The Bruno Leoni Institute featured Barry Smith talking with his avatar. His digital alter ego asks questions and he answers them. The physical resemblance to Smith is impressive, but the way the avatar speaks is a little less so. It was one of the most awaited moments of the meeting organized at the Ogr in Turin by the Crt foundation and the Bruno Leoni institute.
The website reads, in part:
Every single aspect of AI is a product of human creativity, and will always be that way. It's just a machine and it works with mathematics, it can't think, it can't want, it can't change unless there's a human being to tell it how to change.
Between the two types of artificial intelligence, the restricted one used for example in the game of chess, and the general one which aims to replicate the functioning of the human brain, Professor Smith has clear ideas
We have no idea how our brain works, we have no theories on how molecules create consciousness and intelligence, and if we don't know how our brain works, we don't know how to emulate it inside computers.
According to Smith, we live in a phase of falling in love with artificial intelligence, proof of which is also found in the packed room for his speech.
The bubble phase we are experiencing doesn't help anyone. It must be kept in mind that machines that work on artificial intelligence use an enormous amount of energy and require large investments that could instead be used elsewhere.
After the Turin stage, Professor Smith will still be in Rome.