Taming Silicon Valley: AI’s Perils and Promise

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2024

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

AI could bring unprecedented advancements in science and technology, but Gary Marcus, in Taming Silicon Valley, warns it might also lead to democracy’s collapse or even human extinction. With Big Tech manipulating both the public and government, are we prepared for the consequences of AI’s unchecked power? Marcus urges that the choices we make today will define our future. Can we harness AI’s potential without losing control?

Exposing AI’s flaws and Big Tech’s grip on policymakers, Marcus offers eight solutions to avert disaster—from ensuring data rights to enforcing strict oversight. But will governments act in time? Marcus calls for citizens to push for change before it’s too late. Will we rise to the challenge, or let AI’s future be shaped by a few, for their own gain?

Shermer and Marcus discuss various aspects of AI, including the current state of AI, AGI, and Generative AI like ChatGPT, and the AI we should aim for. They explore the key problems to solve, the 12 biggest threats of Generative AI, and the moral landscape of Silicon Valley, highlighting its influence on public opinion and government policy. Issues like data rights, privacy, transparency, and liability are examined, alongside the need for independent oversight. The conversation also covers the incentives driving AI development, the debate between private and government regulation, and the importance of international AI governance for managing its global impact.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Michaelber Show. Hey everybody it's Michael Schirmer it's time for another episode of the
0:27.0	Michael Schirmer show brought to you as usual by Skeptic Society and Skeptic
0:31.1	magazine hey look at this this recent issue here on artificial
0:34.2	intelligence.
0:35.2	Guess what we're discussing today on the show?
0:37.8	Not our first issue.
0:38.8	Here's two more in the back, in the back catalog, and here's one from the 90s artificial intelligence when we used to joke
0:45.4	You know we're five years away and always will be when AI finally gets here. It looks like it's here or something like that is here
0:52.3	And that brings me to my guest today
0:54.4	taming Silicon Valley is the new book by Gary Marcus how we can ensure that AI
1:00.9	works for all of us. Okay, let me give him a proper introduction here.
1:06.9	Gary Marcus is a distinguished cognitive scientist, author, an entrepreneur noted for his
1:12.3	pioneering research on the development of human
1:14.4	cognition as well as his critiques of deep learning and artificial intelligence.
1:18.9	He's written multiple influential books on these topics, emphasizing the need, or a more hybrid
1:24.8	and integrative approach to building intelligent systems. Notably, some of Marcus's more
1:30.9	frequent observations about the nature of intelligence were inspired by his pet
1:35.4	chicken Henrietta.
1:37.5	Her behaviors and quirks served as a whimsical yet insightful lens through which he contemplated the complexities and
1:44.4	nuances of biological intelligence in comparison with artificial
1:48.2	constructs. Gary I think you're the first guest I've ever had that has a pet
1:52.0	chicken. Tell us a pet chicken.
	...

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