Methinks we are on the same page. If I remember correctly we are also from another time. I really hate being the proverbial party pooper, but I have watched the development of AI from a safe distance since the early 90's (yup it existed then) and what I have witnessed is technology going awry. Nothing new here. I even avoided the internet for the longest time knowing the potential it had and I didn't get online until the turn of the century. AI was part of my reason for that delay. Reading John Horgan's book, The End of Science, really made me think about the direction technology was taking.
You know the story — there's no stopping the wheels of progress. Alas, from all I see occurring with AI mankind might well be facing more of a regress without egress compliments of AGI or whatever acronym one might happen to choose for it. I watched half a dozen high school graduates last year stating that AI got their diplomas for them. One student blatantly stated, "Give AI my diploma". Those words had a profound impact on my psyche. The more mankind allows compute to do their "thinking" for them the more ignorant mankind will become. Eventually all the important decisions will be made by machines talking to machines.
Call me old school. I'm a big fan of Edward Snowden, who also saw this coming down line. I have a daughter at the U of A already wondering if she's even going to have a job because she wanted to major in software engineering. Is she wrong to wonder? I think not. All the great minds behind AI, Sam Altman, Geoffrey Hinton, McCarthy, Fridman, and the rest (including ole buddy boy, Elon) were aware of the potential dangers of AI. There is no great secret here. If left unchecked, corporate greed will over ride ethics and it will be business as usual. The end result will be a cataclysm of proportions completely alien to mankind as they continue to indulge in the new opiate of the people, robbing humanity of ingenuity, creativity, intelligence, individuality, and autonomy.
I know it sounds like a script for a science fiction horror movie where I'm the guy who's yelling, "the sky is falling" but I have never wanted to be wrong so badly. Just casual observation of how AI affects finance, manufacturing, the stock market, education, current economy, industry, etc. should serve as to what direction it is taking and there's no getting this genie back in the bottle. The greater good argument doesn't wash. The only reason the very wealthy are behind it is because they mean to stay on top of the heap. Nothing has greater potential to turn us all into cattle. Humanity is doomed. To all the nay sayers all I can say is prove me wrong.
