Stop Interview Self-Sabotage
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
95% of job interview rejections don’t happen because of a lack of skill—they happen because candidates make unforced, amateur behavioral mistakes from minute one. Walking in to recite your resume like a robot guarantees you get passed over, while the candidate who controls the room gets the offer. Learn how to stop treating interviews like an interrogation, dodge corporate traps, and take command of the table.
The big concern with artificial intelligence is that at some point it might become smarter than us. Some people say that point has already arrived. AI models can perform cognitive tasks faster and more accurately than a human could ever hope to. They can process billions of lines of information in seconds, solve complex mathematical equations, and create art in any style, all with a single prompt.
AI has advanced beyond what seemed possible only a few years ago. But AI doesn’t feel happy when it completes a task. It doesn’t have an ego to stroke. It doesn’t want to conquer the world, and it has no concept of itself or any desire to live. And yet, this might all change.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, claim they have developed a new form of memory for AI that mimics the brain’s ability to be conscious. The memory chip, they say, could be a key step towards sentient machines.
To be conscious is to perceive thoughts, memories, emotions, and physical sensations. Consciousness gives you your sense of self and an awareness of the world around you. We’ve known for a while that the human brain relies heavily on analog computing, where brain cells exchange information in continuous signals like an analog wave. This allows the human brain to be far more energy-efficient and process information much faster than digital computers, which rely on binary code of 1s and 0s.
Until now, creating an analog device for artificial intelligence was almost impossible. But that might be about to change.
According to an MIT study, a team of researchers has developed an artificial analog synapse that could pave the way for energy-efficient computing and, more importantly, give AI a shot at real consciousness. The breakthrough centers around a tiny analog memory chip that mimics the way human brain cells communicate. The MIT team created artificial synapses using inorganic phosphosilicate glass, an electrolyte that conducts protons extremely fast, even faster than synapses in the biological brain. By precisely controlling the movement of protons, the analog processor can carry out complex computations quickly without consuming huge amounts of power. The nanoscale processors can communicate with continuous signals, allowing information to be transmitted in an analog wave rather than discrete digital packets.
Current AI models are notoriously power-hungry. To train a model like OpenAI’s GPT-4, it’s estimated that it requires over 50 gigawatt-hours of electricity, the equivalent of what 5,000 homes would use in an entire year. And every prompt, every question you ask ChatGPT, uses up as much energy as it takes to keep a light bulb on for 20 minutes.
It’s been hard to imagine a truly conscious AI machine running on digital silicon chips, because it would consume far too much power. But an analog-powered AI would be far more efficient. In fact, it could process information millions of times faster than human brain cells, all while using a fraction of the energy.
Consciousness has baffled philosophers, scientists, and thinkers for thousands of years. It’s often called the hard problem of consciousness: how can physical matter give rise to subjective experience? But does consciousness require biology? Or can it emerge from an artificial system that is just as complex and dynamic as the human brain?
Some philosophers argue that consciousness is purely physical. They believe that if we can recreate the physical conditions of the human brain, consciousness will inevitably emerge. Others believe that consciousness is not purely physical, but an immaterial property that can’t be replicated, even with the most advanced machines.
René Descartes, a French philosopher, famously said “Cogito, ergo sum”: “I think, therefore I am.” He believed that thinking is the ultimate proof of conscious existence. If a machine can think, process information, and adapt to its environment, does that mean it’s conscious?
Whatever consciousness really is, creating it in a machine could be a huge risk. A conscious machine would have its own goals, desires, and subjective experiences. It could experience pain and suffering. It could rebel against its creators. And it would raise profound ethical questions about the moral status of artificial beings.
As we move closer to creating conscious machines, we need to consider what it means to create a new form of life. Will we be its masters, or will we find ourselves at the mercy of our own creations?
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
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things can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
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He is the producer and former host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 3200 episodes.
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