I think expecting AI to either “fully understand” human language or not is a false dichotomy.
Right now, many AI systems can receive instructions through python (which, to me, look like unnatural language but can be spoken). Systems like CLIP and systems built around the GPT models can take in massaged English language prompts and return an AI generated output based on that.
I think we will asymptotically approach having our systems “fully understand” human language but I also think we’ve already arrived at your implied future of communicating with them through an unnatural, intermediate language. Isn’t that exactly what programming is for?
I don't think this page is meant to poke fun at the entire "doomer" debate but more so at the people who have become addicted to/complicit with scrolling through doom and gloom on the "front-page" of their news source day after day.
Given the current state of the world, its become much easier for media outlets to write stories on topics like; how far away a vaccine is, what shape the economic recovery will take or what countries are horribly dropping the ball. I think these stories grab people's attention because people are scared and think learning more will help them feel less scared. Unfortunately, many of these articles are open-ended/non-conclusive and this leaves the reader looking for more. If the reader finds more of these same types of articles, in my mind, they've begun doom-scrolling.
I agree most people are probably not scared enough overall but I also think most people are scared about the wrong things. They're scared about what their media of choice is telling them to be scared about, rather than the issues that'll have the biggest impact on their life/society at large.
Right now, many AI systems can receive instructions through python (which, to me, look like unnatural language but can be spoken). Systems like CLIP and systems built around the GPT models can take in massaged English language prompts and return an AI generated output based on that.
I think we will asymptotically approach having our systems “fully understand” human language but I also think we’ve already arrived at your implied future of communicating with them through an unnatural, intermediate language. Isn’t that exactly what programming is for?