The Past Is a Foreign Country

Two years ago, when I worked at NRK Debatten, we introduced the Norwegian public to ChatGPT. For many, this was their first encounter with language models, while artificial intelligence was still somewhat "niche."

As you can see in the video, it's almost endearing to see how simple ChatGPT was two years ago, when it fabricated that Fredrik Solvang is actually a board member and municipal politician for the Stavanger Labour Party (a peculiar claim for many reasons).

But the machines hardly fabricate anymore. And it's not just students using them to cheat. In just two short years, AI has gone from being an amusing phenomenon to something that surrounds us everywhere.

If there's one thing that defines AI development, it's that it's racing ahead at breakneck speed. Every single month, new models arrive that surpass the previous one. The share of tasks we think only a human can perform shrinks by the day. This applies to video, text, analysis, medicine, finance, and not least coding.

AI is no longer just a chatbot you can talk to. It's now autonomous agents that can work independently over extended periods. With more powerful AI come enormous risks as well. AI-assisted surveillance, autonomous weapon drones, and job displacement are challenges waiting just around the corner.

For those keeping up with the developments, AI agents won't come as such a shock. But for most people — as the clip above shows — it's a matter of holding on tight.