It seems like no matter where you find yourself these days, be it a Wall Street high-rise, your bestie’s barbecue bash, or even stuck in the dreaded supermarket checkout line, the topic du jour is none other than AI. This tech buzzword has taken off like a rocket since OpenAI launched its chatty brainchild, ChatGPT, back in late 2022. And it looks like everyone and their grandmother’s startup is eager to snag a piece of the action.
Where’s the Fire?
But here’s the catch: our collective infatuation with AI, particularly this so-called “generative AI” that can chat you up just like a human, seems to be running a bit ahead of itself. And according to those who actually understand this stuff (hint: not the guy selling “AI-enhanced” pet toys), this distraction is obscuring some much-needed debates about the safety of these technologies.
As Hal Daumé, a computer science prof at the University of Maryland, told Yahoo Finance, “There’s a lot of snake oil out there.” The issue at hand? We’re all so caught up in what these shiny new toys can do that we’re glossing over serious discussions about potential harm. It’s all fun and games until someone predicts the end of humanity, right?
AI Mania: FOMO or Faux Pas?
Nowadays, it feels like I can’t even check my email without tripping over a new, inventive (and often questionable) use for AI. As Brian Sozzi from Yahoo Finance points out, there’s no shortage of companies using AI as a shiny lure to snag investor interest.
Erik Brynjolfsson, a bigwig at Stanford’s Institute for Human-centered Artificial Intelligence, explains, “People who don’t have the real goods will maybe have a little FOMO [fear of missing out] and try to join in the party.” The education sector, in particular, is being bombarded with products claiming to have AI superpowers. But amid all this hype, are we losing sight of the real issues surrounding AI?
Not All That Glitters is Gold
Don’t get me wrong, generative AI is an impressive piece of kit. Its ability to generate human-like responses has a whole range of applications, from web searches to writing your out-of-office emails. But this very ‘human-like’ aspect is also where things can get dicey.
Remember back in May when that AI-generated image of an explosion near the Pentagon caused a mini meltdown on social media and Wall Street? Exactly. And let’s not forget about the potential for AI to perpetuate bias across multiple industries, whether it’s in housing or job recruiting. The technology may be groundbreaking, but it’s not without its flaws.
Still, Brynjolfsson reminds us that the transformative impact of these technologies is real, “the ability of them to solve a lot of problems that previously couldn’t be solved.” I guess time will tell whether this AI frenzy is a flash in the pan or the beginning of a brave new world.
