“In this video…everything’s going to be fine. Isn’t it?”
That’s how Steven Mark Ryan began a recent episode of his daily YouTube technology program, Solving the Money Problem. The outspoken host then detailed last week’s open letter penned by Elon Musk and hundreds of the top names in the tech space, which simultaneously highlighted the dangers of powerful artificial intelligence and also called for a six-month pause in the development of such technologies.
“AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society…and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care… Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening…Society has hit pause on other technologies with potentially catastrophic defects, therefore, we call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems,” the letter read.
Steven’s program focuses almost entirely on Tesla; mostly on the mainstream media’s stunning inability to properly characterize and value the company. In a combative, fact-based style, he consistently calls out the media for, at best, being ignorant of Tesla’s future potential.
Steven tweeted last weekend to ask Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, “Hey @elonmusk, is AI the thing you are currently losing the most sleep over?” That same day, Musk’s response was direct.
“Yes,” Musk tweeted.
And by all accounts, Steven shares many of Musk’s concerns.
“I’m not here to be a doomsayer, ladies and gentleman,” Steven said. “I’m personally using the latest GPT-4 build and Bing. Incredible capabilities. Amazing productivity increases. But, I’m not naive. The rate of progress we’re seeing in AI at the moment is disturbing. And the thing is, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
The program then cut to a clip from earlier in the week, where Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade discussed the open letter on Fox and Friends. Kilmeade welcomed in Fox News Contributor, Douglas Murray, and asked about his reaction to Musk’s plea.
“It’s an extraordinary letter, I have to say. Pretty much unprecedented. I mean, these are people at the absolute forefront of the technology we’re talking about,” Murray told Kilmeade.
“Many of the signatories of this letter have a bigger brain than you, understand AI better than you and are more concerned than you. Just the facts,” Steven cut in to say. “Doesn’t mean they’re right, but it is worth considering.”
“…who are expressing deep concern,” Murray continued. “And to call for a six-month moratorium, basically on further advancements in the area suggests that they are deeply worried about this. This has been coming on us for 25 years now. So it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that the ability of, effectively, computers to go faster than we can go on the treadmill. That the treadmill of technology is running faster than we as humans can run. We’ve known this for a long time. But the fact that there’s now been this stressing that we could be in trouble. This is unprecedented.”
“So what they’re saying is, the smartest people amongst us who do this for a living say they’ve never seen anything like it. And Chat bot GPT-4 is now on its fourth innovation, and the creator says that he is scared about what it can be,” Kilmeade said. “And we should feel happy that the creator is concerned about what it could become, because he has a governor on it. But he does not know how big this can get.”
“Look at it this way, every institution of learning in this country has some kind of technology to work out if somebody is, for instance, plagiarizing,” Murray answered. “Plagiarizing technology has been with us for some years now. ChatGPT technology to work out whether or not the essay, the product, has actually been produced by an individual or by ChatGPT, we don’t have that technology yet. No teacher in America can actually work that out. So we’re already in a state where the technology is running faster than teachers in America can run.”
“And the creators don’t know what this is capable of,” Kilmeade added.
For years, Steven has been documenting the rise of Tesla on his YouTube program. And to say that he is a massive Tesla bull is a dramatic understatement. In recent years, the show has expanded to discuss many of Tesla’s future potential technologies, such as battery packs, full self driving, robotics, Robotaxis and AI.
“We’re now at a point where we don’t know what AI is capable of. And it’s still improving exponentially. Disturbingly fast. Again, I don’t want to be a doomsayer here. Everything could pan out just fine. But you have to balance the risk and reward here,” Steven said.
Steven has been on the forefront of this new technological explosion for years, specifically tied to Tesla’s growth and expansion. In his irreverent style, he has documented how Elon Musk’s involvement in Twitter is extremely popular among citizens who desire freedom and open dissemination of ideas.
As Steven covered extensively earlier last week, the mainstream media seems to believe that all investors, tech enthusiasts and Tesla fans view Musk’s latest approach negatively, as they do. The disconnect, as documented by Steven, is that a large swath of consumers share Musk’s sentiments and reject the media’s radical, liberal lens, through which it colors its coverage of Tesla.
Some detractors and cynics have wondered aloud if last week’s letter is simply a strategic move by Musk to slow down his competition.
Regardless, Steven feels the advancements in AI – by Tesla and others – needs to be watched carefully and evaluated constantly.
“There’s a genuine, existential risk around the corner. If you haven’t taken the time to learn about this, do some fu***** homework. There have been a bunch of great books written on this very subject, including Our Final Invention, Super Intelligence and many more,” Steven said. “Read the essays, the white papers, the discussions, the books. Learn about some of the potential undesirable outcomes. I’m not saying they’re inevitable. I’m just saying, the risk-reward here.”
Late in the week, Ark Invest’s Tasha Kennedy appeared on CNBC’s Street Signs, and said, “Elon Musk has always both raised caution and sort of pushed the boundaries of AI forward in his work. So he’s spoken out a number of times about how we should be careful. He even said that he could potentially launch a ChatGBT competitor at some point. So I’m not surprised to hear the concerns but in this case, again, I think for Tesla in particular the opportunity is really in Robotaxi. And we’re actually seeing early signs that autonomous driving is actually already safer than humans.”
The discussion around AI will certainly continue, and Steven will undoubtedly continue to document the industry’s advancements on his program. In the brash, in-your-face style that only he can deliver.
The question is – will anyone listen?
