00:00If artificial intelligence doesn't kill us, then it will take our jobs.
00:04And if it somehow doesn't take all our jobs, then it'll for sure make our kids into idiots.
00:10I understand why you might think that, but it simply isn't true.
00:18When ChatGPT was rolled out at the end of 2022,
00:23there was about a week of stories about all the cool things you could do with it.
00:27And then that coverage quickly turned into techno-pessimism.
00:32The internet will become so fake that the people who believe fake things won't even believe it.
00:38It's going to get out of control and kill us.
00:40It'll take all the jobs.
00:41It'll turn us all into slaves to the machine.
00:43All the things you might expect to come from a society that has been sort of raised on techno-pessimism.
00:49I don't worry a lot about AI taking over the world, getting out of control,
00:55doing things we don't want it to do.
00:57Such that humanity is in danger.
01:00Everybody who works on this technology,
01:02whether they work for government, scientific labs, or for big companies,
01:06is absolutely aware of this kind of risk.
01:09And we do need to have a high level of robustness and predictability
01:13and generally accepted safety for AI models.
01:15They worry that if they don't monitor the technology,
01:18it'll be banned or the government will take over their labs or they'll get sued.
01:22It is an issue that we are completely aware of and it's just not something I would factor in
01:27to my opinion about whether AI is good or bad.
01:30Far more likely than AI wiping out humanity is AI having a big impact on the labor market.
01:41How have other big technologies affected the job market?
01:47Whether there was electrifying factories or the internal combustion engine or the PC in their internet.
01:53All these technologies had a big impact on what we did.
01:57They probably eliminated some jobs, but they also created a lot more new jobs.
02:02I think far more likely than killer robots or AI taking all our jobs
02:07is AI having a big impact on our kids and how they learn.
02:12When I talk about AI with people, it comes up all the time.
02:16Will AI turn my kids into an idiot?
02:19They'll be able to just ask AI for all the answers.
02:22They'll be able to have AI write their reports for them.
02:25I think it's a legitimate concern if we do nothing to deal with that concern.
02:31Will schools have to change?
02:33Yes.
02:33Rather than have your kid write a long report,
02:36teachers might have to do more work in the classroom.
02:39So that means a return to blue books where they might have to just show their work,
02:44write the essay in the classroom.
02:45Already there are some college professors who are doing that.
02:48They're actually giving kids hardcover books where they have to read them
02:51and then make notes in the margins about their thoughts
02:54in order to show that they're actually doing their work.
02:57So it's not a problem we don't know how to fix.
03:00On the upside, and which is why lots of people in Silicon Valley
03:03and people who deal with AI are really excited about the educational potential,
03:06that AI could actually give a highly competent tutor to every child,
03:13not just in rich countries, but around the world.
03:15The ability to educate children everywhere in a much better way
03:20is maybe the most exciting opportunity here.
03:25Good to know.
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