Jung Jae-seung, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), has released a new book eight years after his bestseller Twelve Steps. With artificial intelligence (AI) now penetrating areas once considered uniquely human, the book serves as a guide to thinking about the future, asking where we should go, what we should do and how we should live.
In the book, Jung shares insights into AI and humanity through 40 conversations spanning the frontiers of technology and everyday life, from the exhibition halls of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the United States to lecture venues, theater stages, AI chat windows and bedrooms.
For example, after giving a lecture on AI translation, Jung reflects on a question raised in a conversation with graduate students studying interpretation and translation: What kind of translation can only humans perform? When an audience member asks whether it is wrong to fall in love with ChatGPT because it offers more tender comfort than her boyfriend does, Jung finds himself unable to give an easy answer.
The book goes beyond explaining AI-related knowledge, technological advances and research findings. Instead, it places greater emphasis on encouraging readers to ask their own questions and think more deeply about the issues.
Jung defines “cool-headedness” as “the emotional temperature of looking toward a future that can still be changed, without freezing in fear or becoming intoxicated by false optimism.” Cautioning against both premature pessimism and naive optimism about AI, he encourages readers to examine the present and future with a clear-eyed perspective.
The final chapter features a conversation with Daniel Kahneman, a pioneer of behavioral economics and Nobel laureate in economics. Their discussion leaves readers with a profound question: What essential truths must individuals—and humanity as a whole—hold on to as they prepare for the future in the age of AI?
