The Gods of AI

On AI, with its threats and hopes, history and religion.

We are back! In the last season, we mostly focused on our past: where we came from, and how our history affected the value we seek to create in our career. This season, we are looking towards the future.

This time we recorded among the mushrooms of the autumn forest. While the dogs ran around sniffing the wind, we discussed what we hope from AI, and what we fear the most.

The path we took:

• Science fiction's AI promises, teaching us to fear the robots early on.
• The promise of growth and prosperity, and the last time we heard those promises: in the mobile revolution.
• Machines doing stupid human stuff much more efficiently than humans.
• The brief history of AI, or all the different things we called AI at some point.
• Regulation, legislation, and setting rules for something we don't fully understand.
• Surpassing human intelligence being a thread in itself or a way to salvation.
• Robot gods, robots with emotions.
• And for a more grounded ending: AI tools we use now, in our daily work, and why we're not worried about robots taking our jobs just yet.

Further reading:

• https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6398163-the-orchid-cage
• https://www.fastcompany.com/90942310/ai-napster-who-going-to-own-it-next
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2016/12/30/a-very-short-history-of-artificial-intelligence-ai/
• https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/17/the-cambridge-analytica-scandal-changed-the-world-but-it-didnt-change-facebook
• https://ourworldindata.org/artificial-intelligence
• https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2023/04/28/yuval-noah-harari-argues-that-ai-has-hacked-the-operating-system-of-human-civilisation
• https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/artificial-intelligence/
• https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40947778-the-outside

Spoiler warning: This episode contains major plot spoilers for the following sci-fi movies or books: The Matrix franchise, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator, The Orchid Cage by Herbert W. Franke, and The Outside series by Ada Hoffman.

Grab your headphones, and walk with us! We have some sparkly winter sunshine, just ideal for a one-episode-long walk.

Ps. If you want to chime in, DM us or leave a comment on our Instagram - we're @paths.puddles.products and would love your feedback!