Ian Leslie on Being Human in the Age of AI

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

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Summary

When OpenAI launched its conversational chatbot this past November, author Ian Leslie was struck by the humanness of the computer's dialogue. Then he realized that he had it exactly backward: In an age that favors the formulaic and generic to the ambiguous, complex, and unexpected, it's no wonder that computers can sound eerily lifelike. Leslie tells EconTalk host Russ Roberts that we should worry less about the lifelike nature of AI and worry more that human beings are being more robotic and predictable. Leslie bolsters his argument with evidence from music and movies. The conversation includes a discussion of the role of education in wearing down the mind's rougher, but more interesting and more authentic, edges as well as how we might strive to be more human in the age of AI.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:07.8	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover
0:12.7	Institution.
0:13.7	Go to econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this episode and find links down
0:18.6	the information related to today's conversation.
0:21.4	You'll also find our archives with every episode we've done going back to 2006.
0:26.8	Our email address is mail at econtalk.org.
0:30.3	We'd love to hear from you.
0:37.8	Today's December 22, 2022.
0:40.2	My guest is author Ian Leslie.
0:42.9	This is his third appearance on econtalk.
0:44.8	He was last here in May 2022, talking about his book Curious.
0:49.7	Our topic for today is being human in the face of artificial intelligence based on a
0:55.9	provocative essay of yours at your substack.
0:59.6	Ian's substack is the ruffian.
1:01.6	I hardly recommend it.
1:03.5	This essay is called The Struggle to Be Human and welcome back to econtalk.
1:09.3	It is great to be here.
1:10.9	Thank you, Russ.
1:11.9	So, this piece that you wrote was provoked by some of the responses that people are getting
1:19.2	from chat, GPT, and how human they seem, and it's engendered a lot of anxiety about
1:27.5	whether humans are going to be replaced even more thoroughly by computers, artificial intelligence,
	...

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