Smart Software Wizard: Preparation for a Future As a Guru
September 5, 2023
Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.
I read “I Hope I’m Wrong: the Co-Founder of DeepMind on How AI Threatens to Reshape Life As We Know It.” The article appears to be an interview with one of the founders of the Google DeepMind outfit. There are numerous somewhat astounding quotes in the write up. To enjoy the humble bragging, the “gee whiz, trouble ahead” deflection, and the absolutism of the Google way — read the edited interview yourself. (You will have to click through the increasingly strident appeals for cash from the Guardian newspaper. I find them amusing since the “real news” business decided itself into the pickle many “real news” outfits find themselves.) The “interview” is a book review. Just scroll to the end of the lengthy PR piece about “The Coming Wave.” If there were old fashioned bookstores, you might be able to view the wizard and buy a signed copy. But another high-tech outfit fixed up the bookstore business so you will have to Google it. Heck, Google everything.
A serious looking AI expert ponders what to do with smart software. It looks to me as if the wizard is contemplating cashing in, becoming famous, and buying a super car. Will he volunteer for the condo association’s board of directors? Thanks, MidJourney. No Mother MJ hassling me for this highly original AI art.
Back to the write up which seems to presage doom from smart software.
Here’s a statement I found interesting:
“I think that what we haven’t really come to grips with is the impact of … family. Because no matter how rich or poor you are, or which ethnic background you come from, or what your gender is, a kind and supportive family is a huge turbo charge,” he says. “And I think we’re at a moment with the development of AI where we have ways to provide support, encouragement, affirmation, coaching and advice. We’ve basically taken emotional intelligence and distilled it. And I think that is going to unlock the creativity of millions and millions of people for whom that wasn’t available.”
Very smart person that developer of smart software. The leap from the family to unlocking creativity is interesting. Do you think right wing political movements are zipping along on encrypted messaging apps, just wait until AI adds a turbo boost. That’s something to anticipate. Also, I like the idea of Google DeepMind taking “intelligence” and distilling it like a chef in a three star Michelin restaurant reducing a sauce with goose fat in it.
I also noted this statement:
I think this idea that we need to dismantle the state, we need to have maximum freedom – that’s really dangerous. On the other hand, I’m obviously very aware of the danger of centralized authoritarianism and, you know, even in its minuscule forms like nimbyism*. That’s why, in the book, we talk about a narrow corridor between the danger of dystopian authoritarianism and this catastrophe caused by openness. That is the big governance challenge of the next century: how to strike that balance. [Editor’s Note: Nimbyism means you don’t want a prison built adjacent to million dollar homes.]
Imagine, a Googler and DeepMinder looking down the Information Highway.
How are social constructs coping with the information revolution. If AI is an accelerant, what will go up in flames? One answer is Dr. Jeff Dean’s career. He was a casualty of a lateral arabesque because the DeepMind folks wanted to go faster. “Old” Dr. Dean was a turtle wandering down the Information Superhighway. He’s lucky he was swatted to the side of the road.
What are these folks doing? In my opinion, these statements do little to reduce my anxiety about the types of thinkers who knowingly create software systems purpose built to extend the control of a commercial enterprise. Without regulation, the dark flowers of some wizards are blooming in the Google walled garden.
One of these wizards is hoping that he is wrong about the negative impacts of smart software. Nice try, but it won’t work for me. Creating publicity and excuses are advertising. But that’s the business of Google, isn’t it. The core competence of some wizards is not moral or ethical action in my opinion. PR is good, however.
Stephen E Arnold, September 4, 2023
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
