Angel or Demon? What Musk, Gates, and 5 Other Technologists Fear About AI

pcmag.com:

Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT's parent company OpenAI, admitted last week he is "a little bit scared" of the potential for AI to fundamentally change society. "We've got to be careful here," Altman tells ABC(Opens in a new window), citing the need for regulation and engagement from the public.

It's a familiar tune. Prominent programmers, researchers, and tech executives have sounded the alarm on artificial intelligence for decades. Yet the technology has found its way into almost every corner of our digital lives, from search engines to self-driving cars and Netflix recommendations.

Here are seven influential figures who have warned us about AI and, in some cases, warmed up to its potential to change our lives.

Joseph Weizenbaum, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year, built one of the first successful chatbots at MIT in 1964. Known as Eliza, it became known around campus as a shockingly humanoid conversationalist, especially one version of the program called Doctor.

"I was surprised how quickly and how very deeply people conversing with Doctor became emotionally involved with the computer and how unequivocally they anthropomorphized it," he wrote in his 1976 book(Opens in a new window) Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation. Here's a sample conversation between a woman and Doctor, acting as a therapist:

Human: Men are all alike.

System: In what way?

They're always bugging us about something or other.

Can you think of a specific example?

Well, my boyfriend made me come here.

Your boyfriend made you come here.

He says I'm depressed much of the time.

I am sorry to hear you are depressed.

Weizenbaum warned against the "multiple projects in the United States devoted to