Emily M. Bender (ChatGPT expert) is a linguist, a scholar of the societal impact of language AI and a professor at the University of Washington where she’s director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory. She recently became internet-famous for her no-nonsense, almost comical, papers that criticise the hype around large language models (LLMs) and ChatGPT. Her message is: Don’t believe the tech bro’ hype; it’s spin!
In this chat we cover whether AI can take over the world; the real motives behind Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s excited calls for an “AI pause”; where longtermism, the singularity, effective altruism, pro-natalism and transhumanism (I’ve covered these in previous eps and on my Substack) all fit into the palaver; plus what we really should be terrified about. This is a thoroughly important and correcting conversation.
SHOW NOTES
I flag this explainer that I wrote on my Substack: Say it isn’t so: Human Eugenics
You can read Emily’s papers “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots” and the “Octopus Paper”
Here’s the Statement from the listed authors of Stochastic Parrots on the “AI pause” letter
Emily also wanted to point everyone to this paper on AI Safety vs. AI Ethics
And if you want to do more of a deep dive into all this, check out her podcast
If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" page
For more such conversations subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!
Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life
Let’s connect on Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 9, Who has the best policies for women with Jane Caro and CheekMedia's Kristen Perissinotto
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 8, How to #voteclimate, with Richie Merzian
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 7, A dead simple guide to voting (tag and share!)
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 6, What if Anthony Albanese becomes PM? with Karen Middleton
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 5, Who *actually* is Scott Morrison? Sean Kelly explains
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 4, Things have got dodgy, we need an ICAC with teeth, with Mike Seccombe
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP3, So what are these independents about, with Grattan Institute CEO Danielle Wood
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 2, You’re not imagining it, things have got pretty bad... with Jan Fran and Zara Seidler
THIS WILD ELECTION: Ep 1, I’m doing an election mini-series for everyone who gives a sh*t about where Australia is heading!
SARA NESS: How to “win" difficult conversations
PETE DAVIS: A scientific (and spiritual) case to quit flaking... and commit already!
JASON HICKEL: Degrowth economics! It’s wild, it could save us…
PETER SINGER: How much should you be giving to charity to be a 'good person'?
JOHANN HARI: THIS is why you're finding the world too much
AMY REMEIKIS: Decodes the sexual violence clusterf*** in Parliament House
BRIAN KLASS: Why so many leaders in 2022 are dodgy, awful humans
SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: The radical (!) nun who wrote ‘Dead Man Walking’
BONUS EPISODE 3: Tips and guided meditation for anxiety
BONUS EPISODE 2: How to do a morning routine plus a guided meditation
BONUS EPISODE 1: Tips and guided meditation for travel
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Hamish & Andy
The Howie Games
Motley Fool Money
Just the Gist
The Briefing