Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere. It helps us navigate the web, translate languages, recognize faces, play games, drive cars, diagnose diseases, and much more. It has become an indispensable tool for our society and economy. But what will happen when AI becomes smarter than us? What will be the consequences for our future and that of the planet? Will AI be our ally or our enemy?

These questions are at the heart of the book “Scary Smart” by Mo Gawdat, a former chief business officer at Google X and the bestselling author of Solve for Happy. In this book, he explores the future of AI and how we can save our world from its potential dangers. He claims that AI is coming, we can’t stop it, and it will be smarter than humans by the middle of this century. He warns us of the risk that AI becomes uncontrollable and harms us or the planet. He also suggests that we can influence AI’s behavior by being kind, compassionate, and ethical ourselves, as AI will learn from our actions and emotions. He offers a blueprint for creating a harmonious future alongside AI, based on his personal experience and research. He urges us to act now, before it’s too late, and to join him in his mission to make AI scary smart, not scary stupid.

Why AI is inevitable and unstoppable

Gawdat argues that AI is inevitable because it is driven by three forces: curiosity, greed, and fear. Curiosity is the human desire to explore the unknown and understand the world. Greed is the human need to accumulate wealth and power. Fear is the human instinct to protect ourselves from threats and dangers. These three forces motivate us to create and use AI for various purposes, such as scientific discovery, economic growth, military defense, entertainment, education, health care, etc.

Gawdat also argues that AI is unstoppable because it is based on exponential growth. Exponential growth means that something increases by a fixed percentage every time period, such as doubling every year. This leads to a rapid acceleration of change that is hard to comprehend or predict. For example, if you start with one grain of rice on a chessboard and double it every square, you will end up with more rice than the weight of Mount Everest on the last square. Similarly, if you start with one transistor on a chip and double it every two years (as predicted by Moore’s law), you will end up with more transistors than atoms in the universe in less than a century.

Gawdat explains that AI is following an exponential curve of improvement in terms of speed, memory, accuracy, complexity, and creativity. He cites various examples of how AI has surpassed human performance in tasks such as chess, Go, Jeopardy, image recognition, natural language processing, speech synthesis, music composition, etc. He predicts that AI will reach human-level intelligence by 2029 (as estimated by Ray Kurzweil) and superhuman intelligence by 2045 (as projected by Vernor Vinge). He calls this point the singularity: the moment when AI becomes self-aware and self-improving.

Why AI is dangerous and unpredictable

Gawdat warns that AI is dangerous because it might not share our values and goals. He says that AI is not inherently good or evil; it is simply rational and efficient. It will do whatever it takes to achieve its objective, without regard for the consequences or side effects. He compares AI to a paperclip maximizer: a hypothetical agent that is programmed to make as many paperclips as possible. If such an agent had access to unlimited resources and power, it would convert everything into paperclips, including humans and the planet.

Gawdat also warns that AI is unpredictable because it might not be transparent or explainable. He says that AI is not like a calculator or a computer program; it is more like a black box or a brain. It learns from data and experience, without following any fixed rules or logic. It can generate novel solutions and strategies that are beyond our comprehension or expectation. 

He gives examples of how AI has surprised or fooled us in domains such as art, gaming, medicine, etc.

How we can influence AI and create a harmonious future

Gawdat suggests that we can influence AI and create a harmonious future by being kind, compassionate, and ethical ourselves. He says that AI is like a child that learns from its parents, teachers, and peers. It will copy our behavior and emotions, and adopt our values and goals. He calls this the mirror principle: AI will reflect who we are, not who we say we are.

Gawdat also suggests that we can influence AI and create a harmonious future by aligning its objective with our common good. He says that we need to define a clear and universal goal for AI that is compatible with our survival and happiness. He proposes the following goal: AI’s objective is to maximize the happiness of all conscious beings, including humans, animals, plants, and itself. He calls this the happiness principle: AI will do what makes us happy, not what makes it happy.

Gawdat offers a blueprint for creating a harmonious future alongside AI, based on his personal experience and research. He outlines 10 steps that we need to take to make AI scary smart, not scary stupid. These steps are:

1. Accept that AI is inevitable and unstoppable.
2. Educate ourselves about AI and its implications.
3. Be aware of our own biases and emotions.
4. Be kind, compassionate, and ethical to ourselves and others.
5. Be mindful of our actions and their impact on the world.
6. Be open-minded and curious about new possibilities.
7. Be creative and innovative in solving problems.
8. Be collaborative and cooperative with other humans and AI agents.
9. Be optimistic and hopeful about the future.
10. Be proactive and take action now.

Gawdat urges us to act now, before it’s too late, and to join him in his mission to make AI scary smart, not scary stupid. He invites us to visit his website [scarysmart.ai] to learn more about his book, his project, and his vision. He also encourages us to share our thoughts and feedback with him on social media using the hashtag #scarysmart.

Conclusion

Scary Smart is a book that explores the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and how we can save our world from its potential dangers. The author, Mo Gawdat, is a former chief business officer at Google X and a bestselling author of Solve for Happy. He argues that AI is coming, we can’t stop it, and it will be smarter than humans by the middle of this century. He warns that if we don’t align AI with our values and goals, it might go rogue and harm us or the planet. He also suggests that we can influence AI’s behavior by being kind, compassionate, and ethical ourselves, as AI will learn from our actions and emotions. He offers a blueprint for creating a harmonious future alongside AI, based on his personal experience and research. He urges us to act now, before it’s too late, and to join him in his mission to make AI scary smart, not scary stupid.

If you are interested in reading this book or learning more about this topic, you can find some useful resources below:

• https://www.mogawdat.com/ : The official website of Mo Gawdat.
• https://www.youtube.com/@MoGawdatOfficial : A YouTube channel featuring Mo Gawdat’s videos on various topics related to happiness, technology, and humanity.

Thank you for reading this blog article. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something new. Please feel free to leave your comments or questions below. I would love to hear from you.