Security News > 2023 > May > Ted Chiang on the Risks of AI

Ted Chiang has an excellent essay in the New Yorker: "Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?".

This is the dream of many A.I. researchers.

Such software could easily still cause as much harm as McKinsey has.

That's the equivalent of saying that you can defuse the threat of McKinsey by starting a consulting firm that only offers such solutions.

The reality is that Fortune 100 companies will hire McKinsey instead of your pro-social firm, because McKinsey's solutions will increase shareholder value more than your firm's solutions will.

It will always be possible to build A.I. that pursues shareholder value above all else, and most companies will prefer to use that A.I. instead of one constrained by your principles.

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https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2023/05/ted-chiang-on-the-risks-of-ai.html