📨 Weekly digest: 31 2024 | Why AI progress breaks the linear mold
AI progress won't ever fit into our linear views | AI this week in the news; use cases; for the techies
👋🏻 Hello friends, and welcome to the weekly digest, week 31 of 2024.
Our intuition, honed by millennia of grappling with a physical world, leans towards linear thinking. We envision progress as a steady ascent, a well-worn path leading ever upwards. AI, however, shatters this simplistic view, demanding a new lens to comprehend its trajectory.
At the heart of the challenge lies the very nature of AI – its ability to learn and improve at an exponential rate. Unlike traditional tools, AI isn't merely an extension of human capability; it possesses the ability to learn from its own learning process.
This creates a feedback loop where each iteration builds upon the successes (and failures) of the last, accelerating progress in a way that linear models simply cannot capture.
Imagine a sculptor not just chipping away at the stone but also learning from each stroke, refining their technique with every piece they create. This is akin to AI's self-improvement. Further complicating the linear view are the inevitable breakthroughs and bottlenecks that mark the path of AI research.
Progress can sputter and stall, hitting walls where existing techniques seem inadequate. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a breakthrough can occur – a new algorithm, a paradigm shift – that catapults the field forward in ways that were previously unimaginable.
These moments of scientific serendipity defy linear predictions, throwing the projected line into disarray.
But AI's defiance of linearity goes beyond the pace of progress. As AI capabilities surge, so too do our aspirations. What once belonged to the realm of science fiction—self-driving cars, intelligent assistants, machines that converse—become the new benchmarks.
These shifting goalposts further distort the linear narrative. Think of scaling a mountain shrouded in mist. Initially, we envision a steady slope, but as we ascend, the true nature of the terrain unfolds. Sheer cliffs and hidden valleys emerge, challenging our preconceived notions of the path ahead. AI progress mirrors this arduous climb, a relentless push towards ever-receding summits.
I guess what I am trying to say is that understanding AI progress necessitates abandoning the comforting linearity of the past. It's a journey punctuated by exponential leaps, unpredictable breakthroughs, and the constant reshaping of our goals. To comprehend AI's true potential, we must embrace the inherent ambiguity and breathtaking potential of this uncharted territory.
What do you think? Why AI progress breaks the linear mold
If you haven't already, you can start with our new series: AI dystopia series | The genesis: a flawed utopia:
I am looking forward to reading your thoughts in a comment.
Happy days,
Yael et al.
🦾 AI elsewhere on the interweb
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