A.I. Billionaire, Shyam Sankar Says A.I. Researches Have Started Smoking Because They're So Confident A.I. Will Cure Cancer

Every once in a while, maybe 1 out of 10 times an A.I.-related news story comes across my desk, it's something that in a weird way gives me comfort. Which is kind of embarrassing. Both on my part, and on Big A.I.'s part. A.I. has really done a horrendous job PR-wise. Not that it really makes a difference. People still use it all the time. It's still a half-trillion-dollar industry that's rapidly growing. But for all the great things A.I. can, and allegedly will be able to do... people really seem to publicly hate it. Big A.I. has done a terrible job keeping focus off the doomsday scenario. Many people see it as the #1 threat to humanity. They fear it will end life as we know it. And I'm a little inclined to believe them. 

Also, as a person who spends all day on social media, most of the artificial intelligence I come across is genuinely fucking awful. It legitimately makes me depressed. Unfortunately, when I think of A.I., it's shit like this that comes to mind first.

And a headline like "Bill Gates says AI could cause a billion deaths", even if that's not really what Bill Gates was trying to say, is a little more eye-popping than... idk... name anything good AI could do. Improve our healthcare system. As lovely as faster, more affordable healthcare would be, "THE END OF THE FUCKING WORLD" will always feel a little more urgent. 

But A.I.'s public image couldn't matter in the least. That's how good the product is. That's how easy it makes people's lives. The same people who constantly slam A.I. are probably using it to do their real jobs, just so they can have more time to spend online preaching how terrible it is. Kids are earning college degrees without putting in a lick of work. One of my best friends, who's now in his late 30's, is in nursing school right now. He showed me this video one of his professors sent to his class. I'm paraphrasing here, but it was something like, "I asked you to pick out one sentence from this article and tell me why it's interesting. This was the easiest assignment in the world, and 90% of your answers were flagged for obvious A.I. use." 

The Gen Z kids who grew up with this, who are in college for the first time right now, wouldn't stand a chance without it. 

See, it's much easier to write about the negatives. Of which there are many. All that being said, this quote I came across on Reddit today… THESE are the clickbaity headlines A.I. companies should be pushing. Pay no mind to the fact that Shyam Sankar goes on to call it a mass psychosis. "Random A.I. Indian Billionaire Man Says A.I. Researchers Are Smoking Cigarettes Because [Blah Blah Blah] A.I. Will Cure Cancer" – that's all the average person is going to take away from this clip.

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And telling a person with a deadly vice that their deadly vice might not even be worth quitting… because "A.I. is going to cure it anyway"… well, shit. That's just about the most comforting thing a person with a deadly vice can hear. It doesn't matter how absurd it is. It doesn't matter if the random Indian A.I. billionaire they're blindly trusting was only saying it to make a point about something entirely different. People believe what they want to believe, and lifelong smokers really want to believe that. 

On the other hand, one could just as easily spin this as – A.I. researchers are taking up smoking; they must realize how fucking doomed we are. It also sounds a bit like a cult. Like these A.I. researchers have FULLY bought in, because the job pays well, and as long as they convince themselves of all the great things A.I. will do for the world… well, it probably makes all the potential damage they're doing a little easier to live with.

So take that smoking quote from the rich Indian man however you please. Maybe one day A.I. will help cure lung cancer. Maybe one day it will kill us all. Given time, it could probably do both. If you give infinite monkeys, infinite typewriters, eventually one of them will write Shakespeare. I suppose it depends on what world-changing thing A.I. gets to first. 

P.S. Speaking of A.I. news that "doesn't suck", I saw this one the other day as well. 

Is there any way that's how things would play out? They aren't just going to eliminate half the workforce and cut payroll in half, all so the people in charge can make millions more? I have a hard time believing that one, Mr. Bezos. That's not the capitalism I grew up on (the one that made you worth $400B).