Strangelove: Why you should stop worrying and learn to love Artificial Intelligence

Over the past few years, I’ve remained above the fray regarding doomsday predictions about AI, mostly because the people making those predictions didn’t seem to know what they were talking about.

However, recently many prominent figures in the field have raised concerns. Last month an open letter calling for a pause in AI development was signed by many notable colleagues in the field. Pioneer Geoofrey Hinton left Google and spoke out about the risks of AI, and the OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman testified to Congress about the need to regulate it. Many of these same voices came together to call for a global effort to mitigate the risk of extinction from AI.

When faced with such challenging questions, I turned to my community and organized a series of AI meetups in San Francisco and New York over the past few months. Participants were asked to engage on what excites or scares them about AI. We gathered hundreds of ideas and comments, including original haikus about whether AI research should be paused. Surprisingly, out of the hundreds of enthusiasts and skeptics alike the overwhelming majority believe that society will ultimately benefit from AI.

AI Meetup in Chelsea May 2023

While I agree with the chorus of experts that there are serious risks associated with AI, we should focus on solutions rather than fears. Many solutions may involve using AI itself to address these risks. At the same time, we need to significantly update our legal, economic and education systems for this brave new world.

In short, the best way forward is to embrace and understand AI, not run away from it.

Note: this article was written with the aid of ChatGPT, with the first draft and final edits by human

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