AI futurist Zack Kass looks ahead during ITC keynote
“The future is great, but only if we imagine and build it together,” said Zack Kass, former head of go-to-market at OpenAI and AI futurist during a keynote at ITC Vegas. Kass discussed the history and future of technology.
Kass’ work at OpenAI included leading a team transforming research into business solutions. He built the sales, partnerships and customer success teams at the company. Kass wants to be an AI optimist or someone who believes that AI could be incredible for the human experience.
“When I was at OpenAI, I became obsessed with this existential question, which is, what happens next?” he said. “I think we’re about to enter our next Renaissance. We’re about to see a massive expansion in human potential, which comes with all sorts of opportunities and challenges.”
He added that science is two to three years ahead of commercial applications. For example, ChatGBT four was proven possible in a paper in 2021, he shared.
In his view, there are three phases to AI adoption including enhanced application, autonomous agent and natural language operating system. This last phase includes more wearables and a new relationship between machines and humans.
“Humans will interact with machines the way they interact with each other. And that’s exciting, because it clearly reduces the digital divide. It creates a world where we don’t have to learn how to use these complex machines. They work with us,” Kass said.
“Our future will be determined more by societal thresholds than technological thresholds,” Kass said. He added that people love feeling in control, there is asymmetry of information and that humans have an exceptional tolerance for human failure and no tolerance for machine failure.
“If we don’t start tolerating some degree of mechanical failure, we will actually live in a world where we can’t progress and we’re so uncomfortable with machines messing up that we actually can never risk adjust appropriately.”
Kass said that he sees possible areas where AI could complicate and compromise lives.
Idiocracy or relying on machines for critical thinking to the point where it declines in people; dehumanization or the theory that people will become more interested in virtual reality than the physical one; and existentialism or the fear that AI will harm people because of alignment.
Kass shared that adaptability, courage, curiosity, wisdom and empathy will be key for adapting to future technology advancements.
