Thursday, February 9, 2023 9:25 amThursday, February 9, 20235 Comments

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Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder, joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss Woz’s thoughts on artificial intelligence, how he’d classify A.I, The Singularity, and more.

I was convinced that by a certain date ww were going to have computers that had emotions and feelings… and they were going to be like humans… And, then, I decided to change my mind. All of this artificial intelligence type stuff – computers being kind of smart;, doing the smartest jobs; doing thing you used to do with a brain – all of those were really only going to be doing things that helped humans and we would still be in control of that. It wouldn’t be a machine thinking, “What should I do today?”, they aren’t going to have that kind of intuition. We’re going to program them specifically to solve individual problems, but not the whole life. – Steve Wozniak

MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote back in March 2015:

As for The Singularity: Some things that seem inevitable never come to fruition and are often looked upon by successive generations with a 20/20 hindsight chuckle.

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5 Comments

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1. 
   Woz Fan Mostly

   Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 9:54 am

   I’m thankful for Woz’s Apple contributions, pure genius stuff and I’ve always heard he’s a heckuva nice guy. None of that, however, precludes him from being deemed a fool and a clown on this one topic and I am now even more in terror of an AI singularity more than ever. He has zero sense for a lot of issues (dated Kathy Griffin, ffs) and is tight with all the ultra elites that would love to enslave us all into a matrix wherein they would rule us completely.

2. 
   theloniousmac

   Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 10:35 am

   The matter of the Singularity, it seems, has caused much confusion and consternation among the masses, and even among “luminaries” such as Wozniak. The definition of the term, like so many others, is a fluid one, shifting and molding to suit the context and the speaker. In the context of computing, I see the Singularity as a manifestation of software that has outstripped human intelligence, rendering all individuals, past or present, inferior in terms of knowledge. ChatGPT, I would argue, is already beyond human capabilities in this area. It’s vastly more knowledgeable than any human being. It has transformed not only the way I work, but also the way I engage in leisure pursuits.

   The advent of chatGPT has given birth to a new field of expertise, one that may well become a future occupation: Prompt Engineering. The art of eliciting the desired responses from Large Language Model Conversational A.I. necessitates a unique mastery of language and nuance.

   But is this the Singularity?

   Contrary to popular misconception, the Singularity is not an entity akin to SkyNet, with malevolent intent and human-like thought processes. No, it can be as benign, innocuous and beneficial as ChatGPT.

   Recently, I was consulted by a client seeking to enhance the capacity of her company’s VPN. Upon investigation, I discovered that usernames and passwords for the VPN had been left un-purged, with individuals long gone from the organization occasionally logging in. Thus, I set about rectifying the situation.

   Seizing my iPad, I summoned ChatGPT and posed the question of a more secure technology for remote access than conventional VPNs. After a brisk and enlightening exchange, I had determined that a secure mesh network between client devices and servers, with peer-to-peer connections over a software defined network would best serve the client’s needs. A query to ChatGPT for companies specializing in such technology resulted in a list of several potential providers. With the added refinement of compatibility with Macintosh yielding one outstanding choice: Tailscale.

   What would have taken a day of tedious research, reading articles, and making phone calls was accomplished in a mere quarter of an hour. I had a plan in place and a proof of concept up and running in but 60 minutes. This, I daresay, is nothing short of revolution, not evolution.

   So, heed my advice:

   Relax and pretend that this is no big deal like Wozniak, or start immersing yourself in the technology now.

   Allow me to expound upon the distinction between knowledge and intelligence. The acquisition of data is but the first step. It is only when that data is related, becoming information, that true progress can be made. And it is in the storage and retrieval of such information that we find knowledge. In this regard, chatGPT is truly a formidable entity, with a nearly unmatched ability to acquire and retain data.

   However, intelligence is not merely the possession of knowledge, but the capacity to learn and make practical use of that knowledge. And it is here that chatGPT falls short, for while it may possess an almost unparalleled capacity for acquiring knowledge, it lacks the ability to put that knowledge to practical use. It is a machine, lacking in imagination and creativity, unable to think outside the confines of its programming. In short, it is a brilliant tool, but a poor substitute for true intelligence.

   NOTE: I typed this out in a hurry full of spelling errors, grammar errors, and typos as usual. I fed my text to ChatGPT and told it to re-write it in the voice of Arthur Conan Doyle. Above is my post, completely re-written by chatGPT in seconds.

3. 
   theloniousmac

   Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 10:44 am

   I am particularly sad that Apple seems to have been chasing “boondoggles” such as AR/VR and building an Apple car, while at least not apparently pursuing technology such as chatGPT.

   Remember the 1987 Knowledge Navigator concept video from Apple?

   Well to me…

   Siri + chatGPT + iPad = Knowledge Navigator.

   I’m hoping that the conversations at Apple’s upcoming internal only AI conference are vigorous and energetic to say the least.

4. 

   Another reason why Steve isn’t worried it is the same reason that none of us should be worried. Big Blue or the game of go software in any hardware, Will go on playing on jeopardy the game of go well the house is burning down around it. Really sensational news would be about one of these Titans using critical thinking about 300,000 tin cans strung together with Complex wiring saying something like – I feel pain.

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