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Can we build AI without losing control over it? | Sam Harris

TED · 3.9M views · 2016-10-19 · 14:28

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Overview

Sam Harris argues in a TED talk that we will build superhuman AI and have not grappled with the risk of creating something that may treat us the way we treat ants. He makes a logical case for taking AI risk seriously.

On Hacker News

HN cites it in AI risk debates, sometimes as an argument that has aged well and sometimes as an example of alarmist framing.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2017–2023

Topics

AI safety, AGI & impact
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superintelligenceai safetysam harristed talkexistential risk

What people said

billti · 2023-07 · Recommendation

I don't think many people are worried that what we have now is a major risk. The major concern is the implications of the trajectory we are now on. If you look at what ChatGPT and Midjourney and the like can do now compared to just a couple of years ago, it's pretty incredible. If you extrapolate the next few similar jumps in capability, and assume that won't be 20 years away, then what AI is going to be capable of before even my kids leave college is going to be mind-boggling, and in some possible futures not in a good way. I remember seeing this talk from Sam Harris nearly 6 years ago and it logically making a lot of sense back then ( [VIDEO] ). The past couple of years have made this all the more prescient. (Worth a watch if you have 15 mins).

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bumby · 2022-09 · Reference

This made me think about Sam Harris's comparison between ourselves and John Van Neumann as analogous to a comparison between a chicken and ourselves. [1] [VIDEO]

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whatyoucantsay · 2017-10 · Criticism

Even people giving TED talks about the threat of AI are unable to marshal an appropriate emotional response to the dangers that lie ahead: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by TED, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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