How to Think About AI: A Guide for the Perplexed

Susskind (The Future of the Professions), president of the Society for Computers and Law, offers a just-detailed-enough overview of “the benefits and threats” of artificial intelligence. Explaining the difference between “process-thinkers” and “outcome-thinkers,” he notes that the former are more interested in how AI works while the latter care about what it can accomplish. He cites Noam Chomsky as an example of a process-thinker and Henry Kissinger as an example of an outcome-thinker, and argues that grasping the difference between the two is crucial to understanding the history of AI and where it’s headed. Elsewhere, Susskind contends that it’s not crazy to think AI has the potential to “generate unprecedented economic value” and to ameliorate the effects of climate change. He takes a comprehensive look at such possible benefits, but he also recognizes that the risks might be equally large. These include AI’s potential weaponization by bad actors and the possibility for “relentless surveillance.” He concludes that balancing the pros and cons “is the defining challenge of our age.” Rendering intricate matters of law and ethics in accessible terms, Susskind makes good on his promise “to offer some assurance that you don’t need to be a technology expert to think and talk sensibly about the impact of AI.” There’s much here to chew on. (Aug.)