Editor’s Commentary: Before reading the article below by Tyler Durden from Zero Hedge, it’s important to note that in my humble opinion, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is one of the greatest threats to humanity. I’m not alone in this thinking, but unfortunately the number of people ringing the alarm bells seems to be shrinking at a time when they should be growing.
The reasons for this are many, not the least of which being how easy it is to get enamored by the problem-solving nature of AGI. But with any technological advancement that was intended to make life better, there are always unintended consequences. With AGI, the consequences are far greater than anything we’ve seen.
Let’s look at the example of the internet. Did the internet fulfill its promise of connecting the world? Yes, for the most part. Did it also create a western society that has devolved in nearly every cognitive way as a result to so much access to instant gratification? Absolutely. Has it been turned into safe haven for depravity and crime? Absolutely. As unpopular as it might be to say, I would argue that people were more self-sufficient and society was more moral before the internet changed the world.
AGI’s consequences will be far worse. Keep that in mind as you read this informative piece that leans a little too much in favor of AGI for my liking. I’m publishing it as is, not because I like how it paints AGI but because I trust my audience to be discerning with the information…
When the latest iteration of generative artificial intelligence dropped in late 2022, it was clear that something significant had changed.
The language model ChatGPT reached 100 million active monthly users in just two months, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs predicted that AI could add 7% to global GDP over a 10-year period, almost $7 trillion, but also replace 300 million jobs in the process.
But even as AI continues to disrupt every aspect of life and work, it’s worth taking a step back.
In this visualization via Visual Capitalist’s Chris Dickert and Sabrina Fortin, the first in a three-part series called The AI Revolution for sponsor VERSES AI, we ask how we got here, where we’re going, and how close are we to achieving a truly thinking machine?
Milestones to Mainstream
The term “artificial Intelligence” was coined by computer scientist John McCarthy in 1955 in a conference proposal. Along with Alan Turing, Marvin Minsky, and many others, he is often referred to as one of the fathers of AI.
Since then, AI has grown in leaps and bounds. AI has mastered chess, beating Russian grandmaster and former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. In 2016, Google’s AlphaGo beat South Korean Go champion Lee Sedol, 4-1. The nine-year gap in achievements is explained by the complexity of Go, which has 10360 possible moves compared to chess’ paltry 10123 combinations.
DALL-E arrived in 2021 and ChatGPT-4 in early 2023, which brings us to today.
But What is Artificial Intelligence?
There’s a big difference between the Roomba that vacuums your condo and HAL from 2001: Space Odyssey. This is why researchers working in the field have come up with the following ways to classify AI:
Despite a false alarm by one Google software engineer in 2022 and a paper by early GPT-4 boosters, no one really believes that recent generative AIs qualify as thinking machines, however you define it. ChatGPT, for all its capabilities, is still just a souped-up version of autocomplete.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
That was the title of Philip K. Dick’s science fiction classic and basis for the movie Blade Runner. In it, Harrison Ford plays a blade runner, a kind of private investigator who used a version of the Turing Test to ferret out life-like androids. But we’re not Harrison Ford and this isn’t science fiction, so how could we tell?
People working in the field have proposed various tests over the years. Cognitive scientist Ben Goertzel thought that if an AI could enroll in college, do the coursework and graduate, then it would pass. Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, suggested that if an AI could enter a strange house, find the kitchen, and then make a cup of coffee, then it would meet the threshold.
A common thread that runs through many of them, however, is the ability to perform at one thing that humans do without effort: generalize, adapt, and problem solve. And this is something that AI has traditionally struggled at, even as it continues to excel on other tasks.
Can Current State-of-Art AI Achieve Thinking Machines?
And it may be that the current approach, which has shown incredible results, is running out of road.
Researchers have created thousands of benchmarks to test the performance of AI models on a range of human tasks, from image classification to natural language inference. According to Stanford University’s AI Index, AI scores on standard benchmarks have begun to plateau, with median improvement in 2022 limited to just 4%.
Don’t wait for a stock market crash, dedollarization, or CBDCs before securing your retirement with physical precious metals. Genesis Gold Group can help.
New comprehensive benchmark suites have begun to appear in response, like BIG-Bench and HELM, but will these share the same fate as their predecessors? Quickly surpassed, but still no closer to an AI like J.A.R.V.I.S. that could pass the Wozniak Coffee Test?
Imagine a Smarter World
VERSES AI, a cognitive computing company specializing in next generation AI and the sponsor of this piece, may have an answer.
The company recently released research that shows how to build an AI that can not only think, but also introspect and explain its “thought processes.” Catch the next part of The AI Revolution series to learn more.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that fiat currencies across the globe, including the U.S. Dollar, are under attack. Paper money is losing its value, translating into insane inflation and less value in our life’s savings.
Genesis Gold Group believes physical precious metals are an amazing option for those seeking to move their wealth or retirement to higher ground. Whether Central Bank Digital Currencies replace current fiat currencies or not, precious metals are poised to retain or even increase in value. This is why central banks and mega-asset managers like BlackRock are moving much of their holdings to precious metals.
As a Christian company, Genesis Gold Group has maintained a perfect 5 out of 5 rating with the Better Business Bureau. Their faith-driven values allow them to help Americans protect their life’s savings without the gimmicks used by most precious metals companies. Reach out to them today to see how they can streamline the rollover or transfer of your current and previous retirement accounts.
The more power given to man, the more quickly and completely he will destroy the world. In a godless society, great inventions become weapons of destruction instead of blessings, spiritually, physically, or both. .Without God, anything that man can do, someday, somewhere, someone will.
“Despite a false alarm by one Google software engineer in 2022 and a paper by early GPT-4 boosters, no one really believes that recent generative AIs qualify as thinking machines, however you define it.”
Huh. The Google AI engineer considered to be the father of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, who quit Google last April because of his and many of his colleagues’ fears regarding the dangers of AI was debunked by Google and the WaPo. Wasn’t Google and WaPo the same two companies that debunked the Wuhan lab leak; told us that Ivermectin was a horse dewormer that would kill people and was ineffective against Covid; told us that HCQ would kill us and was ineffective to Covid; that the Covid jab was safe and effective and would prevent Covid infection; that masks worked against aerosol spread viruses because those aerosols couldn’t possibly enter our bodies through our eyes like EVERY other aerosol spread virus; that one infected bat flew one thousand miles away from its natural habitat to a wet market in Wuhan only a few blocks away from the three largest bio-weapons labs in the world, a bat that NEVER flies further than a few kilometers from its natural habitat, and that one bat pooped on some food that was eaten by humans and that’s how we all got Covid; that men can get pregnant; that Trump colluded with Russia so he could win in 2016; that 68 year old grandmas armed with cell phones and MAGA hats, escorted through the US Capitol by security guards are THE most dangerous terrorists and freedom destroyers than any other thing in human history; that fat drag queens dangling their hairy nut sacks in five year old kids’ faces is inclusive and good for those kids; that there’s absolutely no truth to the belief that Brandon has serious mental and cognitive abilities despite him shaking hands with air, not completing sentences, and making totally incoherent statements?
Oh, okay, well then how could I not believe Google and the WaPo now?
“the first in a three-part series called The AI Revolution for sponsor VERSES AI,”
Add Pfizer for another sponsor and I’m all in!
“According to Stanford University’s AI Index, AI scores on standard benchmarks have begun to plateau,”,
By “plateau” does that mean that the 36 percent of the 28,000 AI experts who think general AI can result in a nuclear-level catastrophe within the next eighteen months, according to Scientific American, reside on that same plateau? Because those same 36 percent believe and can demonstrate that AI self improvement is happening at an exponential rate that is doing anything but plateauing. In fact, here’s what Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI said in his testimony before the Senate:
“Once AI can improve itself, which may be not more than a few years away, and could in fact already be here now, we have no way of knowing what the AI will do or how we can control it. This is because superintelligent AI (which by definition can surpass humans in a broad range of activities) will—and this is what I worry about the most—be able to run circles around programmers and any other human by manipulating humans to do its will; it will also have the capacity to act in the virtual world through its electronic connections, and to act in the physical world through robot bodies.”
I’m no geologist. Hell, I’m not even a biologist but that sure doesn’t seem like a plateau to me. And even Microsoft engineers are detecting superintelligent AI in their labs. THE RACIST HOMOPHOBES!!!
VERSES AI, a cognitive computing company specializing in next generation AI and the sponsor of this piece, may have an answer.
So just calm down conspiracy theorists and let VERSES AI do the thinking for you, just like the FBI SWAT teams do the thinking for you when they they keep you safe from anyone who tries to pray at an abortion clinic.
“Catch the next part of The AI Revolution series to learn more.”
I can hardly wait.