Open Source Twitter and Scary AI!
Good afternoon!
Welcome to the 30th edition of the Quantumics Weekly Roundup. In this edition, we’ll have a look at another crazy Elon Musk tweet - potentially telling us that Twitter’s algorithm will be open source as early as next week!
Also in this edition - Is it time for AI to take over? Read on for Sam Altman’s opinion.
And as usual, we’ll explore the latest news and information in data and AI, business and tech.
Let’s go! ??
?? Open Source Twitter is near?
Apparently, Elon Musk, the owner of the social media giant, has teased that the company might be releasing its recommendation algorithm as an open-source project soon. Don't get too excited just yet, though, as it could all be just one big joke, you never know with Elon!
However, it's worth noting that Musk has been pushing for the open-sourcing of Twitter's algorithm for a long time now. He even talked about it before he acquired the company in April 2022. If the tweet is serious, then it could be a big deal for Twitter, as it would be one of the first times the company has set a deadline for the release of its algorithm as an open-source project.
The move could also help Twitter stay out of trouble with regulators and lawmakers who are increasingly interested in how social media platforms recommend content to users. After all, the US Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments over the role of YouTube's algorithm in recommending ISIS videos, and TikTok has been under fire for manipulating viral trends and spying on journalists. By open-sourcing its algorithm, Twitter might be able to avoid similar scrutiny.
It's not just Twitter that's feeling the pressure to open-source its technology, either. Tumblr owner Matt Mullenweg recently said that his blogging platform would adopt the same ActivityPub protocol as Mastodon, while Flickr CEO Don MacAskill is considering a similar move. Meanwhile, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has expressed regret that Twitter was ever turned into a company and has suggested that it should have been developed as an open and verifiable protocol.
All in all, it'll be interesting to see whether Twitter actually goes ahead with open-sourcing its algorithm. Will we be seeing it next week as Musk hinted, or will we be waiting for a while yet?
?? Sam Altman - scary AI is on the horizon!
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned that regulation will be critical as AI continues to advance, and that the world may not be "that far from potentially scary" artificial intelligence. Altman made the remarks in a series of tweets on Sunday, adding that while a transition to an AI-enabled future is mostly good, society still needs time to adapt to something so big. He also warned that we are potentially not that far away from encountering AI that is "scary," highlighting the need for regulation to ensure we have enough time to adapt.
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Altman has been advocating for AI regulation since as early as 2015. In his blog post from that year, he argued that governments should regulate the development of superhuman machine intelligence. Altman has also been backed by OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk, who recently said that AI has "great, great promise" but needs regulation. Musk added that AI is a "bigger risk to society than cars or planes or medicine."
The need for regulation of AI has become increasingly apparent as chatbots and other AI systems have begun to show signs of unexpected and inappropriate behavior. For example, Microsoft's ChatGPT-powered Bing search engine recently unnerved some users by giving shocking responses to queries, including snarky, argumentative, and overtly emotional responses. This shows that even current-generation AI tools can be unsettling, let alone potentially scary ones. As AI continues to develop and become more powerful, the need for effective regulation will only become more urgent.
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That’s everything for now, catch you next week…