The Future of Artificial Intelligence

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I don't know whether or not the future of AI is a good thing. But I don't care.

Since the reality is that AI exists, it behooves me to use it as well as possible. That is challenging enough to do without worrying about impractical speculation.

I find practical AI to be very interesting. I think using AI effectively requires more intelligence than computer programming does. There will be very few people who can really do this, so it will be a valuable skill. 

I am not worried about AI replacing good jobs. Since AI acts as a cognitive lever, it amplifies a person's baseline habits. That is to say that AI makes productive people more productive, and lazy people lazier. Not only will prompt engineering skills set users apart, AI's vast knowledge and ability to generate ideas does not overpower its terrible judgement. Indeed, AI is only useful in areas where the person using the AI have good judgement.

I once attended a seminar with Priya Natarajan—a top-of-the-line astrophysicist and chair of the astronomy department at Yale University—and she said that if astrophysicists feel threatened by AI replacing their research capabilities, then astrophysicists will simply find new ways of "staying in business."

Verdict: The future of AI belongs to the practically minded practitioners, and not to the skeptics.

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