That is why Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, cited the Manhattan Project - the code name for the atomic bomb development during World War II - to describe his feelings on the development of GPT-5. He was not the only one. Investor Warren Buffett and Christopher Nolan, the director of the movie Oppenheimer, also made the link between the race toward intelligent AI and the Manhattan Project.
The big difference between the two developments is that all the applications of nuclear fission are happening far away out of our sight, while very many AI applications have crept into our daily lives with opportunities and threats. This creates dilemmas among people about whether or not to apply AI at work or at home. A recent survey by Lucid Software found that 41 percent of employees in Dutch organizations do not feel comfortable working with AI as a virtual colleague. At the same time, 69 percent recognize that using AI tools increases productivity. Concerns about privacy and data protection are important arguments for being cautious about AI in the workplace. Also, a quarter of those surveyed do not trust AI's output. Uncertainty is further fueled by the lack of guidelines for using AI and policies on ethics.
More training is essential
So there is clearly a great need for more training to improve people's AI literacy. Fortunately, AI is being increasingly integrated into education, from elementary school to higher education. At least by being able to experiment with AI applications at an early age and becoming familiar with the risks of AI, generations are growing up learning to balance on the dividing line between opportunities and dangers of AI.
Meanwhile, more and more user-friendly AI tools are also becoming available, allowing non-technical users to exploit AI for their own purposes. Use does not require in-depth technical knowledge. Thus, individuals and small businesses are gaining the ability to apply AI in their work processes.
These movements fall within a trend also described as Democratization of AI. The goal is to make the technology and tools more accessible to a wider audience, away from exclusive access by specialists. Fortunately, no such democratization trend has occurred in the development and application of nuclear technology. The world would probably have looked very different - I only have to think of how fireworks at soccer games got completely out of control.
