Episode 46: AGI Funny Business (Model), with Brian Merchant, December 2 2024

Once upon a time, artificial general intelligence was the only business plan OpenAI seemed to have. Tech journalist Brian Merchant joins Emily and Alex for a time warp to the beginning of the current wave of AI hype, nearly a decade ago. And it sure seemed like Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and company were luring investor dollars to their newly-formed venture solely on the hand-wavy promise that someday, LLMs themselves would figure out how to turn a profit.
Brian Merchant (brianmerchant.org) is an author, journalist in residence at the AI Now Institute, and co-host of the tech news podcast System Crash (systemcrash.info).
References:
Elon Musk and partners form nonprofit to stop AI from ruining the world (theverge.com/2015/12/11/9910742/elon-musk-open…)
How Elon Musk and Y Combinator Plan to Stop Computers From Taking Over (wired.com/2015/12/how-elon-musk-and-y-combinat…)
Elon Musk's Billion-Dollar AI Plan Is About Far More Than Saving the World (wired.com/2015/12/elon-musks-billion-dollar-ai…)
Brian’s recent report on the business model of AGI, for the AI Now Institute: AI Generated Business: The rise of AGI and the rush to find a working revenue model (ainowinstitute.org/general/ai-generated-business)
Previously on MAIHT3K: Episode 21: The True Meaning of 'Open Source' (feat. Sarah West and Andreas Liesenfeld) (buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/14059868-episo…)
Fresh AI Hell:
OpenAI explores advertising as it steps up revenue drive (ft.com/content/9350d075-1658-4d3c-8bc9-b9b3dfc…)
If an AI company ran Campbell's Soup with the same practices they use to handle data (bsky.app/profile/trans.bsky.social/post/3lbyoa…)
Humans are the new 'luxury item' (businessinsider.com/ai-artificial-intelligence…)
Itching to write a book? AI publisher Spines wants to make a deal (techcrunch.com/2024/11/19/itching-to-write-a-b…)
A company pitched Emily her own 'verified avatar' (faculty.washington.edu/ebender/Avatar.png)
Don't upload your medical images to chatbots (techcrunch.com/2024/11/19/psa-you-shouldnt-upl…)
A look at a pilot program in Georgia that uses 'jailbots' to track inmates (npr.org/2024/11/26/nx-s1-5178718/a-look-at-a-p…)
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Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park (naomipleasurepark.com).
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.