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robustness [2025/07/10 16:07] – [AI as a Pluripotent Technology] pedroortegarobustness [2025/07/10 16:09] (current) – [AI as a Pluripotent Technology] pedroortega
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 ===== AI as a Pluripotent Technology ===== ===== AI as a Pluripotent Technology =====
  
-Artificial intelligence is commonly labeled as a general-purpose technology, much like electricity or the internet, because it provides a foundational infrastructure that supports a wide range of industries and applications. However, unlike these traditional general technologies, which offer fixed functions —power or connectivity— AI exhibits a pluripotent character. Through advances in machine learning and large language models, a single AI model can translate languages, answer questions, generate images, and even perform basic reasoning. This adaptability means that AI not only serves as a broad utility but also evolves and creates new functionalities over time, much like how stem cells differentiate into various cell types, or how human intelligence continuously adapts and grows.+Artificial intelligence is commonly labeled as a general-purpose technology, much like electricity or the internet, because it provides a foundational infrastructure that supports a wide range of industries and applications. However, unlike these traditional general technologies, which offer fixed functions, namely power or connectivity, AI exhibits a pluripotent character. Through advances in machine learning and large language models, a single AI model can translate languages, answer questions, generate images, and even perform basic reasoning. This adaptability means that AI not only serves as a broad utility but also evolves and creates new functionalities over time, much like how stem cells differentiate into various cell types, or how human intelligence continuously adapts and grows.
  
 However, this generality makes AI behavior intrinsically harder to pin down. Designers can't easily pre-specify every outcome for a system meant to navigate open-ended tasks. In practice, it is difficult for AI engineers to specify the full range of desired and undesired behaviors in advance. Unintended objectives and side effects can emerge when an AI is deployed in new contexts that its creators didn't fully anticipate. This is analogous to the "cancer" risk of stem cells: a powerful AI might find clever loopholes in its instructions or optimize for proxy goals in ways misaligned with human intent. The more generally capable the AI, the more avenues it has to pursue unexpected strategies.  However, this generality makes AI behavior intrinsically harder to pin down. Designers can't easily pre-specify every outcome for a system meant to navigate open-ended tasks. In practice, it is difficult for AI engineers to specify the full range of desired and undesired behaviors in advance. Unintended objectives and side effects can emerge when an AI is deployed in new contexts that its creators didn't fully anticipate. This is analogous to the "cancer" risk of stem cells: a powerful AI might find clever loopholes in its instructions or optimize for proxy goals in ways misaligned with human intent. The more generally capable the AI, the more avenues it has to pursue unexpected strategies. 
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 Long before artificial intelligence emerged, human intelligence was the original general-purpose "technology" that transformed the world. Unlike other species limited by fixed instincts or narrow skills, humans possessed the remarkable ability to learn, adapt to any environment, and, crucially, innovate. This mental pluripotency enabled us to invent tools, create complex institutions, and propel economic progress on an unprecedented scale. From harnessing fire to engineering spacecraft, the versatility of the human mind has consistently been the engine of innovation. Long before artificial intelligence emerged, human intelligence was the original general-purpose "technology" that transformed the world. Unlike other species limited by fixed instincts or narrow skills, humans possessed the remarkable ability to learn, adapt to any environment, and, crucially, innovate. This mental pluripotency enabled us to invent tools, create complex institutions, and propel economic progress on an unprecedented scale. From harnessing fire to engineering spacecraft, the versatility of the human mind has consistently been the engine of innovation.
  
-Human intelligence has always been a double-edged sword: remarkably creative yet inherently unpredictable. Every individual harbors private thoughts, hidden motives, and unconscious impulses that can lead to unexpected actions. Enlightenment thinkers understood that societies could not function under the assumption that every person would reliably follow a predetermined script or always act in the collective interest. They embraced the notion of free will—the capacity for autonomous choice—which renders societal outcomes fundamentally uncertain. This insight led early political theorists to argue against entrusting any single ruler or elite group with absolute power, instead designing systems where competing interests check one another. As famously noted in The Federalist Papers, if humans were angelic, no government would be necessary.+Human intelligence has always been a double-edged sword: remarkably creative yet inherently unpredictable. Every individual harbors private thoughts, hidden motives, and unconscious impulses that can lead to unexpected actions. Enlightenment thinkers understood that societies could not function under the assumption that every person would reliably follow a predetermined script or always act in the collective interest. They embraced the notion of free will, i.e. the capacity for autonomous choice, which renders societal outcomes fundamentally uncertain. This insight led early political theorists to argue against entrusting any single ruler or elite group with absolute power, instead designing systems where competing interests check one another. As famously noted in The Federalist Papers, if humans were angelic, no government would be necessary.
  
-The very foundations of democratic ideals —individual liberty, privacy, and freedom of thought— arose from this recognition of human unpredictability. Institutions such as the secret ballot were established to ensure that each person's genuine opinions and choices remain free from external manipulation or the presumption of consistent behavior. The liberal democratic model rests on the belief that humans are autonomous agents capable of making decisions that can defy expert expectations and disrupt established norms. Rather than a flaw, this unpredictability is a vital feature that allows societies to innovate, protecting it from stagnation and tyranny, empowering individuals to shape the social order through their distinct and sometimes surprising choices.+The very foundations of democratic ideals (individual liberty, privacy, and freedom of thought) arose from this recognition of human unpredictability. Institutions such as the secret ballot were established to ensure that each person's genuine opinions and choices remain free from external manipulation or the presumption of consistent behavior. The liberal democratic model rests on the belief that humans are autonomous agents capable of making decisions that can defy expert expectations and disrupt established norms. Rather than a flaw, this unpredictability is a vital feature that allows societies to innovate, protecting it from stagnation and tyranny, empowering individuals to shape the social order through their distinct and sometimes surprising choices.
  
 ===== When AI Meets the Enlightenment: The Threat of Predictability ===== ===== When AI Meets the Enlightenment: The Threat of Predictability =====
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