EPISODE

Human factors and decision-making are being augmented and increasingly superseded by AI programs and bots. In their new book Guardrails: Guiding Human Decisions in the Age of AI, Profs. Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Urs Gasser identify and explain how to consider and develop the “guardrails” necessary for AI to improve, rather than threaten, human existence. In this discussion, Dave and Viktor accentuate how social norms are evolving with technology and how humans can remain in control of a technology often seen as a threat to humanity. Viktor and Urs are both giants in the technology regulation space, and their book is essential reading for anyone who takes seriously the notion that AI does not have to be an out-of-control train, but rather a path to a happier humanity. 

“Governments, societies, communities have put in place guardrails, rules, norms, that should guide and help people make good decisions. Decisions matter, because after decisions come action.”

-Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

“Rules aren’t necessarily sacred; principles are.”

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Photo by Thomas Bennie on Unsplash