AI Enthusiasm

And a decent number of people are willing to attribute conscious experience to large language models. And in fact, people are slightly more willing to do so when they’ve had more experience interacting with them.

The first step is to understand the fundamental difference between humans and AIs. We are analog, chemical beings, with emotions and feelings. Compared with machines, we think slowly—and we act too fast, failing to consider the long-term consequences of our behavior (which AI can help predict). So we should not compete with AI; we should use it. At... See more

AI can help us complete tasks at scale with unmatched efficiency. However, there are areas where our humanity is a distinct advantage. Our capacity for compassion and connection with people allows us to see, understand, and express things that machines just can’t. Even the most convincing imitations of human intelligence (from the best AI models)... See more

Somehow we are too distrustful to talk to each other, and more than happy to confess to a sycophantic alien machine.

Chatbot companies want to have it both ways: personalization and emotion as a retention moat, but minimal responsibility for safeguarding the intimate relationships now running on their servers.

Human skeptics can kill a nascent idea, but ChatGPT was willing to entertain every far-fetched hypothesis.

AI nerds, as opposed to conscious technologists and normal people, who know how to separate enthusiasm for discovery from devotion to the God of excess, seem to like things regardless of valence or value. What matters to them isn’t the quality of the outcome or the meaning—life-saving or soul-draining, uplifting or addicting, doesn’t matter—only... See more