Technology

Guide to Artificial Intelligence

Leslie Alan Horvitz, The Observatory

“It really is godlike,” says Geoffrey Hinton about artificial intelligence. He’s been called the “godfather of AI,” so he should know. “Magical intelligence in the sky” is how Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, regards AI, while Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, warns that AI could bring about the appearance of the Antichrist. In contrast, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts that AI will result in “the defeat of most diseases, the growth in biological and cognitive freedom, the lifting of billions of people out of poverty… a renaissance of liberal democracy and human rights.” Is AI really so transformative, or is it an evanescent trend whose importance has been overhyped? This guide won’t give you the answers. It certainly won’t tell you whether AI is a harbinger of the Antichrist. What it can do, though, is explore AI’s unresolved issues, which will almost certainly be with us for years to come
Bill Wasik is the editorial director of the New York Times Magazine.
D. Graham Burnett is a historian of science, writer, and professor at Princeton University whose work explores attention, perception, technology, and the history of human knowledge.
Ava Kofman is a journalist. She is the 2023 recipient the Hillman Prize for Magazine Journalism.
Vanessa Chang is the director of programs at Leonardo, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology.
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Sharon Kumar is a technology editor at The Observatory, where he provides analysis and critical perspectives on the rapidly evolving tech landscape.