Dream Machines - The real threat with artificial intelligence is that we'll fall prey to its hype
The Walrus|July/August 2024
Some of the world's largest companies, including Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet, are throwing their full weight behind AI. On top of the billions spent by big tech, funding for AI startups hit nearly $50 billion (US) in 2023.
By Navneet Alang
Dream Machines - The real threat with artificial intelligence is that we'll fall prey to its hype

In Arthur C. Clarke's famous short story The Nine Billion Names of God, a sect of monks in Tibet believes humanity has a divinely inspired purpose: inscribing all the various names of God. Once the list was complete, they thought, He would bring the universe to an end. Having worked at it by hand for centuries, the monks decide to employ some modern technology. Two skeptical engineers arrive in the Himalayas, powerful computers in tow. Instead of 15,000 years to write out all the permutations of God's name, the job gets done in three months. As the engineers ride ponies down the mountainside, Clarke's tale ends with one of literature's most economical final lines: Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.

It is an image of the computer as a shortcut to objectivity or ultimate meaning which also happens to be, at least part of what now animates the fascination with artificial intelligence. Though the technologies that underpin AI have existed for some time, it's only since late 2022, with the emergence of OpenAI's ChatGPT, that the technology that approached intelligence appeared to be much closer. In a 2023 report by Microsoft Canada, president Chris Barry proclaims that the era of AI is here, ushering in a transformative wave with potential to touch every facet of our lives, and that it is not just a technological advancement; it is a societal shift that is propelling us into a future where innovation takes centre stage. That is among the more level-headed reactions. Artists and writers are panicking that they will be made obsolete, governments are scrambling to catch up and regulate, and academics are debating furiously.

Esta historia es de la edición July/August 2024 de The Walrus.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición July/August 2024 de The Walrus.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE THE WALRUSVer todo
Dream Machines - The real threat with artificial intelligence is that we'll fall prey to its hype
The Walrus

Dream Machines - The real threat with artificial intelligence is that we'll fall prey to its hype

Some of the world's largest companies, including Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet, are throwing their full weight behind AI. On top of the billions spent by big tech, funding for AI startups hit nearly $50 billion (US) in 2023.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
July/August 2024
MY GUILTY PLEASURE
The Walrus

MY GUILTY PLEASURE

MY CHILDREN are grown, with their own partners, their own lives.

time-read
3 minutos  |
September/October 2024
The Quest to Decode Vermeer's True Colours
The Walrus

The Quest to Decode Vermeer's True Colours

New techniques reveal hidden details in the Dutch master’s paintings

time-read
6 minutos  |
September/October 2024
Repeat after Me
The Walrus

Repeat after Me

TikTok and Instagram are helping to bring Indigenous languages back from the brink

time-read
8 minutos  |
September/October 2024
Smokehouse
The Walrus

Smokehouse

I WAS STANDING THERE at the corner, the corner where the smaller street intersects with the slightly wider one.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
September/October 2024
How Could They Just Lose Him?
The Walrus

How Could They Just Lose Him?

The Huronia Regional Centre was supposed to be a safe home for people with disabilities. Then, amid suspicions of abuse at the facility, twenty-one-year-old Robin Windross vanished without a trace

time-read
10+ minutos  |
September/October 2024
Prairie Radical
The Walrus

Prairie Radical

How conspiracy theorists splintered a small town

time-read
10+ minutos  |
September/October 2024
Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe
The Walrus

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

Scott Moe rose quietly through the ranks. Now the Saskatchewan premier and his party are shaping policies with national consequences

time-read
10+ minutos  |
September/October 2024
The Accommodation Problem
The Walrus

The Accommodation Problem

Extensions. Extra exam time. Online everything. Addressing the complex needs of students is creating chaos on campus

time-read
10+ minutos  |
September/October 2024
MY GUILTY PLEASURE
The Walrus

MY GUILTY PLEASURE

I WAS AS SURPRISED as anyone when I became obsessed with comics again last year, at the advanced age of forty-five. As a kid, I loved reading G.I. Joe and The Amazing Spider-Man.

time-read
3 minutos  |
July/August 2024