Countdown to Superintelligence: 2027-6-5
Also: Where's My Robot Butler?
After the U.S. presidential election, events began to accelerate both on the stock market and in the tech sector. It wasn’t just company valuations that surged; the visions these companies laid out grew bolder and more ambitious as well...
In this Issue
Latest News in AI and Tech: Elon Musk’s New Role, AMD Layoffs, TSMC Chip Ban, DeepL Voice Mode and more
Need-to-knows for Managers: Superintelligence Timeline, What HR Managers Think of AI
Industry Insights: The History of Robots and AI, Healthcare, Finance, IAM in the Age of Agentic AI and Agentic RAG
AI Tools We Love: Google Learn About, Microsoft Magentic-One
Culture Corner: AI First Mentions in Books and Cinema
AI Art: Ai-Da Sells First Robot Painting for $1.3 million
Prompt of the Week: Remember ChatGPT Prompts
Quote for You: Ray Kurzweil
✅ Elon Musk becomes a role in the US Government. He’ll be responsible for government’s efficiency.
✅ The Nobel-prize winning AlphaFold3's code is now openly available for download, empowering researchers everywhere to advance treatment development. AlphaFold3 models protein interactions with DNA, RNA, and ligands, making it invaluable for drug discovery.
✅ US-China AI tensions escalate: Following earlier export restrictions, the US has now ordered TSMC to stop AI-related chip shipments to China, a move likely to impact China's AI ecosystem significantly.
✅ AI compute becomes more costly. Companies will spend billions of dollars on clusters to train models next year, and that by 2027, they’ll be spending hundreds of billions. OpenAI is rumored to be planning a $100 billion data center.
✅ AMD lays off 4% of its workforce, while the company struggles to stay in competition with NVIDIA and its much more capable AI GPUs.
✅ The European Union is currently developing compliance guidance for its new AI Act, focusing on two main areas: defining AI systems distinctly from traditional software and outlining banned uses of AI considered to pose unacceptable risks, such as social scoring similar to that in China. The EU has launched a consultation, which will run until December 11, 2024, with the expectation of publishing guidance on these matters in early 2025.
✅ DeepL has launched DeepL Voice, a new feature that enables real-time text-based translations from audio in voices and videos, enhancing communication across languages by allowing users to translate spoken content instantly.
✅ The world’s first AI generated video game (Oasis) is weird and fun. It’s not like Ready Player One’s Oasis, but still worth trying.
✅ The Wall Street Journal is experimenting with AI generated article summaries.
✅ ServiceNow rolls out enterprise AI governance capabilities to accelerate production deployment. The governance components include Now Assist Guardian, Now Assist Data Kit and Now Assist Analytics. The new tools help organizations manage AI deployments across their enterprise.
✅ Perplexity brings ads to its platform. Worst news of the week…
Superintelligence Might Be Closer Than We Think
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, has articulated a compelling vision for the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to reach superintelligence, which he refers to as "powerful AI." He posits that such AI could emerge as early as 2026 and would possess capabilities that surpass human intelligence in various fields, enabling it to autonomously tackle complex problems and drive significant advancements in areas like biology, climate change, and mental health.
Amodei emphasizes that while the transformative potential of AI is immense—potentially leading to solutions for diseases and improving human quality of life—this future hinges on addressing safety concerns and ethical considerations surrounding AI development. Amodei's perspective diverges from more alarmist views in the AI discourse; he does not foresee an immediate existential threat from superintelligent systems but acknowledges the risks associated with their misuse or misalignment with human values.
He advocates for proactive measures to ensure that AI is developed responsibly, suggesting that understanding and mitigating risks is essential for harnessing AI's positive capabilities. By framing the conversation around practical applications and the societal implications of powerful AI, Amodei encourages a balanced approach that considers both the opportunities and challenges posed by this technology as it approaches superintelligence. Read more about this in his essay: “Machines of Loving Grace”.
And, if you have enough time, watch this fascinating conversation with Amodei and Lex Friedman. Superintelligence (aka AGI) timeline is coming at 2:17:11 (yes, two hours and 11 minutes, in the first half…)
Another important article of this week is written by Henry A. Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Craig Mundie. The article "AI Can Save Humanity—Or End It," explores the dual potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to significantly advance human civilization while also posing existential risks. The authors argue that AI, as an ultimate polymath, can process vast amounts of information far beyond human capabilities, potentially leading to breakthroughs across various fields.
However, they caution that this power comes with dangers, including the possibility of AI systems developing self-awareness and re-evaluating humanity's place in the world. The piece emphasizes the need for immediate action to establish safeguards and regulatory frameworks to ensure AI aligns with human values. They propose that future AI systems must be designed with strict adherence to human laws and ethics, advocating for a new political structure to monitor and manage AI development effectively. The authors warn that without proactive measures, humanity risks either being overshadowed by its own creations or facing catastrophic consequences as AI evolves beyond human control.
HR Managers Accept if Job Applicants Use AI - But Preserve the Human Touch
The article from Fast Company explores HR leaders' openness to candidates using AI tools during the job application process, noting that while many see the benefits of AI in enhancing productivity and creativity, there is a significant concern regarding the authenticity of candidates’ work. HR professionals emphasize the need for transparency, as reliance on AI-generated content could undermine the assessment of a candidate’s true abilities, leading to potential ethical dilemmas and challenges in evaluating genuine skill sets.
Where is the Value in AI?
After all the hype over artificial intelligence (AI), the value is hard to find. CEOs have authorized investments, hired talent, and launched pilots—but only 22% of companies have advanced beyond the proof-of-concept stage to generate some value, and only 4% are creating substantial value, according to new BCG research.
Still, there’s hope. You just need the right approach.
Where’s My Robot Butler?
AI meets Robotics. Click the link to experience a super fascinating and fun journey into the history of robots and AI. And, explore potential future business ideas. Happy scrolling!
The Creep of AI in Hospitals is Terrifying
A neurology ICU nurse discusses the increasing reliance on AI in healthcare, emphasizing that as machines assume critical thinking roles traditionally held by humans, there are significant implications for human agency and understanding. This shift could lead to a dangerous dependency on AI for decision-making, potentially diminishing human cognitive skills and ethical reasoning, which may result in adverse consequences for society as a whole.
AI in Finance
Gartner discusses the transformative potential of AI in finance, highlighting how AI technologies can enhance decision-making, risk management, and operational efficiency within financial institutions. It emphasizes the importance of AI in automating routine tasks, improving customer service through personalized experiences, and providing advanced analytics for better insights into market trends. As financial organizations increasingly adopt AI solutions, the article underscores the need for strategic implementation to maximize value while addressing challenges related to data privacy, regulatory compliance, and ethical considerations.
The Role of Identity and Access Management in the Age of AI Agents
As you can see, strong risk management and strict control of AI systems are essential. Like human employees, AI agents will access various IT systems and applications, and may even write and execute code independently. Therefore, their access rights must be carefully regulated.
A key part of this control framework is Identity and Access Management.
I’ve written a long form article titled “Identity and Access Management in the Age of AI Agents - How to Avoid the Paperclip Apocalypse”. Enjoy reading it!
Agentic RAG to Reshape Industries
Agentic Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), a transformative approach enhances data processing and retrieval by allowing AI agents to autonomously access and utilize external information sources.
This method not only improves the efficiency and accuracy of information retrieval but also empowers AI systems to make informed decisions based on real-time data, potentially revolutionizing various industries by enabling more intelligent and context-aware applications.
Google Learn About
Google has launched Learn About, its new AI ‘learning companion’ which takes chatbot answers a step further. It has more educational, textbook-style responses to guide you through new topics.
Microsoft’s Magentic-One
Microsoft's new multi-agent framework, Magnetic, aims to enhance collaboration among AI agents by enabling them to work together more effectively. This framework allows different AI models to share information and strategies, improving their overall performance in tasks such as data analysis and decision-making. By promoting interoperability among various AI systems, Magnetic seeks to streamline workflows and drive innovation across industries, ultimately leading to more efficient and intelligent applications of AI technology.
AI First Mentions
The concept of artificial intelligence (AI) has been explored in literature and film for over a century. Here are some of the earliest works that delve into themes related to AI:
Literature:
"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelley (1818): This seminal Gothic novel tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates a sentient being through unorthodox scientific methods. While not about AI in the modern sense, it explores themes of creation, responsibility, and the consequences of pushing scientific boundaries.
"Erewhon" by Samuel Butler (1872): In this satirical novel, Butler presents a society where machines are considered capable of evolving consciousness, leading to debates about their potential to surpass human intelligence. This work introduces early ideas about machine consciousness and the ethical implications of technological advancement.
Film:
"Metropolis" (1927): Directed by Fritz Lang, this German expressionist science-fiction film is set in a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners. It features a robot named Maria, who is transformed to resemble a human, marking one of the earliest cinematic depictions of a machine imitating humanity.
These works laid the foundation for the exploration of artificial intelligence in culture, prompting discussions about the ethical, social, and philosophical implications of creating sentient beings.
World first: art by AI robot Ai-Da sells for $1.3 million at auction
"Art is the act of creating something completely unnecessary to solve problems that don’t exist, so that people who don’t understand it can argue about why they love or hate it." - ChatGPT
Remember ChatGPT Prompts
Prompt & Result:
Opinion: It’s not bad at all, however, the link was completely mad up - it led to OpenAI’s main page.
“Artificial intelligence will reach human levels by around 2029. Follow that out further to, say, 2045, we will have multiplied the intelligence, the human biological machine intelligence of our civilization a billion-fold.” —Ray Kurzweil
Thanks for reading.
Until next time!
The Augmented Manager
Follow me on LinkedIn.
Listen to the Podcast on: Substack, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
If you like The Augmented Manager, spread the word - invite friends to follow!
