Editor’s note: Investor and entrepreneur David Gardner is founder of Cofounders Capital in Cary and is a regular contributor to WRAL TechWire.
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CARY – I spoke at a conference recently discussing why I consider AI to be a major paradigm shift along the lines of the development of the personal computer and the internet. Unlike other novel technologies such as blockchain and quantum computing, AI is something that will and is creating substantial changes across not just a few industries, but every industry.
The questions that always seem to get asked when discussing AI are around the potential threats it represents so I decided to write two articles about that. I think it’s important to categorize these into what I’ll call major long term threats and concerns that probably don’t merit being in that category. In this first article, I’ll discuss potential threats that are getting a lot of attention today but are concerns that I do not consider a long term problem.
David Gardner (Cofounders Capital photo)
Our ability to learn and do things for ourselves
A number of educators are sounding the alarm that ChatGPT and other AI’s will be doing all of the research and writing all of the papers their students have traditionally done manually. To hear some of these passionate speakers, one would think the end of education and learning is upon us. I remember hearing very similar concerns when the first calculators came out. They were banned by most teachers but not all. I remember one of my engineering professors who encouraged us to bring our calculators to class saying that in the future, all engineers will be using a calculator of some sort to do their job. They did not dull our minds but actually enabled us to get work done faster, more accurately and in general, be far more productive.
Technological Unemployment
I hesitate to put this in the “not a major long term problem” category because it certainly would feel like a major problem if I were the one who was being replaced. None-the-less, history has repeatedly shown us that technological advancements over time create far more jobs than they make obsolete. It certainly did not feel that way when the telegraph operators of the last century lost their jobs to a new invention called the telephone. In time however, thousands of people were employed to string phone lines, log timber for polls, work as switchboard operators or to manufacture and distribute telephones on a global scale.
Ownership Issues Concerning AI-Created Derivative Works
One of the major issues being discussed as part of the current writers strike involves AI created works. Unlike previous programs, an AI engine can be creative and produce new story lines, art drawings and music compositions. It is a reasonable argument that these are not truly new because the AI is only creating derivative works based on the works upon which it was trained. This may be true but the larger truth is that all such works are derivatives to a large degree. Every musician, poet, artist and writer is influenced by what they have seen and heard i.e. the data upon which they were trained. They add their distinctive take on such themes and chord progressions. Creatives of all types learn and are influenced in a similar way as AI yet their works are considered “originals”. When computer programs were finally able to defeat the greatest chess masters, I’m sure it was unsettling to them but they did not argue that the program was not really playing the game.
Conclusion
Change is always scary especially when ushered in by a technology that none of us completely understand. All technological breakthroughs create a potential for good and bad uses and outcomes. It is important to try to put into perspective what are the serious long term problems humanity will have to deal with and what are simply humanity’s growing pains. In my next article I’ll talk about what I consider to be the serious long term problems created by AI.
