Because sci-fi is about thinking about how technology affects us as human beings, and the conference was about how AI will affect us as human beings.
He was invited presumably partly just to draw people to the conference, partly because he's used to thinking about how technology affects society. He says right up front that he has no authority to speak "ex cathedra" about what's going to happen, but that his goal was to say some things that might provoke discussion among the group.
I mean, sure, the fact that Neal Stephenson can draw a bigger crowd to talk about AI than a real AI scientist is kind of annoying. But that's the way humans are; if your goal is to influence humans, you've got to take their behavior into account. Stephenson is trying to use his (perhaps in some ways undeserved) powers for good, and I think did a decent job.
Watch this video about why Veritasium gave in and started using clickbaity titles. In short, their goal is to get knowledge out to more people, and clickbait-y titles improve that significantly:
He was invited presumably partly just to draw people to the conference, partly because he's used to thinking about how technology affects society. He says right up front that he has no authority to speak "ex cathedra" about what's going to happen, but that his goal was to say some things that might provoke discussion among the group.
I mean, sure, the fact that Neal Stephenson can draw a bigger crowd to talk about AI than a real AI scientist is kind of annoying. But that's the way humans are; if your goal is to influence humans, you've got to take their behavior into account. Stephenson is trying to use his (perhaps in some ways undeserved) powers for good, and I think did a decent job.
Watch this video about why Veritasium gave in and started using clickbaity titles. In short, their goal is to get knowledge out to more people, and clickbait-y titles improve that significantly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2xHZPH5Sng