ChatGPT, A.I. and the Gutenberg Bible

Artificial Intelligence will have the same impact at the Printing Press

The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed books in the West. The book is valued and revered for its high aesthetic and artistic qualities[1] as well as its historical significance. It is an edition of the Latin Vulgate printed in the 1450s by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, in present-day Germany. Forty-nine copies (or substantial portions of copies) have survived. They are thought to be among the world's most valuable books, although no complete copy has been sold since 1978.[2][3] In March 1455, the future Pope Pius II wrote that he had seen pages from the Gutenberg Bible displayed in Frankfurt to promote the edition and that either 158 or 180 copies had been printed (he cited sources for both numbers).

Johann Gutenberg's invention of movable-type printing quickened the spread of knowledge, discoveries, and literacy in Renaissance Europe. The printing revolution also contributed mightily to the Protestant Reformation that split apart the Catholic Church.

While the invention of the printing press is attributed to Johane Gutenberg, the development of artificial intelligence came about gradually. It required the development of transistors, microchips, CPUs, and search engines, all based on electromagnetic theory.

The entrepreneur, Sam Altman is credited with open.ai an open-source machine learning algorithm, on which ChatGPT operates. It was funded by Greg Brockman, Elon Musk, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Infosys, and YC Research. When OpenAI launched in 2015, it had raised $1 billion. It took seven years to become a widely known resource.

Gregory Hinton has been involved in Google’s Brain, also known as DeepMind. Google Brain started in 2011 at X as an exploratory lab and was founded by Jeff Dean, Greg Corrado, and Andrew Ng, along with other engineers, and is now part of Google Research.

When prompted “What effect will AI have on civilization?” ChatGPT responded,

“Artificial intelligence (AI) is already having a profound impact on civilization, and its influence is likely to increase in the coming years. Here are some potential effects that AI could have on civilization:

1. Automation: AI has the potential to automate many jobs and tasks that are currently done by humans, which could lead to significant job displacement and changes in the labor market.

2. Increased efficiency: AI can be used to optimize processes and make them more efficient, leading to increased productivity and cost savings for businesses and organizations.

3. Improved healthcare: AI can be used to analyze large amounts of medical data and help healthcare professionals make more accurate diagnoses and treatment plans.

4. Enhanced education: AI can be used to personalize learning experiences and provide individualized instruction to students, potentially improving educational outcomes.

5. Better decision-making: AI can be used to analyze data and provide insights that can inform better decision-making in fields such as finance, marketing, and government.

6. Ethical concerns: There are concerns about the ethical implications of AI, including issues related to privacy, bias, and the potential for misuse.

Overall, the impact of AI on civilization will depend on how it is developed and implemented. While there are certain risks and challenges associated with AI, there is also great potential for AI to have a positive impact on society.

I believe ChatGPT responded rather humbly and failed to extrapolate the exponential effects of artificial intelligence on the evolution of mankind.

It failed to include the possible future of mankind, climate change, and existential challenges for humanity.

This is a small circle of issues that artificial intelligence must address if we are to use it wisely.

What matters greatly is the knowledge it gains in the next decade.