Christopher Nolan wants Oppenheimer to be a warning to Silicon Valley

Around the same time that J.J. When Robert Oppenheimer learned that Hiroshima had been attacked (along with everyone else in the world), he began to deeply regret his role in building that bomb. At one point during a meeting with President Truman, Oppenheimer broke down and expressed regret. Truman called her a weeper and said he never wanted to see her again. And Christopher Nolan is hoping that when Silicon Valley audiences see his film oppenheimer (Out June 21) See their interpretation of all those events, they will see something of their own there too.

after screening of oppenheimer Christopher Nolan joined a panel of scientists at the Whitby Hotel yesterday and Kai Byrd, one of the authors of the book on Oppenheimer, talked about the film. american prometheus, The audience was mostly filled with scientists, who were cracking jokes about the arrogance of the physicists in the film, but there were also a few journalists, including myself.

We hear all the brief debates on the success of nuclear deterrence, and Dr. Thom Mason, the current director of Los Alamos, talks about how many current lab employees cameoed in the movie because so much of it was shot nearby. but the operator at the end of the conversation was chuck tod meet the Press, asked Nolan what he hopes Silicon Valley can learn from the film. He told Todd, “I think I wish they would take away the concept of accountability.”

He then clarified, “When you innovate through technology, you have to make sure there’s accountability.” He was referring to the variety of technological innovations that Silicon Valley has embraced, while those same companies have repeatedly refused to acknowledge the pitfalls. “The last 15 years have seen the rise of companies with words like ‘algorithms’ that don’t know what they mean in any kind of meaningful, mathematical sense. They don’t want to take responsibility for what the algorithm does.”

He further added, “And applied for AI? It is a terrifying prospect. Horrible. Not least because AI systems go into defense infrastructure, Eventually they will be accused of having nuclear weapons and if we allow people to say that this is a separate entity from the person who is supposed to use, programming, AI, then we are doomed. It should be about accountability. We have to hold people accountable for what they do with those devices.”

Although Nolan didn’t mention any specific company, it’s not hard to know what he’s talking about. Companies like Google, Meta and even Netflix rely heavily on algorithms to acquire and retain audiences and that reliance often has unpredictable and often heinous consequences. Possibly the most notable and truly awesome meta contribution genocide in myanmar,

Although nowadays an apology tour is almost guaranteed after a company’s algorithm does something terrible, the algorithm remains. threads are still launched with a Only Algorithmic feed. Sometimes companies can give you a tool to turn it off, as Facebook did, but these remain black box algorithms, with little discussion of all the possible bad outcomes and far too much discussion of the good ones. it occurs.

“When I talk to leading researchers in the field of AI, they literally refer to this right now as their Oppenheimer moment,” Nolan said. “What they are trying to say with their story is the responsibility of scientists developing new technologies that can have unintended consequences.”

“Do you think that’s what Silicon Valley is thinking right now?” Todd asked her.

“They say they do,” Nolan replied. “And that is,” she said laughing, “it’s helpful. At least it’s in conversation. And I hope the thought process continues. I’m not saying that the Oppenheimer story provides any easy answers to these questions. But at least it offers a cautionary tale.”