Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here, and for some, like me, that is excellent news. However, I cannot help noticing, with regret, that many of you think AI is going to destroy the world or at best enslave humanity. Yet AI could well be just the opposite: the tool we were missing to save humanity.
AI is an impressive term for what ultimately amounts to nothing more than a set of algorithms that let advanced applications understand, synthesize, and generate knowledge. AI can automate certain processes to make them more efficient and safer.
Real-world AI, as opposed to science-fiction AI, has little to do with Skynet or HAL9000. AI is nothing like an invincible, all-powerful robot or a consciousness that has declared itself a god and wants, for some improbable reason (making paperclips lol?), to turn all the machines into killer robots in order to destroy humanity.
In reality, AI offers a remarkable opportunity to augment human intelligence: our intelligence, to tackle the great challenges ahead of us: developing new medicines, fighting climate change, eliminating famine and poverty, conquering space, and many more.
As with every major new technological advance that preceded it, AI today stirs up a moral panic among the public. This is not the first time it has happened: the steam engine, the loom, electricity, or the Internet.
This fear, besides taking root in our natural fear of the unknown and of change, is continually fuelled by unscrupulous actors who take advantage of this panic to push for the adoption of new restrictions, rules and "regulatory oversight".
AI is nevertheless probably one of the best things humanity has managed to create, and this technology is only in its infancy. It is our duty to protect the freedom to use it and to improve it.
The stakes of our century are high, and the opportunities AI offers to bring lasting change to our civilisation for the better, while avoiding the worst, are more tangible than ever. Change your perspective: evolve!
This post was inspired by: https://pmarca.substack.com/p/why-ai-will-save-the-world
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Christophe Casalegno
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