Artificial Intelligence

8/1/25

Overview

The release of artificial intelligence programs such as ChatGPT has catapulted this technology to the forefront of global conversations. The enormous potential of this technology has many people both excited and fearful. Join Active Minds as we explain what AI is, how it can be used for good, but also the potential for abuse.

Key Lecture Points

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) has a long history of ups and downs with prognostications as early as the 1950s that AI would have all the capabilities of humans within a decade. That hasn’t happened, but the journey from 1950 to now has a long list of task-specific AI accomplishments - both in hardware and software.
  • The creation of the internet, significant recent increases in computing power, reduced cost of data storage, advances in task-specific artificial intelligence capabilities and the recognition of these improved AI capabilities by government, business, and academic researchers have led to increased investment and research in AI.
  • These innovations have led to AI systems capable of “deep machine learning” using artificial neural networks analogous to and nearly as complex as the human brain.
    These powerful systems are already all around us.  One of the more impactful elements in AI has been the rapid development of Chatbots, such as ChatGPT which don’t just find content, they create new content.
  • AI systems are beginning to function more independently, as “agents”, and may revolutionize the economy, education, medicine, scientific research, robotics, the military, and many other domains.
  • There are concerns that AI could result in educational disruption, new military weapons, invasion of privacy, economic upheaval with the loss of jobs, political chaos, and even, in the extreme, dominion over the human race.

Discussion Questions

  • What explains the speed with which AI is improving?
  • What AI advances are you most intrigued by and hopeful about?  Why?
  • What AI advances concern you the most?  Why?
  • Will AI create greater inequalities or level the playing field between countries with cheap labor versus those with more expensive labor?

More to Explore

Books For Further Reading

  • Simply Artificial Intelligence (DK Simply). DK. 2023. 160 pages. An introduction to the world of AI for those who are short of time but hungry for knowledge.
  • Susskind, Daniel. A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond. Picador. 2020. 336 pages. The author posits that technological progress could bring about unprecedented prosperity, solving one of humanity’s oldest problems: how to make sure that everyone has enough to live on.
  • Wilks, Yorick A. Artificial Intelligence: Modern Magic or Dangerous Future? The Illustrated Edition. MIT Press. 2023.  224 pages. Traces the history of artificial intelligence back to its origins, examining not only how it works and why it was designed but also its controversies and achievements, assessing whether these technologies will benefit humanity or merely menace our way of life.