Synthetic Humanity: AI & What’s At Stake

It may seem like the rise of artificial intelligence, and
increasingly powerful large language models you may have heard
of, is moving really fast… and it IS. 


But what’s coming next is when we enter synthetic relationships
with AI that could come to feel just as real and important as our
human relationships... And perhaps even more so. 

In this episode of Your Undivided Attention, Tristan and Aza
reach beyond the moment to talk about this powerful new AI, and
the new paradigm of humanity and computation we’re about to
enter. 


This is a structural revolution that affects way more than text,
art, or even Google search. There are huge benefits to humanity,
and we’ll discuss some of those. But we also see that as
companies race to develop the best synthetic relationships, we
are setting ourselves up for a new generation of harms made
exponentially worse by AI’s power to predict, mimic and persuade.


It’s obvious we need ways to steward these tools ethically. So
Tristan and Aza also share their ideas for creating a framework
for AIs that will help humans become MORE humane, not less.


RECOMMENDED MEDIA 

Cybernetics: or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the
Machine by Norbert Wiener


A classic and influential work that laid the theoretical
foundations for information theory


New Chatbots Could Change the World. Can You Trust Them?


The New York Times addresses misinformation and how Siri, Google
Search, online marketing and your child’s homework will never be
the same


Out of One, Many: Using Language Models to Simulate Human Samples
by Lisa P. Argyle, Ethan C. Busby, Nancy Fulda, Joshua Gubler,
Christopher Rytting, David Wingate


This paper proposes and explores the possibility that language
models can be studied as effective proxies for specific human
sub-populations in social science research


Earth Species Project


Earth Species Project, co-founded by Aza Raskin, is a non-profit
dedicated to using artificial intelligence to decode non-human
communication


Her (2013)


A science-fiction romantic drama film written, directed, and
co-produced by Spike Jonze


What A Chatty Monkey May Tell Us About Learning To Talk


NPR explores the fascinating world of gelada monkeys and the way
they communicate



RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES


How Political Language is Engineered with Drew Westen & Frank
Luntz


What is Humane Technology?


Down the Rabbit Hole by Design with Guillaume Chaslot