AI is one of the tech adventures of our time, yet the Apple founder spoke of the opportunities – but also the great risks – 40 years ago.
Did Steve Jobs talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI) 40 years ago? Yes, Steve Jobs discussed his thoughts on the development of computers towards independent interaction with humans at the International Design Conference
in Aspen, Colorado (USA).
How do we know about the speech? The widow of Steve Jobs regularly publishes documents, videos, or similar items on the stevejobsarchive website that had not been publicly available until then.
A 40-Year-Old Speech About Today
What did Steve Jobs say about AIs? He mentioned back then that humans would interact with computers for several hours every day. And what he hopes for from computers is clearly described with a reference to the immortalization of a great philosopher and polymath like the Greek Aristotle.
If we look to the next 50 and 100 years, if we can really create these machines that can capture a mind, a set of principles, or a way of seeing the world, we might [forever] have the next Aristotle.
The potential, if computers could learn to think and advise like humans, is immense according to Steve – however, he also foresaw the potential weakness of these systems:
Maybe, if one of these machines accompanies him for his whole life, one day we might ask it: “What would Aristotle have said?” Maybe we won’t get the right answer, but that is really exciting for me, and that’s one of the reasons why I do what I do.
And in the offices of Apple, AI probably wasn’t just an amusing intellectual distraction during a break, as can be inferred from this quote:
A lot of work is being done in the field of artificial intelligence to understand what self-awareness is and to understand whether a computer can ever be self-aware. […] Many people are dedicating themselves to […] trying to understand the architecture of the brain and how we can better mimic machines. And indeed I believe that by the end of our lives we will know the answer to this question. And that is what motivates many of us.
Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011, in California due to cancer. He thus did not experience the huge boom of AI himself. But some of his colleagues and researchers from that time could make his prediction from over 40 years ago come true in the future.
Some examples of what AI is recently capable of, and the market power it wields in the hands of companies like Nvidia, can be read in the following articles from us:
Artificial Intelligence can do a lot nowadays – even help with cheating. In another article on MeinMMO, we tell you about the audacious plan of a university applicant in Turkey. What he attempted during a state exam will probably haunt him for the rest of his life: Because his attempt to cheat with a camera, phone, and AI failed, but the police are quite impressed.
