“I wish I could slow AI development, but I can’t,” admitted the CEO of one of the world’s leading AI companies during a video call we had.
A few months earlier, I’d met and interviewed another prominent figure in AI: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. Speaking with Sam backstage and interviewing him onstage at Wisdom 2.0, one thing became crystal clear: AI is advancing—and it’s advancing very, very fast. This isn’t just a wave on the ocean; it’s a tsunami. As I learned more about AI, I found myself caught between two powerful reactions: “Wow, this is amazing!” and “Shit, this is scary.”
This started an inquiry for me into AI and what is coming. People often ask, “Will AI keep advancing and if so how fast?” I have no doubt that AI will advance. I’m not worried at all about AI. I’m worried about humans. The real question to me is, will humans advance?
Will we have the newest, coolest, most advanced AI … with the same old loneliness, hatred, greed, addiction, and despair? Or will we dare to create something profoundly new? For the latter, humanity itself must evolve.
My new book is not specifically about AI but it emerged in this context.
I was sequestered in a room for a week with COVID a few years ago and a question emerged, “If my entire life was a research project, and now it was time for my report, what would I say?”
So I started writing and kept writing. As much as this book is by and about me, the deeper inspiration and invitation is supporting this process in all of us: how can we connect with and live from what is actually essential? In this age of gadgets and AI, it’s striking that we are lonelier and more depressed than ever before.
The invitation we have is to discover a deeper intelligence inside ourselves, what some people call essence, presence, awareness or Self. The greatest works of art, creative breakthroughs, and acts of generosity come from our ability to access an intelligence beyond our stories, roles, and identities.
Advancing Artificial Intelligence might be an invitation of sorts for us to discover and harness our own innate natural or innate intelligence.
Fortunately, for this, no expensive hardware or fast internet is needed. Only our willingness to be curious and look within.
-Soren
Soren Gordhamer is the founder of Wisdom 2.0 and the Wisdom & AI Summit. His latest book is THE ESSENTIAL: Discovering What Really Matters in an Age of Distraction. Learn more at: www.sorengordhamer.net