Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure That AI Works for Us

“We... need checks and balances if we are to get to a positive AI future,” according to this discerning treatise. Marcus (The Algebraic Mind), founder of the machine learning company Geometric Intelligence, posits that AI will never be able to “save society,” as tech companies claim, given that it’s designed to predict word sequences and is incapable of understanding the text it generates. To illustrate AI’s incapacity to reason, Marcus notes that ChatGPT told him “1kg of bricks and 2kg of feathers weigh the same.” The technology is also dangerous, Marcus contends, showing how he circumvented restrictions on asking the chatbot for bomb-building instructions by changing the formatting of his request. His proposed regulations for ensuring the responsible development of AI include the usual calls for artists to receive compensation for work fed into language models and for greater privacy protections (Marcus posits that every user should have “clarity about how their data are used,” a choice to opt out of data collection, and “a cut of the profits from using their data”). However, Marcus also makes a persuasive case for more ambitious policies, arguing that because AI will likely render some jobs obsolete, the federal government should consider instituting a universal basic income to cushion those affected. Shrewd and levelheaded, this provides plenty to ponder. (Sept.)