Marc Andreessen wants people to stop “freaking out” about artificial intelligence.
In a nearly 7,000-word manifesto on Tuesday, the venture capitalist and internet industry pioneer, expressed disdain for the the “hysterical fear and paranoia” surrounding artificial intelligence technology, likening it to a “moral panic.”
Taking aim at what he deemed the pessimistic outlook of A.I. critics, Andreessen said that A.I. will “make everything we care about better.” And he catalogued the myriad ways that A.I. technology—which is core to many of the startups that Andreessen invests in—will do so, from infinitely patient A.I. tutors available to every child in the world to a “golden age” of creative arts.
“AI is quite possibly the most important – and best – thing our civilization has ever created, certainly on par with electricity and microchips, and probably beyond those,” Andreessen wrote.
The cofounder of powerhouse Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz is well known for espousing a tech-centric and libertarian worldview. In a famous 2011 essay titled “Why software is eating the world,” Andreessen presciently described how software companies would take over a large portion of the economy.
Twelve years later, he has another prediction: that A.I. will protect us from harms like the climate crisis and provide an avenue for new medicines and space exploration. In his latest essay, Andreessen seeks to debunk five commonly cited risks associated with A.I., such perpetuating existing inequalities or killing jobs through automation.
Artists, musicians, and educators for example, have shared concerns that A.I. tools are hurting original work and copying art styles. Andreessen believes A.I. can instead provide the spark that ignites new arts and creative pursiuits.
For society to reap the full benefits of A.I. companies, which he describes as “jewels of modern capitalism,” business should be allowed to build the tech with as much speed and aggressiveness as they wish, but be prevented from regulatory capture, which is the practice of wealthy companies designing rules only they could meet. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently expressed that he’s also against regulatory capture, though he’s recommended a licensing regime for A.I. systems beyond a certain capability.
Still, Andreessen agrees with the last risk he addressed, which is that A.I. makes it easier to carry out cybercrime or other harmful acts. But he thinks it can be used as a defensive tool. Offering fake, A.I.-generated content as an example, he thinks people can fight back against the tech’s misuse by building new systems that allow users to verify themselves and real content.
Andreessen closed his post by pitting the West against China in a quest to become the leading force in the industry. He called on the private sector, scientists, and governments to work together “to drive American and Western AI to absolute global dominance.”
“We win, they lose,” he wrote.
