Children in America

Robert Reich, the associate director of Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, sent absolute daggers this week when he compared those working in the field to actual children in an interview with Esquire about how the industry's youth affects its relationship to ethics. In contrast to researchers in more established, similarly ethically concerned fields of biomedical technology, "AI researchers are more like late-stage teenagers," Reich told Esquire of those in the still-very-much-developing field of AI. Although their frontal cortex is severely immature, they have recently become aware of their influence on the environment. As a result, he continued, "their sense of social responsibility is not so great." I must say, damn. Reich may have just established himself as the adult in the room if the industry's AI bros are actually acting like children.

Adolescent Invincibility

In all honesty, it makes for a fairly good analogy. One reason is that teenagers are frequently risk-takers and thrill-seekers, and those working in AI, especially the younger generation, are constantly discussing how the unchecked technology they are developing can wipe out humanity. However, despite the fact that their risk aversion generally seems to be close to nil, they continue to develop the technology. A lot of tech dudes really want to live forever, and many of them want to accomplish this with the aid of AI, as Esquire detailed in the piece at hand. Teenagers typically believe they are invincible, as everyone who has ever been one or knows one knows. A mission to construct AI, according to some, is a quest to accomplish the same. It's also usual for young people to find themselves pondering life's deeper existential problems, sometimes losing and rediscovering faith or none at all along the way. After all, those in Silicon Valley are actually working to create a unique, probably even superior, person in our likeness. Depending on the individual, the objective may be to create a machine that resembles a god or to become a god to a machine, but we are confident that both perspectives exist in the quick-paced, competitive field. 

Of all, the industry is young, and Silicon Valley has long approached many types of innovation with a similarly adolescent "move fast and break things" mentality. However, it probably goes without saying that those in charge of the AI race aren't little children and, for the most part, have fully formed frontal lobes. Adults are making deliberate decisions, yet it is still unclear how those decisions will affect the rest of us.