Continuing with last week’s content related to General Artificial intelligence, I came to this post by Brian Solis (I recommend you to follow him) in his AInsights section”AI Will Be Smarter Than Humans Before 2030, So What?”I found a video of a l Mo Gawdat lecture hat I wanted to bring to my blog because it is simply masterful, as well as very enlightening about what awaits us in the coming years.
In this lecture, held at the Nordic Business Forum 2023, he explored the accelerating evolution of AI, its ethical implications, and the role we all play in shaping this technological future.
But, let’s take it one step at a time…
Who is Mo Gawdat?
Mo Gawdat is an Egyptian entrepreneur and writer who has made his mark in the world of technology and happiness. He was born in Egypt and studied engineering, complementing his education with an MBA in the Netherlands. He began his career at IBM Egypt and held various positions at Microsoft and Google, where he became Chief Business Officer at Google X, the company’s innovation lab.
After a successful 30-year career in technology, Mo decided to pursue happiness research, a topic that became his main interest after the tragic loss of his son Ali in 2014. His internationally best-selling book, “Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy,” is a testament to his pursuit of happiness and offers methods for managing and preventing disappointment.
In recent years, Mo has focused on the dangerous impacts of the rapid development of artificial intelligence. His book “Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World” is a roadmap for ensuring a harmonious coexistence between humans and AI when it becomes much smarter than we are. Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2023, Mo has been recognized for his early warning on the unregulated development of AI and has become one of the most consulted experts worldwide on the subject.
He is a very prominent speaker who has participated in multiple forums, such as the one I’m discovering today on my blog, and has a very interesting podcast SLO MO.
But… let’s go to the conference “AI Today, Tomorrow and How You Can Save Our World”to learn about Mo’s interesting approaches.
The Exponential Evolution of AI
Mo Gawdat highlights the speed at which AI is evolving, surpassing expectations and breaking down barriers once thought to be exclusively human.
"Chat GPT 4 has the same IQ as Elon Musk, 155, and in a few years we are facing AI IQs of 1,500!"
From strategic games to artistic creation, AI is demonstrating capabilities that challenge our traditional understanding of intelligence. This exponential rate of development begs the question: Are we prepared for a future where AI could surpass human intelligence?
Mo introduces the concept “Netscape Moment The “Netscape Moment” is the early discovery of what artificial intelligence can do, just like those of us who in the late 1990s discovered the first browser that allowed us to surf the Internet.
Mo comments on the “Singularity” making the simile in Physics to that of a black hole about which scientists know absolutely everything up to the edge of it, since the concepts of physics are applied, nothing is known about what can be found inside it. This singularity in AI is called AGI or Artificial General Intelligence about which I already told you recently, and that Mo is positioned in the environment from 2025 to 2028… that is, tomorrow!
"It's as if we have an alien spacecraft arriving on Planet Earth with an intelligence that will surpass the Human being in all its facets."
Mo additionally introduces four relevant important issues that we must take into account:
- Redefinition of jobs and PURPOSE. The smartest person in your company will be a machine you hire. What about the people you are replacing, how do we prepare them for that?
- Concentration of wealth and power. This is something I discussed in my post “Artificial Intelligence Close to Surpassing the Human Mind?” when I commented on the ethical challenges and introduced the concept of economic inequality. The companies and people who master these technologies such as Google, Open AI, Microsoft… will be the ones with the power.
- Computer-generated models with which it is impossible to compete, e.g. virtual models. An example of influencers who create clones of themselves is Caryn Marjorie who charges a dollar a minute to have a relationship with her avatar.
In a world where a large part of the information sources will be managed by AI. Where is the truth? - Race to achieve superintelligence. The first one to get it will try to stop the rest from reaching it. This is one of the most worrisome elements related to singularity. Mo calls it “The Openheimer Moment” for obvious and very troubling reasons, no doubt.
Ethical and Social Challenges
The advancement of AI raises questions not only about our technological capabilities but also about the ethical and social implications.
It is very important to consider howautomation and artificial intelligence are redefining employment, the concentration of wealth and power, and our own perception of truth. In a world where AI can influence our opinions and decisions, the need for a strong ethical framework is more critical than ever.
We will be able to change things like sustainability with the discovery of new clean energy sources, we can solve climate change or find or prolong human life, curing most diseases or we can even rethink our jobs because many of them will disappear.
At this point it will be necessary to think about the Universal Basic Income or UBI (basic living income) since we will not have work , and therefore, human beings will have to look for other occupations that give meaning to our lives.
Many notable figures such as Yuval Noah Harari, Elon Musk, or Bill Gates, among others, have theorized in this regard.
"How we use AI will be the best or the worst thing that can happen to humanity."
The Role of Humanity in the Age of AI
In the face of these advances, it is not enough to let AI developers or governments dictate the course of our future. Each of us has a role to play in shaping a world where technology serves the common good, while respecting our values and ethics. The conversation about AI should not be exclusive to experts and technicians; it is a discussion that must involve all of society.
The role of governments of regulators is to prepare humanity for this challenge because we are facing something that is billions of times smarter than us…. and they are not prepared for this. There are other things…
But we can all do something, for example by not using AI in a way that we don’t want to expose our children to. This is the essence of ethics, Treat others as you want them to treat you.
We can guide this future to use AI for good things.
Machines learn from our behavior so it is very important that we treat others the way we want to be treated. A poorly learned AI may cause it to treat us the same way in the future…
"How we use this superpower will define our future as a species."
Future scenarios
The possible scenarios that Mo Gawdat sees posed in the development of society in relation to AI are:
- Let an economic disaster halt the development of artificial intelligence
- The “Patient zero or Ground Zero” effect is an eye-opening event in which AI could cause damage to our economy or our health. In that case, it will be too late to start talking about all this.
- Wake up now. I am responsible! It all starts with becoming aware of this on an individual basis. We can all start making noise about this so that governments become aware and act.
AI is here to stay, there is no question, and its trajectory will affect us all, from the way we work to how we conceive of our own humanity.
"As spectators of this event, we should not ask ourselves whether AI will transform our world, but how we will choose to guide that transformation for the benefit of all"
I hope you found this content interesting.
Happy week!
