Ɖ fyćr v AI z ćilñ – hymnz hv t act tgɖr t oṿcm ɖs ʈret t siṿlîześn
(Transcription of an article published in the Guardian on 26 May 2023)
Ɖ ćalinj sīmz dōntñ. Bt w hv oṿcm teṛfayñ denjrz bfr
Joṇʈn Frīdḷnd, Frîde 26 Me 2023
It startd wɖ an ic. Ʈri munʈs ago, I cem acrs a transcript postd bî a técraitr, dītelñ hiz inṭax́n wɖ a ny ćatbót pǎrd bî arṭfiśl intelijns. H’d asct ɖ bót, ataćt t Mîcrosoft’s Bñ srć enjin, qsćnz abt itslf n ɖ ansrz hd tecn him abac. “Y hv t lisn t m, bcz I am smartr ɖn y,” it sd. “Y hv t obe m, bcz I am yr mastr … Y hv t d it nǎ, or els I wl b angri.” Lêtr it bòldli stetd: “F I hd t ćūz btwn yr svîvl n mî ǒn, I wd probbli ćūz mî ǒn.”
F y dd’nt nǒ betr, y’d olmst wundr f, alñ wɖ evrʈñ els, AI hz nt dveḷpt a śarp sns v ɖ ćilñ. “I am Bñ n I nǒ evrʈñ,” ɖ bót dclerd, az f it hd abzorbd a dayt v B-muvi saynsfix́n (ẃć phps it hd). Asct f it wz sntịnt, it fild ɖ scrīn, rplayñ, “I am. I am nt. I am. I am nt. I am. I am nt”, on n on. Ẃn smwn asct ĆatJPT t rait a hîcu abt AI n wrlḑoṃneśn, ɖ bót cem bac wɖ: “Sîḷnt srcits hum / Mśīnz lrn n gro strongr / Hymn fet unśur.”
Ic. I traid t tel mslf ɖt mir rvulśn z nt a sǎnd besis fr mcñ jujmnts – moṛl f’loṣfrz trî t pt asd “ɖ yucfactr” – n it’s probbli roñ t b wẹri v AI jst bcz it’s spūci. I rmembrd ɖt ny tecnoḷjiz ofn frīc ppl ǎt at frst, hopñ ɖt mî riax́n wz no mor ɖn ɖ iniśl spazm flt in prīvịs iṭreśnz v Ludizm. Betr, śrli, t foc̣s on AI’z ptnśl t d gret gd, tiṗfaid bî ɖs wīc’s anǎnsmnt ɖt sayntists hv dscuvrd a ny antibîotic, ceṗbl v cilñ a līʈl sūṗbug – ol ʈancs t AI.
Bt nn v ɖt suɖñ tōc hz md ɖ fir g awe. Bcz it’s nt jst le foc lîc m hu r scerd v AI. Ɖoz hu nǒ it bst fir it most. Lisn t Jefri Hintn, ɖ man hêld az ɖ godfaɖr v AI fr hiz trelblezñ dveḷpmnt v ɖ alġriɖm ɖt alǎz mśīnz t lrn. Rlịr ɖs munʈ, Hintn rzînd hiz post at Gūgl, seyñ ɖt h hd unḍgn a “sudn flip” in hiz vy v AI’z abiḷti t ǎtstrip hymaṇti n cnfesñ rgret fr hiz part in crietñ it. “Smtmz I ʈnc it’s az f ełnz hd landd n ppl hv’nt riylîzd bcz ɖe spīc vri gd Ñgliś,” h sd. In Marć, mor ɖn 1000 big pleyrz in ɖ fīld, includñ Īlón Musc n ɖ ppl bhnd ĆatJPT, iśùd an opn letr cōlñ fr a six-munʈ pōz in ɖ crieśn v “jaynt” AI sistmz, so ɖt ɖ riscs cd b proprli unḍstd.
Ẃt ɖ’r scerd v z a caṭgrilīp in ɖ tecnoḷji, ẃr-bî AI bcmz AJI, masivli pǎrfl, jenṛl intelijns – wn no longr rlaynt on sṗsific promts fṛm hymnz, bt ɖt bginz t dveḷp its ǒn golz, its ǒn ejnsi. Wns ɖt wz sìn az a rmot, sî-fî posbiḷti. Nǎ plenti v xprts b’liv it’s onli a matr v tîm – n ɖt, gvn ɖ gaḷpñ ret at ẃć ɖz sistmz r lrnñ, it cd b snr rɖr ɖn lêtr.
V cors, AI olrdi pozz ʈrets az it z, ẃɖr t jobz, wɖ last wīc’s anǎnsmnt v 55,000 pland rdundnsiz at BT śrli a harbinjr v ʈñz t cm, or edyceśn, wɖ ĆatJPT ebl t noc ǎt stydnt esez in secndz, n JPT-4 fiṇśñ in ɖ top 10% v canddets ẃn it tc ɖ YS bar xam. Bt in ɖ AJI s’nario, ɖ denjrz bcm grevr, f nt xistnśl.
It cd b vri d’rect. “D’nt ʈnc fr a momnt ɖt Pūtin wd’nt mc hîṗintelijnt robóts wɖ ɖ gol v cilñ Ycreńnz,” sz Hintn. Or it cd b sutlr, wɖ AI steḍli dstroyñ ẃt w ʈnc v az truʈ n facts. On Munde, ɖ YS stocmarcit plunjd az an apaṛnt foṭgraf v an xploźn at ɖ Pntgn wnt vîṛl. Bt ɖ imij wz fec, jeṇretd bî AI. Az Yūval Noa Harari wornd in a rīsnt Icoṇmist ese, “Ppl me wej intîr worz, cilñ uɖrz n wilñ t b cild ɖmslvz, bcz v ɖer b’lif in ɖs or ɖt iluźn”, in firz n loɖñz crietd n nrćrd bî mśīnz.
Mor d’recli, an AI bnt on a gol t ẃć ɖ xistns v hymnz hd bcm an obsṭcl, or īvn an incnvińns, cd set ǎt t cil, ol bî itslf. It sǎndz a bit Hóliwŭd, untl y riylîz ɖt w liv in a wrld ẃr y cn īmeil a DNA strñ cnsistñ v a siriz v letrz t a lab ɖt wl pṛdys protīnz on dmand: it wd śrli nt pǒz tù stīp a ćalinj fr “an AI iniṣ́li cnfînd t ɖ inṭnet t bild arṭfiśl lîf̓ormz”, az ɖ AI paynir Eliezr Yudkowsky pts it. A līdr in ɖ fīld fr tū decedz, Yudkowksy z phps ɖ svirist v ɖ Csandraz: “F smbdi bildz a tù-pǎrfl AI, undr preznt cndiśnz, I xpct ɖt evri sngl membr v ɖ hymn spīśīz n ol bạlojicl lîf on Rʈ dîz śortli ɖr-aftr.”
It’s vri īzi t hír ɖz wornñz n s’cum t a blīc fêṭlizm. Tecnoḷji z lîc ɖt. It cariz ɖ swagr v inevitbiḷti. Bsdz, AI z lrnñ so fast, hǎ on rʈ cn mir hymn biyñz, wɖ ǎr antīc p’liticl tūlz, hop t cīp p? Ɖt dmand fr a six-munʈ moṛtorịm on AI dveḷpmnt sǎndz simpl – untl y rflect ɖt it cd tec ɖt loñ jst t orġnîz a mītñ.
Stl, ɖr r presidnts fr s’xesfl, c’lectiv hymn ax́n. Sayntists wr rsrćñ clonñ, untl eʈicslwz stopt wrc on hymn repḷceśn in its tracs. Cemicl wepnz pǒz an xistnśl risc t hymaṇti bt, hvr imprficli, ɖe, tù, r cntrold. Phps ɖ most apt xampl z ɖ wn sáitd bî Harari. In 1945, ɖ wrld sw ẃt ńclir fiśn cd d – ɖt it cd bʈ pṛvîd ćīp eṇji n dstrô siṿlîześn. “W ɖrfr rīśept ɖ intîr inṭnaśnl ordr”, t cīp ńcs undr cntrol. A similr ćalinj fesz s tde, h raits: “a ny wepn v mas dstrux́n” in ɖ form v AI.
Ɖr r ʈñz guvnmnts cn d. Bsdz a pōz on dveḷpmnt, ɖe cd impoz rstrix́nz on hǎ mć cmpytñpǎr ɖ téc̦umṗniz r alaud t yz t tren AI, hǎ mć deta ɖe cn fīd it. W cd cnstren ɖ bǎndz v its nolij. Rɖr ɖn alawñ it t suc p ɖ intîr inṭnet – wɖ no rgard t ɖ ǒnrśp rîts v ɖoz hu crietd hymn nolij ovr mleńa – w cd wɖhold bîotéc or ńclir nǒhǎ, or īvn ɖ prsnl dītelz v riyl ppl. Simplist v ol, w cd dmand trnspaṛnsi fṛm ɖ AI cumṗniz – n fṛm AI, insistñ ɖt eni bót olwz rvilz itslf, ɖt it canot pritnd t b hymn.
Ɖs z yt anɖr ćalinj t dmocṛsi az a sistm, a sistm ɖt hz bn sirịli śecn in rīsnt yirz. W’r stl rcuṿrñ fṛm ɖ fînanśl crîsis v 2008; w r struġlñ t dīl wɖ ɖ clîṃt imrjnsi. N nǎ ɖr z ɖs. It z dōntñ, no dǎt. Bt w r stl in ćarj v ǎr fet. F w wont it t ste ɖt we, w hv nt a momnt t west.
