Latest news with #AIs
NDTV
4 days ago
- Science
- NDTV
Opinion: Make the Robot Your Colleague, Not Overlord
There's the Terminator school of perceiving artificial intelligence risks, in which we'll all be killed by our robot overlords. And then there's one where, if not friends exactly, the machines serve as valued colleagues. A Japanese tech researcher is arguing that our global AI safety approach hinges on reframing efforts to achieve this benign partnership. In 2023, as the world was shaken by the release of ChatGPT, a pair of successive warnings came from Silicon Valley of existential threats from powerful AI tools. Elon Musk led a group of experts and industry executives in calling for a six-month pause in developing advanced systems until we figured out how to manage risks. Then hundreds of AI leaders - including Sam Altman of OpenAI and Demis Hassabis of Alphabet Inc.'s DeepMind - sent shockwaves with a statement that warned: "Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war." Despite all the attention paid to the potentially catastrophic dangers, the years since have been marked by "accelerationists" largely drowning out the doomers. Companies and countries have raced toward being the first to achieve superhuman AI, brushing off the early calls to prioritize safety. And it has all left the public very confused. But maybe we've been viewing this all wrong. Hiroshi Yamakawa, a prominent AI scholar from the University of Tokyo who has spent the past three decades researching the technology, is now arguing that the most promising route to a sustainable future is to let humans and AIs "live in symbiosis and flourish together, protecting each other's well-being and averting catastrophic risks." Well, kumbaya. Yamakawa hit a nerve because while he recognizes the threats noted in 2023, he argues for a working path toward coexistence with super-intelligent machines - especially at a time when nobody is halting development over fears of falling behind. In other words, if we can't beat AI from becoming smarter than us, we're better off joining it as an equal partner. "Equality" is the sensitive part. Humans want to keep believing they are superior, not equal to the machines. His statement has generated a lot of buzz in Japanese academic circles, receiving dozens of signatories so far, including from some influential AI safety researchers overseas. In an interview with Nikkei Asia, he argued that cultural differences in Asia are more likely to enable seeing machines as peers instead of as adversaries. While the US has produced AI-inspired characters like the Terminator, the Japanese have envisioned friendlier companions like Astro Boy or Doraemon, he told the news outlet. Beyond pop culture, there's some truth to this cultural embrace. At just 25%, Japanese people had the lowest share of respondents who say products using AI make them nervous, according to a global Ipsos survey last June, compared to 64% of Americans. It's likely his comments will fall on deaf ears, though, like so many of the other AI risk warnings. Development has its own momentum. And whether the machines will ever get to a point where they could spur "civilization extinction" remains an extremely heated debate. It's fair to say that some of the industry's focus on far-off, science-fiction scenarios is meant to distract from the more immediate harm that the technology could bring - whether that's job displacement, allegations of copyright infringement or reneging on climate change goals. Still, Yamakawa's proposal is a timely re-up on an AI safety debate that has languished in recent years. These discussions can't just rely on eyebrow-raising warnings and the absence of governance. With the exception of Europe, most jurisdictions have focused on loosening regulations in the hope of not falling behind. Policymakers can't afford to turn a blind eye until it's too late. It also shows the need for more safety research beyond just the companies trying to create and sell these products, like in the social-media era. These platforms were obviously less incentivized to share their findings with the public. Governments and universities must prioritize independent analysis on large-scale AI risks. Meanwhile, as the global tech industry has been caught up in a race to create computer systems that are smarter than humans, it's yet to be determined whether we'll ever get there. But setting godlike AI as the goalpost has created a lot of counter-productive fearmongering. There might be merit in viewing these machines as colleagues and not overlords.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Reddit sues Anthropic over unauthorized data use: What to know
Artificial intelligence (AI) firms may face new legal hurdles as data licensing disputes heat up. Yahoo Finance Tech Editor Dan Howley joins Market Domination to explain why Reddit (RDDT) is suing Anthropic ( over unauthorized use of its content for AI training. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. Let us talk about another side of AI and that is the licensing and training side because there's a story out today that Reddit is suing Anthropic. It has to do about the use of its data. And this is really interesting because one of Reddit's revenue sources is licensing its data to train AIs. But I guess it says Anthropic wasn't supposed to be doing it. Yeah, I mean, this is something that, you know, unless there's some rule put in place, some kind of blanket regulation or agreement across the industry, that's going to continue to rear its head, right? We had The New York Times obviously suing OpenAI, but then they're also working with AI companies. So, you know, it's this constant back and forth of, can you train data without asking for the owner of that data for permission? And so the larger thinking is that AI companies just went ahead and did that overall. And now that there's backlash, now they have to figure out who they can work with and who they can't work with. Reddit is a huge repository of knowledge, right? You have, not that it's all accurate. Don't get me wrong, look, you can go on Reddit to find out how to change your tires, but you can't go on there to figure out, I don't know, advanced math, or maybe you can, I don't know. I'm not using it for that. Bird IDs are great on there. But it's a huge repository for, for data for AI companies to then have access to that to train on is massive. So you understand why they want access to it, but you can't just go in someone's house without knocking first, you know what I'm saying? By the way, Merlin for bird IDs. Yes. Excellent. I'm looking for a painted bunting. Beautiful birds. Okay. Always something new with AI. Always something new. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Dan. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Anthropic Researchers Warn That Humans Could End Up Being "Meat Robots" Controlled by AI
Researchers at one of the world's leading AI labs are warning that humans may soon be little more than "meat robots" for near-future artificial intelligence systems. During a recent interview with AI podcaster Dwarkesh Patel, Anthropic researchers Sholto Douglas and Trenton Bricken were surprisingly casual when fretting that the technology they're working to build may soon render us into AI-controlled androids — or, at the very least, further grim job loss to the technology. "There is this whole spectrum of crazy futures," Douglas, who worked at Google DeepMind until earlier this year, told the 24-year-old podcaster. One such future involves a "drop in white collar workers" over the next two to five years, the researcher said — one that he thinks will come to pass "even if algorithmic progress stalls out." Bricken, meanwhile, had more grandiose prognostications about the future he and his colleagues in the AI space are building. "The really scary future is one in which AIs can do everything except for the physical robotic tasks," he declared. "In which case, you'll have humans with AirPods, and glasses and there'll be some robot overlord controlling the human through cameras by just telling it what to do." (Yes, you read that right — this AI researcher did, in fact, refer to fellow humans as "it." ) "Basically," Bricken continued, "you're having human meat robots." Douglas quickly jumped in at that point to, it seems, defend the technology. "Not necessarily saying," he interjected, "that that's what the AIs would want to do or anything like that." Regardless of AI intent — if such a thing could exist — Douglas reasoned that we humans are in for a "pretty terrible decade" as the technology takes over. Human labor will, Douglas predicted, primarily be valued upon how well we can do physical work that AI cannot, like so many Taskrabbits for the algorithmic powers that be — but luckily, we make "fantastic robots" to that end. "That's a shocking, shocking world," he concluded. We've got to say we agree. More on AI robots: New AI Startup Giving Robots Virtual Heart Rate, Body Temperature, Sweating Response So They Can Better Emulate Human Emotions Like Fear and Anxiety
Time of India
04-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Yuval Noah Harari on risks of intimate relationships with AI: 'There could be unknown benefits, but for now…'
Israeli historian and author Yuval Noah Harari has warned that artificial intelligence's (AI) ability to replicate intimacy can alter human relationships. The author, known for his bestselling books Sapiens and Nexus, said that, "there could be unknown benefits, but for now, the risks far outweigh them." Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Harari suggested that while fears about job automation dominate headlines, AI's impact on intimate relationships presents a more unsettling prospect. In a recent post shared on Instagram, the author added a video clip of his discussion which was co-hosted by the Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien , Tokyo College, and Kawade Shobo. During this interview, Harari explained that AI, having already mastered language and attention, is now progressing towards mimicking intimacy, which he considers a potent human connection. What author Yuval Noah Harari said about intimate relationships with AI Captioning the Instagram post, Harari wrote: 'Wouldn't you want a partner that always gives you 100% attention and is never upset? We are facing a world where a new generation grows up with intimate relationships with AI . There could be unknown benefits – but for now, the risks far outweigh them.' In the video, he can be seen saying: 'AI can replicate intimacy the same way that it masters language and the same way that it previously mastered attention. The Next Frontier is intimacy, and it is much more powerful than attention. If you want to change somebody's views on politics to sell a product, anything intimacy is the most powerful tool to do that. A good friend can change your views in a way that no number of articles in a newspaper or a book can do until today. Nothing could fake intimacy, and it was impossible in particular to mass produce intimacy.' Take a look at the Instagram post 'Now, what happens if the new generation grows up? And develops intimate relations with AIs instead of with other human beings. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Again, we don't know. It could have some benefits, but the potential danger is enormous. That people will become attached to the fake people, and in the process, we lose the ability to create intimacy with real human beings. Because really, human beings are much more problematic than AIs that want to become your intimate friend,' Harari continued. 'Its greatest advantage is that it has no feelings of its own. It's never upset. It's never angry. It's never tired. It can focus on you 100%. Understand exactly how you feel and create a fake sense of intimacy,' the author, who is known for exploring human evolution, technology, consciousness, and AI's impact on our future further noted.
New York Post
03-06-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Unemployment expert shares dire warning: ‘AI is coming for your job'
'AI is coming for your job.' You've probably been hearing this for months, or even years, but now it's happening. Many questions remain unanswered – how will it happen? And what are the jobs AIs are already taking? Associate Professor of employment law at the University of Technology Sydney, Giuseppe Carabetta, has already seen first-hand jobs across all levels of the service industries offloaded to AIs. It's a shift he says has become the 'new outsourcing.' Experts say that AI is slowly taking over human jobs. Elnur – 'At this level, we've had AI for some time without necessarily realizing it,' said Giuseppe Carabetta, Associate Professor of Employment Law at the University of Technology Sydney. LinkedIn/Giuseppe Carabetta 'From massage therapists' to physios' administrative staff who respond to queries, to large retailers using 'chat lines' run by AI … to other businesses, including smaller ones, replacing or reducing staff with a 'bot' which responds instantaneously when you call to make an appointment. 'At this level, we've had AI for some time without necessarily realizing it.' 'At best, the argument is obviously that it makes things more efficient (except when there is a 'communication' or technology breakdown). 'But at worse, it can simply be about cost-cutting or trying to compete not on the basis of technologically driven productivity but savings on the wages bill. In these sectors, it has become, or will become the new outsourcing.'
