When trying to analyze what AI is doing in our world, we may need to go back to one of the simplest types of metrics. In other words, what are people using AI for every day?
Just before Christmas Eve, Free Press’ Bari Weiss interviewed Sam Altman, developer of ChatGPT technology and leader of OpenAI, about the general state of artificial intelligence in our world.
She asked how to measure its impact.
Altman suggests that it’s the product’s rapid adoption that is surprising that it is now attracting a wider audience.
“People are using it really well,” he said. “I’ve never seen technology so widely adopted so quickly.”
Artificial intelligence and search process
When asked specifically about his own personal technology usage, he reiterated what Weiss had already identified as a common response from others. People, especially Mr. Altman, use ChatGPT for their searches.
Altman explains how he changed his default search to ChatGPT and gets real-time information from anywhere on the web, as opposed to the old traditional hyperlinking process that seems to move at a snail’s pace. I explained that I use it frequently for.
Regarding the new search terminology, he said he still refers to it as “search” but that young people may refer to it as “chattering” of information.
Mr. Weiss asked about the “September Manifesto” written about future changes.
As Altman concludes the summer of 2026, he asks us to imagine what things will be like in 18 months.
How does superintelligence emerge?
“We need to look at the rate of scientific progress,” he said, explaining how things will progress in the coming years.
But Altman has emphasized the resilience of human nature in the age of AI.
“The fundamental human needs will remain the same, but the world we exist in will change significantly,” he told Weiss.
I re-read the manifesto that I covered at the time, and it also emphasized the value of humanity.
role of person
“People have an innate desire to create and be of service to each other, and AI will allow us to empower ourselves like never before,” he wrote. Masu. As a society, we can return to an expanding world and focus on positive-sum games again. ”
It’s also worth coming back to the rest of that discussion when we think about things like job losses. Altman writes:
“Many of the jobs we do today would have seemed like a trivial waste of time to people hundreds of years ago, but no one looks back and wishes they had been a lamplighter. If a lamplighter could see the world today, he would find the prosperity around him unimaginable. And if he could fast-forward 100 years from today, the prosperity around us would be unimaginable. It will be equally unimaginable.”
I sincerely hope that Altman’s prediction here will come true and that in an age where AI and robots can do so much, we will have the imagination to develop applications for humans. As the end of the year approaches, it’s worth thinking about.