Hello, Reader.
For the past few months, all we’ve been talking about here at Smart Money has been artificial intelligence (AI). And it’s kind of funny that we’re here now, isn’t it?
Before December of 2022 – when the titular launch of ChatGPT became the hottest topic both within and without of the markets – AI was merely science fiction. It sounded as far off in the future as time machines, teleportation, or those Food-a-Rac-a-Cycles the Jetsons had that spat out a fresh meal with a few button pushes.
Source: www.comic-mint.com
But regardless of the fantastical nature of most AI myths, artificial intelligence is here – and it’s here to stay. Its implementation across hundreds of products, industries, and companies is only revving up…
AI will create passageways to sweeping, even mind-blowing, change. But as it does so, it will disrupt the status quo and leave behind the wreckage of dated technologies and hollowed-out industries.
In other words, the future of AI won’t be all rainbows and unicorns; it will also be thunderstorms and satyrs.
And later this month, it’s all going to come to a head in the form of an AI panic…
Here’s what I mean…
My colleague, Luke Lango, just made a huge discovery: he has uncovered an overlooked industry that could skyrocket thanks to AI tech. It has already produced 47 triple-digit gains in the past six months alone, but that’s just the beginning. He recently held a special broadcast to reveal all the details…
If you missed the event, you can catch a replay here.
A Tenuous Line: Wondrous or Vicious?
If you’ve been a reader here for some time, you know that I don’t make hard predictions frequently. And when I do, I don’t make them lightly.
I devote months – and many times, years – of research to specific topics, peeling away each layer and differentiating fact from fiction, opportunity from over-hype.
And what’s building right now in the AI space is pointing toward a panic that will erupt later this month.
But before I tell you how and what to do next, let’s talk about why AI will create such a massive disruption. And, as we do often, we’ll look to the future by looking to the past…
As I mentioned earlier, AI will become a world-altering force of both creation and destruction.
Many ground-breaking technologies throughout the ages have subjected humanity to Faustian bargains of some sort – usually a “bargain” the inventors of the technologies never imagined. Consider two historical examples…
- The invention of the wheel produced significant and sweeping benefits. But even this groundbreaking technological advancement would serve sinister purposes down the road. In the Middle Ages, death by the “wheel” became a notoriously cruel and gruesome form of public execution.
- During the Iron Age, innovative humans used the metal to make time-saving tools like plowshares and chisels… but they also used iron to make weapons like swords and daggers.
That’s technology; it is an inert tool… until it is in the hands of a human. Then all bets are off!
As Albert Einstein once said about the atomic bomb, “The release of atomic power has changed everything except our way of thinking… The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.”
Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, the “Godfather of AI,” has been expressing similar thoughts and regrets recently. He made headlines two weeks ago by resigning his post at Google, so that he could speak freely about the risks of AI.
AI could become increasingly dangerous, Hinton warns. “It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things,” he said recently.
He worries that AI technologies will upend the job market by replacing professions like paralegals, personal assistants, and translators. Down the road, he frets that future versions of the technology might pose a threat to humanity itself.
Hinton’s angst about AI places him in the company of dozens of tech insiders who fear it could lead humanity down a destructive and irreversible path.
As The New York Times reports…
Gnawing at many industry insiders is a fear that they are releasing something dangerous into the wild. Generative A.I. can already be a tool for misinformation. Soon, it could be a risk to jobs. Somewhere down the line, tech’s biggest worriers say, it could be a risk to humanity.
After the San Francisco startup OpenAI released a new version of ChatGPT in March, more than 1,000 technology leaders and researchers signed an open letter calling for a six-month moratorium on the development of new systems because A.I. technologies pose “profound risks to society and humanity.”
Several days later, 19 current and former leaders of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, a 40-year-old academic society, released their own letter warning of the risks of A.I.
Even Sam Altman, the cofounder of OpenAI, acknowledges the bipolar potential of AI technology. He has said he fears what could happen if AI is rolled out recklessly into society… yet this fear did not stop the billionaire from rolling out ChatGPT and simply giving it away to anyone who chooses to use it.
Elon Musk, who cofounded OpenAI with Altman but parted ways with five years ago, complained in February that OpenAI had lost its way. What started as an open-source nonprofit that could serve as a counterweight to Google, Musk explained, has now become a “closed-source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft. Not what I intended at all.”
Even Warren Buffett has joined the chorus of AI skeptics. At last week’s annual shareholder meeting for Berkshire Hathaway, the Oracle of Omaha remarked…
[AI] can do remarkable things… like checking all the legal opinions since the beginning of time. It can do all kinds of things. And, when something can do all kinds of things, I get a little bit worried, because I know we won’t be able to uninvent it.
Clearly, the launch of ChatGPT has opened a Pandora’s box of unbridled AI development. There will be no rules, no moral guardrails, and no powerful overlord to restrain AI’s possible excesses.
That’s part of the reason why I believe that an AI panic will hit the markets later this month.
Over the next week, you’re going to be hearing more and more about this panic, including…
- What it means for you…
- If we’ve seen anything remotely like this before…
- And what you can do about it.
Keep an eye on your inbox. I’ll be back with you soon.
Regards,
Eric Fry
Editor, Smart Money
