Thread

1. vouaobrasil · 1789694368 · focus · HN ↗

   The problem here is that AI isn't just a problem, it also revealed a problem: too much emphasis on publishing papers and churning out new results. The name of the game right now is just that: make something new and significant. AI itelf is a problem around the world right now because we've set up some seriously bad incentives. Same with art - it devolved into content creation for money, so AI snaps that up.

   What we need to do is make mathematics about understanding, rather than churning out results. People should be rewarded for reaching an ability to explain mathematics without the aid of computers, to teach people for the sake of their learning.

   I do think AI also needs to be eradicated because of its destructive properties, but I think that at the same time it also is a manifestation of the sickness in our society to go after the wrong incentives that are detrimental in the long run.

   1. in_absentia · 1789695143 · focus · HN ↗

      > The problem here is that AI isn't just a problem, it also revealed a problem: too much emphasis on publishing papers and churning out new results.

      I wonder how it revealed it... oh, right, because AI labs rushed to churn out new results for marketing purposes. Mathematicians didn't make them do it. So I'm not sure it's really an indictment of the field.

      In fact, how often does mathematics feature in university press releases, how often do mathematicians compete for multi-million grants, how many of them are interviewed on TV?... This discipline is less afflicted by weird incentives than most other fields. It's mostly just a small clique of nerds publishing abstract "open source" work.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.