Summary
At the start of 2023, there has been a flood of news about artificial intelligence reaching an unprecedented level. It’s clear that AI will become increasingly advanced and impactful. This document provides ongoing news updates about the state of AI.
At the top of this document are some points to consider, followed by stories listed in chronological order with the most recent at the top. Entry headings provide the source and date of the entry.
The Current State of AI
Over the past 60 years, artificial intelligence has been in its infancy. In recent months, AI has gone from scoring in the bottom ten percent on the bar exam, to achieving a score in the top ten percent.
Current AI systems can monitor your brain waves and show on a computer screen the words or images you are thinking of as shown in the video below. [Source: NBC News] These abilities will undoubtedly improve over time.
Google Bard Chat AI
An example of how easily accessible AI is can be found in the article, “My Discussion with Google Bard AI.” [Read] In addition to chat interfaces, there are AI system designed to create images, videos, and other content.
Labor Scarcity
A November 2022 report from VOX describes an enrollment cliff in higher education institutions. This will result in a scarcity of skilled workers for various professions. Here is an excerpt from the report.
- In four years, the number of students graduating from high schools across the country will begin a sudden and precipitous decline, due to a rolling demographic aftershock of the Great Recession. Traumatized by uncertainty and unemployment, people decided to stop having kids during that period. But even as we climbed out of the recession, the birth rate kept dropping, and we are now starting to see the consequences on campuses everywhere. Classes will shrink, year after year, for most of the next two decades. People in the higher education industry call it “the enrollment cliff.” Among the small number of elite colleges and research universities — think the Princetons and the Penn States — the cliff will be no big deal. These institutions have their pick of applicants and can easily keep classes full. For everyone else, the consequences could be dire.
Artificial intelligence may play a role in helping adapt to a declining global population while continuing to provide the services needed to sustain society.
The free market automatically provides enticements for careers that are in demand, but it can be a slow and sloppy process. With an increasing AI workforce, there would be an almost limitless supply of highly skilled temp workers with a wide range of abilities.
Will We Surpass Chimps?
A driving force behind the urgency of AI development is the current state of human intelligence.
Despite the thousands of years that human civilization has developed, we are still lagging behind chimps and other species for some tasks.
The report below by Deutsche Welle from 15 Jan 2023 illustrates this point. The video is queued at 1m 37s.
UPDATE: As of 10 May 2023, the video described was removed from public access on YouTube by the original news agency that posted it. The link now goes to a private video message. [View]
Unlike chimps, we are still destroying our own habitat, using up natural resources faster than they can be replenished, and fighting destructive wars costing millions of dollars.
AI systems could make better decisions that will help us avoid short-sighted self destructive practices.
AI NEWS
Below are news stories listed in chronological order with the most recent at the top. Entry headings provide the source and date of the entry.
NBC News (9 May 2023)
“Artificial intelligence study decodes brain activity into dialogue” — Scientists at UT Austin conducted a study where they created a 3D view of a person’s mind and used artificial intelligence to decode brain activity into dialogue. [View]
60 Minutes (16 Apr 2023)
“Google CEO: AI impact to be more profound than discovery of fire, electricity” — Sundar Pichai told 60 Minutes he believes artificial intelligence technology will be more capable than anything humankind has seen before. [Source]
CBS News (5 Apr 2023)
“Artificial intelligence could replace millions of jobs in the U.S.” — The artificial intelligence bot ChatGPT says it could replace nearly 5 million U.S. jobs. CBS MoneyWatch reporter Megan Cerullo joins Errol Barnet and Lana Zak to discuss the jobs that are most at risk and more. [Source]
PBS NewsHour (4 Apr 2023)
“The potential dangers as artificial intelligence grows more sophisticated and popular” — Over the past few months, artificial intelligence has managed to create award-winning art, pass the bar exam and even diagnose illnesses better than some doctors. But as AI grows more sophisticated and popular, the voices warning against the potential dangers are growing louder. Geoff Bennett discussed the concerns with Seth Dorbin of the Responsible AI Institute. [Source]
Wall Street Journal (3 Apr 2023)
“AI, Explained: Why It’s Different This Time” — There is so much being said about artificial intelligence these days. In order to understand this latest wave of AI, it is important to know how it works and why this moment is different from developments in the past. WSJ science reporter Eric Niiler joins host Zoe Thomas for the first installment of Tech News Briefing’s special series Artificially Minded. New episodes drop every Monday in April. [Source]
Al Jazeera (31 Mar 2023)
“How much of a threat is Artificial Intelligence?” — A group of tech and industry experts have written an open letter warning of possible risks with AI. It was in response to OpenAI’s recent release of GPT-4, a more advanced successor than its widely-used AI chatbot ChatGPT3. The letter goes on to say; Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable. This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors. But will this happen? [Source]
France 24 (30 Mar 2023)
“Too late to regulate? Alarm over phenomenal rise of artificial intelligence” — Maybe we are not as smart as we think we are. We thought technology would set us free, liberate us from menial tasks, democratize access to information and knowledge. We marvelled at our ability to connect instantaneously to whoever, wherever, whenever. We even fell for the illusion that each one us is our own brand with a global reach. Beyond the way the digital age plays tricks on the human mind… comes an even bigger threat. [Source]
CBS Mornings (25 Mar 2023)
“Full interview: ‘Godfather of artificial intelligence’ talks impact and potential of AI” — Geoffrey Hinton is considered a godfather of artificial intelligence, having championed machine learning decades before it became mainstream. As chatbots like ChatGPT bring his work to widespread attention, we spoke to Hinton about the past, present and future of AI. CBS Saturday Morning’s Brook Silva-Braga interviewed him at the Vector Institute in Toronto on March 1, 2023. [Source]
The full interview is about 42 minutes. In the shorter 8 minute video, at 2m 31s Hinton speaks about the impact of AI saying it will be equal to the Industrial Revolution, the invention of electricity, or the wheel. [Watch]
The Economist (23 Mar 2023)
“Beyond ChatGPT: what chatbots mean for the future” — With the arrival of generative AI chatbots, artificial intelligence no longer seems the preserve of science fiction. Now that the bots are talking back, what does it mean for the future of the internet—and our relationship with machines? [Source]
WIRED (21 Mar 2023)
“A.I. Expert Answers A.I. Questions From Twitter” — Scientist and A.I. expert Gary Marcus answers the internet’s burning questions about artificial intelligence. Will ChatGPT end college essays? Is Furby A.I.? How close are we to truly self-driving cars? Is the Turing test outdated? Gary answers all these questions and much more! [Source]
ABC News (17 Mar 2023)
“OpenAI CEO, CTO on risks and how AI will reshape society” — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tells ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis that AI will reshape society and acknowledges the risks: “I think people should be happy that we are a little bit scared of this.” [Source]
Forbes (17 Feb 2023)
“Generative AI Is About To Reset Everything, And, Yes It Will Change Your Life” — Whether you like it or not, generative AI like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion are about to change not only how you work, but how the content you consume is produced. Forbes spoke with a number of leading voices in the AI space to determine both the benefits and the dangers of this next wave of technological innovation, and find out why both tech giants as well as cutting edge startups are racing to grab their share of the market. [Source]
Microsoft (16 Mar 2023)
The video below demonstrates Microsoft 365 Copilot — an AI driven enhancement that can create entire presentations with some general information.
“Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot with Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote” — Planning a grad party? Microsoft 365 Copilot has you covered. Learn how Microsoft 365 Copilot seamlessly integrates into the apps you use every day to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet. [Source]