Artificial intelligence is one of the most incredible tools mankind has ever created. It’s also one of the most controversial. Some of AI’s pioneering researchers and developers think that, without proper management, there’s a chance AI could one day be the source of our own extinction. There are also plenty of technologists who think AI has the capability to resolve some of humanity’s most intractable problems, including climate change. But what is AI? And what’s the current state of the technology? What is “artificial intelligence”? There’s no objective or scientific threshold that defines AI. People have coalesced around large language models and generative AI products (including ChatGPT, Bard, etc.) as being “intelligent,” but it’s all in the eye of the beholder. To me, anything that can gather and synthesize information, concepts and languages with a breadth and speed beyond the capabilities of 99.9 percent of human beings is pretty intelligent! So when ChatGPT instantly writes a sonnet in the style of Lionel Richie in Urdu or Palantir’s MetaConstellation integrates hundreds of different live feeds and data streams to create an operational dashboard for soldiers in Ukraine, that’s AI. Now, some people have mistaken this kind of intelligence for sentience or the capacity to feel. But there’s no evidence that any of the AI models have feelings. Some researchers and companies are pursuing Artificial General Intelligence — a kind of machine superior in all ways to the human brain that can govern, learn and maybe feel by itself. But this is still in the realm of the theoretical.
Full opinion : 5 questions about artificial intelligence, answered.
