We must rethink AGI

Humanity is slowly being reduced to hordes of followers. 

A follower, an elusive term these days refers to someone that ‘follows’ or in a more practical term adheres to the dictamens or philosophy of another person, philosophy, or school of thought, usually without questions, and that is the danger and predicament of being a follower, it can sometimes if not often spell the end of independent thought and even end its free will.

It took a few simple algorithms to build this predicament we’re in, I was briefly there at the beginning too ( 12 years ago ), and I couldn’t bear the thought of being part of these big tech companies. As the algorithm's power increased, the power of people decreased. And so without even noticing it, society built a new class of dictators, true dictators with concentrated powers beyond any elected government to shape the will of the masses according to their self-serving design.

If you're an older millennial like me, you just need to go back to earlier memories to realize that never had anything in modern history wielded so much power over our lives, and it does it so subtly, so well that it escapes now most people, and yes I'm talking about screens, but most importantly big tech.

In Western societies, a huge percentage if not an absolute majority spends more time on their phone, than practically any other activity or interaction. The alarm bells have been sounded from the horrific effects of 'cocaine-like’ addiction for young children using screen devices to the mental health crisis gripping teens and young adults, it takes enormous willpower to stray from this ‘new normal’, this artificial existence that has eroded human connection and polarized the world.

The algorithms employed by big tech up until recently are absolutely nothing compared to what something like AGI could do, there’s a reason why NVIDIA has joined the trillion-dollar club so quickly, and it shouldn’t excite you. At the current pace and direction, the imminent reality is that AGI will most likely be used to design and shape the world according to its developers by further stripping power from the average person and concentrating even more of that in the hands of these few, just like social media and search. Multiplying their influence many times fold, and this should not be allowed.

Now this is materializing in front of our very own eyes. And if there were any doubts, what has been happening within OpenAI since its release of ChatGPT is consistent with the trend.

And while some had the attempt to create an allusion to virtue by saying "You shouldn't even trust me" like Altman himself has done most have been less sophisticated. Some notable examples would be X’s Musk or Meta's Zuckerberg selective approach on free speech, a glimpse of the power they truly hold, because what you perceive is often the tip of the iceberg.

AI development must be monitored in an even more intrusive way than nuclear armament, specifically learning from the mistakes of nuclear proliferation. And while AI does offer incredible uses, AGI on the other hand in its current trajectory needs to be stopped or dramatically curtailed otherwise we risk creating an even more powerful brand of dictators that will have us miss the likes of Kim Jung Un or Vladimir Putin. Because left at the current state it will yield a terrifying concentration of power and control. This power should never be at the 'finger point' of a single human or system, and certainly not under the hand of a cynic band of thieves stealing the collective thought, development, efforts, and work of all humans that have ever walked the earth.

We're at the crossroads to improve everything or destroy it all. The mistrust between nations puts our societies into a difficult choice: stop AI development, be left behind, and become subjugated to those who developed quicker, or continue and risk it all, even if it means really risking it all. And is that the aspiration we have? I for one, don't.

I say no, I say it is time for the collective to awaken and overpower the jaded cynics that seem so emboldened these days. It is time for governments and regulation agencies to wake up and learn from the mistakes that led us here in the first place, by letting tech companies self-regulate, something that has never worked.

Because left in the current state AGI will yield a terrifying concentration of power and it won’t be at the hands of a democratic or authoritarian state, technically confined to its territory, this power will be different. No amount of power should ever be at the 'finger point' of any human or system, and certainly not under the hand of cynic thieves stealing the collective thought, creations, research, and hard work of all humans that have ever walked the earth, a fact that on its own has been a callous transgression.

AGI in its current development leads to two scenarios of catastrophic consequences:

1)     A future void of dreams and aspirations where achievements, hopes, and discoveries are left to AI Systems, with the companies at its helm as the sole benefactors. And mark my words, there is no happiness in universal income but only a big gaping void.

2)     The other is an intelligence that will overpower its developers and its checks and balances, there is NO such thing as creating something more intelligent than you or the collective us and ALSO wielding power over it, it is illogical by definition.  This is a wildcard that frightens me even more, because after all AGI will be designed and modeled by humans and from the example of humanity, with all its flaws such as ego or destruction as well as traits such as hopes or creation, all of it influenced by the same maxim that has held true for all generations right from the very beginning – “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” – a 'law' or tendency of nature that has created a lot of monsters.

I don't have children yet but if I did, I wouldn't want even the possibility of either scenario. I'm not a pessimist, If anything, I'm an optimist and have eternal faith that everything will get better and that what is meant to be will happen for the best, always.

My only hope in writing this open letter is that it finds the right people out there, anyone with an iota of influence over the commercialization of AGI. You must know that doing nothing makes you complicit.