In a recent essay by Sam Altman, titled “The Intelligence Age,” he paints a picture for the future of AI. He states that with AI, “fixing the climate, establishing a space colony, and the discovery of all of physics—will eventually become commonplace.” On an individual level, he states (italics added), “We can each have a personal AI team, full of virtual experts in different areas, working together to create almost anything we can imagine.” The benefits of AI, according to Altman, will soon be available to everyone around the world.
These claims are absurd, and we shouldn’t let them pass without criticism. Subsistence farmers in central Asia can imagine living in a villa on the Riviera, but no AI will make that happen. The “discovery of all of physics,” if even possible, will require decades or centuries of building sophisticated experiments, some of which will be located in space. The claim that AI will make this commonplace doesn’t even make sense.
Altman isn’t alone in claiming that we are on the cusp of creating super-intelligent machines that will solve most of the world’s problems….
Jeff Hawkins • Co-Founder