AGI 🤡
There's an invention that the scientific community is about to discover. It's 10, 15 years in the future -- maybe less. No one knows what it is, or what form it will take, or what its applications will be. One thing is certain: getting it will mean an instant $100 trillion.
It's insane how uncritically many non-technical people are accepting this nonsense. I guess this really shows the power of investing a lot of money in PR.
The medical sciences equivalent: "we're working on developing a formula that can cure everything, including death... it will upend life as we know it. With a $1B investment, it may only be 10 years away"
The material sciences equivalent: "we're working on a matter printer -- it could materialize any object in seconds, purely from a data specification, with any material... it will make obsolete all of manufacturing. With a $1B investment, it may only be 10 years away"
But if computer science says it, somehow all semblance of critical thinking goes away?
Although -- these are not even fair comparisons. The cure to everything & the matter printer are much-better defined: it's clear what their implications are and why they would be valuable.
Although -- these are not even fair comparisons. The cure to everything & the matter printer are much-better defined: it's clear what their implications are and why they would be valuable.
The main reason I dislike this nonsense: generality in artificial intelligence is a serious research topic, with real stakes & real applications, with both near-term & long-term progress to be made. These ridiculous sci-fi stories, that shape public perception, are an obstacle.
It's like... working on blood testing research in a world where a secretive company has raised $1.4B to build a mysterious device that can test anything from a single blood drop. In the mind of the public, it's the only narrative they can think of when you bring up your research
And yet -- it's serious, life-saving research. No thanks to cult-like profiteers who overpromise and underdeliver.
