Most People Don’t Realize We Have No Idea How Our AIs Work
Dec 27, 2023
This podcast discusses the limited comprehension of the algorithms implemented by AI models, challenging the misconception that AI's functionality is deliberately programmed. It explores the potential concerns that would arise if the general public were aware of this lack of understanding.
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insights INSIGHT
AI's Inner Workings
We understand how AI models' architectures and training processes work.
We don't fully grasp the specific algorithms they implement during operation.
insights INSIGHT
Public Perception of AI
The public often misunderstands how AI functions, believing it's entirely pre-programmed.
They assume human oversight exists for every AI action and output.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Promote AI Transparency
Public appeals regarding AI should highlight our limited understanding of these systems.
Emphasizing AI as "black boxes" can foster support for AI regulations.
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This point feels fairly obvious, yet seems worth stating explicitly.
Those of us familiar with the field of AI after the deep-learning revolution know perfectly well that we have no idea how our ML models work. Sure, we have an understanding of the dynamics of training loops and SGD's properties, and we know how ML models' architectures work. But we don't know what specific algorithms ML models' forward passes implement. We have some guesses, and some insights painstakingly mined by interpretability advances, but nothing even remotely like a full understanding.
And most certainly, we wouldn't automatically know how a fresh model trained on a novel architecture that was just spat out by the training loop works.
We're all used to this state of affairs. It's implicitly-assumed shared background knowledge. But it's actually pretty unusual, when you first learn of it.
And...
Relevant XKCD.I'm pretty sure that the general public [...]
The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.
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