Episode 2190: Gary Marcus on How to Tame Silicon Valley's AI Barons
Few artificial intelligence experts have been as outspoken or prescient as the author and entrepreneur Gary Marcus. In his new book, Taming Silicon Valley, Marcus takes on the new AI barons of Silicon Valley - billionaires like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman who are building an AI future that works for them rather than for the rest of us. In technology, Marcus argues, human agency is all important. So Marcus’ new polemic seizes back the mantle from these Silicon Valley barons on its insistence that AI must work for us.
GARY MARCUS is a leading voice in artificial intelligence. He is a scientist, best-selling author, and serial entrepreneur (Founder of Robust.AI and Geometric.AI, acquired by Uber). He is well-known for his challenges to contemporary AI, anticipating many of the current limitations decades in advance, and for his research in human language development and cognitive neuroscience. An Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at NYU, he is the author of six books, including, The Algebraic Mind, Kluge, The Birth of the Mind, and the New York Times Bestseller Guitar Zero. He has often contributed to The New Yorker, Wired, and The New York Times. His new book, Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure that AI Works for Us is published by MIT Press.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Dan Hampton: Why the World Owes America a Great Debt For Its Participation in the Second World War
Azeem Azhar: Why, In an Age of Exponential Technological Change, Does So Little Seem to Change in Politics?
Lisa Lewis: Why the Crisis of Teenage Anxiety Might Begin and End With Sleep Deprivation
Mark Lee Gardner: Rather Than Jefferson or Washington, Should Americans Be Celebrating Indigenous Leaders Like Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull As Their Greatest Historical Figures?
Chris Stokel-Walker on a Digital Brave New World: Are We Entertaining Ourselves to Death on TikTok?
Gian Volpicelli on the Crypto-Crash and Why the Party Might Finally Be Over
Stephen Wertheim: Why Joe Biden Should Be Supporting Sovereignty and Not Democracy in Ukraine
Bob Keefe: Can American Capitalism Really Be an Ally in the War Against Climate Change?
Introducing Intelligence Squared US
Britt Halvorson: How to Reimagine White Supremacy in the Heartland of the American Midwest
Garrett Graff: How Are Watergate and the January 6th Insurrection Similar? Nixon and Trump's Shared Paranoia and Isolation From the Outside World
Emma Jacobs: How Do We Define Adulthood in a Time When We've Created a Cult of Childhood?
Ewen Spencer on What Writers and Photographers Have in Common