What machines can learn — and what we should still decide for ourselves.
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The time when technology eats culture for breakfast
This one is going to be short.
Culture is something that has been honed and passed on over generations. As a Gen X when I look at Gen Z, I see lot of new age technology and little of culture. It pains me.
I am not against tech. Technology has always been an enabler. But when it starts interfering with our way of life, questions must be raised and we need to take course corrections either on the technology front or on the cultural front. Atleast there needs to be interaction, dialogue and consensus before we move forward.
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Crossing the Rubicon
Have we or have we not?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Rubicon
There was this recent post from the CEO of Anthropic Mr. Dario Amodei, one of the pioneers of Artificial Intelligence that we need to slow the pace at the which AI has evolved. He then goes on to add a 3 point agenda and a roadmap to how this can be achieved – by providing external auditors the same rights as an employee and by forming an industry consortium – atleast amongst the companies that develop LLMs in the democratic world.
The first question that comes to my mind after reading that post was this: Have we crossed the Rubicon already?
Over the last half a decade, AI has developed at break neck speed. New models are released by OpenAI, Anthropic, Grok, Llama and others every 3 months. AI has developed exponentially such that AI agents are getting ubiquitous these days.
Yes, AI provides immense benefits. There are thousands of use cases including medical, pharma, manufacturing, supply chain, banking, services, space etc. The upside is limitless. That is why there is a large scale adoption of AI not only by companies but also by the government themselves.
However safety first. Always.
I am not posting to question the pioneers on whether we have the required guardrails in place. AI is a technology that affects everyone. Including the common man who does a 9-5 job. If it is something so powerful, we need to be at the minimum take precaution with what we are actually dealing with. Or better create awareness about the pros and cons of this technology.
In this context what does slowing down actually mean?
Firstly this must have been thought of before commercializing AI. When we are in the middle of a AI boom how do we pause and take stock? The market forces set the pace. Also AI models are being developed across the world. How would an American and Chinese company agree to pause something that is going at 400 KMPH? What about countries in the Global South aspiring to adopt the technology as per their local needs? There are bound to be trust issues.
It is interesting where we are heading towards as a race!
If you ask me if we have crossed the Rubicon, i am bound to say yes. However we need to take the necessary precautions and tightly regulate the AI industry in order to avoid any pitfalls.