Second Life founder Philip Rosedale calls generative AI an 'Alien Intelligence' lacking human reasoning

American entrepreneur Philip Rosedale, the founder of Linden Lab, the technology company known for developing Second Life, has compared generative artificial intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT to an "alien intelligence" capable of superhuman tasks but lacking human-like reasoning. In an interview with ZDNet, Rosedale drew parallels between the current state of generative AI and the early days of the internet, characterized by excitement, opportunity, and uncertainty.

While Rosedale recognized the incredible potential of AI, he also pointed out its limitations, such as the inability of current AI models to read and write to memory at the same time, resulting in "zombie AIs" that cannot listen or reason like humans. Nevertheless, AI's ability to write software code is "shockingly good," according to Rosedale, saving programmers significant time.

In the interview, he also noted that AI is capable of performing creative tasks such as copywriting, image generation, and providing new insights. Rosedale commented that "we finally have enough compute to do something that rivals thinking," and that the technology presents many opportunities for innovation.

Despite the many benefits of AI, Rosedale expressed concerns about potential dangers. “Generative AI could be used to spread disinformation, aid in hacking, or create ransomware. Moreover, he stressed the need to address wealth inequality and make AI technologies available to all, similar to early internet access,” Rosedale told ZDNet.

Rosedale recognized that the future of AI is unpredictable, but he anticipated that the technology would keep discovering new patterns and attain superhuman capabilities. He likened AI to an "encyclopedia or super search engine that completes sentences" but noted that it is not thinking about overthrowing humans.

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