Julia Angwin’s Post

Excellent piece in today’s NYT on gen AI. A pertinent reminder about cautious calibration. Much of the early hype was not just breathless but incorrect. Progress to date is being over-claimed. Performance remains wanting. Which is not to say it’s bad, only that’s it’s merely good. Which is something. But not the be-all and end-all. https://lnkd.in/enddsKTJ

A good counter point to the AI hype. The challenge in applied AI has always been finding the right match of technology and problem where value is added. Much of the recent hype is more about grabbing market share and company valuations than actual capabilities. I do believe value will emerge as many smart people who’ve been doing applied AI for a long time will do what they have been doing: finding the right applications of AI technology to help people. https://lnkd.in/dKEsmrq5

Interesting take on AI. We can disagree with the interpretation but the facts seem beyond dispute. Rates as a “must read” in my view. Very well written too.

A scathing, but realistic, take on AI from the New York Times today. A good reminder of how people outside the tech bubble view AI, and it's backed up by facts. I'd be so much more excited about advances in AI if people would just be more honest about its limitations and costs. Worth a quick read, here's a gift link:

The #NYT warns against over-hyping AI. As we rush to see how we can put #AI systems to good use, we should try to remain level-headed and look at the long term possibilities, not just the short-term hype. https://lnkd.in/e4ca7vT2

Just came across an interesting article about the "hype behind hype" in AI. There's no doubt that AI has incredible potential and can spark new ideas, but it's important to remember its limitations. For example, AI-generated text often needs significant editing, and the pool of material it can use is shrinking due to copyright issues. The future of AI is exciting, but also uncertain. Where do you think we'll be in a few years? #AI #FutureTech #Innovation #TechTrends #AIlimitations https://lnkd.in/dAzS5XTm

This is a good article with a lot of solid evidence to back up its take that AI may be "too stupid and unreliable to be useful." I personally often think about how recent advances in AI were likely driven more by massive increases in training data than improvements in algorithms. Perhaps the reason we haven't seen any more big leaps is that we don't have ten more internets to scrape for the next 10x improvement, and there are serious questions about whether all the data that *has* been used to train current models even should have been. I think AI has its uses, but the fervor with which people pour billions of dollars into it feels more like religious dedication to an imagined sci-fi future than a realistic cost-benefit assessment.

Last week was yet another big one for AI. On Monday, OpenAI released their GPT-4o, promising a more chatty, emotional experience, as well as a general upgrade (though not as big as GPT-3 to GPT-4 or the promised bump to GPT-5). Maybe most intriguing, it was also released for free. Next came Google’s I/O, where they unveiled an AI-powered search engine, AI helpers across their products, and their own answer to GPT-4o, Project Astra. And right on cue, Nvidia is expected to release earnings this week, which will either keep their $2.3 trillion dollar valuation (+240% last year) rising, or signal a warning. Against all of this, I want to consider a New York Times editorial from last Wednesday, by the outstanding investigative reporter Julia Angwin. She suggests not only that AI is extremely over-hyped, but mocks the call to put a six-month pause on new development last year, and debunks many claims by AI developers (such as ChatGPT’s performance on the bar exam and Google’s claims that AI discovered millions of new chemical compounds). She compares the technology to the Roomba vacuum, and asks us: “The biggest question raised by a future populated by unexceptional A.I., however, is existential. Should we as a society be investing tens of billions of dollars, our precious electricity that could be used toward moving away from fossil fuels, and a generation of the brightest math and science minds on incremental improvements in mediocre email writing?” As a CEO in the tech industry, I find the collision of these viewpoints exciting, and highly relevant to consider. As we see stocks breaking new barriers, we must balance with skeptics who predict the AI bubble will soon burst. It allows us to pair giddy excitement with rational pragmatism. My question is this: in one year, do you think this take will be viewed as uncommon wisdom, or, should AI continue its rapid surge forward, short-sighted and over-stated?   https://lnkd.in/gs-nXn7Y

Last week was just another huge one for AI, with OpenAI releasing GPT-4o for free, and Google I/O showcasing wave after wave of AI product integrations and promise innovations. Consider, by contrast, this intriguing New York Times editorial by veteran reporter Julia Angwin. She suggests that AI is dramatically overhyped and overinflated, pointing to exaggerated claims by developers and skeptics on Wall Street. Just in time for Nvidia to release their earnings this week. What is your take? Is AI more like a Roomba, as the piece points out, doing useful, if mediocre, work in the end, or will it continue its transformative march through our lives in the years to come? Check it out! #ArtificialIntelligence #AIEvolution #TechTrends #GPT4o #OpenAI #GoogleIO https://lnkd.in/gMzV5MCj

I couldn't agree less with this article. In my view, AI will change the world as much as, if not more than the internet did...which is a lot. '60s computer scientist Roy Amara said it best: “we overestimate the impact of technology in the short-term and underestimate the effect in the long run.” Both Altman and the author are falling victim to this blind spot, but to me, it seems far more dangerous to underestimate the impact and get blindsided by the change than it is to be slightly overzealous on estimating the rate of change. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Technology #Innovation #cdntech [Read more](https://lnkd.in/gJWwyFZR)