Why AI Should Be Taught to Know Its Limits

Bold Names

The Wall Street Journal

Technology

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2024

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

One of AI’s biggest, unsolved problems is what the advanced algorithms should do when they confront a situation they don’t have an answer for. For programs like Chat GPT, that could mean providing a confidently wrong answer, what’s often called a “hallucination”; for others, as with self-driving cars, there could be much more serious consequences. But what if AIs could be taught to recognize what they don’t understand and adjust accordingly? Usama Fayyad, the executive director for the Institute for Experiential Artificial Intelligence at Northeastern University thinks this could be the algorithmic answer to making future AIs better at what they do, by doing something too few humans can: recognizing their own limits. What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] Further reading: How Did Companies Use Generative AI in 2023? Here’s a Look at Five Early Adopters. Your Medical Devices Are Getting Smarter. Can the FDA Keep Them Safe? Artificial: The OpenAI Story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey Future of Everything Listeners, a quick note before we get into today's episode.
0:04.4	We've made a change. We're bringing you even more of the original reporting and interviews you've come to expect.
0:10.8	Check us out weekly on Fridays and let us know what you think. Drop a line to FOE podcast at W.S.J.com.
0:21.8	For at least as long as we've had science fiction stories, people have dreamed of a day
0:25.9	when artificial intelligences work alongside humans to make life better.
0:31.8	Just think about HAL 9000, the Starship operating AI from Stanley Kubrick's classic film,
0:37.0	2001 A Space Odyssey.
0:39.0	The 9,000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9,000 computer has ever made a mistake or
0:47.2	distorted information. We are all by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error.
0:56.4	Of course, that's not exactly true.
0:59.5	spoiler alert, Hal 9,000 turns on his crew and ends up being deactivated.
1:04.0	Crazy.
1:08.0	Give me your answer to.
1:15.0	Luckily, the real life AI we have now are nowhere near as powerful.
1:20.0	But that hasn't stopped users or the tech companies developing them from talking about these programs as if they are intelligent.
1:27.0	According to Open AI, its chat gpity program can already, quote, see, hear, and speak.
1:34.4	And soon enough, it'll be able to do much more.
1:37.5	Because we believe the AI is going to be a technological and
1:39.9	societal revolution.
1:41.6	That's Open AI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman speaking at the company's
1:45.8	developers conference in November. We'll be able to do more, to create more, and
1:50.3	to have more. As intelligence gets integrated everywhere, we will all have
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Wall Street Journal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Wall Street Journal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.