Supremacy: How AI Is Being Shaped Now

Review of Supremacy

Supremacy is about how 2 men – Sam Altman (OpenAI) and Demis Hassabis (DeepMind) – shape the future of AI.

AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a term coined in 1956 at a workshop at Dartmouth College. Language and terminology plays an enormous role in the development of AI, driving interest to sometimes maddening effect. In the beginning, AI focuses on specific tasks and can only be good at one task that it is trained in.

AGI

Hassabis and Altman both aim to develop AGI (artificial general intelligence). AGI aims to replicate human-level intelligence in a machine, allowing it to think, learn, and understand like a human. Hassabis believed that AGI would unlock the mysteries of science and the divine while Altman saw it as the route to financial abundance for the world.

Unintended consequences

Each time AI’s capabilities grew, it unleashed an unintended consequence that often caused harm to a minority group. As the data that the researchers feed into the system contain bias, the outcome is also biased.

Mission drift

As both OpenAI and DeepMind needed money to expand their capacity to create AGI, they accepted the offer from Microsoft and Google respectively. Nonetheless, as both companies are absorbed into the big corporations, they suffered from mission drift. OpenAi has drifted from benefiting humanity without financial pressure toward serving the interests of Microsoft; whereas DeepMind has been helping Google to grow its business.

Conclusion

Supremacy is a biography of 2 men and 2 companies. It shows how 2 people shape AI and how big corporations influence its development. The pioneers had the goal of enhancing human life, they end up empowering the big tech companies, leaving humanity’s welfare and future caught in a battle for corporate supremacy.

This book is a riveting account of the development of AI. If you are interested in AI and its consequences, this book is a good starting point.

One-sentence summary for Supremacy

AI is supposed to benefit humanity but now is being used to enhance the power of big tech companies.

Quotes

If our intelligence could be simulated by a computer, were we all that unique?
For all the prosperity and convenience that some of the world’s greatest innovations have brought, they also gave rise to new regimes that reshaped society in ways both good and bad.