Steve Wozniak (Apple Co-Founder) – Revised Perspective on AI (Feb 2023)
Despite initially being swayed by predictions of AI attaining human-like consciousness, Steve’s practical experiences with AI, along with his son’s perspective and his own background in psychology, led to his revised viewpoint that AI, while complex and powerful, cannot mimic human unpredictability and understanding.
You know, and I actually bought into that for a while, and for about three years. I was on stage, these computers are coming, they’re gonna have consciousness, they’re gonna have feelings, they’re gonna be just like a human…And then my son, a really brilliant son, convinced me I was wrong. No, we’re just building new technology. It’s just the high end of today’s technologies that can help humans. You know, and we’re never gonna let it overtake us anyway. And it doesn’t really have the equivalent of feelings. Look at your face and know what your expression is from your eyes. I mean, we can program in a bunch of algorithms, but it’s not gonna be like [the] real thing.
– Woz @ 00:51:10
Abstract
46:27-End
Steve initially expresses a skepticism about artificial intelligence (AI), emphasizing that he doesn’t see it as akin to human intelligence. He reflects on his early experiences in programming and highlights how even though a computer can perform tasks millions of times faster than a human, it still can’t outpace human creativity and problem-solving.
He mentions his background in psychology, highlighting that we still don’t fully understand the human brain and how memories work. Consequently, he sees our attempts to replicate human intelligence in AI as somewhat misguided or premature, arguing that it is extremely complex to create artificial synapses that mirror human cognitive processes.
However, he confesses that he was momentarily swayed by Ray Kurzweil’s book “Singularity,” which suggested that by around 2025, computers would possess processing and memory capabilities equivalent to the human brain. For three years, Steve became convinced that AI would soon attain human-like consciousness and emotions.
The thought of a fully AI-operated company outperforming a human-driven one like Apple gave him pause, though, worrying him about the implications for humans being left behind. Notions expressed by Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and Bill Gates about the potential risks of advanced technology also resonated with him, further fueling his concern.
However, his son convinced him that his fears were unfounded. His son argued that technology is just a tool designed to assist humans, and we would never allow it to overtake us. Steve agreed, noting that AI, despite its complexities, doesn’t possess the equivalent of human feelings or unpredictable nature.
Steve expresses his skepticism towards autonomous vehicles, particularly Tesla’s self-driving cars, stating that they are unreliable and sometimes even dangerous. He accuses Tesla of making false promises about the self-driving capabilities of their vehicles, which led to him losing faith in the company.
The conversation ends with Steve critiquing user interfaces of certain cars. He notes his dissatisfaction with the Tesla interface, which he finds inconvenient and challenging to navigate. He also mentions his unpleasant experience with the Lucid Dream Edition vehicle, which was problematic and run by Amazon Alexa. He expresses his desire for a more user-focused design approach in car interfaces, rather than being dominated by digital technology.