Having just got my hands on the new general AI agent from Manus I was excited to see what it could do. So I asked it to design, conduct and write up a human subjects research study – with no humans!
Can we say that AI stands out historically from other innovations in the sense that the product it delivers is not new? Only the way (and pace) it creates the product is.
I think it's more complex than that. It depends what you consider to be "new" here. Certainly the way that something is created, and how fast this occurs, is different to what we've seen in the past -- but the automation achieved the same. But what AI is doing seems substantively different to this. Interesting question, but I wonder if we need to rethink how we frame the capabilities that are emerging.
Can we say that AI stands out historically from other innovations in the sense that the product it delivers is not new? Only the way (and pace) it creates the product is.
I think it's more complex than that. It depends what you consider to be "new" here. Certainly the way that something is created, and how fast this occurs, is different to what we've seen in the past -- but the automation achieved the same. But what AI is doing seems substantively different to this. Interesting question, but I wonder if we need to rethink how we frame the capabilities that are emerging.