All those dystopian sci-fi movies and episodes of Black Mirror feel like they're closer than ever to becoming a reality, and in an uncomfortable case of life imitating art, artificial intelligence feels like it's in danger of overtaking the human race.
You know things are bad when the so-called 'Godfather of AI' is warning us about where artificial intelligence is heading, so it could be time to pay attention. With fears that AI is evolving toward a supposed superintelligence that could see it become smarter than humans, we're right to be a little panicked right now.
As AI continues to get smarter by the day, and even develops the ability to beg for its life, it's clear we're no longer dealing with simple chatbots that can whip up emails when we can't be bothered.
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At the forefront of the AI evolution is OpenAI's Sam Altman, with the company making waves via ChatGPT. After already admitting he's shocked that people have so much trust in ChatGPT, he's now looking even further ahead at what AI could mean for the future of his children. In a shock admission, Altman told the first episode of the OpenAI podcast how AI will soon be smarter than his own kids: "My kids will never be smarter than AI. They will grow up vastly more capable than we grew up, and able to do things that we cannot imagine, and they'll be really good at using AI."
While that sounds like a pretty grim prognosis for the future of the Altmans and the human race in general, he added that he still thinks AI will give more to future generations than it will take away: “I don't think my kids will ever be bothered by the fact that they're not smarter than AI."
He mused that ever-advancing AI will present new problems for future generations in terms of more people relying on these tools, but ultimately, he thinks the positives will outweigh the negatives.
Mulling over what happens next, Altman concluded: "Again, I suspect this is not all going to be good. There will be problems. People will develop these somewhat problematic — or, maybe, very problematic — parasocial relationships, and, well, society will have to figure out new guardrails. But the upsides will be tremendous."
Celebrating the birth of his first child, Altman seemed to be going down the Elon Musk route when he admitted he was very 'kid-pilled', believing everyone should have a lot of kids. Adjusting to life as a new parent, the ChatGPT overlord confessed he's been relying on AI a lot to help with childcare, apparently 'constantly' asking how to look after his child: "Clearly, people have been able to take care of babies without ChatGPT for a long time. I don't know how I would have done that."
Even if some are sure to be worried at Altman's frank admission that his kids will never be smarter than AI, at least the tech mogul is being honest about where he thinks things are heading.