Internet and digital technologies have greatly influenced public and personal life in the past few decades; now, artificial intelligence seems to be gearing up to be the next scientific and technological dynamic transformation that will challenge society.

 

In this AISSR lecture, Tufekci will reflect upon lessons from the internet, digital technology and mobile revolution and consider how they may apply to artificial intelligence, and also examine the new twists and challenges brought about by the latest technologies like Large Language Models such as ChatGPT and developments in machine learning. 

 

While many commentators are focused on potential existential risk from “superintelligence” or the potential for these technologies to help solve human problems such as in medical sciences, the short to mid-term issues are more likely to stem from the application of these tools at scale to mundane and existing problems in decision-making primarily because of low cost and availability. In other words, the big impact will not because machines can now do facial recognition better than humans, but that they can do it well enough, cheaply and at scale of billions.

 

Such technologies are going to be deployed at the hands of the powerful, and can also influence the fabric of society in profound ways. Managing this transition requires a viewpoint that prioritizes the public interest at the intersection of the sociological and technological.

 

Read more about the lecture and about Zeynep Tufekci on the website of the University of Amsterdam.