ChatGPT is our Wright Brothers moment

post by Ron J (ron-j) · 2022-12-25T16:26:21.890Z · LW · GW · 9 comments

The Wright Brother’s first flight was a joke by modern flying standards. Even though proving heavier than air flight was viable was monumental, many people at the time could not see how a machine that only can fly a short distance, a few feet off the ground, with the pilot in an uncomfortable position, and very questionable safety with no protection against crashing into the ground, could ever amount to anything.

Despite all these obvious flaws, entrepreneurs and engineers saw the potential. They rapidly iterated on the design, and within 2 decades, airplanes were a decisive advantage in war, they were changing the delivery of goods, they were creeping into commercial travel on the very luxury end of the spectrum. A hundred years later, we have modern marvels like the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747. We have international airports which are practically a world wonder in their operations and interoperability.

ChatGPT is analogous to the Wright Flyer. There were capable LLMs and tons of work in AI prior, but ChatGPT put this all together in a way for the general public to imagine how AI could be a part of their life. For others, they saw a clear villain to fear. But what is the analog in AI for the P51 Mustang? Or the B17? Or global air traffic control systems? Or composite materials and jet engines?

AI is going to have as big an impact or bigger as airplanes did, and a huge amount of infrastructure will need to be built in the process. What should humanity be building?

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