Centaurs not Butlers
It’s possible that algorithms will one day be superior to humans at both of these functions, but I’m skeptical: the critical recognition of context and creativity are the two arenas where computers consistently underperform humans.
Ben Thompson • Curation and Algorithms
sari and added
Let's pause for a little detour through automation theory here. Automation can augment a worker. We can call this a "centaur" – the worker offloads a repetitive task, or one that requires a high degree of vigilance, or (worst of all) both. They're a human head on a robot body (hence "centaur"). Think of the sensor/vision system in your car that bee... See more
Pluralistic: “Humans in the loop” must detect the hardest-to-spot errors, at superhuman speed (23 Apr 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Michael Schaffner added
An AI-assisted radiologist processes fewer chest X-rays every day, costing their employer more, on top of the cost of the AI. That's not what AI companies are selling. They're offering hospitals the power to create reverse centaurs: radiologist-assisted AIs. That's what "human in the loop" means.
Some predict that with the dawn of AGI, machines that can improve themselves will trigger runaway growth in computer intelligence. Often called “the singularity,” or artificial superintelligence, this future involves computers whose ability to understand and manipulate the world dwarfs our own, comparable to the intelligence gap between human being
... See moreKai-Fu Lee • AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
Alex Wittenberg and added
Again, it is about blending the cognitive strengths of humans and computers.
Tyler Cowen • Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation
For decades now, software tools have promised to make working life easier. But on one critical dimension — their ability to improve our thinking — they don’t seem to be making much progress at all.
Meanwhile, the arrival of generative artificial intelligence could make the tools we use more powerful than ever — or they could turn out to be just ano... See more
Meanwhile, the arrival of generative artificial intelligence could make the tools we use more powerful than ever — or they could turn out to be just ano... See more
Casey Newton • Why note-taking apps don't make us smarter
Liya Jin added
adding a note
Where and how will humans show the eminence of our species when AI becomes better than us at everything? I feel sort of desperate for some human-centric optimism here because the whole project of being human feels really weird as our specialness becomes automated.
A couple of observations. First, I do think the last mile is the most difficu
... See moreBen Horowitz • Ben’s Perspective Part 2: A Few Thoughts About Chatgpt With Ben Horowitz
sari added
In a world of automated intelligence, our goalposts for intelligence will shift. We'll raise our quality bar for what we expect from humans. When a machine can pump out a great literature review or summary of existing work, there's no value in a person doing it.
Maggie Appleton • The Expanding Dark Forest and Generative AI
sari added