OpenAI, the company that has developed Dall-E and ChatGPT, is one of the most dangerous companies right now. They are dangerous because they are developing new artificial intelligence programs that will significantly destroy the natural way human beings interact with each other. These programs are the start of a system that will make human beings so little reliant on each other that a new level of mental illness may spread throughout humanity.
OpenAI is developing programs that produce creative work. Their progress is impressive and it means a society where very few creative people will be able to do anything of value. It thereby also serves to concentrate most of the wealth of the world towards tech companies.
Moreover, we do not know the implications of developing such technology, and humanity is not mature enough to handle it (and we may never be). OpenAI has a charter and they claim that they want their technology to benefit all of humanity. Such thinking is highly deluded. Let us go through their charter. They say,
We are committed to doing the research required to make AGI safe, and to driving the broad adoption of such research across the AI community.
Unfortunately, making AGI (artificial general intelligence) safe is impossible. Its very existence will disrupt humanity just by its mere existence. They say,
We are concerned about late-stage AGI development becoming a competitive race without time for adequate safety precautions.
By even creating the technologies they have made, they are already starting that race. It does not even matter what safeguards they choose. Other people will not use such safeguards, and in my opinion, there is no safeguard against the threat AGI poses to humanity. (Trivial safeguards such as content filters are irrelevant to my argument about the long-term effects of AGI. They say,
To be effective at addressing AGI’s impact on society, OpenAI must be on the cutting edge of AI capabilities.
The hubris of this statement shocks me. It sounds like they want to play God. As soon as AGI becomes even more powerful, its power will be seductive and it is doubtful that anyone at OpenAI will consider the ethics when billions of dollars is at stake.
Just imagine for a second if everyone at OpenAI found a way to become rich beyond their wildest dreams (which they probably already have). Are they really going to seriously consider any argument that might indicate that AGI/AI is actually bad for us? I seriously doubt that.
In my opinion, AI research now has become even more dangerous than biological weapons, because it is a crucial part of a system that will suck us in and away from being human, and perhaps even destroy us.
Thus, OpenAI is indeed an extremely dangerous company along with any other companies or individuals who develop AI to this level. The most ideal scenario at this point would be that OpenAI and any other such company would be stopped, and such research be made illegal. Unfortunately, mental damage is much harder to gauge than physical, which is why we ban assault weapons but not AI yet.
Even if this outcome is very unlikely, I urge every reader to avoid supporting OpenAI. Do not use ChatGPT, do not use any of their current or future products, and do not buy any of their stock if they go public.
7 Comments
Jason, I read your article and can only disagree with one of your statements: “so little reliant on each other that a new level of mental illness may spread throughout humanity.”
My disagreement is simply that this ‘new level of mental illness’ is already evident and accelerating at such a pace that I find it astounding.
From driver and pedestrian errors, of which I see hundreds if I leave home and go out and about for just a couple of hours, to this addiction to ‘smart phones’ which are dumbing people down to the degree that it is almost …
unconscionable
?n-k?n?sh?-n?-b?l
adjective
Not restrained by conscience; unscrupulous.Beyond prudence or reason; excessive.Not conscionable; exceeding the limits of any reasonable claim or expectation; not conforming to reason; unreasonable; inordinate; extravagant
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
addendum: these ‘errors’ are clearly issues with relatively easy thought processes. Mostly being seen in late teens through seniors.
Children, even infants, appear to be increasing in acute awareness, and learning, at a pace which seems phenomenal, yet, I can see where they often have much shorter attention spans than would be historical, less control over emotions, to the point of hysteria, and a constant demand for more toys and entertainment and wanting to ‘grow up’ beyond their capability and reach. ‘Burn out’ is on the horizon.
One of my major conclusions is that, indeed, they all, us included, have been plugged into a matrix of minerals and chemicals in our bodies which are not supposed to be their at all. An artificial construct, if you will, dominated by ‘Mercury’. Well named if you look at those characteristics which denominate the ‘character’ of both Mercury, who has some very malevolent human characteristics, and ‘Hermes’ who is the Greek equivalent and a ‘hermaphrodite’ on top of Mercury’s base and negative attributes. Mercury, the metal, is extremely toxic and interferes with all electrical processes in all life forms, including us. Many of the ‘symptoms’ you are witnessing in mammals may be directly attributed to the wanton distribution of mercury in the air, water, earth and ‘food chain’. ‘Organic’ is neither insurance nor assurance unless we control the, our, environment.
The biggest problems on earth are not addressed by those supposedly responsible for just that. We, at a personal level, do still have choices.
I.e.: Zinc is named as a ‘trace mineral’ but rarely addressed as ‘critically essential’ in cellular transmissions. The worst antagonist to Zinc utilization is, you guessed it, Mercury!
You are so right in addressing these matters, from your own perspective! Brilliant!
I appreciate your reply. Yes, you are right, there are already advanced symptoms in our culture of human beings losing connections with each other due to technology. Of course, technology can be used for meaningful communication as well, but even then, chances are if it did not exist we would be having this conversation over a fire roasting food instead of through a computer.
I’m so sad that very few people have the courage to say this
You can be one of them! Since there are so few people that say it, take some time to tell some friends!
“It thereby also serves to concentrate most of the wealth of the world towards tech companies.” Eleuther open source AI is not far behind OpenAI. So in all reality the product of this machine learning, at adequate levels of functionality is going to be ubiquitous and the arms race between commercial entities will not be for user functionality but the pursuit of an ever more predictive edge in the most competitive industries. I believe the major ‘risk’ is that the way we ascribe value to products and services is going to shift and upset conventional economics, and this will influence the value of all property relations. Whether this results in greater concentration of wealth or a radical decentralising of property is anybody’s guess. But such as shift is not so much the main risk as the way that nations will respond to it
It is relevant to current mental instability and vulnerabilities of young generation. Lack of family time with a real human interaction leading to loneliness and depression.
You are exactly right. This type of mental instability is practically inevitable with technology.