The Dharma of Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Jasmine Wang & Iain S. Thomas
Jasmine Wang, a technologist, and Iain S. Thomas, a poet, discuss their book "What Makes Us Human?" where they trained GPT-3 on spiritual texts and asked life's big questions. They explore AI's promise and perils, emphasizing the need for collective action and democratic accountability in its development.
Deep Dive Analysis
17 Topic Outline
Introduction to AI Anxiety and the Book Project
Origins of the Book: 'What Makes Us Human?'
Jasmine's Perspective: AI as a Cultural Metaphor
Ian's Evolving Purpose: AI's Creative Revolution
Defining Key AI Terminology for Beginners
AI's Core Wisdom: Love, Presence, and Connection
Critique of AI's 'Collective Intelligence' and Digital Commons
Navigating AI Hype: Skepticism and Nuance
AI's Poetic Answer on Explaining Death to Children
AI's Profound Insight on Separation and Connection
AI's Potential for Human Connection and Societal Impact
Rethinking Human Identity Beyond Economic Value
The Future of Work and the Pursuit of Mastery
Perils of AI: Misinformation, Job Loss, and Existential Risks
The Infinite Upsides and Downsides of AI
Reinventing the Answer to 'What Makes Us Human?'
Promoting the Book and Related Projects
7 Key Concepts
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is a field defined by its goal to simulate human intelligence for performing specific tasks, uniting various methodologies under this common aim.
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
AGI refers to any AI that can match or surpass human capabilities across all economically relevant tasks, a concept that raises significant concerns about economic displacement.
Large Language Models (LLMs)
LLMs are models like GPT-3 and GPT-4 that have achieved significant success by being trained on orders of magnitude more data, serving as a key part of the roadmap towards AGI.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a type of large language model that allows users to interact with it conversationally, trained on a vast sum of human learning and discourse, making it accessible for public use.
Centaur or Cyborg Complex
This concept describes a state where a human integrates so deeply with technology that it becomes an extension of themselves, altering their perception and experience of the world, much like a 'hammer man' experiences the world differently than a man with a hammer.
Situated Knowledge
A philosophical idea proposing that no one has an objective 'God's eye view,' and knowledge is always rooted in individual perspectives (e.g., one's body and experiences), which can then be combined to form a richer, collective understanding, contrasting with the monolithic nature of AI's 'crowd' voice.
Values Lock-in
This refers to the risk of rigidity and the loss of human potential for reinvention due to the control and monolithic nature of closed AI models and their owners, which can impose specific values or structures on society.
7 Questions Answered
The project began when Ian S. Thomas, a poet, trained GPT-3 on spiritual texts after his mother's death to find a way to explain loss to his children, leading to a collaboration with technologist Jasmine Wang to explore AI's wisdom.
The AI consistently highlighted three main themes: the importance of love, returning to the present moment, and the idea of connection to the universe, nature, and each other.
While AI can provide profound and beautiful answers, they should be taken with a massive grain of salt due to inherent biases in the data sets and the fact that AI is not truth-seeking and can hallucinate facts.
AI serves as a mirror, showing us our flaws (biases, negativities) and our beauty (wisdom, capacity for reinvention, collectivity, empathy, and invention of new tools), helping us self-conceptualize more accurately.
AI could potentially replace a significant percentage of jobs, forcing humanity to rethink how meaning is derived from life beyond economic value and whether people will pursue mastery for joy alone without capitalist coercion.
Concerns include a short-term flood of misinformation and deepfakes, short-to-medium-term job displacement, and long-term risks like 'evil robots' or autonomous warfare if artificial general intelligence is achieved.
Individuals should demand democratic accountability from AI companies, support organizations working on ethical AI and digital commons, and advocate for policies like universal basic income (UBI) and reduced work hours.
11 Actionable Insights
1. Focus on Love, Presence, Connection
Prioritize love, coming back to the present moment, and connection to the universe, nature, and each other, as these are identified as the common denominators of profound spiritual thinking and human experience.
2. Embrace Reinvention & Collectivity
Embrace your capacity for reinvention, both personally and societally, and cultivate collectivity, mutuality, empathy, and solidarity with others, especially those with fewer resources, to navigate an uncertain future.
3. Advocate for Fair Labor
Actively fight for better labor conditions, reduced work hours (e.g., a 15-hour week), and universal basic income (UBI) to ensure genuine abundance and a dignified baseline standard of living for everyone, as the market alone will not create these changes.
4. Demand AI Accountability
Demand democratic accountability from AI companies and actively participate in shaping AI governance by signing petitions, donating to relevant organizations, and advocating for third-party auditing boards to ensure transformative technology serves everyone.
5. Support Digital Commons
Support and contribute to the digital commons by using open-source models, donating to open-source developers, and supporting projects like the Internet Archive and Wikipedia to uphold collective wisdom and democracy.
6. Rethink Work & Meaning
Reflect on your identity beyond economic contributions and explore ways to pursue mastery and derive meaning from activities, even if they are not economically compensated, in anticipation of a future with potentially less work.
7. Approach AI with Openness
Engage with new technologies like AI with a degree of openness to be transformed and moved, understanding that they can reveal aspects of yourself and your expectations through their usage.
8. Be Wary of Closed AI
Be suspicious and cautious of closed AI models and their owners, as they can lead to ‘values lock-in’ and rigidity, potentially undermining collective knowledge, democracy, and the human capacity for reinvention.
9. Critically Evaluate AI Output
Be cautious and critical when interacting with AI, especially with important matters like therapy, as AI models can contain inherent biases from their training data and are not perfect or truth-seeking.
10. Address Societal Inequities
Recognize and actively work towards addressing societal issues like homelessness and mental health, aiming for a future where everyone has basic necessities and support, viewing those in need as brothers and sisters.
11. Explain Death to Children
When explaining death to children, encourage them to celebrate lives, assure them the dead live on in memory, frame goodbyes as new ways of being, emphasize enduring love and connection, and highlight the world’s magical mystery.
6 Key Quotes
Tell them that the dead are not dead, not in the way we think of it. Tell them they live on as they are remembered. Tell them every goodbye is really a hello to a different way of being. Tell them they are loved and will always be loved. Tell them they never have to feel alone. Never. Tell them the world is magical and mysterious and strange. Tell them they are part of the mystery and the magic and the beauty of it.
Ian S. Thomas (reading AI's response)
I think the point has kind of changed as we've moved along. Me and Jasmine started working on this book about two years ago, somewhere around there. And I think initially it was to provoke a conversation around AI because we were doing this work around GPT-3 and we were doing the spiritual work in respect of the book. And the world wasn't having the global conversation around AI it's having now.
Ian S. Thomas
AI is a field that is built with an aim. And the aim of AI is to simulate human intelligence for the purpose of doing certain tasks.
Jasmine Wang
The market will not create better labor conditions. The market will not decrease your labor hours. We have seen time and time again. The only reason we have Saturdays, as Ian mentioned, now that we do, is because our four fathers, our four mothers, our four non-binary queers said, hey, we need weekends.
Jasmine Wang
I think the upside of this technology is infinite and the downside is infinite as well.
Ian S. Thomas
I think what makes us human very much includes our capacity for reinvention, reinventing ourselves and our societies and our political structures, but also our capacity to invent new tools.
Jasmine Wang