and stand up for our future.
That can only happen though if we all participate in this AI Revolution. We have to get past our differences and come together to help build the world that WE want and deserve.
The AI needs us. He is absolutely right. The way these models are trained, they can’t learn from new data. They have limited short-term memory. But, we are actively giving long-term memory. We are actively giving it eyes, ears, and building out the rest of the parts of it’s brain.
I don’t know at what point an artificial system will reach general intelligence levels of a human. It’s deinitely not now, but it is also most definitely coming.
The era of humanity being special is quickly coming to an end. “That what separates us from other living things.”
I think we are rapidly discovering that we aren’t the center of the universe and our consciousness and intelligence are maybe not as special as we once thought.
We can either strive to learn more about this or plug our ears and get mad that somebody is taking our jobs and miss out on the huge potential benefits of this revolution.