Superintelligent AI: can chatbots think?
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 28 December 2023
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Are generative AI systems such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT really intelligent? Large language models such as GPT 4 appear to use human-level cognitive abilities when they engage in legal reasoning, write essays or solve complex problems. Hosts John Thornhill and Madhumita Murgia speak to Emily Bender, professor of computational linguistics at the University of Washington, to find out what’s really happening under the hood, and also hear from Pablo Arredondo of CaseText, which develops AI tools for lawyers; influential computer scientist Melanie Mitchell, professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and Konstantin Arkoudas, an AI expert who’s worked on Amazon’s Alexa.
Free links:
OpenAI set to launch store as ChatGPT reaches 100mn users
How to keep the lid on the Pandora’s box of AI
We need a political Alan Turing to design AI safeguards
‘I’ve never seen anything like this’: how OpenAI’s dramatic weekend unfolded
Tech Tonic is presented by Madhumita Murgia and John Thornhill. Senior producer is Edwin Lane and the producer is Josh Gabert-Doyon. Executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The UK's energy partner. |
| 0:06.0 | Learn more at equinore. |
| 0:08.0 | At Aquinore. |
| 0:10.0 | Hey news briefing listeners, it's the holidays, so we wanted to share a show we thought you might like. |
| 0:15.0 | It's an episode from the latest series of Tectonic, the F.T.'s tech podcast. |
| 0:19.0 | And the series asks if we're heading toward human level or super intelligent AI. |
| 0:24.4 | That's basically artificial intelligence that could do everything a human can do, |
| 0:28.2 | but faster and better. |
| 0:30.2 | And the series asks how worried we should be. |
| 0:33.2 | The episode I'm going to play you is called Ken ChatBots Think. |
| 0:37.2 | It looks at some of the skepticism around AI |
| 0:40.3 | and whether generative AI programs like chat gPT are really reasoning as some in the |
| 0:46.2 | industry claim. It's hosted by John Thornhill, the FT's Innovation Editor and |
| 0:51.3 | AI Editor Mademergia. |
| 0:53.8 | You can listen to the rest of the five-part series |
| 0:56.0 | wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:57.5 | But before you go and do that, here's the episode. |
| 1:14.4 | Okay, so I'm going to start this episode with a story. It dates back to the end of the 19th century and it takes place in Germany. |
| 1:19.9 | It's a true story about a horse, a very clever horse named Hans. |
| 1:29.6 | Hans is no ordinary horse. He's apparently able to add, subtract and multiply. He seems to understand fractions. He can even do more complex mathematical problems. |
| 1:34.0 | What's the square root of 16? |
| 1:36.0 | His proud trainer asks him in front of a large and curious crowd. |
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