Providence, Rhode Island [Brown University] — Renowned scientist, futurist, and author Jaron Lanier believes that most people, especially those in Silicon Valley who are developing new AI systems, have the wrong idea of what artificial intelligence is.
“Usually we talk about AI as a thing,” he said during a standing-room-only lecture at Brown University. “There’s this object. The AI did this, the AI did that. But there’s another way.” [to think about it]So, no, it’s a human collaboration. ”
AI language models are trained on vast amounts of text created by scientists, writers, thinkers, entertainers, and more. These human contributions shouldn’t be erased from the output of language models, Lanier says. This erasure gives people a perception of AI as “this new super-alien angel that’s coming to either save us or kill us,” rather than “a new, very high-level, very large-scale form of cooperation,” rather than what AI actually is and what it can be. [that] Even better than having a big alien angel. I think it’s really cool. ”
Lanier’s comments were made as part of a talk and musical performance Thursday, April 23, at Brown’s Engineering Research Center. The event was the second annual Leon Cooper Lecture, sponsored by the Brown Center for Theoretical Physics and Innovation and the Office of the Provost. The series honors Mr. Cooper, the late Nobel Prize winner and professor of physics at Brown University, and brings speakers to campus with unique perspectives that go beyond traditional academic boundaries.
Mr. Lanier is considered one of the founders in the field of virtual reality. In addition to his own business ventures, he has worked for technology giants such as Atari and currently serves as chief scientist at Microsoft Research. He is also an outspoken critic of Silicon Valley, arguing that people should be compensated for their contributions to software platforms like Google, and that social media is a malignant, manipulative force that people should stop using immediately.
In his talk at Brown University, Lanier emphasized that his criticism of AI is not about the technology itself, which he sees as useful and potentially important.
“This is a critique of all the cultural, psychological, spiritual, economic and political challenges surrounding it. It’s the worst,” he said. “That’s what needs to change. The actual tools, the actual nitty-gritty, I’m a little disappointed in that. I think we’re doing something useful there.”
Lanier said the way AI aggregates and sifts through vast amounts of human knowledge has the potential to lead to new understandings of the world and new scientific theories. But it’s important to remember that these potential insights rest on the shoulders of real people who have done the real work.
“Part of the scientific tradition, and this is really important, is citation and reference,” he said. “We don’t erase each other. We need that chain. Not just because it’s fair, because it keeps us in business, because it’s decent and ethical. Because without that chain of thought, we don’t have our core reality.”
Lanier said there are interesting scientific questions in AI that are right in front of everyone’s eyes but that are largely unaddressed. That’s why manipulating language enables the creative possibilities of AI.
“Essentially, we run statistics on word order and distance on large amounts of data and use that to create new things based on it,” Lanier says. “Isn’t it amazing that natural language can support this fairly simple thing and get this result? Shouldn’t we be thinking, ‘Wow, is there more going on in natural language than we realize?’
For students who might want to have an AI write their reports or assignments, Lanier’s advice was simple. “Please stop. It’s bad for your health.”
True to his reputation as a man of many talents and interests, Mr. Lanier’s speech was followed by a musical performance. Stefon Alexander, a physics professor at Brown University and an accomplished tenor saxophonist, joined Lanier along with Providence-based Latin percussionist Jesús Andujar and Newport bassist Donnie Akins.
During the eclectic jazz performance, Lanier played a khen, an ancient flute-like instrument from Southeast Asia. He described a chain of innovations that started with the kane, led to more modern instruments like the piano, and eventually to the player piano. Lanier said the player piano’s punch-card automation inspired Charles Babbage, who is credited with developing the concept of a digital computer.
“So this is where it all started and what I’m responsible for,” Lanier said with a laugh as he held up the cane. “That’s it. One more song?”
