It’s Already Happened
subject: it’s happening!
hey Grandpa,
sorry for missing your 75th birthday party—I was studying for my computer science final exam. and preparing for my big internship this summer.
i am feeling very nervous. I am not sure you will understand, as some of this is pretty technical. But i will try to explain what’s going on.
artificial intelligence is here. For real! everyone is tweeting about it. like VCs and smart people. And i am not sure what is going to happen next.
my original plan was to become a software engineer at this exciting startup building software for banks and loan officers. But then i backed out last minute because of all the progress with AI i was seeing. there are literally cracked (that means smart) ai companies with billion dollar valuations.
it seems only a matter of time now until all meaningful jobs are automated. And i’m worried about what is going to come next.
I fear that in the next decade, people will stop learning to think for themselves. They’ll just outsource their thinking to others or even AIs and just copy what they say. They will not have a purpose in life. And i have no idea what everyone is going to do with their time. Just sit around?? probably do pointless stuff.
it’s all kinda scary and overwhelming.
anyways, until then and at least this summer i’m optimizing for impact. I am working as an engineer at the best (i think?) AI research lab. We’re funded by a lot of big name people, and Saudi Arabia. i’m on the safety team. Not really sure what that means yet, but going to find out. our company mission is to build AGI! [basically like super super powerful AI].
Anyways gtg work. Talk soon?
Alex
P.S. i was not going to tell you but i actually wrote some of this using ChatGPT! Pretty cool, right?
P.P.S. also sorry for missing your 10-year retirement anniversary party last month. (you really like parties)
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Dear Alex,
The party was really great. So many lifelong friends came by. And the weather outside was great!
And I appreciate you writing. I hope your exam went well :-).
I thought about your note, and had two reactions for you:
First, a question. You seem to be pretty scared about all this chaos that AI is going to cause. But it seems to me that most of your fears have already happened. What do you think?
And second, a clarification: I retired 25 years ago (you said ten). That was so I could spend more time with your Mother, and so I could finish a few books I wanted to write. Also, more parties!
With love,
Grandpa
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