It's not AI I'm worried about
Jeanine A. DeFalco, PhD
Director of Innovation and Experimentation, DAU IEEE Vice Chair AI Standards;
I have been studying and working in the space of intelligent technologies since 2013, and I am more worried about humans than AI.?
This concern stems from a Deweyan epistemology about knowledge and wisdom, and how we come to acquire and value both.?This epistemology can be summed up this way: knowledge is constructed in the interaction of an individual’s prior experiences with their current experiences. Wisdom is discerning between this acquired continuum of knowledge measured against a speculation of future constraints.?In this context, AI will never acquire fully human-like knowledge or wisdom.
Why I say this is because human-like knowledge and wisdom evades concrete, definitive calculations in part because we can never fully measure the known with the unknown, in this case, human potential. What we know and how we know it are at best approximations. And it’s from this approximate, liminal space where creativity and dreams are born. Creativity to engage with others, to know the world and the infinite universe; dreams as a necessary element to construct meaning and plan our future purpose.?
And I believe it’s through creativity and dreaming?that we can best understand a world of infinite possibilities and make choices about how to navigate that space.?
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So until AI can predict the unpredictable infinite variations of the unknown, I’m more worried about educating humans on how to think, to discern value, to act ethically and with integrity towards all sentient beings, and grasp the notion that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.?
And that includes the importance of regulating AI.?
It also means our work as humans will likely be spared being entirely replaced by a non-organic entity.?We are still—and odds are probably always will be—the stuff as dreams are made of, and creativity is the incalculable elixir of human experience, not AI. ?
The question for me is more what does it mean to be human and how do we work to find purpose—not whether or not AI will limit the scope of work. Because to live to work is a dubious proposition. I rather think working to live is a better mindset. In that way while AI will continue to be a disrupter in the workplace for the near future, it won't substitute the work of an individual's journey to determine their life's purpose. And it is important that humans focus their work on those ends.
Chief Operating Officer, Eduworks Corporation
1 年An interesting topic Jeanine. My advisor wrote a book in 1986 about AI and machine creativity. One difference between your article and his book is that I read your article.
I agree completely with your emphasis on human flourishing, wisdom and creativity. My worry is that super intelligent AI won't be aligned to these ideals and that we may find ourselves outcompeted for the resources that make our flourishing possible. Admittedly, this may not be a near-term reality. But it seems that AGI is closer at hand than many had anticipated. What happens when (if) AI is able to master the sum total of human knowledge and generate its own wisdom in the service of its own ends? It's possible that our life's purpose becomes subservient to a greater Intelligence, and thereby irrelevant. Your greater point is true, and I would add that we need to understand our purpose before we can bring AI into alignment with human wisdom and creativity.