AI fears overblown? Theoretical physicist calls chatbots 'glorified tape recorders'

The public’s anxiety over new AI technology is misguided, according to theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.

The public’s anxiety over new AI technology is misguided, according to theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, the futurologist said chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT will benefit society and increase productivity. But fear has driven people to largely focus on the negative implications of the programs, which he terms “glorified tape recorders.”

“It takes snippets of what’s on the web created by a human, splices them together and passes it off as if it created these things,” he said. “And people are saying, ‘Oh my God, it’s a human, it’s humanlike.’”

However, he said, chatbots cannot discern true from false: “That has to be put in by a human.”

According to Kaku, humanity is in its second stage of computer evolution. The first was the analog stage, “when we computed with sticks, stones, levers, gears, pulleys, string.”

After that, around World War II, he said, we switched to electricity-powered transistors. It made the development of the microchip possible and helped shape today’s digital landscape.

But this digital landscape rests on the idea of two states like “on” and “off,” and uses binary notation composed of zeros and ones.