Even without an internet connection, it is now possible to install and run a “ChatGPT-like” personal artificial intelligence (AI) on a home computer. Elon Musk has cautioned that AI progress has moved us closer to a technological point of no return.
Brian Roemmele, the founder of the technology blog Multiplex, gave a detailed instruction on how to install the personal AI “GPT4All” on April 11, calling it a “first PC” moment for personal AI. GPT4All, which was created by programmers from the AI development business Nomic AI, was purportedly created in four days for $1,300 and required only 4GB of storage.
Roemmele cautioned that it is not as powerful as OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4, which is a significant improvement over its predecessor ChatGPT-3.5, but it is still a formidable tool in its own right, noting: “Are there limitations? Without a doubt. It is not ChatGPT 4, and it will not handle certain situations properly. It is, nonetheless, one of the most potent Personal AI systems yet released.”
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and Twitter, has been a prominent critic of AI development, signing a letter published on March 22 by the US think tank Future of Life Institute urging for all AI businesses to “immediately pause” training powerful AI systems.
The letter cautioned that “human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity,” a notion mirrored by Musk in an April 12 tweet in which he joked, “The Singularity is near.”
The singularity is a potential point in time when technological advancement becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, maybe aided by self-improving synthetic intelligence.
While some see technological singularity as a desirable development, others feel it will be devastating, ushering in a dismal future similar to that depicted in the blockbuster Terminator sci-fi franchise.
Roemmele has a different take on AI, suggesting in his book that it should be dubbed IA, or “Intelligence Amplification,” and in response to the request for a pause, advised that people “pick a side.” Roemmele asserted that “AI is rapidly becoming the target of censorship, regulation, and worse,” citing Italy’s March 31 blockade of ChatGPT, and that “this may be the last chance to own your own AI.”
