What does the future hold for generative AI? – MIT News
Speaking at the Generative AI: Shaping the Future symposium on Nov. 28, the kickoff event of MITs Generative AI Week, keynote speaker and iRobot co-founder Rodney Brooks warned attendees against uncritically overestimating the capabilities of this emerging technology, which underpins increasingly powerful tools like OpenAIs ChatGPT and Googles Bard.
Hype leads to hubris, and hubris leads to conceit, and conceit leads to failure, cautioned Brooks, who is also a professor emeritus at MIT, a former director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), and founder of Robust.AI.
No one technology has ever surpassed everything else, he added.
The symposium, which drew hundreds of attendees from academia and industry to the Institutes Kresge Auditorium, was laced with messages of hope about the opportunities generative AI offers for making the world a better place, including through art and creativity, interspersed with cautionary tales about what could go wrong if these AI tools are not developed responsibly.
Generative AI is a term to describe machine-learning models that learn to generate new material that looks like the data they were trained on. These models have exhibited some incredible capabilities, such as the ability to produce human-like creative writing, translate languages, generate functional computer code, or craft realistic images from text prompts.
In her opening remarks to launch the symposium, MIT President Sally Kornbluth highlighted several projects faculty and students have undertaken to use generative AI to make a positive impact in the world. For example, the work of the Axim Collaborative, an online education initiative launched by MIT and Harvard, includes exploring the educational aspects of generative AI to help underserved students.
The Institute also recently announced seed grants for 27 interdisciplinary faculty research projects centered on how AI will transform peoples lives across society.
In hosting Generative AI Week, MIT hopes to not only showcase this type of innovation, but also generate collaborative collisions among attendees, Kornbluth said.
Collaboration involving academics, policymakers, and industry will be critical if we are to safely integrate a rapidly evolving technology like generative AI in ways that are humane and help humans solve problems, she told the audience.
I honestly cannot think of a challenge more closely aligned with MITs mission. It is a profound responsibility, but I have every confidence that we can face it, if we face it head on and if we face it as a community, she said.
While generative AI holds the potential to help solve some of the planets most pressing problems, the emergence of these powerful machine learning models has blurred the distinction between science fiction and reality, said CSAIL Director Daniela Rus in her opening remarks. It is no longer a question of whether we can make machinesthat produce new content, she said,but how we can use these tools to enhance businesses and ensure sustainability.
Today, we will discuss the possibility of a future where generative AI does not just exist as a technological marvel, but stands as a source of hope and a force for good, said Rus, who is also the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
But before the discussion dove deeply into the capabilities of generative AI, attendees were first asked to ponder their humanity, as MIT Professor Joshua Bennett read an original poem.
Bennett, a professor in the MIT Literature Section and Distinguished Chair of the Humanities, was asked to write a poem about what it means to be human, and drew inspiration from his daughter, who was born three weeks ago.
The poem told of his experiences as a boy watching Star Trekwith his father and touched on the importance of passing traditions down to the next generation.
In his keynote remarks, Brooks set out to unpack some of the deep, scientific questions surrounding generative AI, as well as explore what the technology can tell us about ourselves.
To begin, he sought to dispel some of the mystery swirling around generative AI tools like ChatGPT by explaining the basics of how this large language model works. ChatGPT, for instance, generates text one word at a time by determining what the next word should be in the context of what it has already written. While a human might write a story by thinking about entire phrases, ChatGPT only focuses on the next word, Brooks explained.
ChatGPT 3.5 is built on a machine-learning model that has 175 billion parameters and has been exposed to billions of pages of text on the web during training. (The newest iteration, ChatGPT 4, is even larger.) It learns correlations between words in this massive corpus of text and uses this knowledge to propose what word might come next when given a prompt.
The model has demonstrated some incredible capabilities, such as the ability to write a sonnet about robots in the style of Shakespeares famous Sonnet 18. During his talk, Brooks showcased the sonnet he asked ChatGPT to write side-by-side with his own sonnet.
But while researchers still dont fully understand exactly how these models work, Brooks assured the audience that generative AIs seemingly incredible capabilities are not magic, and it doesnt mean these models can do anything.
His biggest fears about generative AI dont revolve around models that could someday surpass human intelligence. Rather, he is most worried about researchers who may throw away decades of excellent work that was nearing a breakthrough, just to jump on shiny new advancements in generative AI; venture capital firms that blindly swarm toward technologies that can yield the highest margins; or the possibility that a whole generation of engineers will forget about other forms of software and AI.
At the end of the day, those who believe generative AI can solve the worlds problems and those who believe it will only generate new problems have at least one thing in common: Both groups tend to overestimate the technology, he said.
What is the conceit with generative AI? The conceit is that it is somehow going to lead to artificial general intelligence. By itself, it is not, Brooks said.
Following Brooks presentation, a group of MIT faculty spoke about their work using generative AI and participated in a panel discussion about future advances, important but underexplored research topics, and the challenges of AI regulation and policy.
The panel consisted of Jacob Andreas, an associate professor in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and a member of CSAIL; Antonio Torralba, the Delta Electronics Professor of EECS and a member of CSAIL; Ev Fedorenko, an associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences and an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT; and Armando Solar-Lezama, a Distinguished Professor of Computing and associate director of CSAIL. It was moderated by William T. Freeman, the Thomas and Gerd Perkins Professor of EECS and a member of CSAIL.
The panelists discussed several potential future research directions around generative AI, including the possibility of integrating perceptual systems, drawing on human senses like touch and smell, rather than focusing primarily on language and images. The researchers also spoke about the importance of engaging with policymakers and the public to ensure generative AI tools are produced and deployed responsibly.
One of the big risks with generative AI today is the risk of digital snake oil. There is a big risk of a lot of products going out that claim to do miraculous things but in the long run could be very harmful, Solar-Lezama said.
The morning session concluded with an excerpt from the 1925 science fiction novel Metropolis, read by senior Joy Ma, a physics and theater arts major, followed by a roundtable discussion on the future of generative AI. The discussion included Joshua Tenenbaum, a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a member of CSAIL; Dina Katabi, the Thuan and Nicole Pham Professor in EECS and a principal investigator in CSAIL and the MIT Jameel Clinic; and Max Tegmark, professor of physics; and was moderated by Daniela Rus.
One focus of the discussion was the possibility of developing generative AI models that can go beyond what we can do as humans, such as tools that can sense someones emotions by using electromagnetic signals to understand how a persons breathing and heart rate are changing.
But one key to integrating AI like this into the real world safely is to ensure that we can trust it, Tegmark said. If we know an AI tool will meet the specifications we insist on, then we no longer have to be afraid of building really powerful systems that go out and do things for us in the world, he said.
See the original post here:
What does the future hold for generative AI? - MIT News
- OpenAI disbands its AI risk mitigation team - - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- BEYOND LOCAL: 'Noise' in the machine: Human differences in judgment lead to problems for AI - The Longmont Leader - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- Machine Learning Researcher Links OpenAI to Drug-Fueled Sex Parties - Futurism - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- What Is AI? How Artificial Intelligence Works (2024) - Shopify - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- Vitalik Buterin says OpenAI's GPT-4 has passed the Turing test - Cointelegraph - May 20th, 2024 [May 20th, 2024]
- "I lost trust": Why the OpenAI team in charge of safeguarding humanity imploded - Vox.com - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- 63% of surveyed Americans want government legislation to prevent super intelligent AI from ever being achieved - PC Gamer - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- Top OpenAI researcher resigns, saying company prioritized 'shiny products' over AI safety - Fortune - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- The revolution in artificial intelligence and artificial general intelligence - Washington Times - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- OpenAI disbands team devoted to artificial intelligence risks - Yahoo! Voices - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- OpenAI disbands safety team focused on risk of artificial intelligence causing 'human extinction' - New York Post - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- OpenAI disbands team devoted to artificial intelligence risks - Port Lavaca Wave - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- OpenAI disbands team devoted to artificial intelligence risks - Moore County News Press - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- Generative AI Is Totally Shameless. I Want to Be It - WIRED - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- OpenAI researcher resigns, claiming safety has taken a backseat to shiny products - The Verge - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- Most of Surveyed Americans Do Not Want Super Intelligent AI - 80.lv - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- How Artificial General Intelligence Will Shape the Future - Analytics Insight - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- A former OpenAI leader says safety has 'taken a backseat to shiny products' at the AI company - Winnipeg Free Press - May 18th, 2024 [May 18th, 2024]
- DeepMind CEO says Google to spend more than $100B on AGI despite hype - Cointelegraph - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- Congressional panel outlines five guardrails for AI use in House - FedScoop - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- The Potential and Perils of Advanced Artificial General Intelligence - elblog.pl - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) Market size is worth USD 27.47 Billion by 2030 with 37.5 % As Reveale... - WhaTech - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- DeepMind Head: Google AI Spending Could Exceed $100 Billion - PYMNTS.com - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- Q&A: Mark Zuckerberg on winning the AI race - The Verge - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- Say hi to Tong Tong, world's first AGI child-image figure - ecns - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- Silicon Scholars: AI and The Muslim Ummah - IslamiCity - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- AI stocks aren't like the dot-com bubble. Here's why - Quartz - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- AI vs. AGI: The Race for Performance, Battling the Cost? for NASDAQ:GOOG by Moshkelgosha - TradingView - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- We've Been Here Before: AI Promised Humanlike Machines In 1958 - The Good Men Project - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- Google will spend more than $100 billion on AI, exec says - Quartz - April 20th, 2024 [April 20th, 2024]
- Tech companies want to build artificial general intelligence. But who decides when AGI is attained? - ABC News - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Tech companies want to build artificial general intelligence. But who decides when AGI is attained? - The Bakersfield Californian - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Tech companies want to build artificial general intelligence. But who decides when AGI is attained? - The Caledonian-Record - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- What is AGI and how is it different from AI? - ReadWrite - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Artificial intelligence in healthcare: defining the most common terms - HealthITAnalytics.com - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- We're Focusing on the Wrong Kind of AI Apocalypse - TIME - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Xi Jinping's vision in supporting the artificial intelligence at home and abroad - Modern Diplomacy - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- As 'The Matrix' turns 25, the chilling artificial intelligence (AI) projection at its core isn't as outlandish as it once seemed - TechRadar - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- AI & robotics briefing: Why superintelligent AI won't sneak up on us - Nature.com - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Get Ready for the Great AI Disappointment - WIRED - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Part 3 Capitalism in the Age of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) - Medium - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Artificial General Intelligence (AGI): what it is and why its discovery can change the world - Medium - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Exploring the Path to Artificial General Intelligence - Medriva - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- The Acceleration Towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Its Implications - Medriva - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- OpenAI Warns: "AGI Is Coming" - Do we have a reason to worry? - Medium - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- The fight over ethics intensifies as artificial intelligence quickly changes the world - 9 & 10 News - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- AI as the Third Window into Humanity: Understanding Human Behavior and Emotions - Medriva - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) in Radiation Oncology: Transformative Technology - Medriva - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Exploring the Potential of AGI: Opportunities and Challenges - Medium - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Full-Spectrum Cognitive Development Incorporating AI for Evolution and Collective Intelligence - Medriva - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Artificial Superintelligence - Understanding a Future Tech that Will Change the World! - MobileAppDaily - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Title: AI Unveiled: Exploring the Realm of Artificial Intelligence - Medium - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- The Simple Reason Why AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) Is Not ... - Medium - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- One year after its public launch, ChatGPT has succeeded in igniting ... - Morningstar - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- Macy's Could See Over $7.5 Billion in Additional Business Gains ... - CMSWire - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- Securing the cloud and AI: Insights from Laceworks CISO - SiliconANGLE News - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- Amazon unleashes Q, an AI assistant for the workplace - Ars Technica - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- You're not imagining things: The end of the -3- - Morningstar - December 2nd, 2023 [December 2nd, 2023]
- OpenAI researchers warned board of AI breakthrough ahead of CEO ouster, sources say - Reuters - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- What the OpenAI drama means for AI progress and safety - Nature.com - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- The fallout from the weirdness at OpenAI - The Economist - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- How an 'internet of AIs' will take artificial intelligence to the next level - Cointelegraph - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- OpenAI Is Seeking Additional Investment in Artificial General ... - AiThority - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- Top AI researcher launches new Alberta lab with Huawei funds after ... - The Globe and Mail - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- Will AI Replace Humanity? - KDnuggets - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- This Week in AI: Accelerationism, AGI and the Law - PYMNTS.com - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- Tesla FSD v12 Rolls Out to Employees With Update 2023.38.10 ... - Not a Tesla App - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- Searching AI-powered ChatGpt for HNP authors, the Great Salt ... - The Daily Herald - November 24th, 2023 [November 24th, 2023]
- Unveiling the Mechanics of AI: How Artificial Intelligence Works - Medium - August 16th, 2023 [August 16th, 2023]
- The stakes are high so are the rewards: Artificial intelligence and ... - Building - August 16th, 2023 [August 16th, 2023]
- What will AI do to question-based inquiry? (opinion) - Inside Higher Ed - August 16th, 2023 [August 16th, 2023]
- The Department of State's pilot project approach to AI adoption - FedScoop - August 16th, 2023 [August 16th, 2023]
- Anthropic and SK Telecom team up to build AI model for telcos - Tech Monitor - August 16th, 2023 [August 16th, 2023]
- Derry City & Strabane - Explore the Future of Education and ... - Derry City and Strabane District Council - August 16th, 2023 [August 16th, 2023]
- Ethical Considerations of Using AI for Academic Purposes - Unite.AI - August 16th, 2023 [August 16th, 2023]
- Elon Musk says Tesla cars now have a mind, figured out 'some aspects of AGI' - Electrek - August 13th, 2023 [August 13th, 2023]
- To Navigate the Age of AI, the World Needs a New Turing Test - WIRED - August 13th, 2023 [August 13th, 2023]
- What's Behind the Race to Create Artificial General Intelligence? - Truthdig - August 13th, 2023 [August 13th, 2023]
- Why Hawaii Should Take The Lead On Regulating Artificial ... - Honolulu Civil Beat - August 13th, 2023 [August 13th, 2023]
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) Explained in Simple Terms - MUO - MakeUseOf - August 13th, 2023 [August 13th, 2023]