Thursday, January 30, 2025

Dear Sam Altman, from (me!) sandra mickanen, writeousmom


 loved the opportunity to watch and listen to the talk you shared with young entrepreneurs at stanford.  "Thank You!"  

although i am retired, not seeking employment or to 'start up' a business, 

i have been reading here and there about AI, and do want to gain a layperson's understanding.  

   -it is a world my adult children, and my grandchildren, are currently navigating, and future grandchildren, will be navigating..

i have had ONE direct experience with chatgpt, and was very impressed!   i am a writer, a poet, and no longer in school or work where i might have been inspired to employ chatgpt to greater degrees..

i love to write..    i love to write in the same way people love to play golf, or scuba dive, 

i want to do it myself; learn by doing..  grow by doing, improve through practice; trial and error, all of it is a joy for me, so i do not use chatgpt

but i do not like solving large complicated math problems   -this is a joy and challenge for some, but i would lean toward a chatgpt/math version to short-cut the process; just give me the answer...

which brings me to AI..

poking around TED talks..  youtube..   i have heard the 'digital species' analogy

   /metaphor?

wait.  let me look up the diff..

look!  an AI Overview    [which, one day became the default (1st/top) answer format for any question i ask my phone, and therefore made me want to learn more]


and one of the first things i learned   -AI Overview is not 100% accurate.  It does require a close read; some level of discernment.. 

but honestly, i am not inspired to fact check as a reading exercise..

back to AI,  to now, AGI..   what it is?  how it will change the world?

i deeply appreciated the way you communicated, what i believe to be true
   paraphrasing..

in some ways the world will dramatically change, and in some ways, the world will be pretty much the same

   as when new transportation came in; industry; currency; technology in general..  

i have seen how we have new tools to do the same things..   we can do things faster..  we can do more things..   many things have been made more 'convenient'   on and on, 

but the way i word it, is..  [enter new advance something here]  but, people are still falling love, getting married and making babies..

fundamental human behavior for all of time.

i like how you shared with the students  (paraphrasing)  you are smarter than your great grandparents.. not by IQ so to speak, but because you are surrounded (have been born into) a time with more tools, appliances, greater knowledge that is more easily accessed..    and your great grandchildren will be smarter than you....

i understand what you mean..    and regard it a truth, but i do want to pause to consider your use of the word 'smarter'

i have long shared my greatest concern is technology out-evolving humans..    and all the AI talk leans in that direction, 

you've described how AI (AGI) yields PhD level answers 

but i recognize PhD level answers require PhD level questions, and PhD level discernment, wisdom, contemplation

having access to an answer and understanding an answer;  two very different things.  

i wonder, can AI (AGI) make people smarter?

recalling my observation long ago,  a cell phone, one of the greatest communication tools in all of human history, in the hands of an idiot, talking so stupid...

the greatest communication tool did not result in the greatest communication.

anyway, 

my current understanding of what AI is and does..

as a calculator is to numbers; AI is to human knowledge?  when it is at its best..

with the same immediacy a calculator can solve and show a numeric answer   [based on programming by humans]

AI can generate a knowledge based answer  -which it is providing based on a way it is programmed to search all information ever entered into the digital world.  numeric or word, in any/every language...

theory or fact..

like all the worlds minds, and all the books, in all the libraries of all the world...

and fascinated to learn per your talk  -AI (AGI)   -can be programmed to be autonomous; to learn; to create..

to contemplate; to emote..     to be compassionate; kind..

AI is already making music, writing poetry...     i imagine here..  a fusion: assimilated and appropriated from digital access to all prior original music/poetry digitized and available; combined with computerized/programmed instructional paths regarding what music is; how to make it; what poetry is; how to write it.. combined with, coded to create something new and original from the above


-save being sentient;  save being 'inspired';   
                     digital species/companion/assistant is not a bad metaphor and/or analogy.

a super knowledgeable assistant, slash, best friend at your side...

we will co-exist.

AI (AGI)   -replacing jobs...         of course.

but can't we use AI to help us   -create new jobs!  set up entire new economies, industries..

if it really can make us smarter..   this will not be a problem AI can't solve!

if you created a new, advanced, world-changing technology that left countless people unemployed, sent countless people into poverty..  

it's really not new, or advanced, is it.

****
Dear Sam Altman, 

Can AI do this:     take into account the value of the NBA in 1970, say..   and how much the league itself made; how much each player made, etc.

jump to 2024..  how much the NBA league makes..  how much each player..   

and since the jump is astronomical, we really do need an AI calculator..  

but then, can AI just experiment with..    if a % of the overall wealth.. of the league, and the players..
 (and keep changing what the % is)...

if a % was divided and given to everyone who contributes to the overall success/experience of the game for fans..   

so that,  concession stand employees, janitors, parking staff, ticket booth staff... 

everyone who contributes, enjoys a pay increase...

i am so curious!   what %  (tipping point?)   

at what point does the concession stand employee 'feel' the raise, and level up their lifestyle..

what really does happen when a number of hourly wage employees get a significant raise?  to the individual? their family?  their community/city?

we've certainly been reminded over and over, that certain restaurant owners cannot afford to pay to more than minimum wage..  

over and over reminded how it is the minimum wage earners potentially at fault for the closing of who knows how many businesses, should they ask for even $1 dollar more an hour!   society collapses apparently; what are we, socialists? communists?  capitalism demands the financial gap grow exponentially between the rich and poor annually! 

and how many businesses cant even get started because they cant afford, to you know.. pay minimum wage to anyone in the first place.  

but, lets skip restaurant owners...      

how 'bout the NBA, NFL...

it looks like they can afford to increase the pay for contributing employees without collapsing.. 

especially! now that betting has been legalized and promoted!  and commercialized..  and marketed..

but, 

just curious if AI could present factual simulations of what life looks like when we distribute wealth in different ways..

experiments; digital experiments...

*****
all for now...  

feel welcome to correct my current understanding; add to it; subtract from it..  validate it.

i am aware, at 59 years old, in 2025, i am living write at the genesis of a paramount addition to everyday life for everyday people. 

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