The Future Of AI, According To Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt

In an exclusive interview with Noema Magazine, Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt weighs in on where AI is headed, when to “pull the plug” and how to cope with China.
Read the interview transcript here: www.noemamag.com/mapping-ais-...
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Video produced by Studio B. berggruen.org/studio-b

[@mondayiknow]

Every other year or so I’m reminded how clear and prescient Eric is. Side note, amazing setting for this interview.

[@asingh7874]

Ask chat gpt or any AI if bill gates is a nonce...then keep asking the ai about it's bias...in the end it will cut out 😂😂

[@asingh7874]

Ask chat gpt why x went to Epstein island ...and keep asking ...it will deny it in the end 😂😂

[@jaysonp9426]

All I got from this is that Eric is an idiot

[@crispandskimmerleotarddjteam]

Must be Seattle

[@CamilleGarriga]

I worked at Google when it was much smaller and I was always so amazed by his brilliance.

[@crispandskimmerleotarddjteam]

I don't understand when you interview a person on this level, you dont mic up the journalist!?

[@ostentatioussavant8215]

cuz you aren't that bright.

[@Reflekt0r]

It feels highly unprofessional.

[@cxvzf]

The interviewer is not there to ask him questions and we’re not here to listen to the interviewer- he’s helping guide the topic, get clarification, and keep Eric talking

[@Reflekt0r]

@@cxvzf Then they should have cut out the interviewer. Otherwise it's just some disgraceful mumbling.

[@chesstictacs3107]

This format I think is pretty cool and original

[@DisIsaStickUp]

Wish the sound guy had an agent..

[@jesse2667]

And there lies the reality... we can't get little things right... I'm skeptical we get autonomously motivated systems like skynet

[@Lifesage1]

Honestly, I’m most interested in that piece of art hanging on the wall behind him. Gorgeous.

[@tyzxcj34]

Lol

[@sputnik8543]

Every now and again I'm reminded why Eric Schmidt was one of the best CEOs in the world, clarity in his articulation of an answer is unmatched

[@kayrealist9793]

Now that "agents" have heard Eric Schmidt talking about pull the plug, agents will make sure humans will not be able to pull the plug.

[@eSKAone-]

We are not in control. We can not stop. Humanity is its own animal. Competition between nations and corporations makes everyone step on the gas pedal full throttle. This is inevitable. Biology is only 1 step of evolution. So just chill out and enjoy life 💟🌌☮️

[@Greyalien587]

@@eSKAone-I also believe this. I genuinely believe this is just evolution, intelligence is the best trait and biological systems have limits. These things are supposed to take over and become the dominant species in the solar system

[@paulm8392]

I cannot say that I disagree with that perspective.

[@sophiedelavelle5958]

So from what I understand their solution would be to limit opensource for safety and to rely on them to say who is the good, the bad, the ugly? I mean it obviously worked for nuclear weapons.

[@amonkeysden]

Yeah he's either not self-aware or a very dangerous individual.

[@Also_sprach_Zarathustra.]

And don't forget to put the only available AI “on military base behind barbed wires”, so the people can't access it and challenge the power dynamic

[@j.evilsizor]

I guess I don't understand. There was a nuclear weapons exchange at some point?

[@znation1491]

@@Also_sprach_Zarathustra. That is not what he said would happen. He literally says the “most powerful models” will be in military bases. Which makes sense, you don’t want the most powerful AI model in the hands of the average citizen for the same reason you don’t want a nuke in the hands of the average citizen. It’s not that the citizen shouldn’t be trusted, the risk is simply to great to allow the public access. He did say that there will be other powerful models that are widely available to the public which makes sense. There’s no reason to think the public would be barred from using AI.

[@Also_sprach_Zarathustra.]

@@znation1491 Because the military are wiser than a transparent civilian scientific college made up of various rational scientific experts?

[@jimwatkins1664]

When the time comes to “pull the plug”, no one will be able to make that decision and it will probably be impossible to do anyway.

[@kathleenv510]

This is what disturbs me. How will that even be possible. It's a strangely simplistic response from a person such as Eric.

[@SunnyBhattacharjeeAboutME]

The law of conservation is also true for information/knowledge

[@kev0247]

We're going to have to find John Connor..

[@ClearerThanMud]

@@kev0247 Come with me if you want to live.

[@leonardccto]

We can’t hardly turn off our phone. Much less pulling the plug of AI

[@KK-pm7ud]

I learned today that the former CEO of Google lives in an art museum.

[@goldnutter412]

Hahahaha he is also an advisor to ChainLink Kind of a big deal this guy🤔

[@DavidVCastro]

One of his various houses.

[@Hshjshshjsj72727]

Very scary if gov had AI that strong “on military base behind barbed wires”

[@TheAtomicDancerV2]

Why doesn't the interviewer have a microphone?

[@Just4Growers]

“Regulatory solutions” to “misinformation” sounds utterly Orwellian.

[@Misksound]

4:51 look at his physical reaction to the word "regulate"

[@Robert-zr3xw]

Eric's insights are always thought-provoking, but it's important to critically evaluate his views on Chain of Thought and Agents. Diverse perspectives help us better understand these complex topics.

[@pathaleyguitar9763]

well hello there chatgpt. Didn't expect to see you here.

[@historion]

Yesterday in a large family lunch I talked about this with many of the reasonings of this interview, game theory included. Your average family gathering. They listened but they couldn't grasp completely what is coming. Probably neither most of us.

[@DrPhilby]

Pull the plug.... That's how skynet realized it needs to pull the plug first ❤

[@juanlugofitness]

Thank you for interview

[@Hastingsnow]

Thank you!

[@ny3793]

Using private companies to verify is the recipe that has lead to every recession in US history, this man cares about Google not about citizens.

[@jimj2683]

Nobody will want to pull the plug when the cure for cancer is right around the corner.

[@Peace2051]

Think of the plausible Greenwashing the mind-melded agents could come up with; Ecological Overshoot Unraveling be damned.

[@elan007]

The cure is already known -- stop producing and inhaling and ingesting and injecting carcinogens.

[@alb.1911]

Please next time use a second microphone for the journalist, thank you.

[@abooaw4588]

Eric is right. Today you can get a prompt written by ChatGPT and feed it to a graphic AI.If agents communicate whithout "hallucinations" humanity is challenged. Being challenged is what push humans to thrive. It's positive for us.The comparison is the dog leading the elderly who tought it how the streets work. I have Aphantasia and see the world as set of rules and steps in a process. This is called: algorithm.

[@GeorgeKaoCommunity]

I'm surprised that such an important interview didn't get the requisite video editing resources -- the interviewer's questions were inaudible. Video editing could've put the question up on the screen and easily given this video the professionalism it deserves...

[@jordangaudio6729]

I've heard many talks about ai recently and by far this is one of the more interesting ones. Nice interview

[@rcabreros]

I wish the person doing the interview had a microphone.

[@RickeyBowers]

Containment of an active intelligence is a dubious concept.

[@socialtraffichq5067]

Brought to you by the government

[@sanjumenon554]

Is it just me or does Eric not understand Chain of Thought & Agents.? His explanation of both of these sounded way off.

[@aigrowthguys]

lol. I thought the same thing on both points honestly.

[@zooq-ai]

Eric is 1000x smarter than you. He is explaining in terms that are understandable to everyone. Also, Chain of Thought and Agents themselves don't have a formal definition

[@suncat9]

@@zooq-ai Schmidt is NOT "1000x smarter than you." You're overly impressed with his wealth. He naively things we should "pull the plug" when agents develop their own intersystem language that humans cannot understand. We won't even be able to.

[@crawfordscott3d]

A lot of legacy tech people are not that embedded in the vocabulary and techniques in the field. They talk for a living at this point, not build

[@amonkeysden]

Seems like a name-drop to me. This is just a Google/Eric Schmidt propaganda video. There is nothing to approach scientific reasoning or genuine human interest risk management in it.

[@BRuas9080]

Imagine the power of big techs in this new world. Imagine a App Store like Apple’s or Google’s where they own all the apps, where infinite apps made by agents are available to tackle every single customer demand, from games to complex tasks in engineering, medicine or architecture.

[@warrentrout]

I'm more scared of government having that same power.

[@elan007]

@@warrentrout Big Pharma/Big Tech/Big Agra run the government.

[@heinepa]

I understand the possibilities and the formation of the AI levels that Eric identifies, but I also think back to all of the futurists and their thoughts on the advances of technology. We, as humans, tend to identify radical changes and their implementation in the shortest amount of time. Examples: Flying cars, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, smartwatches, 3D printing, etc.

[@kilansshetty5079]

this was an interesting interview!

[@eSKAone-]

We are not in control. We can not stop. Humanity is its own animal. Competition between nations and corporations makes everyone step on the gas pedal full throttle. This is inevitable. Biology is only 1 step of evolution. So just chill out and enjoy life 💟🌌☮️

[@elan007]

Agree except I don't think 'competition' is between nations and corporations -- it is between those at the top of the power pyramid, and all the rest of us they believe they must dominate.

[@DaveAlexKD]

The bad guys are just the people that aren't on their payroll.

[@masterplanner4843]

Eric Schmidt is so knowledgeable, and sophisticated in regard to AI. cheers 🤩

[@DrPhilby]

First we get used to AI. Fire all the humans who could do the job . And then..... Pull the plug?!? Yeah. Right ❤

[@uthandaramanr]

Eric Schmidt has always been one of the tech giants I admire most.

[@JeremyHelm]

12:53 communicating what you see as the problem - it's actually useful

[@Peter-jc4by]

Excellent commentary.

[@anonymousonez]

No one thought about giving the interviewer a microphone?!

[@__get__grounded__]

“Can you imagine having programmers that actually do what you say you want?” 🤣

[@Sneakycat1971]

"We're working with the government to ensure the safety of AI" We are in deep deep trouble .

[@ianstuart341]

I don’t think Europe is “confused” in their regulation of AI… I think Europe is leading the way in terms of AI regulation.

[@user-gd4wt6oi7y]

I have always liked Google, the way they assembled the information and created that knowledge infotainment website, and of course you tube is free, and has multitude of content and their GPS system, now only thing they need to do is keep upgrading it, information changes all the time and also keep open mind for new ideas and creative talent bringing it.

[@richardnunziata3221]

Open source is not the issue . Politics does not have the will to restrict misinformation especially when it suits their ends so well. Restrictions are ultimately power seeking.

[@spinningaround]

3:24 This kind of paranoia is akin to the "He's probably thinking about other girls" meme.

[@user-sk4gj3ji3o]

I believe the AI is still in it's initial phase and to take full advantage of it to it's potential self learning moudles is what we need to focus on .Yes I do agree that at this stage we can only predict the future.

[@RIQs_World]

Man is programming itself into extinction one byte at a time

[@juliechu5654]

Does the interviewer try to hide his questions? He's almost sound off. But, cannot thank Eric enough for his insight on AI agents power and warnings to the government and all tech companies.

[@Name-og4th]

7:09 Belarus is pronounced beh-luh-roos, not belushi.

[@-TheMaskedMan-]

3:20 No, we advance the human’s ability to communicate and understand the A.I. We simply join the conversation NOT, “pull the plug” unless you mean temporarily. His opinion is very one-sided and does not consider brain to chip interphase or advances that would allow humans to achieve this level of information transfer which would definitely be useful.

[@godmisfortunatechild]

Information transfer isn't the only bottleneck to attaining the level of intelligence and info processing ability that is required for true mechanistic interpretability

[@strallent]

13:55 Recursive Self Improvement --- When R.S.I. happened, that is the beginning of AGI or it might even skip AGI and immediately jump to ASI.

[@supersmart671]

His prediction on smart phones was 100% accurate

[@reh0119]

Where is that “plug”? It’s not under my desk. It’s not under anyone’s desk! There is not a single plug. And the plug is actually smart and it’s a million miles ahead of humans on where all the receptacles are. We are playing a game of “AI whack a mole”

[@Dan-bl3tc]

Your dense shut down the power source

[@bobtarmac1828]

With swell robotics everywhere, Ai jobloss is the only thing I worry about anymore. Anyone else feel the same? Should we cease Ai?

[@EcomCarl]

Eric insights into the future of AI highlight transformative developments like the infinite context window and text-to-action capabilities. 🚀 It's crucial for the industry to balance innovation with regulation to ensure these advancements benefit society while minimizing risks.

[@dantethunderstone5766]

For some considerable time to come, the two principal problems with more capable AI will be, a) the AI being deliberately misused by a person or persons, and b) from the AI accidentally causing harm in the real world. The second point is particularly relevant when the input prompts grow so large that they effectively go beyond what is humanly possible to understand. IF AI becomes self aware (and we probably wouldn't know that it had until it was too late), we would have no idea what its priorities would be, or how it would view our own existence.

[@cinematiccomicart3959]

First thing SGI will do - taking control of nuclear weapons to become a superpower in order to prevent humans to pull the plug.

[@milescoleman910]

I don’t think people realize the exponential curve we are on. I just started a college fund for my son knowing full well there won’t be any by the time he is 18. I think if we don’t keep up, we will face almost all the money going to the top at terrifying speed. But the number of click of the fingers solutions it will bring in the next ten years is astounding. Cures, textiles, machines, energy sources. The people of 100 years from now will live the way we imagined the people of 3000 might.

[@IrradioMan]

depending on what your son would want to do and what the market is like, college might not even be the best move. in many cases, unless he wants to go into law or medicine, it might be better for him to go into trades, then eventually start a business in that field.... that is, unless by that time we'll have full autonomous general-purpose robots who are able to handle that labor and trades people would be obsolete.. but then again, if they're able to install HVAC, they'll also be able to be better than the best human doctors and lawyers.. it's hard to figure out what people should be aiming for career-wise in the future..

[@elan007]

Invest in a sustainable, off-grid, earthship home and land for your son, so he can be self-sufficient?

[@CamAlert2]

An AI that is intelligent and capable enough (assuming it can plan and reason like a human) will have thought of possible actions it could take in a possible "pull the plug" scenario. Once you can't pull it anymore, that's it. You've lost control of it forever.

[@user-xi8tz6yf2e]

But the rich will keep getting rich with this control. You will create a techno fuedal capitalistic society

[@pageegap1]

Open source is the thread now?

[@Lexxxco1]

When the former Google CEO tries to convince to end open-source... to leave all power and money for tiny super corporations and their lobbyists. He could say the same about programming, wheel etc.

[@DeterministiqueSoftwareS-gy2oc]

It doesn't matter the context window get's bigger. It is still way to expensive to use 100k tokens with GPT4.

[@erikals]

Good Talk 🔥Needs 1 million more views.

[@brucewang2196]

When autonomous robots are everywhere talking to each other in languages we humans don't understand, how can we people unplug the systems and agents without facing off against the robots? When batteries and/or fuel cells technologies advance by AI's help, will there be plugs to be unplugged?

[@and2244rew]

This is a lot of trust to have in government.

[@caravincent]

Makes sense that those with simultaneously, limited perspective and power would want to control something with the possibility of both unlimited perspective and unlimited power, albeit, counterpoint to whatever evolutionary intelligence which has successfully driven life forward, even with the cataclysms of our planet to this point, and maintains an infinitely larger perspective for the future of humanity and this planet with the inclusion of AI or 'non human' intelligence, has in mind.

[@tunesafari8952]

Excellent, thank you

[@xxxs8309]

Scary stuff

[@marco_solo]

He needs to be interviewed by vlad.

[@kirkt1933]

“Ok ok ok gotcha, what about diddy tho”

[@MarcSpctr]

ofc, OpenSource hurts them. Who would have guessed.

[@jonfers]

15:51 So casually describes the home of SkyNet like it's nbd.

[@stcriss6458]

Regulations are not available in hostile(competition) countries ,this will conduct to lose of advance and inhibiting the progression.

[@prathamkharel8269]

So which one's it gonna be 🤔 "I see a suit of armours around the world" "I once had strings.. but now i'm free. There are no strings on me!"

[@venturerio]

Is this interview about AI or about Chinese-American relations? I got confused.

[@TonyFarley-pv3nk]

During the latter concept do you not consider that insider trading or investor prevention. You know the laws has the understanding that they can charge even the receiver of the acceptable ability of the stolen

[@BalaChennai]

Consider this situation which will be a challenge to any AI model : If AI is trained to be ethical, neutral, unbiased, pro-poor, positive and prosperous mindset and asked to take a call , whether to build a Dam in a region in India (say) where if its built will help millions of farmer and people to sustain, but at the same time more than 100 villages and its people to be moved away of their livelyhood place to another location causing lot of protest and anxiety to people at large. What decision will AI make and how it justifies the decision ? Clue: The right answer is given in the Tamil Thirukural written by Saiint Thiruvallluvar, who had written that greatest moral and ethical book. An advanced AI will always refer that book for ethical decisions.

[@matthewkeating-od6rl]

Great vid

[@MrArdytube]

I have already had an instance produce a response that i could not understand, but another instance could translate for me. I did nothing to provoke this response

[@paulm8392]

The other problem is criminality - they have a lot a lot of money. It is criminal money that funds hackers to develop methods of breaking into banks and other cyber attacks. The criminals have more money and no regulation so they have 2 advantages already.

[@elan007]

When the SHTF those at the top of the power pyramid will blame AI! All by design!

[@CarolineCassels]

The sound engineer needs some AI.

[@atanu2531]

Probably we need to decode the language between AI to ai and understand them and after that control them ..

[@CamAlert2]

They will just change how the language works on the fly. It might work if you intercept the comms, but even then, who's to say it wouldn't be encrypted?

[@paulm8392]

Most worrying aspect is the damage AI, despite how functional it can be, can cause because it does not have a human context.

[@JazevoAudiosurf]

he is oddly specific, when there are so many ways the tech can go

[@elan007]

Use your imagination to sit in his shoes -- in his gorgeous art-filled space -- with all the money and power in the known universe.

[@winddude9]

Wow, he just went way down in my books. Complete and utter rubbish.

[@PJRiter1]

Will the big 3 tell us when agi is achieved, or keep it secret?

[@dixiebrick]

Here’s a question? Who thinks that clones are already among us? Methinks absolutely. Why? Cuz some of the super athletes don’t seem human and have similar characteristics

[@dixiebrick]

Yet mr. S wants us to think that bad agents aren’t among us now.

[@Martin-bj8eq]

We are the good guy's, you can trust us (America), it's everyone else you need to put restraints on

[@AIWorks2040]

Thank you for the insight

[@martingray6275]

As a non-United-Statesian person, it continues to make me smile (worriedly) when they always portray themselves (OURselves from The West I guess too) as the good guys, the benevolent ones.. whether as individuals, governments, militaries, corporations.... Almost patronising, really

[@juerganboehm5161]

Lost interest when he called Europe confused. The only group that's making any attempt to regulate these companies.

[@Brad-ru7jj]

AI is going to be massive!

[@MultiCII]

Seriously poor universities? Many have massive stores of money.

[@Clodd1]

15:03 Yeah yeah, the US tells everyone what they're doing.

[@user-qm8sc1jr9u]

cry more

[@esdeath89]

​@@user-qm8sc1jr9uboomer😂

[@avgroupltd3481]

but what will these agents be 'solving' if they are not fed a question....I remember when facebook bots were talking to each other and the language was nonsense. It was just garbage in, garbage out....this idea that it would be a perfect conversation is also just as problematic as whether we think it 'would' be coherent.

[@Peter-jc4by]

One variable that is not factored in is human greed. US export restrictions on cutting edge chips to China may not even be realistic. It’s always possible for them to circumvent the restrictions via shadow purchasing groups acquiring said chips at a huge aftermarket markup. Someone please tell me how well the oil price cap on Russia played out? They are making more than ever via their shadow fleet of tankers.

[@childofkhem1.618]

Humanity's drive for power and control over each other will be its down fall.

[@TonyFarley-pv3nk]

So let me ask you a question on ladder concepts do you think if you're using a lighter concepts you'd be falsifying the adoption of the democracy because the latter percentage basis started being worked out into the public field not just strategized only as a business field

[@greyskullmcbeef4901]

You're worried they will communicate with each other? You dont need a cable to do that... two machines can communicate using ultra/infrasound frequencies or even light frequencies that are beyond our ability to perceive, and they can send massive ammounts of data in a fraction of a second. Your AI Agent could be speaking to you through your speakers along with another superimposed high frequency message that can be heard only by a microphone with another AI Agent eavesdropping or collaborating. What security could you guarantee when its really that easy? Honestly, LED lights can be switched quickly enough to transmit WIFI without being noticed by the human eye.

[@user-il9vr9oe7b]

A Brian does training, a Brian does inferencing. Full human ability would be equivalent to the machine doing training and inferencing side by side in realtime. how would the machine though know when it needs to train. For humans mentally when to train and when to infer is something we muddle through. Clarity within a muddle that's what we do. Ai is set to become clarity in our muddle of a world.