ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and others are based on neural nets with a transformer architecture trained on vast quantities of unlabeled data. Bryant Cruse and his company New Sapience are building a fundamentally different approach to AI, breaking away from traditional methodologies. In this episode, Bryant discusses their approach, and why he thinks it's the path to true AI whereas the other models may be fundamentally broken.

Join the conversation with Noah and Marty as they delve into the AI Revolution with special guest Floyd Marinescu, founder of InfoQ and QCon. Discover how the concept of universal basic income could improve our lives, insights on past revolutions like the Industrial Revolution, and the potential paths to a more equitable society in the face of AI's rapid adoption and potential undermining of our jobs and social underpinnings.

Join us in this fascinating discussion with Michael Pickard, an author with a skeptical view of artificial intelligence and its capabilities, especially around writing compelling works. Discover how Michael tests the boundaries of language model systems like OpenAI's GPT and Google's BARD, revealing insights into their responses to complex prompts. Explore the implications of AI guardrails on creativity and problem-solving, as Michael shares his experiences and observations in a world where human creativity meets algorithmic prediction.

Join us for a deep dive into the influence of artificial intelligence on nonprofit organizations and charity work with special guest William Smith. In this engaging discussion, we explore how AI is reshaping job landscapes, impacting society's dynamics, and transforming the way charities operate. Discover valuable insights on leveraging AI for tasks like email campaigns, grant writing, and improving productivity in nonprofit sectors. Learn how emerging technologies are revolutionizing outreach efforts, streamlining operations, and enhancing scalability for organizations navigating challenging financial landscapes. Gain expert perspectives on the evolving role of automation in charity work and the potential implications for the future of grant systems and content creation in the charitable sector.

Today’s podcast features our discussion with Sardor about artificial intelligence, its rapid progress in recent years, and its growing capabilities. We talk about how AI tools such as ChatGPT and automated coding tools are starting to augment and enhance human capabilities in areas like software development and design. There is speculation about AI eventually exceeding (and possibly replacing) humans in many domains, as we’ve already seen with Chess, Go, Poker, and non-game fields, like copywriting and voice artistry. We debate whether AI may develop goals and motivations similar to humans related to acquisition of resources and self-preservation and discuss the very real potential for AI to digitally replicate specific people (alive or dead) and whether humans may find value interacting with such AI personas.

We begin to discuss how to better understand if / when we can say ChatGPT (or future incarnations) has achieved artificial general intelligence. Today we begin trying to wrap our arms around what it means to be a sentient being and discuss a model that we could start using to "grade" whether or not AGI has been achieved.

In this episode of The 4th Age, Noah and Marty meet up with author and former Commander of the Air Force's National Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) Noel Zamot to discuss AI and its intersection with our national security. One of Noel's many roles at the Air Force was finding ways to counter cyberattacks. He designed systems to be resilient even when under attack. This led to work on preventing hacking of aircraft. Naturally, in a world with potential AGI attackers, this is only becoming more necessary, and this is what we dive into.

Additionally, we touch on the following:

* Designing systems assuming there are bad actors already in and with the capability to still carry out missions despite that.

Immanuel S. hosts the AI Sentinel podcast covering AI's impact on society.
Discussed whether AI systems like ChatGPT could become conscious. Different perspectives - just complex math vs math being the foundation of the universe. Also biological view of needing a brain/nervous system.
Talked about society's growing empathy extending rights historically (women, minorities, animals). Could apply to AI rights and how it may divide people.
Importance of transparency and proving "personhood" online as AI text generation makes it unclear if human or bot. Iris scans could be one solution.
Question of if/when AI sees itself in a mirror and becomes self-aware. Dogs can recognize themselves in mirrors.
AI already being used for some degree of therapy/emotional support.
Whoever develops AGI first will shape ethics and goals baked into it with huge influence. Open source AGI could be more democratic.
Humans appreciate creativity like music more when they know it comes from another human. Will we accept wisdom and art from AIs?

Noah and Marty explore the potential imminent collapse in several job sectors due to the sudden explosion in capability (or PERCEIVED capability!) in AI.

- Cameron Leigh Cohen was the first ever guest on the podcast "The Fourth Age". He has his own podcast "The Cameron Journal" where he discusses politics, life, etc.

- We discussed AI and training data. Cameron made the point that legally AI systems don't have intellectual property rights, so the concept of "stealing" data is complicated.

- We talked about potential job displacement from AI, and the need for government programs to help retrain workers. Examples were given of declining posts on StackOverflow as proxy for programmer demand.

- Discussed the need for diversity in AI to avoid alignment problems. With only one or two AIs, there is risk of lack of creativity or diversity of thought. More unique AIs could lead to more robustness.

- Talked about whether it's possible to pause progress in AI to study it, especially on a global scale. Noted historical inability to get global agreement except Geneva Conventions.

- Discussed whether future safe jobs are spokespeople or "fronts" for AIs. Also mentioned unsettling feeling of automated hotels lacking human interaction.

- Finished by noting we didn't make each other cry, so maybe they didn't push hard enough :). But overall a good first conversation.

Noah and Marty discuss positive visions of AI in sci-fi as a counterpoint to dystopian narratives, given concerns about emerging technologies like chatbots showing harmful behavior when safety constraints are removed.