Some artificial intelligence researchers are reportedly taking up smoking to signal their confidence that AI will eventually cure cancer, according to Palantir Technologies chief technology officer Shyam Sankar. But he offered no names or evidence to substantiate the claim, leaving the anecdote as a striking illustration of his concerns about excessive faith in the technology.
Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation on 11 October, Sankar described the behaviour as a sign of what he called 'mass psychosis' and 'social delusion' around AI. He argued that some people in Silicon Valley treat artificial general intelligence (AGI), a hypothetical system capable of performing a broad range of intellectual tasks at or beyond human capabilities, with almost religious devotion.
