Oren Etzioni's Recent LinkedIn Posts

BREAKING: Ali Farhadi has stepped down as the CEO of Ai2.

⚠️ The student government assembly at Cornell University voted to cut ties with Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, one of the world’s leading institutions for scientists and engineers. The measure rests on a host of unsubstantiated allegations. Students are trying to punish researchers and undermine life-saving scholarship because they have reservations about Israel. 🤦‍♀️ The poison taking hold at Cornell is part of a broader, ongoing crusade to eliminate any shred of connection with Israeli higher education. This will only deprive American students of opportunities to study at and learn from some of the best universities and scholars in the world. To ensure our college campuses remain committed to open inquiry and learning, motions for academic boycotts must be unequivocally opposed.

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If like me, you've sworn off Twitter, you've missed this incisive assessment of AI by Dan Williams of Sussex: H/T to Andrew McAfee 𝟏. 𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥, 𝐬𝐮𝐢 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲. We're building thinking machines! There are strong reasons to think that lessons drawn from previous technologies (e.g., about the pace of diffusion) won't apply, and that AI will pose countless novel challenges for which there is simply no precedent. 𝟐. 𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬. Until five minutes ago, all our examples of intelligent systems were living things. So when people think about AI, they typically—and typically without realising it—mistakenly import expectations about intelligent living things (e.g., where drives towards self-preservation and competition reflect their distinctive Darwinian design process) into their understanding of how AI is likely to behave. 𝟑. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 "𝐀𝐈 𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲" 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 "𝐀𝐈 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬" 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. It's more likely that AI is an extremely powerful, extremely abnormal technology that will nevertheless not behave like a new species. 𝟒. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐀𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. We should be more cynical about humanity and less cynical about AI. We know with certainty that human beings are often selfish, competitive, power-seeking, deceitful, and hypocritical. Releasing an extremely powerful technology into a world marked by vast inequalities of political and economic power among human beings is where most of the real challenges will arise. Many people aren't thinking clearly about this because their model of "human nature" is shaped by the range of behaviours they encounter in modern liberal democratic capitalist states, where self-interested incentives partly constrain the most sociopathic behaviours people are capable of.

Cognitive Surrender is a genuine problem with AI that gets worse as the AI gets better! "Never give up, never surrender" 😉

R.I.P. Chuck Norris. From his family: It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning. While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace. My favorite Chuck Norris jokes: (he said he found them amusing.) When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris once kicked a horse in the chin. Its descendants are known today as giraffes. Death once had a near-Chuck Norris experience. Chuck Norris doesn't dial the wrong number. You answered the wrong phone.

As the Iran war enters its fourth week with increased loss of life, injuries, and economic damage. I asked Claude: How many Iranians has the Iranian regime killed? How many Americans? How many Jews? How much have they invested in Hamas, Hezbollah, and other anti-American forces? Here's its response presented as an Infographic:

The facts by Taylor Soper at GeekWire Highly informative!

It's about time! Let's hope that senate staffers do a better job using AI than RFK's team...

Any civilian deaths are tragic, but the context is important. Yes, both sides have a lot to answer for but still— One side kills their own people, uses them as human shields, and indiscriminately fires at civilian population centers.

“If AI is a multiplier you better get the sign right” Incisive observations from Jeffrey Heer

"“AI is not going to be remodeling your kitchen.”

I don't know whether to laugh or cry: