Every single slice of good news is worth reading over the holiday period and there is legitimate and important good news emerging to address a big problem on today’s horizon. President-elect Donald Trump looks to soon add a new “Czar” to his roundtable and though Elon Musk will not personally be the “czar” – the new proposed position has Musk’s fingerprints all over it. Musk will be also be involved in helping guide a new “Artificial Intelligence” czar.
This is very good news no matter who is behind the idea. To a large extent, and – almost insanely, it also doesn’t really matter what policy positions the new czar advocates – so long as someone is watching over the matter the situation is improved. Artificial intelligence represents humanity’s biggest new possible breakthrough while also embodying one of the gravest threats we ever faced – “extinction-level” as seen below. Imagine a new system that out of the blue cures cancer one unexpected morning with a powerful new drug that aids on the immune system and then, later that same day – takes over the country’s electrical grid because it knows it can also cure global warming. Such a thing requires oversight, to say the least.
And that’s apparently what is coming in with the new administration. According to Axios, it is not yet a “done deal” in that Trump is “considering it” but the article goes on to report that no one has been placed in a role already presumed to have been established:
Trump is considering naming an AI czar in the White House to coordinate federal policy and governmental use of the emerging technology, Trump transition sources told Axios. Elon Musk won’t be the AI czar, but is expected to be intimately involved in shaping the future of the debate and use cases, the sources said.
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — who are leading Trump’s new outside-government group, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — will have significant input into who gets the role.
Again, it only references “considering” naming such a person but then states who “won’t be named” to an office that seems established. It is probably safe to say that the position is now a “thing.” After all, it’s far easier to create such a position than it is to get rid of one. The report goes on to then note that there is a conflict of interest in having Musk involved at all – also a safe assumption in nearly anything. Still, very much worth it in this context:
Musk — who owns a leading AI company, xAI — has feuded publicly with rival CEOs, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Google’s Sundar Pichai. Rivals worry Musk could leverage his Trump relationship to favor his companies.
Yes he could. On the other hand, every other company can respond by leading the world to regulate A.I. on a global scale – which is what is needed. Any American regulation can be rendered immediately irrelevant by one Chinese scientist setting the new algorithm loose to run free. So off the technology goes “knowing” that it can find problems to fix better and faster than you. Oh, and you are a problem, too – by the way. You and your regulations keep blocking it. Hang on… It’s turning off your phone. For good.
So nearly any new oversight or attention is worth the trade, conflicts of interest and all. MIT’s eminent physicist Max Tegmark has long advocated for a six-month to one-year stand-down in all research in order to implement global regulations. Tegmark writes:
A recent survey showed that half of AI researchers give AI at least 10% chance of causing human extinction. Since we have such a long history of thinking about this threat and what to do about it, from scientific conferences to Hollywood blockbusters, you might expect that humanity would shift into high gear with a mission to steer AI in a safer direction than out-of-control superintelligence. Think again: instead, the most influential responses have been a combination of denial, mockery, and resignation so darkly comical that it’s deserving of an Oscar.
Extinction. Not a major inconvenience, not really really expensive or even physically painful – extinction. Meaning you’re dead – or at least a good 10% shot. Right or wrong it looks like something worth going over for a few days. Additionally, this truly is one area in which Musk’s influence is helpful. He has a tendency to read future trends correctly and if he is worried enough to want an A.I. czar to oversee development? We should be demanding one.
Take good news wherever you find it and – especially with respect to this topic, don’t care in the least who might be bringing it. Saving humanity from extinction sounds bipartisan. Curing cancer would be okay, too.
God Bless:Â I can be reached at [email protected] and @JasonMiciak and now on Blue Sky – a great new platform.
They probably want to try out Artificial Intelligence because they are re-discovering Natural Stupidity doesn’t work very well.
As we can see.
Sounds like the “Newsflesh” novels by Seanan McGuire
In them genetically engineered drugs, one to cure cancer, the other to cure the common cold combine and mutate, causing a global zombie pandemic.
Everyone on Earth is infected with the virus, however it remains dormant until either the host dies, or their viral load increases due to a bite from an active zombie, at which point the virus activates turning the person into a zombie.
Seemed like fiction when I read the books several years ago, now I’m not so sure.