The threat and promise of artificial intelligence
In 1900, the UK had 3.3mn horses. These animals provided pulling power, transport and cavalry. Today, only recreation is left. Horses are an outmoded technology. Their numbers in the UK have fallen by around 75 per cent. Could humans, too, become an outmoded technology, displaced by machines that are not just stronger and more dexterous […]
Your job is (probably) safe from artificial intelligence
The age of “generative” artificial intelligence has well and truly arrived. Openai’s chatbots, which use large-language-model (llm) technology, got the ball rolling in November. Now barely a day goes by without some mind-blowing advance. An ai-powered song featuring a fake “Drake” and “The Weeknd” recently shook the music industry. Programs which convert text to video […]
Harari and the Danger of Artificial Intelligence
Yuval Noah Harari, a historian, philosopher, and lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has an interesting article on AI in The Economist (“Yuval Noah Harari Argues that AI Has Hacked the Operating System of Human Civilization,” April 28, 2023). He presents a more sophisticated argument on the danger of AI than the usual Luddite […]
Artificial Intelligence in Medicare Advantage Plans Impedes Access to Care
Yves here. Even though we ran a post recently on the horrorshow of Medicare Advantage using AI to implement what amounts to reductions in coverage below contractually stipulated levels, this practice is so egregious that it needs to be called out until something is done to stop it. The case that is the centerpiece of […]
Lessons from finance’s experience with artificial intelligence
Who are the earliest adopters of new technologies? Cutting-edge stuff tends to be expensive, meaning the answer is often the extremely rich. Early adopters also tend to be incentivised by cut-throat competition to look beyond the status quo. As such, there may be no group more likely to pick up new tools than the uber-rich […]