British Columbia companies pay close attention to the caveats and benefits of artificial intelligence applications.
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“I think it’s getting people’s attention,” said David Williams, B.C. Business Council Vice Chairman for Policy, who has studied the potential for AI to disrupt B.C.’s job market. 42% of jobs in the state’s economy are believed to be susceptible to AI automation, which is a big concern.
The arrival last November of Microsoft-owned OpenAI’s ChatGPT application, a chatbot with incredible “intelligence,” upset many decision makers, including top AI executives.
“People started using it and we saw applications of it in different areas,” Williams added. “So I think what really struck people was how quickly it worked. ”
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So far, the tsunami of AI progress has been largely invisible, permeating automated customer service applications, personalized ad choices on websites, or personalized choices for streaming services like Netflix.
Within Vancouver’s burgeoning AI sector, the sudden wave of concern has not caused much repercussions, especially when compared to the potential benefits from high-profile non-chatbot applications.
“Generative AI is not a monolith,” said Handle Kim, co-founder and CEO of Vancouver-based company Variation AI. The company focuses on using generative computer learning to find molecules for medical use.
In Variational, Kim said articles on concerns were less controversial as he was busy “solving a very specific problem.”
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“We’re trying to save lives, we’re trying to provide better outcomes for our patients,” Kim said.
However, the general public has suddenly become fascinated by the flags raised by many prominent developers of AI, which suggest that society should pause some developments because moving too fast too quickly is dangerous. Now.
The alleged “Godfather of AI” Jeffrey Hinton recently added his name to the roster of critics when he stepped down as Google’s top man, stating, “In a few years they will be far more intelligent than humans.” may be high,” he said. Nil Koksal, interviewer for the CBC program “As it Happens.”
“And I don’t know of a case where something more intelligent is being controlled by something less intelligent,” Hinton warned.
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These concerns have surfaced with the debut of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s publicly accessible interactive generative AI tool, demonstrating the technology’s powerful potential.
Generative AI refers to the ability of computers to generate text, images, and other media from user prompts chosen from huge datasets, known as large language models, that feed into AI systems. And the system continuously learns from itself.
ChatGPT has shown that they can write compelling essays, pass exams, edit travel itineraries, and even write computer code, but they can still fail questions containing simple logic. I have.
But for Hinton, a cognitive psychologist who pioneered many of the theories behind many AI developments while at the University of Toronto, what is emerging is a “different form of intelligence” from human biological intelligence. Yes, and in a sense, “it could actually be.” much better “
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Tech companies have long been working behind the scenes to develop generative AI tools, but Microsoft’s fourth release of ChatGPT feels compelling for Google and others to release their own tools. , sparked a more public AI race.
In March, a group of AI executives signed an open letter calling on major companies to stop training AI systems “more powerful than (ChatGPT 4)” for six months.
Canada has set out to enact a law called the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act to guide AI development, but only to address privacy elements, such as using AI to impersonate individuals or manipulate videos without permission. There are concerns that the focus remains on
Canadian tech visionary Mitch Joel agrees it’s important, but compared to the bigger-picture concerns about AI, such examples of deepfake videos are mostly “parlor tricks.” be equivalent to.
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A big challenge is what the AI sector calls “collaboration,” says Joel. It refers to whether AI continues to align with the values of the humans who use it.
“If you give AI the power to choose, it can make choices that are unfavorable to humans,” Joel said.
Kim warned that the speed of AI progress will make it difficult for governments to intervene and regulate it.
“By the time we convene a working group on this issue and get industry and experts to work with us, the industry will be working on the next issue,” Kim said. He added that developments in general are relentless.
“Obviously the end point is something we have to watch out for,” Kim said. “But … now[AI]is distributed everywhere and everyone is doing it. Adobe, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, whatever. Everyone understands it.”
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Williams added that addressing these concerns is “part of the change in technology.” Human nature does not change. ”
“There will be good actors who will use it for good, and there will be actors who will use it for evil,” Williams said. Societies will therefore need to adapt their means of defense.
Another certainty about AI is that it will have a disruptive impact on the workforce. Williams estimates that the jobs most at risk of automation over the next 20 years are those in sales and service, finance, administration, and facilities operations. Therefore, governments also need to work on policies to address these changes, Williams said, adding that ignoring the potential use of AI to complement skilled employment could have downsides.
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Since society will always be a “net beneficiary of new technologies,” Williams said, the challenge for AI is to devise policies to help those in jobs at risk of automation leave those jobs. claimed to be.
“We want to make sure that these adjustments are made to move people to jobs that leverage technology for jobs, rather than competing with technology for jobs,” Williams said.
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