Pakistanis cancelled their New Year celebrations in 2015 due to the tragic Peshawar school massacre that occurred in December 2014. Instead, candlelight vigils were held throughout the country to mourn the victims. In contrast, Dubai celebrated the New Year with a magnificent light and sound display at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower. The display was accompanied by music, dancing fountains, and lasers flashing through the skies over Downtown to the delight of a large crowd. However, the new year was also marked with sadness due to border firing between Pakistan and India, which resulted in the loss of two valuable lives.
AI and the Promise of Unprecedented Social Change
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is expected to bring about a paradigm shift that is “orders of magnitude” greater than any other technological advancement in history, according to experts. AGI, which is defined as AI with human-like cognitive abilities, has the potential to free people from menial tasks and usher in a new era of creativity. However, this unprecedented social change could also threaten jobs and raise insurmountable social issues, according to experts.
Siqi Chen, CEO of San Francisco-based startup Runway, says previous technological advancements such as electricity and the internet ignited powerful social change. However, AGI is different because it is intelligence itself that can be created and increased in the universe. “This is the first time we’re able to create intelligence itself and increase its amount in the universe,” Chen told AFP. “Change, as a result, will be ‘orders of magnitude’ greater than every other technological change we’ve ever had in history.”
The rise of AGI is seen as inevitable in Silicon Valley, and the success of OpenAI, the company behind the generative software that churns out essays, poems, and computing code on command, has ignited an arms race among tech giants. OpenAI recently released an even more powerful version of the tech, GPT 4, which not only processes text but also images and produces more complex content such as legal complaints or video games. The company claims that GPT 4 “exhibits human-level performance” on some benchmarks.
AGI has the potential to replace hard work and free up people’s time for more creative pursuits. Microsoft and Google have already released AI-infused digital assistants that can summarize meetings, draft emails, create websites, and craft ad campaigns. However, this exciting shift is also a “double-edged sword” that could raise insurmountable social issues if not used responsibly, warns Chen. He envisions using AGI to tackle climate change, but also warns that the technology must be as “steerable as possible.”
In conclusion, AGI has the potential to bring about unprecedented social change, and while it offers exciting possibilities, it must be used responsibly to avoid insurmountable social issues. The rise of AGI is seen as inevitable, and it is up to tech giants to push their generative AI tools to the next level while ensuring that chatbots do not go off the rails.
AI and the Question of Survival in an Unprecedented Future
The rise of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is expected to bring about unprecedented social change and usher in a new era of creativity, but it also raises questions about the future of work and human jobs. During a Microsoft presentation on Thursday, corporate vice president Jared Spataro said that he wants to “rediscover the soul of work” with AI. Some suggest that AI can also help cut costs, such as British landscape architect Joe Perkins who tweeted that he used GPT 4 for a coding project that a developer had told him would cost £5,000 and take two weeks. “GPT 4 delivered the same in 3 hours, for $0.11,” he tweeted. “Genuinely mind-boggling.”
The rise of AGI also raises concerns about the threat to human jobs. Entrepreneur Chen acknowledges that the technology could one day build a startup like his, or an even better version. “How am I going to make a living and not be homeless?” he asked, adding that he was counting on solutions to emerge. The technology also puts a question mark over creative authenticity as songs, images, art and more are cranked out by software instead of people. Will humans shun education, relying instead on software to do the thinking for them? And, who is to be trusted to make the AI unbiased, accurate, and adaptable to different countries and cultures?
AGI is “probably coming at us faster than we can process,” says Sharon Zhou, co-founder of a generative AI company. The technology raises an existential question for humanity, she told AFP. “If there is going to be something more powerful than us and more intelligent than us, what does that mean for us? And do we harness it? Or does it harness us?”
OpenAI, the company behind GPT 4, says it plans to build AGI gradually with the aim of benefiting all of humanity. However, it has conceded that the software has safety flaws. Safety is a “process,” says OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever. It would be “highly desirable” for companies to “come up with some kind of process that allows for slower releases of models with these completely unprecedented capabilities.”
But for now, slowing down is not part of the ethos. “The power is concentrated around those who can build this stuff. And they make the decisions around this, and they are inclined to move fast,” says Zhou. The international order itself could be at stake, she suggests. “The pressure between US and China has been immense,” Zhou says, adding that the AI race invokes the Cold War era. “There is definitely the risk with AGI that if one country figures that out faster, will they dominate? And so I think the fear is, don’t stop because we can’t lose.”
In conclusion, while the rise of AGI offers exciting possibilities, it also raises questions about the future of work, creative authenticity, and international relations. The technology is coming faster than we can process, and it is up to companies to ensure that the software is safe and beneficial for all of humanity. The fear is that if one country figures out AGI faster, they could dominate and pose a threat to the international order.
New Year Celebrations Around the World: From Tragedy to Light and Sound Extravaganza
As Pakistanis welcomed the New Year in 2015, the entire nation was still reeling from the grim memories of the Peshawar school massacre that occurred on December 16, 2014. New Year celebrations were cancelled throughout the country as a mark of respect for the victims of the tragedy in which almost 150 people, mostly children, were killed by Taliban gunmen. Instead, candlelight vigils were held in different parts of the country, while intermittent aerial firing was heard in various cities of Pakistan. The spectacular fireworks display at Karachi Port was also cancelled.
In contrast, Dubai celebrated the New Year with a light and sound extravaganza at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower. The 828-meter tower was lit up with different-colored panels as the clock counted down to 2015. The chic district surrounding the Burj Khalifa was filled with music, dancing fountains, and lasers flashing through the skies over Downtown to the delight of a large crowd.
However, the New Year in Pakistan was also marked by border firing. According to the Punjab Rangers, the firing that began at the border the previous night continued all morning on Thursday in Shakargarh sector. Firing by Punjab Rangers in retaliation to Indian Border Security Force (BSF) firing calmed down any further aggressiveness by Indian forces. Just a day earlier, two personnel of the Punjab Rangers were martyred in an unprovoked firing incident during a visit for a flag meeting invitation by BSF in Shakargarh district. According to sources at the Punjab Rangers, the two officials, along with three soldiers, had been invited to meet with the commanders at BSF, but they were fired upon by the BSF upon reaching the border trek near their destination, resulting in the death of Naik Riaz Shakir and Lance Naik Safdar.
In conclusion, the New Year of 2015 was marked with contrasting celebrations around the world. While Dubai welcomed the New Year with a magnificent light and sound display at the Burj Khalifa, Pakistanis mourned the Peshawar school massacre and the tragic loss of lives. Despite the tragedy, Pakistanis demonstrated resilience by coming together in candlelight vigils throughout the country. The new year also began on a sad note due to border firing between Pakistan and India that led to the loss of two valuable lives.
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