Videos
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Gary Marcus: The urgent risks of runaway AI — and what to do about them
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AI and the Future of Truth | SXSW 2024
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ChatGPT: Artificial Intelligence, chatbots and a world of unknowns | 60 Minutes
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Why artificial intelligence developers say regulation is needed to keep AI in check
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AI Expert Gary Marcus on What Comes After the Hype Cycle | TechCrunch Disrupt 2023
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Gary Marcus on CNN's Isa Soares Tonight - May 19, 2023
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A.I. Expert Answers A.I. Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED
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Artificial Intelligence, Anti-Discrimination & Bias
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Unveiling AI's Illusions: with Gary Marcus and Michael Wooldridge
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Here's why A.I. needs a six-month pause: NYU Professor Gary Marcus
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Why top AI leaders are calling for a pause
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AI expert reveals his 'single greatest fear' about the technology
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A Skeptical Take on the A.I. Revolution
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Debunking the great AI lie | Noam Chomsky, Gary Marcus, Jeremy Kahn
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AGI Debate
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He loves artificial intelligence. Hear why he is issuing a warning about ChatGPT
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Does ChatGPT Change ... Everything? | The Agenda
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What AI is and isn't. What AI can do, and what it cannot.
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Is AI Dangerously Overhyped? — With Gary Marcus
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The biggest problem in AI? Machines have no common sense. | Gary Marcus | Big Think
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AI DEBATE : Yoshua Bengio | Gary Marcus
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A(G)I: Where we have been, and where we need to go - Gary Marcus - Scottish AI Summit 2023
Learn More About Gary Marcus
Gary Marcus is a leading voice in cognitive science and artificial intelligence. The co-founder of the Center for the Advancement of Trustworthy AI, he is well-known for his challenges to contemporary AI (artificial intelligence), anticipating many of the current limitations decades in advance, and has been a leading advocate of neurosymbolic AI for three decades. In outstanding testimony before the U.S. Senate, an energizing TED Talk, an exceptional New York Times Q&A, and on CBS’ 60 Minutes, Marcus has emerged as a prominent voice urging for international AI research and regulation.
Trained by Steven Pinker, he received his PhD from MIT at age of 23 and was a professor at NYU for 20 years before becoming Founder and CEO of Geometric Intelligence, a machine learning company, which was acquired by Uber in 2016.
As Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at NYU, he is also known for his research in human language development and cognitive neuroscience. He is the author of five books, including the bestseller “Guitar Zero” (2012). His 2001 book “The Algebraic Mind” foreshadowed the hallucination problem that plague current AI systems. “Rebooting AI,”(2019), with Ernest Davis, calls for fundamental changes in how we approach artificial intelligence and was one of Forbes’s 7 Must Read Books in AI.
His 2022 article “Deep Learning is Hitting a Wall” initially enraged many AI researchers but was ultimately named one of Pocket’s Best Tech Articles of 2022. Its key conclusions –that current AI systems face serious limits in truth, comprehension and reliability—have now been widely accepted even by many of his most prominent critics.
Marcus is currently challenging the field in a series of articles at garymarcus.substack.com, which has quickly become a leading blog on AI, and has just launched an 8-episode podcast, “Humans versus Machines.”
He has written for The New York Times, Wired, The Guardian, Time, and The New Yorker and many others, and is regularly quoted (New Yorker, New York Times Washington Post, etc.). In recent months, his realist’s perspective has been featured on The Ezra Klein Show, CNN, NPR, Sam Harris’s podcast and many more. As seen in a recent 60 Minutes appearance, Marcus has emerged as a prominent skeptic not of AI itself, but of the potential path that companies using AI may find themselves on if they do not adequately prepare themselves.
Gary Marcus is available to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting meetings, interactive workshops and customized keynotes through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers & Advisors, a division of Stern Strategy Group®.
The Upsides, Downsides and Risks of Using Generative AI Tools
Cutting-edge generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, Bing AI and Midjourney are changing the face of work, enabling organizations to make decisions faster, innovate differently and create content in new ways – but they also carry risks. Calling for caution is AI pioneer and New York University Emeritus Professor Gary Marcus. “We need a wake-up call here,” warned Marcus on CNBC, whose co-authored book “Rebooting AI,”(2019) was one of Forbes’ 7 Must Read Books in AI. “We have a perfect storm of corporate irresponsibility, widespread adoption of these tools, a lack of regulation and a huge number of unknowns.” An experienced entrepreneur who founded and served as the CEO for Geometric Intelligence before its acquisition by Uber, Marcus blends his academic and business experience to sift the AI facts from the hype. Well-versed in reaching audiences from tech and non-tech backgrounds alike, Marcus explains what generative AI tools are, how they work and what they can do for an organization. Then, he unpacks the risks posed by AI, and proposes actionable solutions to help organizations create proactive, flexible strategies for engaging with large language models.
To Trust or Not to Trust? How Businesses Can Safely Use Generative AI
It’s easy to trust the common AI devices that power our everyday life, like GPS and Amazon’s Alexa, but can new generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Bard and Bing AI be relied on in the same way? Not yet, says Gary Marcus, professor emeritus of psychology and neural science at New York University and the founder and CEO of machine learning startup Geometric Intelligence, which sold to Uber in 2016. An AI veteran and entrepreneur, Marcus has a comprehensive understanding of the positive and negative impacts large language models can have on an organization – and society at large. Until safeguards exist to ensure an AI’s function doesn’t harm humans – as described in an essay on technology and policy co-authored with Canadian Parliament Member Michelle Rempel Garner – businesses should proceed carefully. Always rooted in actionable and concrete solutions, Marcus brings organizations recommendations to protect them from threats like bad actors, new kinds of cybercrime, mis- and disinformation, and ideas for crafting AI policies and proposals. By laying out the clear advantages and risks of generative AI tools, he demonstrates how organizations can safely use these incredible new tools without making themselves vulnerable to threats.
The Future of Artificial Intelligence
The tech world at large was astounded by the capabilities of new generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Bing AI, but NYU professor emeritus and AI entrepreneur Gary Marcus wasn’t surprised at all. Co-author of “Rebooting AI” (2019), which was one of Forbes’s 7 Must Read Books in AI, Marcus has a deep love for AI and its potential for humanity. On the cutting edge of what’s happening in the field today and what’s coming tomorrow, for years he’s foreseen AI’s abilities and limitations well ahead of other experts – from anticipating current problems with driverless cars in 2016 to accurately predicting issues with ChatGPT-4 well before its release. Now, he brings leaders and teams a sober, informed and realistic view of what the future of technology and artificial intelligence holds, and what more needs to be done to ensure the future we create is more utopian than dystopian. Able to connect with anyone no matter their level of tech experience, Marcus excels as he reflects on how to build AI “the right way” and how we can use it to improve society, businesses and even ourselves.
How to Peacefully End the AI Arms Race
AI systems like ChatGPT and Bing AI can create misinformation at scale, posing a real and imminent threat to the fabric of society, warns bestselling author, AI entrepreneur and NYU professor emeritus Gary Marcus. Since the launch of these tools, Marcus has emerged as a prominent voice calling for caution from the front lines of the “AI arms race.” As he explained on CBS’s 60 Minutes, the potential for damage by automatically created information from flawed AI is huge, and organizations and governments need to respond now. Always ready with actionable suggestions, Marcus recommends increasing AI literacy among the general population as a key first step in avoiding an AI crisis. Surprisingly funny and capable of reaching audiences of every level, he offers leaders and teams a breakdown of how large language models work and their potential to harm if not used with care. He follows this with an explanation of how we can focus research to create new companion technologies to these tools, like safeguards that ensure an AI’s function doesn’t harm humans and “AI detectors” to flag possible misinformation. Urging for action, he emphasizes, “We can’t just act as if nothing is happening here. And we can’t act like we have infinite time to decide what to do, either.”
Predicting the Unpredictable with a Future-Focused Mindset
When technology is rapidly advancing, people must adopt a new mindset to develop the skill to look forward into an unpredictable future. NYU professor emeritus and bestselling author Gary Marcus has been making successful predictions about the capabilities and limitations of artificial intelligence for years, well before the launch of generative AI tools. As the founder and CEO of machine learning startup Geometric Intelligence, which sold to Uber in 2016, Marcus understands how a business owner needs to think to approach the future with confidence. The author of “Rebooting AI,”(2019), which was one of Forbes’s 7 Must Read Books in AI, Marcus unveils how to develop the kind of adaptable and forward-thinking mentality required to make predictions in the AI era. Witty and personable, he excels at easy-to-understand breakdowns of the key things to consider when forecasting about the future and tech.
Praise for "Rebooting AI"
“Finally, a book that tells us what AI is, what AI is not, and what AI could become if only we are ambitious and creative enough. No matter how smart and useful our intelligent machines are today, they don’t know what really matters. 'Rebooting AI' dares to imagine machine minds that goes far beyond the closed systems of games and movie recommendations to become real partners in every aspect of our lives.”
“Artificial intelligence is here to stay. What are its achievements, its prospects, its pitfalls and misdirected initiatives—and how might these be remedied and overcome? This lucid and deeply informed account, from a critical but sympathetic perspective, is a valuable guide to developments that will surely have a major impact on the social order and intellectual culture.”
“Artificial intelligence is among the most consequential issues facing humanity, yet much of today’s commentary has been less than intelligent: awe-struck, credulous, apocalyptic, uncomprehending. Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis, experts in human and machine intelligence, lucidly explain what today’s AI can and cannot do, and point the way to systems that are less A and more I.”
“Finally, a book that says aloud what so many AI experts are really thinking. Every CEO should read it, and everyone else at the company, too. Then they’ll be able to separate the AI wheat from the chaff, and know where we are, how far we have to go, and how to get there.”
“A welcome antidote to the hype that has engulfed AI over the past decade and a realistic look at how far AI and robotics still have to go.”
“AI is achieving superhuman performance in many narrow applications, but the reality is that we are still very far from artificial general intelligence that truly understands the world. Marcus and Davis explain the pitfalls of current approaches with humor and insight, and provide a compelling path toward the kind of robust AI that can earn our trust.”
“'Rebooting AI' is a blast to read. It's erudite, it's witty, and it neatly unpacks why today's AI has such trouble doing truly smart tasks—and what it'll take to reach that goal.”
“When I was a child I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey and then read everything I could about AI. All the smart people said it was twenty years away. Twenty years later I was an adult and the smart people said that AI was twenty years away. Twenty years after that we passed 2001 and the smart people said it was about twenty years away. Yup, it’s getting better and better, but it still ain’t HAL. It can tag photos pretty good but on understanding stories my son passed all the AI before he went to his stupid preschool. Now is the time to listen to smarter people: in 'Rebooting AI,' Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis do a great job separating truth from bullshit to understand why we might not have real A.I. in twenty years and what we can do to get way closer.”
“A must-read for anyone who cares about the future of artificial intelligence, filled with masterful storytelling and clear and easy-to-digest examples. Simultaneously puncturing hype and plotting a new course towards toward truly successful AI, 'Rebooting AI' offers the first rational look at what AI can and can’t do, and what it will take to build AI that we can genuinely trust. And it does it in a way that engages the reader and ultimately celebrates both what AI has accomplished and the strengths and power of the human mind.”
