Spine-chilling, to say the least. This is the story of two scientists who developed artificial intelligence technology to discover medicines for rare diseases. Basically, the machine tests any and all combinations of molecules imaginable, to find ones that could work as a drug against certain diseases. One day, they realise they could — with just a few adjustments — make the machine do the opposite: Find the most lethal combinations of molecules. It found thousands, some orders of magnitude worse than what’s previously been known. What now?
From Weekly Filet #409, in September 2022.
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Smart people disagree over whether artificial intelligence is still mostly overhyped or on the cusp of surpassing human capabilities (and whether that’s good or bad). But there is no denying that a lot of noteworthy progress has happened lately and that we should pay attention. This piece gives a good overview of where things stand — one of the main things to consider, in my opinion, is that we humans are just very bad at grasping exponential change. Things can move slowly for a long time and then change very quickly very fast. (Gift link that gives you free access without a subscription)
From Weekly Filet #406, in August 2022.
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Let’s zoom out for a bit. Could this century be the most important for humanity ever — of all that ever were and ever will be? This long and thoughtful series of posts makes that argument. In a nutshell:
- Artificial intelligence will lead to an unimaginable explosion of scientific and technological advancement.
- When that happens, humans as we know them will no longer be the main force in world events. Instead, it will be digital people or misaligned AI.
- This could happen as early as this century. Therefore, now is our last chance to shape how that transition happens, making this the most important century for humanity.
To be honest: I went into this series like 🙄 and now I’m like 🤯. These are not simply Sci-Fi musings, but conclusions drawn from research (speculative in nature, sure, but well argued).
You can choose to read a summary or the whole series, you can listen to the series read by the author, or hear the author explain his theory in an interview with Ezra Klein — whatever works for you. Trust me, diving into this is worth your time.
From Weekly Filet #392, in April 2022.
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This is a truly remarkable piece, on many levels. The author struggled to write about her sister’s death, so she let artificial intelligence help her. In the first attempt, she writes nothing but the first sentence, and lets AI take it from there. With every attempt, she writes more before letting AI take over.
From Weekly Filet #389, in April 2022.
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One day not too far into the future, we’ll look back to simpler times when humans hacked computers. By then, artificial intelligence will be hacking critical infrastructure, after that, artificial intelligence will hack artificial intelligence, and, if I’m guessing correctly, it’s artificial intelligence all the way down. «…and humans will be little more than collateral damage.» Read it now
From Weekly Filet #345, in April 2021.
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Imagine a world where, for decades, everything—housing, education, food, clothing, etc.—became half as expensive every two years.» There are (a lot of) good reasons to be wary of a future powered by artificial intelligence (remember that Facebook piece from last week?). Every now and then, I’ll allow some techno-utopianism. Especially if it’s not about what artificial intelligence will and won’t do, but how it might change the entire fabric of society. So maybe all we need for a great future are AI, and taxes?
From Weekly Filet #340, in March 2021.
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Artificial Intelligence is everywhere — or so we’re told. This flowchart helps you tell apart if something is really AI or…just pretending to be smart. Have a look. (If you’d like to test your eyesight, open it on your smartphone. Otherwise, I recommend a larger screen.)
From Weekly Filet ##322, in October 2020.
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In recent weeks, an artificial intelligence program named GPT-3 has wowed people. It’s arguably the most powerful and smart language generator ever produced. And it inevitably sparked a recurring discussion: While AI is good at specific tasks — will it ever be capable of true intelligence? That’s a very human-centered way to think about it. Why not turn things around for once, and let an artificial intelligence program argue whether or not humans are capable of true intelligence? This is exactly what you’re about to read. GPT-3 pulles no punches.
From Weekly Filet #312, in August 2020.
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Looking at the discourse around artificial intelligence through the lens of a fire alarm is quite eye-opening, and, well, alarming. «There is never going to be a time before the end when you can look around nervously, and see that it is now clearly common knowledge that you can talk about AGI being imminent, and take action and exit the building in an orderly fashion, without fear of looking stupid or frightened.»
From Weekly Filet #254, in November 2017.
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Writing this newsletter is never easy, but today, it’s particularly challenging. The reason is quite simple: As I’m writing this, I’m also busy playing the role of an AI that produces paperclips. That sounds really boring – who would want to do that? Exactly my words a couple of hours ago before I got hooked. Don’t click this link, seriously.
From Weekly Filet #251, in October 2017.
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Make sense of what’s happening, and imagine what could be.
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