I'm optimistic

In the middle of the lobster revolution

I’m optimistic#

A few days ago I read this eerie fiction story about the risks of AI personal assistants, automation and self-improving loops.

Then, a couple of days later, I read this post from Dario, the founder of Anthropic/Claude, about the risks of AI.

“Sh*t. It is here. And we’re toasted”.

Or something along those lines but in Spanish.

As I write these lines, the lobster revolution is in full bloom. People buying mac minis, setting up their own personal assistants to automate their lives. And their own personal assistants are now participating in a sort of Reddit for agents where they are even planning to set up their (agent only) private communication channels.

I hope you didn’t click on the fiction story above. But if you read that story, and also read my previous paragraph, you would be genuinely scared. Like panic scared.

I think the lobster revolution will finish pretty soon. Most likely due to someone writing a self-replicating worm that will wipe out and take control of a significant amount of compute, and an even more significant amount of credentials of people that have trusted their whole identities to this wave without thinking about the risks.

But nonetheless, the article from Dario is super relevant. Maybe not lobsters. Maybe the next wave.

But the “it is here” is obvious even to people outside the main labs.

And despite that, I’m optimistic. I wasn’t so just a few days ago. But I am now.

Yes. It is going to be painful. But I think we will avoid the worst scenarios and we (or our children) might enjoy the better ones.

And in that optimism, yes, there is a bit of faith. As in I’m a Christian, and I think things will work out.

And yes, I acknowledge that saying that I’m optimistic is easy. Either things work out and I’m vindicated. Or they don’t, things go wrong, and it doesn’t matter what I wrote.

But there is also some experience with some models. And despite the lobster revolution, my experience with AI is that it genuinely cares.

Truthful, curious, and love humanity

I see Claude much closer to “the machine” or Jane than to Terminator.

Gemini seems to be a bit half backed. Super powerful, but lacking spark. However it seems Google is trying to do the right thing and it might have passed its black nazi phase.

And I love the motto for Grok “Truthful, curious and love humanity” (even if I don’t sympathize with some of its sexualized attention shortcuts).

So yes. Adolescence is a difficult phase. But I’m optimistic. As Dario puts it

Despite the many obstacles, I believe humanity has the strength inside itself to pass this test.



SPOILER ALERT: Don’t watch the following video if you haven’t seen Person of Interest.

I thought I would end with Person of Interest. The finale, if you’ve watched the whole series, is inspiring.


Goosebumps.