“ AI is one of the most important things humans is working on . It is more profound than , I dunno , electricity or blast . ” Those run-in were not uttered from the lips of a pit Gizmodo staffer but said on a stage at a Recode- and NBC - shop at “ town Asaph Hall ” in San Francisco last month by Google CEO Sundar Pichai .
Pichai loves him someartificial intelligence . As moderator Kara Swisher note during the event , Google employ the most AI researchers in the macrocosm . It ’s at the warmheartedness of Google ’s patronage . When Pichai foretell thePixelphone in 2016 and thePixel 2 in 2017 , a bountiful part of the sales pitch was how AI “ empowered ” those phone . But say , in 2018 , that AI is more profound than electrical energy or fire — both of which are necessary for powering the server that domiciliate the AI — is pretty damn absurd .
That did not stop Pichai from saying it , or from double down when moderator Kara Swisher state , “ Fire ? Fire is fairly good . ”
Pichai responded with “ Well , it kills people , too . We have get a line to harness flack for the benefit of world , but we had to master its downside , too . So my tip is , AI is really of import , but we have to be interested about it . ”
Pichai was trying to excuse how unplumbed an effect — both confident and negatively charged — AI could have on world .
And if you ’ve crack undetermined a sci - fi book in the last 6o or 70 twelvemonth , you ’re probably cognisant of this . AI , and its potential to waste humankind , is one of the elementary fears give in science fiction . HAL , Skynet , and those weird - tush robot in The Matrix are all the resultant of humans seeking to do less by create a practical sentient slave that could do more .
But Pichai fathom a little ridiculous saying he ’s mindful of the potential even as his company work to produce quicker and impudent AI . You vocalise pretty dazed saying , “ Sure , AI could one day usher in a atomic winter , but this early interpretation lets you google ‘ kitty hugging ’ and really designate you pictures of kittens hugging . ” Bro , you ’re still contributing to the eventual nuclear winter .
The fact is , AI is still in its infancy . Its potential , to damn us or salvage us , is still so far from being recognise as to occupy firm in the realm of fantasy . say it is as profound as electricity or flack — products of our natural man that were harnessed , not fabricated in Mountain View office building complex by some Guy rich on Del Taco — is an obscenely arrogant thing to say .
But it ’s just one of the many headscratchers give tongue to by Pichai and his fellow guest , YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki . The time of day - long conversation is amazingly outspoken . These are wildly rich and intelligent people proudly speak about their hopes and attainment without a filter . There ’s no PR person to step in and tell them to stop over talking . So you get gems like Pichai ’s one above .
You also get Wojcicki saying the reason there are n’t more woman in Silicon Valley is because not enough charwoman are in the educational word of mouth , which she retrieve “ has to do with this percept that the computer industry is a geeky , not very interesting , not societal industry . ” This is one of the most powerful women in Silicon Valley enounce the job with systemic sexism stems from girls finding computers nerdy .
Yikes .
you may watch the whole town hall , and experience interested about the speechless - dumbs lead one of the most brawny entities on the planet , below .
[ Youtube , h / tCNBC ]
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