Rickards: AI Is “Just a Speed-Reading Plagiarist”

“ChatGPT is just a speed-reading plagiarist,” Jim Rickards declared at last week’s Paradigm Shift Summit. 

But don’t think he’s mocking artificial intelligence (AI) or even its potential. 

In fact, almost all of our speakers had good things to say about the technology.

I’ll share some of their insights in a minute — including how you unwittingly helped “train” AI software… and where our team thinks the most lucrative opportunities lie.

Before we get to that, though, let’s look at our Top Stories and the Reader Forum.

Your Top Stories & Analysis of the Week:

• “The Can Hath Been Kicked… Now What?'' (Rich Retirement Letter, Zach Scheidt): Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown last week — putting the discussion on hold until November. As Zach points out, however, today’s political brinkmanship means we could still see the Federal government go dark by the end of the year. But that possibility is actually great news for one specific industry. Zach walks you through what to expect… and names several potential beneficiaries. 

• “Nuclear-Powered AI” (Technology Profits Confidential, Ray Blanco): The computers and databases at the root of AI require immense amounts of electricity and water. In fact, one U.S. city has told Microsoft that it needs to reduce its resource use. As Ray explains, the company has a possible solution to its energy problem — becoming the latest to join a trend that could change how everyone gets electricity.

• "George Jetson Would Love AMZN Right Now…" (Altucher’s Investment Network, James Altucher): The Jetsons cartoon predicted a lot of today’s technology — minus the flying cars and robot assistants. But James recently told his Altucher Investment Network readers how a household name is working on that last part. The company just upgraded its most popular product with AI capabilities… which will make its customers’ lives even easier. As I’ve mentioned, AI is a very hot topic, and this actual use case can explain why. So I’ve unlocked James’ analysis for you. 

Remember, we publish tens to HUNDREDS of stories. The write-ups above are our TOP ones for the week — including one that had been roped off from the public. If you want to stay ahead of the pack, make sure you’re caught up now. 

And if you’d like to nominate any of our stories for next week’s “Top 3,” just let me know at concierge@paradigmpressgroup.com.

The Reader Forum:

The Paradigm Shift Summit in Las Vegas was a huge success. 

In fact, our mailbag is overflowing with praise for last week’s event. Joan G. tells us:

What an incredible group of people, from your staff to your presenters. They were all so brilliant. We were all made to feel like a valued part of the Paradigm family. I especially enjoyed the panel discussions. They were informative and entertaining. 

Thanks for the incredible feedback, Joan. Our team worked very hard to ensure everything ran smoothly, and I’m so glad you appreciated our efforts!

Also, you’re part of our family whether it’s in-person or online. I’ve shared this with the entire team… and we look forward to continuing to guide you through today’s tricky markets. 

Tim B. wanted us to know he had a good time as well:

Thank you for the Paradigm Summit in Las Vegas. It was great to see your staff and a full house of attendees. The lunch was the best food in town, way above the restaurants!

Tim, thank you for making the trek out to Vegas. None of this would be possible without great members like you. And I agree, the lunch buffet the Bellagio put out for us was top-notch.

You can bet I’ll be forwarding your comments to everyone at Paradigm. 

Finally, while we’re encouraged by compliments, we grow and improve through your critique. So we’ll always listen when someone thinks we’ve fallen short of the mark.

This week, Azar B. says: 

These subscriptions are reminding me of a situation that happened years ago. Someone said send me one dollar, I will tell you how to become a millionaire. Millions of people did, and he became a millionaire. I hope that you have an answer for me. 

Thanks for writing in, Azar… but I think I’m missing the point of your story, because it has nothing to do with our business.

The man who became a millionaire in your tale didn’t keep his promise or provide anything of value. 

When you sign up for one of our research services, however, we do deliver something valuable — investment insights that you can use to grow your wealth.

And, yes, we charge people to access our research. We’re a business, after all — so we have costs, employees, overhead. 

The only way we could give away everything for free would be to cozy up to Wall Street advertisers — which would take away the independence our researchers currently enjoy. 

Of course, if you’re not happy with a service , you can request a refund. I’m sure the guy in your story never returned a single dollar. 

But we work hard to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth — giving you the tools you need to join the ranks of millionaires yourself. Our success is also tied to yours… without happy members, we wouldn’t exist.

I hope that clears things up for you.

As always, I’m always standing by for your emails at concierge@paradigmpressgroup.com.

Questions? I’ll get answers! Comments? Let me hear them! Problems? I’ll try to solve them! 

This is YOUR forum! 

(And remember, for customer service issues, please use our contact page.)

Now, here’s what’s happening around the water cooler this week…

The Water Cooler — Upcoming Events and More

The Whiskey Bar is a time-honored tradition at Paradigm Press events. 

We put all the Paradigm Shift Summit speakers on stage… give them a drink or two… ask them questions about the markets and economy… then let them debate it out.

This year there was fierce back-and-forth about Bitcoin vs. gold. The real reasons for bank failures was another hot topic. And of course, our panel had strong opinions on whether things looked bearish or bullish.

But there was a surprising amount of consensus on AI.

Jim pointed out that OpenAI’s ChatGPT — not to mention its many imitators and rivals — aren’t creating anything new.

These programs have been fed tremendous amounts of data. When you type in a question, it picks through its database and uses algorithms to produce sentences that read like an answer.

So it only knows what’s in its database. And everything it spits out has been ripped from somewhere else.

It’s what makes the software, in Jim’s words, “a speed-reading plagiarist.”

Still, Jim admits that it’s very good at what it does — and there are plenty of industries that will benefit from the technology. 

He even quoted a CIA contact who said there are “scary powerful” AI applications being tested behind closed doors.

The biggest drawback, Jim says, is that today’s AI programs don’t care about accuracy. The software throws together any words that its programming determines should be in the answer — with no regard to whether those words are true or not.

In other words, the AI programs getting the most attention are liars.

So right now, AI is useless without subject matter experts — people who can look at the computer’s answers and verify the information is valid. 

That’s when James Altucher jumped into the conversation. 

He sees plenty of business opportunities for budding entrepreneurs who can master AI technology. They can help companies get the most use out of the helpful things AI is able to do.

In fact, it’s possible AI companies used you as a subject matter expert without your knowledge.

When you try to visit some websites, you may get a pop-up asking you to verify that you’re human. It asks you to identify pictures of bicycles, stop signs or other such things.

In Las Vegas, James revealed that the website already knows you’re human. It just wants you to help train its computers to recognize various objects. 

A self-driving car might know to stop at a crosswalk because you successfully taught its software what a crosswalk looks like. 

Our Ray Blanco gave another example of a simple, repetitive task AI can perform. The software can rapidly run through a database of medical compounds… simulating how they interact with our body’s cells.

It could quickly identify potential drug candidates for various illnesses — though you’ll still need subject matter experts to test and verify the computer’s findings.

But everyone at the Whiskey Bar seemed to agree that even with its limited use cases, AI has the power to increase productivity and efficiency in a wide range of industries.

Tech companies and researchers are also working to figure out how to make AI more accurate, reducing the need for humans to step in.

That’s why many on our team recommend taking advantage of the AI boom wherever you can… riding the momentum stocks and keeping an eye open for the true innovators.