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
Episode 2477: How Daniel Oppenheimer Learned That the Problem in his Marriage Was Himself
Episode 2476: William Deresiewicz on American Boys & Men
Episode 2475: Gregory Walton on how to achieve BIG change with small acts
Episode 2474: What Thomas Mann can teach America about how to save its democracy
Episode 2473: Is Europe about to become the World's 3rd Tech Superpower?
Episode 2472: Clay Risen on Joe McCarthy, Donald Trump and the Paranoid Style of American History
Episode 2471: Dan Brooks reveals the MAGA aesthetic
Episode 2470: Andrew Keen on the current state of American journalism
Episode 2469: Daryl Davis on His Life with the Klu Klux Klan
Episode 2468: David Masciotra on Trump's ravenous bigotry toward the trans community
Episode 2467: Will AI kill Apple?
Episode 2466: Sarah Vowell tells the Untold Story of Public Service
Episode 2464: Marc Dunkelman on Why Nothing Works