Because not every problem can be solved by AI.

I'm more interested in IA (intelligence augmentation) actually, which seems to overlap with PL nicely.

Not now, but if you can really create AI, it shouldn't be indistinguishable of human Intelligence.

My point is that it is unlikely to make big steps now to advance in PL, but it is very likely you can do it in AI. The last 5 years have been crazy and the people working on it now is much more than few years ago.

Note: most probably you wont be getting human-like AI anytime soon

> Not now, but if you can really create AI, it shouldn't be indistinguishable of human Intelligence.

If we really create AI that is "indistinguishable of human Intelligence", then all questions about human jobs or research become moot, no?

If someone was to create AI that is human-equivalent (aka strong AI) then that would be their final project as a human being. There would be no need for human professional or academic effort after that point.

>'If someone was to create AI that is human-equivalent (aka strong AI)'

Creating AI with human level intelligence isn't going to be so great, most people are complete idiots. Creating AI with above human intelligence is a different story.

A well-known "paradox" states that tasks that require savant-level intelligence from humans (like playing chess) are actually doable with computers, but tasks that any idiot can do (say, pouring yourself a cup of tea) are crazy hard.

Well... They said the same in the industrial era. There are a lot of things to consider, for example:

- AI might not like to work, as we don't like to work

- You suppose that if you create AI then the AI can create a more intelligence AI and this to the infinity. We don't know if the intelligence is unlimited or limited. We might have reach the top intelligence. (note: the more intelligent the brain the slower it is, and a bigger brain does not relate to intelligence)

Sounds a lot like saying people should get into management so that they can get other people to do stuff for them. People can do anything people can do, so you should get into people.

And it's totally true! A good manager can make anything happen that their team can accomplish, and their impact can be huge. But some people want to actually work on the stuff, not work on the stuff that works on the stuff.

Actually, compilers are a great example of this dynamic - when you work becomes more and more impactful, but more and more removed from actual problems people have. Say, you write a script to solve a specific problem someone has. But that is not very impactful - one person is happy and that's all. So you generalize your program to a whole class of problems. But that's not the end. Next, you write a framework for writing programs similar to the one you've developed on the previous step. And of course, all languages being shit, you'll want to write a compiler for a language to write your framework in. So you end up with a thing that is very impactful but also pretty useless on its own.

Nice example. Really, lots of technology is like this. If you enjoy arithmetic, you do it. If not, you use a calculator. If you enjoy digging, grab a shovel, otherwise use a backhoe. Nothing wrong with picking the layer you enjoy, and a backhoe isn't always the best answer anyway.

PL seems easier to get into and make useful things with, like a static analyzer that enforces some rule at a big co. From my perspective it seems like your need something PhD level to do useful things with it and get paid better than a standard FANG software engineer.

I'm probably wrong although, it's probably an exposure thing.

Well as another machine learning researcher, I think you can make a major impact working on problems that aren't in AI.

Now if you are a PL person interested in AI we would love to have you and your expertise!

Oh and if you want to use AI to solve PL problems like program synthesis and program completion, that's cool too.

Haha I was going to say, solving synthesis via PL+AI is way more exciting than either technique alone.

-- A former PL researcher making AI way more useful via vanilla PL techniques

Welcome to the party!