Google Gets into a One in Four Chance to Destroy Humanity? Risky? Nah!

October 31, 2023

This essay is the work of a dumb humanoid. No smart software required.

Below is quite a headline in the Blaze online “information” service. Note: The Blaze is sufficiently confident in its ability to attract subscribers that the outfit is moving away from advertising. Okay, let’s see how that works out in an era of subscription fatigue, right, aggregators?

Relax, there is only a 25 percent chance that AI will destroy humanity. Go for it! Thanks, MidJourney, is this Redmond after the apocalypse?

Here’s the headline:

Google Invests $2 Billion in AI Company Whose CEO Admits AI Has a One in Four Chance of Destroying Humanity

Snappy. What does the story about the Google reveal. Here are a couple of snippets, and you will have to navigate to the Blaze write up, endure the “please, oh, please, subscribe” message, and read the allegedly accurate story yourself… or not. Tip: Check out the non opt out cookie settings. Quite a nice touch in my opinion.

Item 1: Google and Amazon?

There has already been $500 million that Google has invested in Anthropic, with the remaining investment being provided over a period of time. This comes after Amazon invested $4 billion into Anthropic

Item 2: OpenAI DNA

Amodei [the Anthropic CEO] was previously OpenAI’s vice president of research before going his own way to build something that could rival ChatGPT. Since he departed three years ago, Anthropic has become a company worth $5 billion.

So OpenAI was influenced by the Google AI work. Anthropic is probably aware of OpenAI’s work. Google, like Amazon, has invested some pocket change in Anthropic?

Does this seem like a bit of a cozy little circle? Why is the US government issuing broad AI guidelines for an entire swath of technology outfits. Perhaps a bit more focus would be useful? Hurry, because the one in four chance of destroying humanity is playing out in real time. You know. Percentages work in interesting ways.

Stephen E Arnold, October 31, 2023

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under AI, Business strategy, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.