The Old Diocesan Issue 13 - Magazine - Page 51
HOT TOPIC
S
INCE CHATGPT WAS
UNVEILED to the world
in November 2022, AI has
been the hottest of topics
– one that raises many interesting
and often profound questions.
When will we create superintelligence? Will we be able
to keep it aligned with human
interests? Will machine-generated
propaganda and ever more
persuasive algorithms make
elections, public debate and
ordinary social life even more
polarising and difficult to
navigate? Could terrorists use
AI to develop biological or cyber
weapons? And what happens
to global markets if the vast
investment in AI infrastructure
turns out to be a bubble?
These are serious questions,
and Chris Immelman (2012G),
the co-founder of Cape Town
AI consultancy Kwanda, follows
them with interest. The alignment
problem in particular fascinates
him. If artificial general intelligence
arrives, how do we ensure it shares
human values when we can’t even
agree on those values ourselves?
As for the markets: “Are valuations
too high? Probably. Will the tools
survive? Absolutely.”
And so to the larger point here
– that the headline debates and
the practical use of AI are separate
subjects. There is certainly some
crossover. For instance, whenever
new models breach their
permissions, there are implications
for practical privacy concerns.
And today’s subsidised processing
costs could be greatly affected by
a market crash. Chris is wary of
both – but he can’t see any valid
reason to sit out the technology.
On the contrary, for most of us,
the pressing AI question should
be considerably less apocalyptic:
what can this thing take off my
desk before lunch?
* * * * *
CHRIS TOOK THE WET PUPS
ROUTE to Bishops, matriculating
in 2012, before completing a BCom
LLB and qualifying as an attorney
in 2020. He moved almost
immediately into fintech, helping
to grow 6DOT50, a Stellenboschbased digital payments start-up.
In 2025, he started to notice
a change in the conversations
around him – and he sensed
a business opportunity. Some
three years after ChatGPT had
arrived to revolutionise the world,
it remained a novelty for most
people, who used it almost
exclusively as a slightly more
sophisticated Google search.
What should I cook with the
ingredients in the fridge?
Write me a birthday poem.
Help me with parenting advice.
Then colleagues and friends
began having what Chris calls
their “wow moments”. With a little
application, they were finding that
AI was not just an entertaining
chatbot. Properly connected to a
workflow, it could affect the bottom
line. And law, it turns out, is an
industry ripe for AI disruption.
As Chris explains it, an advocate
receiving a large brief may spend
days simply creating a chronology
of events from the hundreds or
even thousands of documents he
is supposed to review. An AI model
can synthesise the material in
minutes – an enormous head start.
THE OLD DIOCESAN | 47
