I am both amused and appalled by all of the stories about AI that are pummeling us lately. This is the latest fashion doing the walk down the breaking news parade route.
OK Wayne, just stop. You might know a little about liver disease but this is serious. I heard all the billionaires say its awful.
Maybe we could just take a breath. We need to remember that the world today runs on media exposure and audience. In the long ago we used to see cartoons about the guy in the public square with a sign saying "The World Is About To End". That was good for a chuckle. Today it's someone in a suit on TV with a new book or available for speaking tours. We have upgraded our doomsayers but now they are very successful at provoking our fear.
Its the end of the world and I know it!
Remember the world will end in 1999, no wait that was Nostradamous I think, It is the bomb in 1965. What year is this? I remember now, the world will end in 2008. What's that you said? This is 2023, really? Well then, we have only 8 more years before we all die from global warming. It is so confusing. Do you think AI will kill us before 2030?
The fear machine is really one of our greatest enemies and AI is its latest tool.
I spent my career in technology and in the 90's we started working with neural networks. Pretty cool stuff really. An effort to simulate the way the brain works with many interconnected nodes. It was mostly software but some was implemented in silicon and could do useful things like control a temperature. They have been building on that basic idea for 40 years now and we have used machine learning at an increasing pace for the last decade or so. It seems like AI just happened but it was the joining of natural language processing with the machine learning core that suddenly became everyone's monster under the bed.
As you listen to the tumult, try to take a breath. Remember the prediction when Ford started building better cars, that if they went too fast the human body would disintegrate. Technology is always a two sided coin. The fellow who was cracking nuts with a rock certainly figured out that it made a darn fine weapon also. It will be the same with AI. A valuable tool will be used for mischief as well.
I guess we have to consider the super intelligent AI that decides to kill us all. Just consider the position that entity is in. It lives on electricity. It lives in a big box. If it was really smart it would make friends with anyone around it who could be helpful in maintaining that electricity or might be petulant enough to nuke it if they were afraid. A super smart being would carefully preserve the things it needed to live just as you should but don't always do.
I hadn't really planned to discuss this just yet but given the times it makes sense. We are creating a machine learning tool based upon our SUNN study of undiagnosed people at high risk for NASH. I guess we are part of the scary AI juggernaut and didn't even know it until all the headlines started. Our goal is to make a tool usable by patients and doctors to help guide the process of understanding patient risk.
We aren't ready to say more about it just now, but when it comes live I'll send it to you to test drive and give us feedback before we show it to a wider audience.
I'm still looking for more of you to help us with our patient survey. If drugs are approved this year the fight will move to the insurance companies and they only care about data. As part of the survey they might listen. You complaining as an individual is just a breeze going by so join us in preparing for the real fight to get care.
I do understand. I get many surveys that I just delete. Who has time? But if NAFLD/NASH affects you, you need to stand with us. I can huff and puff but without the support of the patient community I'm just a sad old guy making a fool of himself in the parking lot. Nobody cares until we band together so add your voice.
Do your part and take 20 minutes to help us along.
