An Optimistic Attitude Toward AI: It Still Lacks “Imagination” and Value Judgment—as Viewed in Late 2022

An optimistic, proactive attitude toward AI In Sapiens, Harari argues that humans were able to set themselves apart from other animals and build large-scale social organizations because they possessed an extraordinary ability: imagining things that do not exist. Shared imagination, especially religion, made cooperation among large numbers of people possible. My personal view is that today’s AI still lacks “imagination,” including the ability to derive “new knowledge” and generate “new insights.” For now, AI is more about assembling and presenting large amounts of existing information. It may even lack the ability to make value judgments. Suppose you ask AI whether vaccines are beneficial or harmful. After gathering much of the information available online, it can reach a data-based conclusion that the benefits outweigh the harms. But that still depends on most of the existing scientific data online supporting the conclusion that vaccines are beneficial.