Existential risk of AI

Existential risk of AI

Author: Helen and Dave Edwards July 15, 2023 Duration: 32:37

ChatGPT, Dall-e, Midjourney, Bard, and Bing are here. Many others are coming. At every dinner conversation, classroom lesson, and business meeting people are talking about AI. There are some big questions that now everyone is seeking answers for, not just the philosophers, ethicists, researchers, and venture folks. It’s noisy, complicated, technical and often agenda-driven.

In this episode, we tackle the question of existential risk. Will AI kill us all?

We start by talking about why this question is important at all. And why we are finally tackling it ourselves (since we’ve largely avoided it for quite some time). We talk about the scenarios that people are worried about and the three premises that underly this risk:

* We will build an intelligence that will outsmart us

* We will not be able to control it

* It will do things we don’t want it to

Join us as we talk about the risk that AI might end humanity. And, if you’d like to dig deeper, subscribe to Artificiality at https://artificiality.substack.com to get all of our content on this topic including our weekly essay, a gallery of AI images, book recommendations, and more. (Note: the essay will be emailed to subscribers a couple of days after this podcast first airs—thanks for your patience!).

About Artficiality from Helen & Dave Edwards:

Artificiality is a research and services business founded in 2019 to help people make sense of artificial intelligence and complex change. Our weekly publication provides thought-provoking ideas, science reviews, and market research and our monthly research releases provides leaders with actionable intelligence and insights for applying AI in their organizations. We provide research-based and expert-led AI strategy and complex change management services to organizations around the world.

We are artificial philosophers and meta-researchers who aim to make the philosophical more practical and the practical more philosophical. We believe that understanding AI requires synthesizing research across disciplines: behavioral economics, cognitive science, complexity science, computer science, decision science, design, neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. We are dedicated to unraveling the profound impact of AI on our society, communities, workplaces, and personal lives. 

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Hosted by Helen and Dave Edwards, Stay Human, from the Artificiality Institute is a conversation that lives in the messy, human space between our tools and our selves. Each episode digs into the subtle ways artificial intelligence is reshaping our daily decisions, our creative impulses, and even our sense of identity. This isn't a technical manual or a series of futuristic predictions; it's a grounded exploration of how we maintain our agency in a world increasingly mediated by algorithms. The podcast operates from a core belief: that our engagement with AI should be about more than just safety or efficiency-it needs to be meaningful and worthwhile. You'll hear discussions rooted in story-based research, where complex ideas about cognition and ethics are unpacked through relatable narratives and real-world examples. The goal is to provide a framework for thoughtful choice, helping each of us consciously design the relationship we want with the machines in our lives. Tuning in offers a chance to step back from the hype and consider how we can actively remain the authors of our own minds, preserving what makes us uniquely human even as the technology evolves. It's an essential listen for anyone curious about the personal and philosophical dimensions of our digital age.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Stay Human, from the Artificiality Institute
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