COP Out; Alt+Future
The title of this piece may intrigue some and mystify many. It refers to two events: one that created much drama in November and the other a high-profile on-going event. The former, as most would have guessed, refers to the four days of excitement following the sacking of its founder-CEO, Sam Altman, by the Open AI Board.
It ended with a turning of the tables where the Board itself resigned (was, in effect, sacked) and Altman was reinstated in his former position. Within those 100 hours, Microsoft created (and, presumably, later dissolved) a special advanced AI research division to be headed by Sam Altman to take forward his work on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The saga ended, appropriately on Thanksgiving!
Open AI is better known for its creation ChatGPT, the generative AI based app which took the world by storm some months ago, crossing 100 million downloads in record time. While itself a not-for-profit, Open AI has set up a commercial subsidiary, in which Microsoft is the biggest investor. Ironically, Altman was informed of his firing on a call using Google Meet and not Microsoft Teams! Yet, if there is one person who has come out of this sordid saga as a knight in shining armour, it is Microsoft’s Satya Nadella.
Rumours are swirling that OpenAI was nearing a new breakthrough in AGI, one that could upend the human-machine relationship and is at a stage where the human species needs to be concerned. Was work on this an area where Altman had been “less than candid” in his communication with the Board (the stated reason for his dismissal)?
Scare scenarios abound – particularly in sci-fi stories and movies ‒ about machines and AI taking over the world and making humans subservient. Is new work in AGI taking us down this path? Do we need global ethical guidelines, possibly regulatory frameworks, to control this? In a far more complex situation in Gaza, a “humanitarian pause” has been negotiated; is one necessary in AI (as scientists and tech leaders have themselves suggested)? On the other hand, witnessing the horrors of wars and hate spreading around the world, maybe it is time to let AI take over?
Of course, there is an alternative to degrading and decimating ourselves through war and civil strife. It is easy because there is nothing we need to do: just going down the present path will ensure continuing global warming, leading ultimately to run-away temperature rise and the possible demise of all life on earth. Far-fetched, yes; but a scientifically plausible scenario.
Attempting to address this (mainly through words only) is the yearly global meeting called “Conference of Parties” (COP), the apex body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the 28th session (COP 28) of which began on 30 November. Apart from good intentions, declarations of undying care for the environment, and a torrent of words, the only real benefit may be that which thousands of participants will bring to Dubai’s economy.
Meanwhile, extreme climate events – triggered by climate change ‒ like droughts and very heavy rains will continue to plague us, while deforestation results in landslides. Tunnelling and mountain-cutting for road-broadening in sensitive geologies will result in accidents like the one in Uttarakhand. Why worry about what AI may do when we can do so much to destroy ourselves?
*The author loves to think in tongue-in-cheek ways, with no maliciousness or offence intended. At other times, he is a public policy analyst and author. His latest book is Decisive Decade: India 2030 Gazelle or Hippo (Rupa, 2021).
