Gary Marcus

Cutting-edge generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, Bing AI, and Midjourney are changing the face of work, enabling organizations to make decisions faster, innovate differently, and create content in new ways – but they also carry risks. Calling for caution is AI pioneer and New York University Emeritus Professor Gary Marcus. “We need a wake-up call here,” warned Marcus on CNBC, whose co-authored book Rebooting AI, (2019) was one of Forbes’ 7 Must Read Books in AI. “We have a perfect storm of corporate irresponsibility, widespread adoption of these tools, a lack of regulation, and a huge number of unknowns.” An experienced entrepreneur who founded and served as the CEO of Geometric Intelligence before its acquisition by Uber, Marcus blends his academic and business experience to sift the AI facts from the hype. Well-versed in reaching audiences from tech and non-tech backgrounds alike, Marcus explains what generative AI tools are, how they work, and what they can do for an organization. Then, he unpacks the risks posed by AI and proposes actionable solutions to help organizations create proactive, flexible strategies for engaging with large language models.

It’s easy to trust the common AI devices that power our everyday life, like GPS and Amazon’s Alexa, but can new generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Bing AI be relied on in the same way? Not yet, says Gary Marcus, professor emeritus of psychology and neural science at New York University and the founder and CEO of machine learning startup Geometric Intelligence, which sold to Uber in 2016. An AI veteran and entrepreneur, Marcus has a comprehensive understanding of the positive and negative impacts large language models can have on an organization – and society at large. Until safeguards exist to ensure an AI’s function doesn’t harm humans – as described in an essay on technology and policy co-authored with Canadian Parliament Member Michelle Rempel Garner – businesses should proceed carefully. Always rooted in actionable and concrete solutions, Marcus brings organizations recommendations to protect them from threats like bad actors, new kinds of cybercrime, mis- and disinformation, and ideas for crafting AI policies and proposals. By laying out the clear advantages and risks of generative AI tools, he demonstrates how organizations can safely use these incredible new tools without making themselves vulnerable to threats.

The tech world at large was astounded by the capabilities of new generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Bing AI, but NYU professor emeritus and AI entrepreneur Gary Marcus wasn’t surprised at all. Co-author of Rebooting AI (2019), which was one of Forbes’s 7 Must Read Books in AI, Marcus has a deep love for AI and its potential for humanity. On the cutting edge of what’s happening in the field today and what’s coming tomorrow, for years he’s foreseen AI’s abilities and limitations well ahead of other experts – from anticipating current problems with driverless cars in 2016 to accurately predicting issues with ChatGPT-4 well before its release. Now, he brings leaders and teams a sober, informed and realistic view of what the future of technology and artificial intelligence holds, and what more needs to be done to ensure the future we create is more utopian than dystopian. Able to connect with anyone no matter their level of tech experience, Marcus excels as he reflects on how to build AI “the right way” and how we can use it to improve society, businesses and even ourselves.

AI systems like ChatGPT and Bing AI can create misinformation at scale, posing a real and imminent threat to the fabric of society, warns bestselling author, AI entrepreneur, and NYU professor emeritus Gary Marcus. Since the launch of these tools, Marcus has emerged as a prominent voice calling for caution from the front lines of the “AI arms race.” As he explained on CBS’s 60 Minutes, the potential for damage by automatically created information from flawed AI is huge, and organizations and governments need to respond now. Always ready with actionable suggestions, Marcus recommends increasing AI literacy among the general population as a key first step in avoiding an AI crisis. Surprisingly funny and capable of reaching audiences of every level, he offers leaders and teams a breakdown of how large language models work and their potential to harm if not used with care. He follows this with an explanation of how we can focus research to create new companion technologies to these tools, like safeguards that ensure an AI’s function doesn’t harm humans and “AI detectors” to flag possible misinformation. Urging for action, he emphasizes, “We can’t just act as if nothing is happening here. And we can’t act like we have infinite time to decide what to do, either.”

When technology is rapidly advancing, people must adopt a new mindset to develop the skill to look forward into an unpredictable future. NYU professor emeritus and bestselling author Gary Marcus has been making successful predictions about the capabilities and limitations of artificial intelligence for years, well before the launch of generative AI tools. As the founder and CEO of machine learning startup Geometric Intelligence, which sold to Uber in 2016, Marcus understands how a business owner needs to think to approach the future with confidence. The author of Rebooting AI, (2019), which was one of Forbes’s 7 Must Read Books in AI, Marcus unveils how to develop the kind of adaptable and forward-thinking mentality required to make predictions in the AI era. Witty and personable, he excels at easy-to-understand breakdowns of the key things to consider when forecasting the future and tech.