Why? Because if I’m not right then I am convinced that AI is going to be a force for evil. It will power scams on an unimaginable scale. It will destabilize labor at a speed that will make the Industrial Revolution seem like a gentle breeze. It will concentrate immense power and wealth in the hands of people who I don’t trust. And it will do all of this while consuming truly shocking amounts of energy.
Not only do I think these things will happen, I think the Altmans of the world would eagerly agree that they will happen. They just think it will be interesting / profitable for them. It won’t be for us.
And we, the engineers, are in a unique position. Unlike people in any other industry, we can affect the trajectory of AI. My skepticism (and unwillingness to aid in the advancement of AI) might slow things down a billionth of a percent. Maybe if there are more of me, things will slow down enough that we can find some sort of effective safeguards on this stuff before it’s out of hand.
So I’ll keep being skeptical, until it’s over.
To be blunt, this describes sticking one's head in the sand to a tee.
If you're convinced that AI is going to be a force for evil, then fight to make sure that it doesn't happen. If that means you want to slow down AI, then fine, fight to slow it down.
If by skepticism, you mean "desperately" wanting reality to be one way rather than the other, that is not going to significantly affect the trajectory of AI.
Being clear-eyed about where AI is going, and then fighting nonetheless for what you want is the way to go.
Be intellectually honest with yourself. Don't hold on to ideas that you yourself acknowledge are probably wrong simply for their comfort. Don't stick your head in the sand. Assess what you want, and fight for that.
Safeguards and slowing things down will not happen via wishful thinking.