CEO of Humane Intelligence warns humans what they should not do with AI: ‘That is a failure state because…’

As the tech world races toward advanced forms of artificial general intelligence (AGI), Rumman Chowdhury, CEO of Humane Intelligence and former US Science Envoy for AI, has sent a strong message about the growing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI). She emphasised that AI should not be used as a substitute for human thought.“If we start to say, ‘Well, the AI system is going to do the thinking for me,’ that is a failure state,” Chowdhury said in an interview, highlighting that AI systems are fundamentally limited by current human data and capabilities. “New and novel inventions, new and novel ideas don’t come out of AI systems. They come out of our brains, actually. Not AI brains,” she added.

AI is a tool, not a…: says Chowdhury

Chowdhury also says that “AI is a tool, not a creator,” while referring to statements like AI could unlock major scientific breakthroughs, such as new treatments for diseases like Alzheimer’s or cancer.“True innovation comes from human insight,” she added.Chowdhury also addressed the issue of AI reliability, pointing out how prompt design can influence a model’s output. She shared an instance when a chatbot gave medically inaccurate advice because the prompt was emotionally persuasive.“You find that the model actually starts trying to agree with you, because it’s trying to be helpful,” she said, adding, “That’s a big, glaring flaw.”The broader issue, according to Chowdhury, is people’s willingness to accept AI-generated answers without questioning the intent behind their queries.“Why do you need this information? What are you using it for?” she asked. “We are at a critical juncture. People are too ready to let AI do all the thinking, and that’s dangerous,” she noted.