- AI hype has been everywhere since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT to the world.
- Gary Marcus doesn’t think we should buy the hype.
- The academic has emerged as a vocal critic of OpenAI — and thinks it could end up like WeWork.
Gary Marcus doesn’t consider himself an AI skeptic. Don’t let that throw you, though, when he argues that OpenAI could turn out to be as much of a dumpster fire as WeWork.
“I actually want AI to succeed, so to call me an AI skeptic as many people do is to miss that I’m not skeptical,” Marcus told Business Insider. “I’m skeptical of how we’re doing it right now.”
For the 54-year-old cognitive scientist and AI researcher based in Vancouver, set to publish a book titled “Taming Silicon Valley” this fall, the AI of “right now” has made it hard for him not to be restless.
Since the launch of ChatGPT, Marcus has watched as AI fever has swept across the world. That fervor has set OpenAI on a dangerous path that he thinks strays from its original nonprofit mission to build AI that benefits humanity.
The euphoria and hype surrounding it have also left it dangerously unchecked in a way that parallels Adam Neumann’s scandal-ridden startup, which has since fallen from grace.
