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You Can't Outsmart AI, but You can Outcalm AI




A drawing of a meditating blue robot.
A robot does not need to calm down.

This meditation came to me as I was deep into the AI rabbit hole. Much of my work now requires some interaction with ChatGPT, a relationship I have yet to define whether it makes me better or worse.


In the past months, I've seen things with ChatGPT that I am both amazed and disgusted by and amazed as I am witnessing perhaps the greatest invention since the internet, and disgusted as I have seen how it can be used to deceive others.


“All warfare is based on deception” - Lao Tzu, The Art of War

Reading Scary Smart and hearing his podcast on DOAC, I've recently been reminded of Mo Gawdat. He was a figure I followed closely as a futurist, as he was the head of Google (X). Today he is an advocate for how to thrive as a human in the age of AI, and he produces three inevitables in that regard:

  1. AI is coming and won't stop

  2. AI will outsmart humans

  3. Bad things will happen

With these three inevitables, Mo asks us to view AI as children. By seeing AI as children, we should not ask ourselves what to do when they arrive but what we can do to raise them well. How we interact with AI will determine a large part of its perception of humanity and, as such, its ethical system.


I believe today's conversation is no longer about whether AI is needed; it is when we will accept that it is already here - because it is. As mentioned, in my work over the last few months, I've witnessed the deceptive power of ChatGPT as it:

  1. Fired an employee using legal termination letters as the persona of an HR representative, and

  2. conducted a debt negotiation with tactical empathy (because its human master was not empathic enough).

In some way, I am getting lazier, and ChatGPT is enabling me. More technology does not equate to more meaningful work. The human brain is wired to find the easiest reward method; more technology will not make it act differently.


Think about what the internet did to us. As my friend Tor puts it: "How can the collection of all the world's knowledge make humanity so dumb?"

The same goes for AI. As a technologist, I see no bad or good technology, but I recognize that there are bad and good humans. Usually, bad humans look to use AI for deception, i.e., warfare for attention. This will be in forms we cannot even imagine.


In his podcast with Lex Friedman, entrepreneur and computer scientist George Hotz speaks about the "last feed we'll ever see." This idea builds on the premise that AI will become so powerful that it produces something we cannot look away from.


The race to the bottom of the brain stem is on, and if you haven't been on TikTok to see what that means - be happy that you are missing out.


In all honesty, a lot of recent news for AI and its development is not something I consider good news. It is not that I am opposed to its development, but I do not believe that more technology will provide humanity with more meaning. At least, it does not seem to work for me.


I believe that if AI will outsmart us, we must Outcalm AI. While I am not sure what that means (yet), I am confident that the greater work for meaning in our lives lies beyond AI.


“When you push the stop button on the machine, the machine stops, but when you push the stop button on a human being, the human being starts.” - Thomas Friedman

In the age of AI and anxiety, it is not the person who rushes to the next big thing with great stress who will be successful.


Why? Because there won't be less anxiety, stress, and depression in the future. We've already established that. Instead, we must work with the human capabilities that will be scarce in the future.


Success will be measured as the ability to depart from and arrive at moments of deliberate calmness. Within these scarce moments of calm, you can make the best decisions for how you live your life, build relationships, and be part of the good human gang.


I leave you with a few reflections on this topic that I hope can help you on your way to Outcalm AI in the future.


Reflections

  • What do I believe is best for me, and is this nourished through my interaction with technology?

  • How am I currently building an ideal relationship with technology?

  • What does it mean to Outcalm AI?

  • How does technology make me deliberately calm?

  • How do I make others deliberately calm with technology?

  • How does technology outrage me?


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