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Like a lot of my colleagues in academia, I am following the promise and threat of AI for our highly skilled and technical jobs with concern, amusement, confusion, skepticism, panic, etc. Sometimes all at the same time. Below are some of my evolving thoughts on academia, science, and AI in an effort to get them out of my head so that it does not explode.

My disclosures:

  • I am a professor at the California Institute of Technology, so close to the top of academia in terms of job security.
  • My research is on general relativity, gravitational waves, and black holes. So closer to "fundamental science" than "everyday applications to improve people's material conditions."
  • I do not work on AI in the sense of developing and training models for widespread use. I am a user, who targets specific applications related to my research.

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