Tech’s shiny objects.

The metaverse, self-driving cars, Web3, and crypto & NFTs have all had their moment in the sun. And each has seen its winters (the metaverse is entering one now). But generative AI is different. It’s here to stay, and its power and fallibility are seeding fears. 

“Humanity does not have anything to protect it from the potential risks of artificial intelligence,” said Jaan Tallinn, co-founder of Skype. And Elon Musk put it this way, “For an AI, there would be no death. It would live forever. And then you’d have an immortal dictator from which we can never escape.”  

AI has stirred discussion around evolution, not biological evolution, evolution where survival of the fittest is a battle between humans and AI. I think I saw that movie, but the real thing might actually be coming.

What’s common among the tech elite that talk about human evolution and the birth of our robot AI replacements is a sense of inevitability. The notion that humanity is on a path of self-destruction regardless, and the development of a “species” that can outlast humans is inevitable and, some argue, necessary.

There is no agreed-upon timeline for when humanity might fall. What’s clear is this shiny new object has the power and potential for chaos like no tech we’ve seen before. 

Yes, there are significant opportunities for positive use cases, but do they outweigh the potential for maleficence? 

The core issue here is that AI, specifically ChatGPT, is currently wildly inaccurate, extremely vulnerable to manipulation, and prone to misinformation seamlessly blending truth and fiction and, in some cases, providing false source links. Still, companies, governments, and people are adopting AI solutions every day, assuming the content generated to be the truth. 

Schmidt adds, “Bad actors can use generative AI tools to create and target misinformation, leading to violence. My industry has taken the position that this stuff is good, so we'll just give it to everyone. I don't think that's true anymore -- it's too powerful.”

Some say it should be destroyed... what do you think?