Category Archives: Deep Mind
Elon Musk secretly working on AI project with DeepMind researchers – The Independent
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Elon Musk is secretly working on an artificial intelligence project at Twitter, according to reports.
The tech billionaire has already poached two researchers from leading AI research firm DeepMind, as well as invested in 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) for the company, sources told Insider.
The project reportedly involves developing a large language model similar to other generative AI technologies like OpenAIs ChatGPT.
Mr Musk was one of the original co-founders of OpenAI, however he left the company in 2018 and has since criticised the companys move away from its founding principles.
OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I named it Open AI), non-profit company to serve as a counterweight to Google, but now it has become a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft, he wrote in February. Not what I intended at all.
The move comes despite Mr Musk recently warning of the dangers of advanced artificial intelligence, claiming that they pose a profound risk to society and humanity.
The Twitter boss joined more than 1,000 notable tech figures and academics in signing an open letter calling on the development of AI systems like ChatGPT to be halted until the risks are properly understood.
This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium, the authors wrote.
AI labs and independent experts should use this pause to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rogorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts. These protocols should ensure that systems adhering to them are safe beyond a reasonable doubt.
It is not yet clear what Twitter intends to use generative AI for, though speculation among those familiar with the matter focuses on improving search and overhauling targeted advertising on the platform.
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
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Elon Musk secretly working on AI project with DeepMind researchers - The Independent
Samsung considers using Microsoft’s Bing on Galaxy phones –
The New York Times reported on Sunday (local time) that Samsung Electronics is considering replacing Google with Microsofts Bing as the default search engine on its devices. NYT said that the Samsung threat represented the first potential crack in Googles search business.
Samsung has applied the Android OS on its smartphones launched in 2010 and Googles search services as a default app. According to StatCounter, Google takes the top spot on the worlds search market with a 93% market share.
Things changed dramatically, however, as Open AIs latest LLM GPT-4 was applied in Bing, Microsofts search service. Users are given the option of choosing a new and convenient provider over Google.
The IT industry predicts that Googles number-one status in the market could be threatened earlier than expected. Google has launched Bard, its conversational AI service, to limited locations, including the U.S. and the U.K.
Reportedly, Samsung is considering varying options to collaborate with Google and MS. Given Samsungs long-standing cooperative ties with Google, it will not be easy to transfer entirely to MS, said a source from the Korean IT sector. As Samsung pays an annual fee of 3 billion dollars to Google applying its search services on Galaxy smartphones, Samsungs switch to a new search provider would have a considerable impact on Googles sales as well.
Sensing urgency, Google is known to have launched several projects to apply AI features to its search service, including the Magi project, which involves 160 employees. Google aims to build a service that shows previous search results along with AI replies by next month. It also aims to acquire 30 million users by the end of the year.
Other high-tech U.S. companies are joining the Open AI bandwagon. According to the Wall Street Journal, Tesla CEO Elon Musk founded a company named X.AI Corporation in Nevada, the U.S. Musk is known to have recruited a professional that previously worked for AI company Deep Mind, raising assumptions that the new business would be dedicated to artificial intelligence.
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Samsung considers using Microsoft's Bing on Galaxy phones -
10 reasons why having a complex personality is both a blessing and … – Hack Spirit
Lets face it, were all complex. Its pretty much a part of being human.
But some people seem to have even more complex personalities than others.
They have a multifaceted depth that isnt always the easiest personality to navigate, but it is one of the richest.
And thats why having a complex character is both a blessing and a challenge.
At the end of the day, the mind is a tool. Albeit an exceptionally complicated and advanced one.
Complex personalities have complex brains that think on many levels.
Being a deep thinker can make you wonderfully thoughtful, sensitive, and very clued up.
So far so good.
But all that thinking can also lead to worry when it turns into overthinking.
Especially if that overthinking is rumination (aka repetitive or negative), which has been linked to anxiety and depression.
If only a deep mind came with an off switch.
Whilst were on the topic of the incredible thinking power of complex personalities
Now would be a good time to highlight the gifts of critical and analytical thinking.
Because yet again, the more you think, the more opportunity to put that to good use.
Complex people are often really good at observing their own thought processes. They can study arguments, analyze the evidence, and make reasoned decisions.
You are detail-orientated so you notice the smallest things. You pay attention and youre tuned in.
You can then put all these skills to use in order to problem solve and find solutions to problems.
It only gets annoying if someone is looking for a simple answer. Simple answers probably aint your style.
When you see all sides to things, it can be hard to switch that off.
Your mind can be constantly busy looking for answers, explanations, pitfalls, or problems.
Which has the potential to get exhausting.
Mind-calming techniques like meditation and breathwork can be helpful to quiet your chattering brain to give yourself a break.
I was actually having this conversation with my boyfriend just the other night:
And thats how feeling a wide spectrum of emotions isnt always fun or easy, but it makes life feel fuller somehow.
As strange as it might sound, I genuinely value so-called bad emotions like sadness or pain. (As long as we dont get lost in them.)
Why?
Because there is an undeniable richness to them.
I compare it to the seasons.
At first the idea of endless summer sounds appealing. Its undeniably easier.
But even the harshness of winter provides a welcome contrast that can still feel inviting or almost cozy. There is depth to it.
The same goes for our emotions.
Have you ever noticed that a good old cry can be weirdly comforting?
Theres no doubt that being very sensitive to the wide range of emotions we experience can be a blessing and a curse.
Yet, I dont know about you, but its something I wouldnt want to give up!
I just mentioned above that the key to experiencing so-called negative emotions in a healthy way is not to get lost in them.
And that can be more challenging for complex personalities.
Because they have a tendency to live within the internal maze they create for themselves.
Complex personalities are often introverted. That simply means they focus their energy and attention more inwards than outward.
They may feel the need to spend a lot of time alone recharging. They enjoy being alone with their thoughts and feelings.
In many ways, they live in their own little words, rather than react to external stimuli in the same way extroverts do.
This in itself isnt a problem, despite the fact the world is still built more for extroverts than it is for introverts.
But too much time spent inhabiting this private internal world isnt always good for our mental health.
It can leave you feeling cut off from those around you, or society in general.
Complex personalities think differently from most people.
Whilst that can be a real blessing, it also means you are distinctive. And distinctive stands out, for good and for bad.
That means fitting in can feel trickier for complex people.
A high level of intelligence, creativity, and independence means you wont always connect with everybody.
Think of it this way:
A lot of the general population is on a different wavelength, and you find it difficult to tune in to one another.
So despite your gifts, talents, and abilities, you can feel very misunderstood.
There may be fewer people in your life who you feel genuinely seen and heard around.
At times that may mean you feel lonely, or like nobody really gets you.
Complex personalities operate on many levels. But they can find it more challenging to inhabit the surface layer.
They prefer to dive below to greater depths.
Small talk is very much surface conversation. Whilst being a widely used social politeness, it usually lacks any real substance.
And so complex personalities can struggle with it.
Instead, they much prefer to get into deep and meaningfuls, chat about complex topics, or discuss world views and abstract ideas.
This capacity for deep conversation is what makes them so interesting.
But its also the reason why some people can label complex people as intense or too much. Not everyone gets the same kick out of it,.
Complex people can be very passionate people.
When they find something interesting, they can become absorbed by it.
That might be a particular hobby or activity. It could be a certain topic.
But when their mind is engaged, they can become lost in the task at hand.
This is the flow state that experts speak of.
Popularized by positive psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Jeanne Nakamura its simply being completely immersed in what youre doing.
Its how hours can fly by and you may not even notice.
This is a great skill to have for concentration, and getting things done. The only downside is that you might find it tricky to quit.
Perhaps you have to keep yourself in check so that your interests dont turn into obsessions or OCDs.
Complex people arent just looking for the easiest ride in life.
Its not that they seek out struggle, but they do often seek out challenges and experiences.
Perhaps because they enjoy them or maybe simply because they find life without exploration and discovery far too dull.
This inquisitive nature means they cant stay in the beige area of life. They need to seek out the rainbow.
Sometimes that will mean creating more excitement and joy. Other times it will bring more pain and adversity.
Lets just say that complex people certainly get plenty of opportunities to develop a tougher skin
Personal growth can come naturally to a complex personality.
Its not always intentional, in fact, its unavoidable.
If you live on the surface of life its easier to dodge certain things that force you to reevaluate, learn and evolve.
The deeper you dig the more you will have examed yourself and the world around you.
All those life adventures, for better and for worse provide wisdom.
Even the hardships, whilst not feeling so great, mean complex personalities get the chance to face their fears and build resilience along the way.
The natural mind of a complex personality is endlessly curious.
They question everything.
This interrorgating nature means they dont take anything for granted. They want to explore, understand and keep on asking questions.
But as the saying goes ignorance is bliss. Taking things at face value can feel simpler.
Why?
I guess there is safety in certainty.
But complex personalities tend to recognize that nothing is truly certain in life, and so that its just a comforting illusion.
Perhaps its like that scene in the Matrix film where Neo is offered the red pill or the blue pill. He takes the red pill and the crazy journey begins.
Well, lets just say a complex personality would definitely have taken the red pill!
Yet theres no denying the blue pill would have made life easier.
Because it can offer peace of mind when you buy into things with conviction and certainty. Even if you do it delusionally.
This isnt something that a querying complex personality is capable of. They cannot hide in ignorance, they feel compelled to seek out truth.
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10 reasons why having a complex personality is both a blessing and ... - Hack Spirit
Is generative AI an existential threat to Google? | By Max Starkov – Hospitality Net
Google will be another winner from generative AI.
In March 2023 Google had 75.3 billion visitors vs 1.6 billion for ChatGPT.
There has been a very heated discussion about whether the launch of generative AI bots like ChatGPT marks the beginning of the end for Google Search near monopoly on finding the right answers about anything.
Through its subsidiaries Google Mind and DeepMind, Google is already the most-advanced AI company in the world, actually much more advanced than any other company or government on this planet.
Google's search algorithm has been using AI for more than a decade now and Google Answer Box has been providing AI-powered answers for years now.
In March Google launched Bard, its generative AI-powered chatbot, similar to ChatGPT. Now Google is working on integrating Bard into its search engine, naturally in a fashion that would allow it to continue making money from search. Let's not forget that the search engine generates 57% of Google's revenue.
Continuing making money from its search engine is Google's main problem today, not the AI technology. In other words, once Google figures out how they can combine their search with generative AI, they will be unstoppable.
Max StarkovNYU
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Is generative AI an existential threat to Google? | By Max Starkov - Hospitality Net
We must slow down the race to God-like AI – Financial Times
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We must slow down the race to God-like AI - Financial Times
Tom Ascol has the wrong apostates in mind – Baptist News Global
In a recent article titled Some Will Apostatize, Tom Ascol breathes fire and brimstone over those he is certain will desert the Christian faith as he defines it.
1 Timothy 4:1 seems to be the text of his sermonic outburst: Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.
The problem here is Ascols assumption that he has the authority to define apostasy in terms that exonerate him and condemn his political and theological opponents.
Rodney Kennedy
He sounds more like Rep. Lauren Boebert than St. Paul. Boebert has infamously uttered the nonsense, Its time for us to position ourselves and rise up and take our place in Christ and influence this nation as we were called to do. We know that we are in the last of the last days. You get to have a role in ushering in the Second Coming of Jesus.
The real intent of Ascols article is to smoke out those he believes are guilty of apostasy. The leading suspects, according to the biblical text, are those devoted to the deceitful spirits and demons. These deceitful spirits and demons do their dirty work through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.
To Ascol and his disciples, the deceitful spirits and demons are identified with Democrats, liberals and the media.
He explains: Apostates are people who have been deceived. They have been duped into believing lies rather than the truth and, as a result, are not standing firm but are falling away.
Ascol and his fellow preachers are the actual apostates.
This is rich! The Christians believing lies are evangelicals. Ascol and his fellow preachers are the actual apostates.
Ascol, for one, has fully embraced a new political savior: Gov. DeSantis of Florida. Ascol prayed at DeSantis political rally and has touted the would-be presidential candidate on Twitter.
The entire evangelical movement that departed the Christian faith to become MAGA has been outed by one of their own. DeSantis is MAGA2 and somehow gets the reputation of being Trump with brains.
Yet the true apostates live in MAGA Land. They are the Christian nationalists.
As Tim Alberta puts it, Politics has poisoned the evangelical church.
A large segment of our country has been imbibing lies, listening to lies, believing lies and reveling in lies since 2016. Supporters of Trump and DeSantis do not care about either of them being caught lying, because they like it. The truth has no bearing or importance here. All that matters is winning.
We should not be worrying about apostasy; we should be worrying about a new form of fascism. That is actively despising of the truth.
We should not be worrying about apostasy; we should be worrying about a new form of fascism.
I want a deep dive into the ideological underpinnings that make Ascol and his fellow brothers tick. And it starts with the Bible. Historically, the Bible has been deeply influenced by cultures that were xenophobic, patriarchal, classist, racist and homophobic. Thus the Bible has been used to authorize the abuse of women (rape and murder), the enslavement of African Americans, the near genocide of Native Americans, the colonization of conquered peoples, and the repression of homosexuals.
Ascol stands in this tradition, but he is much more subtle. He manages to couch his deeply prejudiced views of women in more palatable tones. He is seen as the other side of the argument as if there really are two sides.
But injustice in any age, no matter its degree, is injustice in every age.
There are deeper, more dangerous lies being told by Christian nationalists like David Barton, Robert Jeffress, Gov. DeSantis, Sen. Tom Cotton and an entire army of angry white males committed to a Christian America.
Perhaps the darkest lie this movement tells is that white males are persecuted and are being destroyed by a feminized society. Casey Ryan Kellyin his book Apocalyptic Man explains: When one lives a life of entitlement, even the most modest demands for equality can be perceived as an assault. Privileged white males, afraid of gains by women, minorities and gays, feel a loss of power, prestige and identity. They long for a mythical time when they were in charge and were the undisputed lords of the manor.
Ascol the preacher and DeSantis the politician want to bring back the good old days for white males. They want the return of that mythical, fantastical time when men were men.
Convinced there is only a small pie, they are afraid to share it with others.
This attitude of scarcity is a form of apostasy because it refuses to trust the amazing generosity of God. Theirs is a world where there is never enough, yet a world shaped by scarcity is a world that cannot trust God. To turn away and to remove people not considered pure enough is an affront to what Sam Wells calls Gods inexhaustible creation, limitless grace, relentless mercy, enduring purpose, fathomless love.
Ascols attempt to ferret out the apostates from the faith is an attempt at using the Bible to cover the age-old insecurities of males. The apocalyptic man is no different from man in any age. Men are always struggling with identity, insecurity and the secret need to please while hiding it with bluster, braggadocio and defensive principles insisting on superior status.
Ascols version of apostasy has little to do with Christianity.
There is a battle going on in the minds of all those who know the Lord, he warns. It is a battle between truth and falsehood between the teaching of Gods word and the teachings of demons. What you believe will inevitability determine how you live.
This from the pastor who has brazenly supported Donald Trump.
Ascol fits the description of those inquisitors who hunted down and killed the early Anabaptists and the grand inquisitor of the Catholic Spanish Inquisition. If he has his way, he would rid the Southern Baptist Convention of all its alleged liberals. The fundamentalism that is the oxygen of his movement moves in only one direction inward making the circle smaller and smaller.
Ascols version of apostasy has little to do with Christianity. It is a weak defense of a male-dominated hegemony. It is a subtle attempt to entice people to believe that gender especially a radical feminism is the true apostasy destroying America.
This is not a viable other side argument. It is not an alternative truth; it is no truth at all. That is the real apostasy.
Rodney W. Kennedyis a pastor in New York state and serves as a preaching instructor at Palmer Theological Seminary. He is the author of nine books, including The Immaculate Mistake, about how evangelical Christians gave birth to Donald Trump.
Related articles:
Tom Ascol endorses Ron DeSantis and Christian nationalism in weekend campaign rally invocation | Analysis by Mark Wingfield
The SBC rebuffed its most extreme factions but remains extremely conservative | Analysis by Mark Wingfield
Conservative Baptist Network launches attack on James Merritt for saying something nice about his son
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Tom Ascol has the wrong apostates in mind - Baptist News Global
Advanced AI keeps Sundar Pichai up at night and makes Sam Altman a bit scared. Here’s why some tech execs are wary of its potential dangers. -…
Sam Altman and Sundar Pichai. Ramin Talaie/Getty Images and Kimberly White/Getty Images for GLAAD
The tech world's obsession with generative artificial intelligence shows no signs of cooling off.
A wave of consumer enthusiasm following the launch of OpenAI's viral ChatGPT has prompted some major tech companies to pour resources into AI development and launch new AI-powered products.
Last month, several high-profile tech figures, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, threw their weight behind an open letter calling for a pause on developing advanced AI. The letter cited various concerns about the consequences of developing tech more powerful than OpenAI's GPT-4, including risks to democracy.
Senior figures at some tech companies like Google and even OpenAI itself have pushed back against aspects of the letter, highlighting issues with some of its technical points and practicality.
Here's what tech executives are saying about the potential dangers of advanced AI tech.
Elon Musk has been cautious about AI for some time.
Since then, Musk has doubled down on some of his doomsday predictions. In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, Musk said AI had the potential to destroy civilization.
"AI is more dangerous than, say, mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance or bad car production. In the sense that it has the potential however small one may regard that probability but it is non-trivial and has the potential of civilization destruction," he said.
Despite Musk's rhetoric, Insider's Kali Hays previously reported that Musk is in the midst of establishing his own generative AI project. The billionaire has founded a new company called X.AI, per the Financial Times.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told CBS in an interview for "60 Minutes" that AI would one day "be far more capable than anything we've seen before."
Pichai said the speed of AI development and concerns about deploying it in the wrong way kept him awake.
"We don't have all the answers there yet, and the technology is moving fast," he said. "So does that keep me up at night? Absolutely."
Pichai also addressed the open letter last month. He told The New York Times Hard Fork podcast: "I think there is merit to be concerned about it."
"So I think while I may not agree with everything that's there in the details of how you would go about it, I think the spirit of it is worth being out there," he added.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said he's a "little bit afraid" of AI.
"I think it's weird when people think it's like a big dunk that I say I'm a little bit afraid," Altman told podcast host Lex Fridman during a March episode. "And I think it'd be crazy not to be a little bit afraid, and I empathize with people who are a lot afraid."
In an earlier interviewwithABC News, Altman said that "people should be happy" that his company was "a little bit scared" of the potential of artificial intelligence.
DeepMind, a subsidiary of Google's parent company Alphabet, is one of the world's leading AI labs. The company's CEO, Demis Hassabis, has also been urging caution around AI development.
"I would advocate not moving fast and breaking things," Hassabis told Time in January, referring to an old Facebook motto coined by Mark Zuckerberg, which encouraged engineers to approach work with speed and experimentation.
"When it comes to very powerful technologies and obviously AI is going to be one of the most powerful ever we need to be careful," he said. "It's like experimentalists, many of whom don't realize they're holding dangerous material."
In a recent interview with "60 Minutes," Hassabis said there was a possibility AI might become self-aware one day.
"Philosophers haven't really settled on a definition of consciousness yet but if we mean self-awareness, and these kinds of things ... I think there's a possibility that AI one day could be," he said.
Microsoft developing its own AI chip – The Information – Yahoo Canada Finance
(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is developing its own artificial intelligence chip code-named "Athena" that will power the technology behind AI chatbots like ChatGPT, the Information reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The company, which was an early backer of ChatGPT-owner OpenAI, has been working on the chip since 2019 and it is being tested by a small group of Microsoft and OpenAI employees, the report said.
According to the report, the chips will be used for training large-language models and supporting inference - both needed by generative AI like the one used in ChatGPT to process massive amounts of data, recognize patterns and create new outputs to mimic human conversation.
Microsoft is hoping the chip will perform better than what it currently buys from other vendors, saving it time and money on its costly AI efforts, the report said. Other big tech companies including Amazon and Google also make their own in-house chips for AI.
So far, chip designer Nvidia dominates the market for such chips.
Microsoft and Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The rollout is being accelerated by Microsoft following the success of ChatGPT, the report said. The Windows maker earlier this year launched its own AI-powered search engine, Bing AI, capitalizing on its partnership with OpenAI and trying to grab market share from Google.
(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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Microsoft developing its own AI chip - The Information - Yahoo Canada Finance
Googles New Immersive Show, Created With Artist Lachlan Turczan, Uses Sound and Light to Reflect on Our Connection With Water – artnet News
On View
'Shaped by Water' marks Google's third exhibition at Salone del Mobile Milano.
For a show designed to spotlight its latest hardware, Googles new exhibition at Salone del Mobile Milano takes as its starting point a natural, fluid element.
Shaped by Water, which opens April 18 at Garage 21, is a multi-room immersive installation that dives deep into our connection with water. Co-created by Google Design Studio in collaboration with light and water artist Lachlan Turczan, the show invites viewers to experience water in all its optical and sonic qualities within a highly sensorial environment.
We wanted to give guests a first-of-its-kind experience that reveals the hidden qualities of water when acted upon by sound and light, Ivy Ross, Googles vice president of hardware design, told Artnet News. Water is easily recognized in its various forms, yet it has distinct and unique qualities that are not always evidentqualities that we caught glimpses of during our design process.
Installation view of Shaped by Water at Garage 21. Photo courtesy of Google.
Its apt, then, that Google found a fellow traveler in Turczan, whose mediums for a decade have been water, light, and sound. Across his dynamic fountains and public sculptures, the L.A.-based artist has aimed to capture the kinetic expression of water as much as sculpt it with cymatics, a vibrational phenomenon.
My goal for Shaped by Water was to create novel experiences of water that challenge our understanding of this ubiquitous medium, he told Artnet News. Oftentimes, water is understood only in relation to its surroundings, but for this exhibition, I wanted to celebrate the unique materiality of water itself.
To do so, Turczan and the Google team relied on what he called a natural algorithm, which goes: Sound shapes water. Water shapes light. Light shapes perception.
One of Turczans artworks at the exhibition, Sympathetic Resonance (2023), features shallow mirrored bowls holding pools of water. These shimmering sculptures emit a hum in response to a viewers proximitythus illustrating the link between water and humanswhich further creates wave patterns across the pools.
Another piece, titled Wavespace (2023), emerges from Turczans long-held dream. It invites audiences to recline on bespoke furniture, created by Googles designers, and have their field of vision filled with water reflections. The overall result is an integrated artwork, he said, where every element contributes to a cohesive experienceincluding scent!
Lachlan Turczan, Wavespace (2023), installed at Shaped by Water at Garage 21. Photo courtesy of Google.
Throughout the exhibition, viewers will also learn how water inspired the latest Google hardware designs, said Ross. This includes videos that show how a drop of water served as the inspiration for the shape of our watch. Along with the focus on form, the products can be viewed through an array of flowers that reflect the seven color stories used across the hardware assortment, she added.
Shaped by Water marks Googles third exhibition at the Milan fair, following 2018s Softwear and 2019s A Space for Being. Its all part of an effort to emphasize the design-first approach of Googles hardware offeringsmuch like how the tech company has leaned into the arts to showcase its software.
Because Google Hardware is a relatively new business, Salone gives us a chance to show up as thought leaders in design and share critical aspects of our creative process, said Ross. Through Shaped by Water, we continue to share whats on our mind by expanding on something we appreciate as designersthat the power of the natural world, whether easily seen or hidden below the surface, offers fresh ways to feed our imagination.
For Turczan, the hope is that viewers, immersed as they are by the exhibitions sound and light, might be similarly awakened to the presence and power of water.
Much like the experience of staring into a fire or gazing up at the clouds, the natural phenomena of sound through water provides a visual stimulus that invites viewers to project themselves into the experience, he said. This is my favorite aspect of this workcreating opportunities that invite audiences to engage with their imaginations or to dream with open eyes.
Shaped by Water is on view at Garage 21, Via Archimede, 26, Milan, Italy, from April 1823.
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Googles New Immersive Show, Created With Artist Lachlan Turczan, Uses Sound and Light to Reflect on Our Connection With Water - artnet News
Artificial Intelligence’s rival factions, from Elon Musk to OpenAI – The Washington Post
Updated April 10, 2023 at 1:18 p.m. EDT|Published April 9, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
Inside Silicon Valleys AI sector, fierce divisions are growing over the impact of a new wave of artificial intelligence: While some argue its imperative to race ahead, others say the technology presents an existential risk.
Those tensions took center stage late last month, when Elon Musk, along with other tech executives and academics, signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on developing human-competitive AI, citing profound risks to society and humanity. Self-described decision theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky, co-founder of the nonprofit Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), went further: AI development needs to be shut down worldwide, he wrote in a Time magazine op-ed, calling for American airstrikes on foreign data centers if necessary.
The policy world didnt seem to know how seriously to heed these warnings. Asked if AI is dangerous, President Biden said Tuesday, It remains to be seen. Could be.
The dystopian visions are familiar to many inside Silicon Valleys insular AI sector, where a small group of strange but influential subcultures have clashed in recent months. One sect is certain AI could kill us all. Another says this technology will empower humanity to flourish if deployed correctly. Others suggest the six-month pause proposed by Musk, who will reportedly launch his own AI lab, was designed to help him catch up.
The subgroups can be fairly fluid, even when they appear contradictory and insiders sometimes disagree on basic definitions.
But these once-fringe worldviews could shape pivotal debates on AI. Here is a quick guide to decoding the ideologies (and financial incentives) behind the factions:
The argument: The phrase AI safety used to refer to practical problems, like making sure self-driving cars dont crash. In recent years, the term sometimes used interchangeably with AI alignment has also been adopted to describe a new field of research to ensure AI systems obey their programmers intentions and prevent the kind of power-seeking AI that might harm humans just to avoid being turned off.
Many have ties to communities like effective altruism, a philosophical movement to maximize doing good in the world. EA, as its known, began by prioritizing causes like global poverty but has pivoted to concerns about the risk from advanced AI. Online forums, like Lesswrong.com or AI Alignment Forum, host heated debates on these issues.
Some adherents also subscribe to a philosophy called longtermism that looks at maximizing good over millions of years. They cite a thought experiment from Nick Bostroms book Superintelligence, which imagines a safe superhuman AI could enable humanity to colonize the stars and create trillions of future people. Building safe artificial intelligence is crucial to secure those eventual lives.
Who is behind it: In recent years, EA-affiliated donors like Open Philanthropy, a foundation started by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and former hedge funder Holden Karnofsky, have helped seed a number of centers, research labs and community-building efforts focused on AI safety and AI alignment. FTX Future Fund, started by crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried, was another major player until the firm went bankrupt after Bankman-Fried and other executives were indicted on charges of fraud.
How much influence do they have?: Some work at top AI labs like OpenAI, DeepMind and Anthropic, where this worldview has led to some useful ways of making AI safer for users. A tightknit network of organizations produces research and studies that can be shared more widely, including this 2022 survey that asked machine learning researchers to estimate the probability that human inability to control AI could end humanity. The median response was 10 percent.
AI Impacts, which conducted the study, has received support from four different EA-affiliated organizations, including the Future of Life Institute, which hosted Musks open letter and received its biggest donation from Musk. Center for Humane Technology co-founder Tristan Harris, who once campaigned about the dangers of social media and has now turned his focus to AI, cited the study prominently.
The argument: Its not that this group doesnt care about safety. Theyre just extremely excited about building software that reaches artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a term for AI that is as smart and as capable as a human. Some are hopeful tools like GPT-4, which OpenAI says has developed skills like writing and responding in foreign languages without being instructed to do so, means they are on the path to AGI. Experts explain that GPT-4 developed these capabilities by ingesting massive amounts of data, and most say these tools do not have a humanlike understanding of the meaning behind the text.
Who is behind it?: Two leading AI labs cited building AGI in their mission statements: OpenAI, founded in 2015, and DeepMind, a research lab founded in 2010 and acquired by Google in 2014. Still, the concept might have stayed on the margins if not for the same wealthy tech investors interested in the outer limits of AI. According to Cade Metzs book, Genius Makers, Peter Thiel donated $1.6 million to Yudkowskys AI nonprofit and Yudkowsky introduced Thiel to DeepMind. Musk invested in DeepMind and introduced the company to Google co-founder Larry Page. Musk brought the concept of AGI to OpenAIs other co-founders, like CEO Sam Altman.
How much influence do they have?: OpenAIs dominance in the market has flung open the Overton window. The leaders of the most valuable companies in the world, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, now get asked about and discuss AGI in interviews. Bill Gates blogs about it. Because the upside of AGI is so great, we do not believe it is possible or desirable for society to stop its development forever, Altman wrote in February.
The argument: Though doomers share a number of beliefs and frequent the same online forums as people in the AI safety world, this crowd has concluded that if a sufficiently powerful AI is plugged in, it will wipe out human life.
Who is behind it?: Yudkowsky has been the leading voice warning about this doomsday scenario. He is also the author of a popular fan fiction series, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, an entry point for many young people into these online spheres and ideas around AI.
His nonprofit, MIRI, received a boost of $1.6 million in donations in its early years from tech investor Thiel, who has since distanced himself from the groups views. The EA-aligned Open Philanthropy donated about $14.8 million across five grants from 2016 to 2020. More recently, MIRI received funds from cryptos nouveau riche, including ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
How much influence do they have?: While Yudkowskys theories are credited by some inside this world as prescient, his writings have also been critiqued as not applicable to modern machine learning. Still, his views on AI have influenced more high-profile voices on these topics, such as noted computer scientist Stuart Russell, who signed the open letter.
In recent months, Altman and others have raised Yudkowskys profile. Altman recently tweeted that it is possible at some point [Yudkowsky] will deserve the nobel peace prize for accelerating AGI, later also tweeting a picture of the two of them at a party hosted by OpenAI.
The argument: For years, ethicists have warned about problems with larger AI models, including outputs that are biased against race and gender, an explosion of synthetic media that may damage the information ecosystem, and the impact of AI that sounds deceptively human. Many argue that the apocalypse narrative overstates AIs capabilities, helping companies market the technology as part of a sci-fi fantasy.
Some in this camp argue that the technology is not inevitable and could be created without harming vulnerable communities. Critiques that fixate on technological capabilities can ignore the decisions made by people, allowing companies to eschew accountability for bad medical advice or privacy violations from their models.
Who is behind it?: The co-authors of a farsighted research paper warning about the harms of large language models, including Timnit Gebru, former co-lead of Googles Ethical AI team and founder of the Distributed AI Research Institute, are often cited as leading voices. Crucial research demonstrating the failures of this type of AI, as well as ways to mitigate the problems, are often made by scholars of color many of them Black women, and underfunded junior scholars, researchers Abeba Birhane and Deborah Raji wrote in an op-ed for Wired in December.
How much influence do they have?: In the midst of the AI boom, tech firms like Microsoft, Twitch and Twitter have been laying off their AI ethics teams. But policymakers and the public have been listening.
Former White House policy adviser Suresh Venkatasubramanian, who helped develop the blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, told VentureBeat that recent exaggerated claims about ChatGPTs capabilities were part of an organized campaign of fearmongering around generative AI that detracted from stopped work on real AI issues. Gebru has spoken before the European Parliament about the need for a slow AI movement, ebbing the pace of the industry so societys safety comes first.
correction
A previous version of this article incorrectly construed the results of a survey asking machine learning researchers to estimate the probability that AI could end humanity. The median response was 10 percent, not 10 percent of respondents agreeing with the premise. This article has been corrected.
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Artificial Intelligence's rival factions, from Elon Musk to OpenAI - The Washington Post