superintelligence

We usually talk about tech in terms of economics or policy, but the casual language tech leaders often use to describe AI — summoning an inanimate force with the powers of code — sounds more... magical. So, what can myth and magic teach us about the AI race? Josh Schrei, mythologist and host of The Emerald podcast,  says that foundational cultural tales like "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" or Prometheus teach us the importance of initiation, responsibility, human knowledge, and care.  He argues these stories and myths can guide ethical tech development by reminding us what it is to be human. 

Correction: Josh says the first telling of "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice" myth dates back to ancient Egypt, but it actually dates back to ancient Greece.

RECOMMENDED MEDIA 

The Emerald podcast

The Emerald explores the human experience through a vibrant lens of myth, story, and imagination

Embodied Ethics in The Age of AI

A five-part course with The Emerald podcast’s Josh Schrei and School of Wise Innovation’s Andrew Dunn

Nature Nurture: Children Can Become Stewards of Our Delicate Planet

A U.S. Department of the Interior study found that the average American kid can identify hundreds of corporate logos but not plants and animals

The New Fire

AI is revolutionizing the world - here's how democracies can come out on top. This upcoming book was authored by an architect of President Biden's AI executive order

RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES 

How Will AI Affect the 2024 Elections?

The AI Dilemma

The Three Rules of Humane Tech

AI Myths and Misconceptions

Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

In this interview, Dr. Joy Buolamwini argues that algorithmic bias in AI systems poses risks to marginalized people. She challenges the assumptions of tech leaders who advocate for AI “alignment” and explains why some tech companies are hypocritical when it comes to addressing bias. 

Dr. Joy Buolamwini is the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League and the author of “Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines.”

Correction: Aza says that Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, predicts superintelligence in four years. Altman predicts superintelligence in ten years.

RECOMMENDED MEDIA

Unmasking AI by Joy Buolamwini

“The conscience of the AI revolution” explains how we’ve arrived at an era of AI harms and oppression, and what we can do to avoid its pitfalls

Coded Bias

Shalini Kantayya’s film explores the fallout of Dr. Joy’s discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately, and her journey to push for the first-ever legislation in the U.S. to govern against bias in the algorithms that impact us all

How I’m fighting bias in algorithms

Dr. Joy’s 2016 TED Talk about her mission to fight bias in machine learning, a phenomenon she calls the "coded gaze."

RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES

Mustafa Suleyman Says We Need to Contain AI. How Do We Do It?

Protecting Our Freedom of Thought with Nita Farahany

The AI Dilemma

Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

Are we in a simulation? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice take a deep dive into simulation theory, consciousness, and free will with Oxford theorist Nick Bostrom. Is this The Matrix? 

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://www.startalkradio.net/show/cosmic-queries-living-in-a-simulation-with-nick-bostrom/

Thanks to our Patrons Joshua Mooneyham, Mike Reno, Eric Ennis, Bill Savage, Kevin Meyer, Lise Rafaelsen, and Andre Lewis for supporting us this week.

Photo Credit: Gareth Halfacree, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons