I keep hearing the same thing. The new Large Language Models (like GPT-4) cause anxiety because
Fear of job being replaced by LLM’s
Fear of AI taking over the world and maybe killing us
I don’t think that’s it. I think the anxiety is deeper. It’s existential.
Consider, humanity has always been unique in its ability to wield the tool of language. This is our first great invention. This is what’s enabled everything we’ve achieved. Language has been uniquely ours.1
That’s no longer true. We’ve created something external that can also wield language convincingly.
I think that moment of realisation causes discomfort because it triggers a shift in our psyche. Humanity has dropped another wrung on the ladder of being the single most awesome and impressive think is existence. Similar to Copernicus suggesting the earth is not the centre of the universe.
This forces our minds to recalibrate, and since change is always painful, there is a corresponding anxiety.
I think it flips the script on what defines humanity and individuals.
We are no longer defined by the singularity of our capabilities. Ironically, we are now defined instead by our limitations.
What differentiates me from GPT is not how much I know, it’s precisely what I don’t know. It’s the fact that I’m not an everything bagel. I have a unique set of experiences, a limited scope, an opinion based on my own data. All of us are now defined more by our limitations than our capabilities. That I believe is the cause of anxiety when we realise the prowess of the new LLMs.
The consequences are less clear. For one, text based media loses a lot of value. It really has to be clearly original, clearly human, to have value. Perhaps we’ll see a renaissance, with people doubling down on their own vision for the future. I don’t know. I feel it’s another step in a continuous curve of humanity’s collective ego being humbled by realisations that we’re not centre of the universe. This is the curve of humanities collective maturity. We are growing up. As a mature species, we will have to take responsibility. Perhaps that’s our destiny, to take responsibility for what exactly we are doing on our little blue dot.
(written without the help of Large Language Models)
I realise other animals communicate, I’d suggest human capacity for language is sufficiently more advanced to be considered in its own category