We are not living in an era of change but a change of era, writes Professor Richard Susskind in the 30th anniversary edition of his classic book on the future of law. Describing the emergence of artificial general intelligence — AGI — as the single most significant technological advance in the history of humanity, he tells me we could rapidly, see the development of systems “that are unfathomably more capable than us”. Not planning for AGI now would, at the very least, amount to “a dereliction of duty” by senior lawyers.
As a lawyer who has been writing about artificial intelligence for 45 years, Susskind (pictured) is uniquely placed to take the long view. I had the advantage of having spoken to him when I wrote about the need for regulation at the beginning of last week and again at the end of last week.
He had recorded an interview with me shortly before concerns were expressed by researchers, by industry leaders and even by the King. Sir Ed Davey is to call today for a global non-proliferation treaty to halt the development of super-intelligent AI when he makes the leader’s speech at the Liberal Democrat conference, the Guardian reports.
But Susskind was, of course, ahead of the news — not just when recording A Lawyer Talks but in writing The Future of Law – Reflections and Predictions, to be published by OUP on Thursday. His interview can be heard now.
My weekly podcast interview, as always, is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can listen to a short taster by clicking the ► symbol on the graphic at the top of this page.
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