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Imaginary Worlds

Eric Molinsky

Arts, Science Fiction, Fiction, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2023

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Science fiction has primed us for this moment when artificial intelligence starts to take on a life of its own. ChatGPT has baffled and surprised even computer scientists in terms of how it works. Now a lot of us are asking, “Which movie are we in?” Is ChatGPT going to be a benign intelligence like Samantha from Her, dangerously neurotic and emotionally unstable like HAL from 2001, or a malevolent force like Skynet from The Terminator series? I talk with Erik Sofge, senior editor at MIT Horizon, about whether any of these scenarios are accurate, or if sci-fi is distracting us from seeing the problems that A.I. could create in our daily lives. We also revisit my 2016 episode The Robot Uprising, where I looked at how our feelings about A.I. and robots are influenced not just by sci-fi but also unresolved historical guilt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to imaginary worlds.
0:02.0	Wait, I'm sorry, hold on, I'm getting some breaking news right now.
0:05.6	This just in, humanity is doomed.
0:09.6	Well, the creators of chat GPT have warned superhuman artificial intelligence could pose an
0:15.5	existential risk to humanity.
0:18.0	My worst fears are that we cause significant.
0:20.7	We, the field, the technology, the industry cause significant harm to the world.
0:25.1	Our next guest believes the threat of AI might be even more urgent than climate change if you can
0:30.6	imagine that.
0:31.8	Well, we had a good run.
0:33.2	The Biden administration asking the public for help regulating artificial intelligence after
0:37.6	a bot laid out plans to destroy humanity.
0:41.9	Yes, every science fiction AI thriller is coming true.
0:46.7	I mean, it may have already happened. We could be in the matrix right now and not know it.
0:52.0	Or it could just be a lot of hype.
0:55.7	As I've been hearing all these alarmist stories about AI, I keep thinking about an episode
1:01.2	that I did seven years ago. It was called the robot uprising.
1:05.6	It was about how our fears of artificial intelligence are based on science fiction.
1:10.6	And that science fiction is often inspired by a lot of other things that have nothing to do with
1:15.2	science. But chat GPT is a game changer. I mean, that episode from seven years ago can't
1:22.5	still be accurate, right? Well, let's hear the episode first. And then after the break,
1:29.0	I'm going to catch up with one of the guests from that episode, Eric Softgey.
	...

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