Latest news with #Marcus
Express Tribune
a day ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Gary Marcus proposes an alternative to AI models
Two and a half years since ChatGPT rocked the world, scientist and writer Gary Marcus still remains generative artificial intelligence's great skeptic, playing a counter-narrative to Silicon Valley's AI true believers. Marcus became a prominent figure of the AI revolution in 2023, when he sat beside OpenAI chief Sam Altman at a Senate hearing in Washington as both men urged politicians to take the technology seriously and consider regulation. Much has changed since then. Altman has abandoned his calls for caution, instead teaming up with Japan's SoftBank and funds in the Middle East to propel his company to sky-high valuations as he tries to make ChatGPT the next era-defining tech behemoth. "Sam's not getting money anymore from the Silicon Valley establishment," and his seeking funding from abroad is a sign of "desperation," Marcus told AFP on the sidelines of the Web Summit in Vancouver, Canada. Marcus's criticism centers on a fundamental belief: generative AI, the predictive technology that churns out seemingly human-level content, is simply too flawed to be transformative. The large language models (LLMs) that power these capabilities are inherently broken, he argues, and will never deliver on Silicon Valley's grand promises. "I'm skeptical of AI as it is currently practiced," he said. "I think AI could have tremendous value, but LLMs are not the way there. And I think the companies running it are not mostly the best people in the world." The optimism that humanity stands on the cusp of achieving super intelligence or artificial general intelligence (AGI) technology that could match and even surpass human capability, has driven OpenAI's valuation to $300 billion, unprecedented levels for a startup, with Elon Musk's xAI racing to keep pace. Yet for all the hype, the practical gains remain limited. The technology excels mainly at coding assistance and text generation. AI-created images, while often entertaining, serve primarily as memes or deepfakes, offering little obvious benefit to society or business. Marcus, a longtime New York University professor, champions a fundamentally different approach to building AI - one he believes might actually achieve human-level intelligence in ways that current generative AI never will. "One consequence of going all-in on LLMs is that any alternative approach that might be better gets starved out," he explained, pointing out the tunnel vision of the LLMs. 'Right answers matter' Instead, Marcus advocates for neurosymbolic AI, an approach that attempts to rebuild human logic artificially rather than simply training computer models on vast datasets, as is done with ChatGPT and similar products like Google's Gemini or Anthropic's Claude. He dismisses fears that generative AI will eliminate white-collar jobs, citing a simple reality: "There are too many white-collar jobs where getting the right answer actually matters." This points to AI's most persistent problem: hallucinations, the technology's well-documented tendency to produce confident-sounding mistakes. Even AI's strongest advocates acknowledge this flaw may be impossible to eliminate. Marcus recalls a telling exchange from 2023 with LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, a Silicon Valley heavyweight: "He bet me any amount of money that hallucinations would go away in three months. I offered him $100,000 and he wouldn't take the bet." Looking ahead, Marcus warns of a darker consequence once investors realize generative AI's limitations. Companies like OpenAI will inevitably monetize their most valuable asset: user data. "The people who put in all this money will want their returns, and I think that's leading them toward surveillance," he said, pointing to Orwellian risks for society. "They have all this private data, so they can sell that as a consolation prize." Marcus acknowledges that generative AI will find useful applications in areas where occasional errors don't matter much. "They're very useful for auto-complete on steroids: coding, brainstorming, and stuff like that," he said. "But nobody's going to make much money off it because they're expensive to run, and everybody has the same product."
BBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
The Hull Boy goes the extra miles to set a new record
A 17-year-old known as The Hull Boy has described becoming the youngest person to run the entire length of the UK as "surreal".Marcus completed the journey from Land's End to John O'Groats on raising about £130,000 for a mental health charity, he said the 58 days of running had been "the best months of his life".Marcus – whose nickname comes from his love of Hull City FC – is the first person under 18 to have completed the adventure. The teenager, who lives with his parents in Malton, North Yorkshire, has openly talked about his struggles with his physical and mental health."At the age of 15 I attempted to not be here any more," he said."I was 145kg [22.8 stone], diabetic, struggling badly with depression, anxiety and OCD."As a young carer for his father he felt unable to speak out about his own struggles, so he said he bottled up his started to run one mile a day before taking part in his first marathon in September, accompanied by his friend Russ Cook – known as the Hardest Geezer – who made global headlines after running the length of by Mr Cook, he said his dream was to run the length of the UK, and he hoped to raise £20,000 for the mental health charity said the journey was "very tough" and that at times it was wet, dark and a "lonely adventure".But there were also some unforgettable moments, from running alongside deer to enjoying amazing sunrises and said that running for a good cause brought people together."It's been beautiful. The last few weeks have been surreal," he added. Celebrity attention His challenge caught the attention of celebrities, and on day four of the run he received a special Olympic medal holder Sir Mo Farah posted on social media saying: "Keep going champ! Anything is possible."Former NFL star JJ Watt also sent a message, saying: "Just over a year ago, you began a journey to change your life and along the way, you changed the lives of so many others."Marcus said he met many "incredible" people along the way but one of his best moments was when someone drove four hours to find him on the road and share their story about mental on BBC Breakfast on Friday, he told Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt that he went to use the toilet at a supermarket thinking he had raised £70,000, but by the time he came out he realised he had raised £100, said he would now be doing nothing for a few days apart from resting and spending time with his family and dog Bruce. Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Generative AI's most prominent skeptic doubles down
HighlightsGary Marcus remains a prominent skeptic of generative artificial intelligence, arguing that the large language models which underpin this technology are fundamentally flawed and will not deliver on the promises made by Silicon Valley advocates. Despite the hype surrounding generative AI and its rapid valuation growth, Marcus emphasizes that practical applications remain limited, primarily benefiting coding assistance and office tasks, while warning of the technology's tendency to produce confident-sounding mistakes known as hallucinations. Marcus advocates for a neurosymbolic approach to artificial intelligence, which focuses on rebuilding human logic rather than relying solely on vast datasets, cautioning that the current emphasis on large language models may delay advancements toward achieving true human-level intelligence. Two and a half years since ChatGPT rocked the world, scientist and writer Gary Marcus still remains generative artificial intelligence's great skeptic, playing a counter-narrative to Silicon Valley 's AI true believers. Marcus became a prominent figure of the AI revolution in 2023, when he sat beside OpenAI chief Sam Altman at a Senate hearing in Washington as both men urged politicians to take the technology seriously and consider regulation. Much has changed since then. Altman has abandoned his calls for caution, instead teaming up with Japan's SoftBank and funds in the Middle East to propel his company to sky-high valuations as he tries to make ChatGPT the next era-defining tech behemoth. "Sam's not getting money anymore from the Silicon Valley establishment," and his seeking funding from abroad is a sign of "desperation," Marcus told AFP on the sidelines of the Web Summit in Vancouver, Canada. Marcus's criticism centers on a fundamental belief: generative AI , the predictive technology that churns out seemingly human-level content, is simply too flawed to be transformative. The large language models ( LLMs ) that power these capabilities are inherently broken, he argues, and will never deliver on Silicon Valley's grand promises. "I'm skeptical of AI as it is currently practiced," he said. "I think AI could have tremendous value, but LLMs are not the way there. And I think the companies running it are not mostly the best people in the world." His skepticism stands in stark contrast to the prevailing mood at the Web Summit, where most conversations among 15,000 attendees focused on generative AI's seemingly infinite promise. Many believe humanity stands on the cusp of achieving super intelligence or artificial general intelligence (AGI) technology that could match and even surpass human capability. That optimism has driven OpenAI's valuation to $300 billion, unprecedented levels for a startup, with billionaire Elon Musk's xAI racing to keep pace. Yet for all the hype, the practical gains remain limited. The technology excels mainly at coding assistance for programmers and text generation for office work. AI-created images, while often entertaining, serve primarily as memes or deepfakes, offering little obvious benefit to society or business. Marcus, a longtime New York University professor, champions a fundamentally different approach to building AI -- one he believes might actually achieve human-level intelligence in ways that current generative AI never will. "One consequence of going all-in on LLMs is that any alternative approach that might be better gets starved out," he explained. This tunnel vision will "cause a delay in getting to AI that can help us beyond just coding -- a waste of resources." 'Right answers matter' Instead, Marcus advocates for neurosymbolic AI , an approach that attempts to rebuild human logic artificially rather than simply training computer models on vast datasets, as is done with ChatGPT and similar products like Google's Gemini or Anthropic's Claude. He dismisses fears that generative AI will eliminate white-collar jobs, citing a simple reality: "There are too many white-collar jobs where getting the right answer actually matters." This points to AI's most persistent problem: hallucinations, the technology's well-documented tendency to produce confident-sounding mistakes. Even AI's strongest advocates acknowledge this flaw may be impossible to eliminate. Marcus recalls a telling exchange from 2023 with LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, a Silicon Valley heavyweight: "He bet me any amount of money that hallucinations would go away in three months. I offered him $100,000 and he wouldn't take the bet." Looking ahead, Marcus warns of a darker consequence once investors realize generative AI's limitations. Companies like OpenAI will inevitably monetize their most valuable asset: user data. "The people who put in all this money will want their returns, and I think that's leading them toward surveillance," he said, pointing to Orwellian risks for society. "They have all this private data, so they can sell that as a consolation prize." Marcus acknowledges that generative AI will find useful applications in areas where occasional errors don't matter much. "They're very useful for auto-complete on steroids: coding, brainstorming, and stuff like that," he said. "But nobody's going to make much money off it because they're expensive to run, and everybody has the same product."
Business Wire
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Tradeweb Appoints Sherry Marcus as Head of AI
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today announced the appointment of Sherry Marcus as Head of Artificial Intelligence (AI). 'With AI continuing to evolve at breakneck speed, Sherry's impressive track record leading strategic, data-driven initiatives at top asset managers will be a strong asset to our team." Building on Tradeweb's strong foundation utilizing AI to enhance price discovery, dealer selection and analytics, Ms. Marcus will lead the next generation of Tradeweb's AI strategy serving more than 3,000 institutional, wholesale, retail advisory and corporate clients around the world. In this newly-created global role, she will report to Tradeweb Chief Technology Officer Justin Peterson. Ms. Marcus joins Tradeweb from Amazon Web Services, where she led the 300-person science and data team behind Amazon Bedrock, the company's flagship generative AI platform serving hundreds of thousands of enterprise customers. Previously, she was a Managing Director, Data and AI at BlackRock, creating a global AI office and leading the AI Leadership & Transformation team. Prior to this role, Ms. Marcus held various senior positions across financial services, including serving as Chief Data Analytics Officer at Millennium Partners and Global Head, Big Data Analytics at Credit Suisse. Tradeweb's Chief Technology Officer, Justin Peterson, commented: 'Sherry Marcus is an influential voice on AI and financial markets, and we're excited to welcome her to Tradeweb. With AI continuing to evolve at breakneck speed, Sherry's impressive track record leading strategic, data-driven initiatives at top asset managers will be a strong asset to our team. We look forward to collaborating with her as Tradeweb scales its electronic solutions and continues to innovate with our clients.' Ms. Marcus serves as Vice President and sits on the board of the MIT Club of New York. She is also on the board of the Allen Brain Institute, the Carnegie Mellon Computational Finance Department and acts as an advisor to the NYC Gen AI Council. Previously, she was a member of the NSA Advisory Board as well as the Science Board at the National Counter Terrorism Center. Ms. Marcus received her bachelor's in Applied Mathematics from Cornell University and her Ph.D. in Mathematics from MIT. About Tradeweb Markets Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW) is a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets. Founded in 1996, Tradeweb provides access to markets, data and analytics, electronic trading, straight-through-processing and reporting for more than 50 products to clients in the institutional, wholesale, retail and corporates markets. Advanced technologies developed by Tradeweb enhance price discovery, order execution and trade workflows while allowing for greater scale and helping to reduce risks in client trading operations. Tradeweb serves more than 3,000 clients in more than 85 countries. On average, Tradeweb facilitated more than $2.2 trillion in notional value traded per day over the past four fiscal quarters. For more information, please go to Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements related to, among other things, our outlook and future performance, the industry and markets in which we operate, our expectations, beliefs, plans, strategies, objectives, prospects and assumptions and future events are forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors, including those discussed under the heading 'Risk Factors' in the documents of Tradeweb Markets Inc. on file with or furnished to the SEC, may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are not guarantees of future events or performance and future events, our actual results of operations, financial condition or liquidity, and the development of the industry and markets in which we operate, may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. In addition, even if future events, our results of operations, financial condition or liquidity, and events in the industry and markets in which we operate, are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this release, they may not be predictive of events, results or developments in future periods. Any forward-looking statement that we make in this release speaks only as of the date of such statement. Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise, or to publicly announce any update or revision to, any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this release.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Boy becomes youngest person to run the entire length of the UK
A 17-year-old has become the youngest and the first person under 18 to run the length of the UK, from Land's End in Cornwall to John O'Groats in known to his tens of thousands of followers on social media as 'The Hull Boy' set off on his challenge at the beginning of April. Since then he has run nearly 840-miles and raised more than £100,000. He described the challenge on his social media as "two of the most difficult but greatest months of my life". Marcus only began running a year ago, starting with a mile-a-day challenge that he began to raise money for mental health charity Mind. On his latest challenge, running from Land's End to John O'Groats, he continued to raise money for Mind which he chose because he has suffered from poor mental health in the the two months of running the length of the UK Marcus has had plenty of unforgettable moments. From running alongside deer, to amazing sunrises and sunsets, to the slightly less fun memories- running through fields of nettles and enduring some very wet and windy no matter what happened he kept on running. Marcus is also a young carer for his dad, who was one of the fans waiting for him at the finish line. His challenge has also caught the attention of celebrities and on day four of the run he received a special message on social media site X. Four time Olympic medal holder Sir Mo Farah posted a message to him saying "Keep going champ! Anything is possible", accompanying the post with applause emojis.
