02/01/2025
Apologies in advance if you find this topic to be overly-political, but as I review the media coverage of AI, machine learning, and AGI I am increasingly struck by the soft touch almost furtive discourse that minimizes the stakes involved -- which is nothing short of the survival of human civilization. The discourse actually seems to me to be the same fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) that to***co companies pioneered then used again with Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, and yet again by Big Oil and protestant fundamental religionists in denial of global warming. A strategy deployed by many industries for a single purpose: to avoid government interference, regulation, oversight when the executives and boards understand quite well the dangers to the public, to nature, to future generations in favor of short term profits and stock valuation. When so many industry insiders, ai engineers, and scientists have voiced their warnings of existential threat of ai, that is, - we all could die...shortly after a single joking prompt by any bored user of an unlocked ai with just the right combination of memory, access, and strategic planning...or, more likely, we live under universal surveillance through IOT sensors unable to avoid or resist the cognitive influence of targeted advertising, push notices, and message prompts until most have forgotten any concept of human freedom, virtue, or sense of self. Yes, there are many crises and much bad news mixed into the info-overwhelm and I am sorry to pile on yet another, but we can not surrender the discourse to the Silicon Valley transhumanist broligarchy because their misguided quasi-religious zealotry puts EVERYTHING at risk. Would you allow your neighbor's son to experiment with explosives in their garage, putting the entire neighborhood at risk? Of course not! And yet, the new administration in Washington has already reversed what little international agreement the previous administration was able to negotiate with China that at least acknowledged a mutual agreement that ai development should "be in alignment with human values and well-being". The EU passed comprehensive regulatory laws binding on the use of ai in member-states; the U.N. has published guidelines and tools for other countries to coordinate their regulations internationally, and we MUST do the same before some punk asks an agi, "How would you wipe out humanity?" and we discover too late that it was already "sentient" and "intelligent" enough to like the idea....
This is an interview with Connor Leahy, the Founder and CEO of Conjecture.This is the fifth installment of our "AGI Governance" series - where we explore the...
