I've trained as a neuroscientist and written a book about consciousness. I've worked in machine learning and built products for over 20 years and now use AI a fair bit in the ed-tech work we do.
So I've seen how the field has progressed and also have been able to look at it from a perspective most AI/engineering people don't -- what does this artificial intelligence look like when compared to biological intelligence. And I must say I am absolutely astonished people don't see this as opening the flood-gates to staggeringly powerful artificial intelligence. We've run the 4-minute mile. There are hundreds of billions of dollars figuring out how to get to the next level, and it's clear we are close. Forget what the current models are doing, it is what the next big leap (most likely with some new architecture change) will bring.
In focusing on intelligence we forget that it's most likely a much easier challenge than decentralized cheap autonomy, which is what took the planet 4 billion years to figure out. Once that was done, intelligence as we recognize it took an eye-blink. Just like with powered-flight we don't need bioliogical intelligence to transform the world. Artificial intelligence that guzzles electricity, is brittle, has blind spots, but still capable of 1000 times more than the best among us is going to be here within the next decade. It's not here yet, no doubt, but I am yet to see any reasoned argument for why it is far more difficult and will take far longer. We are in for radical non-linear change.
So I've seen how the field has progressed and also have been able to look at it from a perspective most AI/engineering people don't -- what does this artificial intelligence look like when compared to biological intelligence. And I must say I am absolutely astonished people don't see this as opening the flood-gates to staggeringly powerful artificial intelligence. We've run the 4-minute mile. There are hundreds of billions of dollars figuring out how to get to the next level, and it's clear we are close. Forget what the current models are doing, it is what the next big leap (most likely with some new architecture change) will bring.
In focusing on intelligence we forget that it's most likely a much easier challenge than decentralized cheap autonomy, which is what took the planet 4 billion years to figure out. Once that was done, intelligence as we recognize it took an eye-blink. Just like with powered-flight we don't need bioliogical intelligence to transform the world. Artificial intelligence that guzzles electricity, is brittle, has blind spots, but still capable of 1000 times more than the best among us is going to be here within the next decade. It's not here yet, no doubt, but I am yet to see any reasoned argument for why it is far more difficult and will take far longer. We are in for radical non-linear change.