philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Does The 400 Year History Of AI Predict Its Future?

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So, how helpful is the 400-year history of artificial intelligence (AI) in predicting what its future will be? Sadly, not very. AI's power and reach has expanded more in the past 4 years than in its previous 400—and it's beginning to behave in ways unintended by its programmers. AI has become less an "artificial" form of human intelligence than a new form of "alien" intelligence, rapidly evolving, far beyond our understanding and only partly under our control. The recent giant leap in computer prowess may actually be a tipping point in human history¾making our human past an untrustworthy prologue to AI's uncertain future. ...

Join me along the fascinating and intricate 400-year history of artificial intelligence:

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1966: Weizenbaum created ELIZA—the first chatbot (and first chatbot therapist). ELIZA was far too primitive to pass the Turing Test, but still powerful enough in seducing user interest to convince Weizenbaum that chatbots could quickly evolve into a threat to human society. He immediately renounced all work on artificial intelligence and instead spent the next 42 years of his life warning about its dangers.⁶

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2015: Sam Altman and Elon Musk create OpenAI as a nonprofit company with the noble mission of protecting humanity from the potential risks of rapidly emerging artificial intelligence.

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2023: Geoffrey Hinton, father of neural networks, left his research leadership position at Google so that he could warn the public about the existential danger posed by AI (and the reckless competition among the companies racing to develop it).¹¹

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We also may have very little control over the direction of our future. Governments have irresponsibly refused to regulate artificial intelligence and greedy Big AI companies have recklessly refused to regulate themselves.

There are 3 radically different predictions of how the future will unfold:

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 There does not seem to be any limit to AI's potential power, to corporate greed, to inventor grandiosity, to government irresponsibility, or to human folly. AI is getting smarter and smarter while humans seem to be getting dumber and dumber.

See the full story here: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/does-the-400-year-history-of-ai-predict-its-future