I have been watching the shenanigans that’s the OpenAI happenings – with Sam Altman and all the other Silicon Valley people doing weird stuff.
It’s like at least 7 episodes of The Young and The Restless. For those unfamiliar with this program, Y&R is a 50-year-old award winning daytime soap drama – based on a group of wealthy families in the fictional city of Genoa City in the US. In Y&R, there is always stuff happening. This one wants to take over a company, that one gets fired, this one betrays another, this one writes a letter to stage a corporate coup. Etc etc.
Now with Sam Altman and his band of techbros – much of what has been happening has been human drama. You could also see the extent of the human drama in Elon Musk’s texts – which were made available as part of a courtroom saga last year.
Now, there are divided camps when it comes to AI. There are those who say AI is to be feared. Others say nothing to fear here.
But here is thing. Look at the people who are creating AI. They are human beings – with all the drama and complexities and hidden agendas and dare I say it, villainess – that comes with being a human.
If we accept that human beings have the capacity to do great damage to others, then surely anything that is built by us will be a reflection of us – dark, malevolent, unkind, cruel. And yes, it can also be wonderful and inspiring, and which can make the world a better place.
So I say this. Don’t worry about the machines and AI – worry instead about the human beings who are creating these things in their own image. The people – that’s where the problems lie.
Fear not the machines for they have no souls. Look instead, at the humans who seek to imbue these machines with their own, dark souls.
