ID the Future listeners now get to enjoy two episodes each month from our sister podcast Mind Matters News, a production of Discovery Institute’s Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence. The Mind Matters News podcast brings you insight from computer scientists, engineers, inventors, neurosurgeons, and other experts who offer sanity in the conversation about natural and artificial intelligence, going beyond the hype to explore the undercurrents of these important ideas. And although the Mind Matters News podcast will not often explicitly discuss intelligent design, it regularly explores the nature of intelligence, the origin of information, and the things that make us uniquely human, all concepts that are central to the theory of intelligent design.
A Fever Pitch
The hype around AI, in fact, is reaching fever pitch these days. But never mind predictions of future AI potential. What can it actually do and not do today? On this episode of Mind Matters News, host Robert J. Marks welcomes Dr. Donald C. Wunsch II to the show for a long-form, wide-ranging conversation about what AI can actually do today — and the very real risks and responsibilities that come with it.
Dr. Wunsch has spent decades working at the intersection of engineering, AI, and real-world systems, with research spanning neural networks, adaptive systems, machine learning, and AI engineering. He is a Fellow of the IEEE. What sets Dr. Wunsch apart from other AI experts is his insistence on engineering realism over hype. While much of today’s AI conversation centers on speculative futures and artificial general intelligence, his work focuses on what AI today can actually do and not do. His recent paper, “Artificial General Intelligence Is Nowhere Near, Artificial Specific Stupidity Is Already Here — Policy Implications,” challenges both techno-optimism and doomsday narratives, arguing that the greatest dangers of AI arise not from autonomous machines, but from human misuse, poor policy, and concentrated power.
We’re delighted to have him with us today for a thoughtful and grounded conversation about AI, autonomy, and what engineers — and society — should be paying attention to right now. Download the podcast, watch it, or listen to it here.
Dig Deeper
- Read Dr. Wunsch’s paper on the limits of current AI systems.
- Enjoy more episodes of the Mind Matters News podcast!