Here is something AI can do for you

An Italian friend, Vincenzo Marzetti, runs a start up called Zero In. He offered to generate using AI a summary of my recent book, Strengthening International Regimes. He also suggested a video for marketing purposes.

While the risks of AI are all too apparent, this product provides a clear illustration of some benefits. I didn’t need to spend hours in a studio recording the video. Vincenzo used an unrelated sample of me I found on Youtube to generate my image and voice. The result sounds much like me, even if I am not usually so still-headed.

Zero In is already selling to companies that generate videos of this sort to conserve on high-priced executive time. But high priced authors might also like to conserve on time. And authors who don’t want to bother with the marketing side. The AI summary of my book was particularly impressive. I needed to do little editing.

The problem of course is that bad actors can use this technology for nefarious purposes, especially in an election year. But that is even true of my phone number, which is getting numerous calls these days from non-English speaking scammers. We somehow need to enable the benefits of AI while dis-incentivizing the abuses and risks.

That is not going to be easy, as only people who understand the technology will be able to anticipate the problems and optimize the response. I argue in my book that an “epistemic community” engaging in what Daniel Kahneman called “adversarial collaboration” can do this best. The more usual adversarial process in courts and administrative proceedings will have difficulty keeping up and getting it right. Click here or on the picture at the right to get your own copy of the book!