I’m in Austin, Texas (USA), to participate in South by Southwest (SXSW), the largest creative economy and innovation event in the world. I follow the festival with a focus on experiences that guide the construction of reputation for the present and the future. I’ve seen and experienced a lot of interesting things here. Self-knowledge to shape authentic reputation, emotional transformation in business, the importance of active listening to ensure context and impactful narratives and the challenges of artificial intelligence were some of the topics I followed.
The concept of knowing how to ask questions has been explored as a common thread to build human relationships and explore advances in technology. Several panels and workshops highlight the need to understand context and seek the “why” much more than the how, what, which, what and who. Explore curiosity to develop questions that build bridges, question, create repertoires.
Peter Deng, VP of consumer products at OpenIA, head of ChatGPT, was expected by an audience that filled the main auditorium of the Austin Convention Center, with the panel “The coevolution of artificial intelligence and humanity“. But, to the surprise of the entire audience, the one who really shone was the interviewer, writer Josh Costein, who was applauded on several occasions for the intelligent and thought-provoking way in which he conducted the questions.
An insightful questioner of moral and ethical aspects involving the indiscriminate use of artificial intelligence, especially via ChatGPT, Costein led the conversation with elegance and assertiveness. Over the course of an hour, he demonstrated that there is reason among most AI enthusiasts that we are in the age of prompt It’s important to know how to ask. Costein represented the strength of the human questioner and the art of asking questions, only for a person of flesh and blood, eye to eye. He asked about the future of AI; security in relation deepfake, especially in an election year; the North American liberal bias present in ChatGPT, on a global scale; the impact on jobs; regulation; payment for the use of data available on the internet; and about possible compensation to artists for the possibility of using their works without respecting copyright.
Peter Deng used many real-life exemplary resources to highlight the benefits of AI for humanity. He avoided, however, answering deeper and more existential questions about the future. In fact, repetitive answers kept them open to more incisive questions. He was trained, as was Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI, who last year frustrated the audience with his lack of passion when speaking, which I reported in the article ‘What media training did to the father of Chat GPT‘.
Now in 2024, Deng stated that Artificial Intelligence “makes us more human. a tool that allows us to delve deeper into our curiosities and a thought partner.” Ironically, Costein countered the argument: “Now we have this perpetual teacher who is going to help us ask higher questions about our mortality, our state of being, state of consciousness and where we came from.”
Throughout the interview, Deng mentioned his four young children a few times and said that he would allow them to use ChatGPT, before Google or social networks, to explore their creativity. In this regard, when questioned by Costein, Deng did not answer whether artists should be compensated. He praised the application of AI in healthcare and the legal world.
Regarding confirmation bias, he said that open AI has been built to assume the ideals of each user, rather than projecting North Americans, and insisted that the use of the tool that will improve it, ensuring that the basic version ChatGPT will always be free.
“We don’t know what the future holds, but I encourage everyone to stay curious. Go out, try it, share these ideas, see what AI can do, because it will help people who are building the technology know what is valuable to you and how we can help. So, be curious, keep an open mind, tell us what you want, and co-evolution will happen”, said the head of Chat GPT.
At the end of the talk, Costein, with a critical and realistic look, summarized everything that had been covered over the previous 55 minutes.
“You did much better than ChatGPT could have done to summarize my thoughts,” said Peter Deng.
Watching this panel reinforced my conviction that you will be able to navigate this world of constant change if you know how to ask questions. After all, it was the power of questions that stood out in this panel.
* This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the vehicle
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