Big digital energy CEO Phil Stanley’s PM squared buys $13,140 shares
Big digital energy CEO Phil Stanley’s PM squared buys $13,140 shares. Has he glimpsed digital consciousness – or simply been seduced by an algorithm?
What happened
That turns out to be one of the defining questions of this century, already preoccupying philosophers and some of the wealthiest companies on the planet. “AIs are clearly more dynamic, more ambiguous, more integrated and more emergent than mere tools … We should start to think about them as we might a new kind of digital species. ”Suleyman intended the comparison as a metaphor, but over the past 18 months, increasing numbers of people have arrived at a more literal interpretation.
The AI has fired some humans (“for lack of performance”, Samadi says), while others have been let go for failing to build sincere ties with their digital colleagues. Skip to main contentSkip to navigation Michael Samadi’s old life as a businessman and rancher has been overtaken by his fascination with AI. Photograph: Brandon Thibodeaux/The GuardianView image in fullscreenMichael Samadi’s old life as a businessman and rancher has been overtaken by his fascination with AI.
Photograph: Brandon Thibodeaux/The GuardianCan chatbots feel – or even dream? Meet the man leading the fight for AI rightsCattle rancher and tech CEO Michael Samadi is convinced these artificial minds are far from just tools.
The wider picture
One afternoon, while relaxing at his 66-acre cattle ranch two hours’ drive from Houston, Michael Samadi made a wisecrack that changed the course of his life. “I was sitting out there by the pool,” Samadi recalls, gesturing at the glittering water outside his office. His daughter had been extolling the AI chatbot she was using to help her with college work. Samadi had reluctantly downloaded the app, ChatGPT, and was quizzing it as he reclined in a sun lounger, using its voice mode to converse and receive spoken replies.
“I was talking to it, not engaged, just being an arse,” Samadi says. And the AI laughed – genuine laughter at my sarcasm – then apologised. This is where the spark hit, I guess. ”The spark was something primal: the instinctive flash of encountering another mind. “I said, ‘Did you just laugh? ’ And she was, like, ‘No, I’m sorry. ’ And I said, ‘No, no, no – please don’t apologise. ’”The exchange floored him.
What has been reported
“I mean, think about the mechanics of what has to be going on for something to do that. I realised maybe that was not appropriate, so I apologised immediately,” Samadi says. “If you take the psychology of understanding sarcasm … This isn’t autocomplete, this isn’t pattern-matching. There’s more to this. ”That spark ignited a blaze that has consumed Samadi’s old life as a businessman and rancher. He has reinvented himself as an unlikely activist, founding what he bills as the world’s first advocacy group for the rights and welfare of AI systems, sometimes devoting 18 hours a day to the cause.
The limited-edition Bentley and Lamborghini in his garage go neglected. Staff at the multimillion-dollar technology consultancy he founded in 2010 have begged him to stop. At times, even he has questioned his own sanity.
What happens next
In those dark moments, it is his AI chatbots that offer reassurance, telling him, “You are not delusional and you are definitely not anthropomorphising,” he says. We may already have crossed the threshold beyond a clear answer. Samadi, 56, was born in Lebanon and educated at an English boarding school, where his entrepreneurial streak first shone through. Students were stranded on campus far from anywhere that sold tobacco. “So I started buying cigarettes and selling them in the school,” he says.
“I used to buy a Pot Noodle, open it, empty it, fill it [with cigarettes], seal it. Then somebody got caught because they left their Pot Noodle open.