This is the first in what I envision as a series of posts tracking developments in AI.  Two schools of thought are emerging.  The first is that AI is the future of progress and work and a great boon to civilization.  The second is that AI may well spell the demise of liberty.  Both views share the view that AI is on the march and its primacy is inevitable.

Some simple understandings set forth below:  for these understandings I credit the New England Chapter of National Association of Corporate Directors, which ran a program yesterday to address the promise of AI and the role of the board of directors in handling this tool.  (Disclosure: I am a member of NACD/New England, served on its Board and now am on its Advisory Board.)

Simple takeaways:  AI is not new; ask Alexa, ask Seri, and note robotic telephone sites as simple examples.  Algorithms that drive AI have been with us for very many years.  The explosion of AI power is based upon the convergence of three things: vast explosion of data that can be utilized by the algorithms; more powerful computing that can rapidly handle huge data sets; massive increase in data storage technology at low cost.

Simple facts: Business people see profit and efficiency.  Scientists see pluses and minuses and some are carried away by potential; today’s on-line NY Times carries a story of a Microsoft research paper claiming development of AGI [get used to the new shorthand–this is “artificial general intelligence” which means thinking just like a human being].  Everyone recognizes that AI reaches out for analogy when lacking specific data and hence often generates inaccurate output (kindly called “hallucinations”).

Hype and risk abound.  From time to time I will post about both.  I will not post ChatGPT generated text, in case you were wondering.