The current AI hype, especially around chat searches and the idea that AI is going to take over the world and replace humans, is almost at fever pitch. Investments into AI are now propping up the U.S. economy, and have become the linchpin for its survival. However, old school technologists, such as Yann LeCun, an NYU professor and the Chief AI Scientist at Meta, disagree with the hype.
LeCun has been in the technology field for over 25 years and has watched AI develop over the course of those years. He argues that investments made in AI over the past 75 years have resulted in significant losses. He doesn’t believe AI will take over the world and will rather continue to be a data collection and disinformation tool.
This article will highlight LeCun’s position, and then discuss how ChatGPT (an AI Chat software) is currently being used. ChatGPT claims it can “sift through a tsunami of natural language inputs” and has been out in the public for around five months. However, many believe this technology is mainly an advanced disinformation tool used for data collection, rather than a remarkable feat of technology.
Finally, the article will highlight the importance of investing in AI wisely and avoiding the pitfalls of investing in technology over the past 75 years. Ultimately, if we want to avoid a serious catastrophe due to over-investment on this “new” AI fad, it is important to read up on the history of failed AI investments and be more diligent when investing in the technology.
Meta is a tech company based in San Francisco, California that collaborates with leading AI companies to build ethical search technology. Yann LeCun, the Chief Scientist for AI at Meta, is considered the “Godfather” of AI. He is a NYU professor who has been in the tech field for over 25 years and has watched AI evolve from its infancy. He is well recognized for his work, having won the Turing Award in 2018 (the highest accolade in the AI world). His works focuses on the development of deep learning algorithms and their applications in computer vision and language understanding.
