Superintelligence Skeptics
Thu, Apr 09
We've spent the past several classes hearing remarkable claims about intelligence explosions, singularities, and the like. Today we'll bring things back down to earth by listening to more sober voices on this topic. AI skeptics tend to be technologists with longstanding records in AI research as opposed to developers or business people on the applications side of things, or humanists with deep understanding of the fundamental limitations of the AI project.
We have two main in-class learning goals. By the end of lecture today you will:
- Explore conceptually and technically the mismatch between what Silicon Valley is touting and what is currently possible with AI.
- Question whether the skeptics are a bit too negative in their assessments.
The slides for today's lecture.
Read This:
Cognitive scientist and noted AI skeptic Gary Marcus asks how realistic is the "AI 2027" scenario? (You may also want to revisit this earlier reading.)
Science Fiction writer Ted Chiang explains Why Computers Won't Make Themselves Smarter.
Do This:
Writing Reflection 09
See the instructions posted on the assignment's page.
This writing reflection is due on 4/14 at 5pm.
This Week's Dialogue Group Meeting
Find at least one hour to meet with your group to discuss the prompt of the week: Identify three virtues that are important for artificial intelligence. Refer to the CST handout and this set of Virtues in Engineering for possible virtues.
Schedule your group meeting for next week. The new prompt is: What does your set of chosen virtues look like in the context of artificial intelligence? This is the conceptual inquiry piece of your design pattern creation process.