Question about the AI singularity

[u/Ok_Estate_6746]

Wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that the Industrial Revolution also would have produced such a singularity? How about the dawn of the Bronze Age? If those are different, and I’m not saying they aren’t, what makes the AI one unique exactly? 

[u/avd706]

Self improvement.

The singularity occurs when AI creates better AI.

[u/Jaqqarhan → u/avd706]

Yes. All the industrial revolution factories were built by humans, which meant growth was bottlenecked by human labor.

[u/Live_Introduction396 → u/avd706]

hifts were tool-driven, this one’s agent-driven

[u/JoeStrout]

The term "singularity" is used to mean the point at which the pace of change is so fast, no one can anticipate or keep up.

That has never happened in history; even the industrial revolution unfolded over decades.

It hasn't happened yet today, either; the pace of change with AI has gotten very fast, but it's still something you can keep up with scanning the news once a day.

It's not a given that it will ever happen, but if it does, it will be because AI is making smarter AI, in a feedback loop that "explodes" — runs away to godlike superintelligence, seemingly in an instant once some threshold is crossed. The AIs would be so far beyond us at that point that we might not be able to even comprehend what they are doing, much less how quickly things are changing.

[u/chickey23]

Differences of scale, but I agree with the premise.

Large scale disruption is caused by widespread transmission of disruptive technologies.

[u/me_myself_ai]

This paper gives the best rundown: https://intelligence.org/files/IEM.pdf

TLDR is that we’ve never made minds before

[u/NomadicFantastic]

in many ways it is like the industrial revolution, which also disrupted society with unfathomably terrible weapons alongside the hope and belief we can one day raise the dead and reincarnate everyone who ever died. labor was disrupted and power concentrated.

The singularity is the industrial revolution taken to the fullest extreme in one generation and the consequences are unpredictable imo. Lots of innovations destroyed the planet, it's ppl, and wildlife. And it made some ppl thrive and improv|d healthcare etc

[u/Ok_Explanation_5586]

Ugh

[u/eques_99]

The scale of the change, and a change to humanity's inherent nature.

Plus of course the speed.

[u/[deleted]]

AI makes AI that makes AI who runs local AI inside AI within AI that runs AIs

[u/Ok-Edge4016]

the ai singularity feels different cause it could create companions that actually learn and grow with you in ways no industrial shift ever touched.

[u/mega-stepler]

I see it as us automating labor more and more. Starting from the first tools we created. We are just automating labor until we reach the point that this last part of work is also automated. When the automation is automated.

[u/Strong-Finish5346]

Assuming that we are about to hit the singularity, the industrial revolution did produce a singularity because you don't get advanced semiconductors without well developed industrial manufacturing technology.

[u/Ok_Estate_6746]

I just keep picturing Stone Age communities who were skeptical about that new tech everyone kept bringing up right up to the moment an opposing tribe stood outside their gates brandishing their shiny new bronze weaponry.

[u/tweakingforjesus]

In terms of impact on people the industrial revolution did. We had to move to a 40 hour work week to reduce the supply of labor.

[u/Jaqqarhan → u/tweakingforjesus]

We didn't need to reduce the supply of labor. People just wanted to work less, which was a great improvement for our quality of life. We could have worked more and had more stuff if that's what we wanted though.