Why AI Will Save the World

This is the title of a long article recently published by Marc Andreessen, who needs no introduction.

It is rare to read an article that you agree 100% — to my delight, he even cites two Austro-Libertarian writers, Hazlitt and Bastiat.

In summary, he calls a spade a spade by demystifying the impact of five potential AI (lightly defined as “a way to make everything we care about better”) risks on our society:

#1: Will AI Kill Us All?

#2: Will AI Ruin Our Society?

#3: Will AI Take All Our Jobs?

#4: Will AI Lead To Crippling Inequality?

#5: Will AI Lead To Bad People Doing Bad Things?

The answers to the above five AI “generated” risks are an emphatic NO, and given my short space, I will not go into details here.

However, it is worthwhile to go through the introductory question, “So Why the Panic”? Based on historical patterns, he segments the pessimists, people who install hysterical fear and paranoia, into:

* “Baptists are the true believer social reformers who legitimately feel – deeply and emotionally, if not rationally – that new restrictions, regulations, and laws are required to prevent societal disaster”

* “Bootleggers are the self-interested opportunists who stand to financially profit by the imposition of new restrictions, regulations, and laws that insulate them from competitors”

It is a neat segmentation, which can be easily expanded to day-to-day characters: Baptists the self-anointed politicians, and Bootleggers the lobbyists, etc.

Conclusion

Marc ends his article praising legends and heroes.

The legends are the scientists who started developing AI in the 1940s.

The heroes are the engineers who are working to make AI a reality.

And I praise Marc, an innovator, a deep thinker, and a true and natural entrepreneurial leader.

Disclaimer: Fabrica Ventures has also invested in some of Andreessen Horowitz’s portfolio companies: Carta, SpotOn, Tanium and Omada Health.