Innovation or manipulative chaos: What is the future of generative AI?
Tom Popomaronis
Innovation Leader | GenAI Expert Building Suite of Agents | HBR Contributor | 40 Under 40 | Host of TomTalks??
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If you haven’t seen?this video?of Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin from the Center for Humane Technology speaking about generative AI and its implications, it should top your “to-watch” list this week. The presentation in the video was given roughly one week before the release of GPT-4, and it couldn’t have been more timely.
It explains the state of AI today, what the connection is between the thousands of generative AI tools released recently, how they differ from previous AI technology, what the major risks are, and why this is a watershed moment in human history.
It points out that AI will make us more efficient, faster at writing and creating, help us solve impossible scientific challenges, probably defend civilization from climate change, and unlock incredible economic opportunities. The presentation didn’t mention, but I would add, that AI could also help us end poverty, homelessness, and systematic oppression, among other intractable issues.
But what Harris and Raskin really want people to understand is that it could also lead to:
To summarize their overarching point, virtually all aspects of human civilization are built on language in one way or another, and the ability of a non-human technology/entity to generate, manipulate, and use language is essentially a?zero-day vulnerability?for humanity. This is the rationale that prompted (no pun intended) the recent proposal for a?moratorium?on AI development.
So, what to do? What to think?
To start with, there are some positives to consider.
What about the meantime? What do we do?
It’s certainly possible to take action as individuals, businesses, communities, and professionals. Here are?some starting places.
But when pessimism or existential dread feels overwhelming, I have a go-to that I learned from a friend years ago:
Ask yourself,?“What’s the next right thing to do?”
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This strategy is rooted in mindfulness. If AI rains catastrophe down on us all, we’ll have to deal with it. But today, we still have to deal with what’s in front of us, regardless of what that is, and we’ll be most effective at that if we give it our full focus, and don’t get hung up on something that we can’t control.
Make no mistake, AI is scary. But we don’t have to act or even think in service to our fear.
Alan Watts?said,?"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance."
And?Aristotle:?"He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.”
"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”?— the great Stoic philosopher?Seneca.
Personally, I like the classic serenity prayer:
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot?change
The?courage to change?the things I?can
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Indeed.
Thanks for reading!
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Tom is Co-Founder & President of Innovation at Massive Alliance, a concierge thought leadership agency. Tom co-founded Massive's?Executive Leadership Branding?program – through which hundreds of senior executives maximize their thought leadership impact via consistent, mainstream publication distribution at major media outlets like?Entrepreneur Magazine, Newsweek, Fast Company, and Rolling Stone.
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1 年Technology is growing faster than laws which can protect us and that is a concern we cannot dismiss. Thank you for this article, Tom Popomaronis
Keep these interesting topics coming our way. AI is and will be a topical subject for quite some time and we will need to deal with it as the proverbial Genie is out of the lamp . I hope that AI does not create a parallel universe which humans struggle to navigate as it would be impossible to discern truth from false or worse truth from an almost-truth !
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1 年Tom Popomaronis ??????????
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1 年Scary good video. Or good scary video.