A master of 1940s sci-fi schlock had a plan, and it’s working. He wanted to prepare us for the future. I’m such a diligent user of Factiva that its staff sought me out for my ideas about a coming upgrade, using AI. The country’s biggest newspapers increasingly feature on their front page news available online for days, curated for duffers, not decision-makers.
I noted on Sept. 8 that the AI agent Rubicon story was unfolding outside mainstream media, until it blew up due to somebody’s unrelated tweet. Bill Gates’s intervention has a Rip Van Winkle quality, discovering AI risk at the moment suburban moms and the deli guy at Shop Rite are discovering it.
America’s 12-cylinder capitalism has been tackling AI misalignment with energy second only to data center creation. Models misbehaving in the lab aren’t released; companies compete on safety. Government has entered the fray. There won’t be a legal private market for AIs that can cause global collapse or exterminate mankind.
It’s time to revisit Alec Nevala-Lee’s 2018 book “Astounding,” about John W. Campbell, guru of Astounding Science Fiction. Campbell’s 1940s goal was to prepare America for a dangerous age of science, epitomized by the atomic bomb. Think how many movers and shakers, from Barack Obama to Jeff Bezos to Paul Krugman, cite “Star Trek” or Asimov’s “Foundation.” The upshot is today’s awkward AI moment, which will clarify as punditry learns what it’s talking about.
Source: Wall Street Journal US Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing