We call it AI because no one would take us seriously if we called it matrix multiplication seeded with a bunch of initial values we pulled out of our asses and run on as much shitty data as we can get our grubby little paws on.
Once again Ted Chiang has it exactly right. The immediate danger from #AI is not that it will become sentient and do whatever it wants. The danger is that it will do what it’s being designed to do: help rich corporations destroy the working class in pursuit of ever-greater profits and thus concentrate wealth in fewer and fewer hands.
“SHALL WE PLAY A GAME?” It was 40 years ago today, on June 3, 1983, when “War Games” was released in the US, giving us all a taste then of the dangers of giving full control to #AI systems. Watching the trailer now, it’s fun to hear all the modem sounds and everything else:
It's wild to me that there's currently so much panic & fear about what #AImight do to "destroy" humanity, yet - at the same time - so little attention to the way that human behaviors are already, knowingly, putting billions of people & global biodiversity at tremendous risk. 🌍 #climatechange
Wow: “Early in the COVID-19 pandemic a blizzard of disinformation had deadly consequences. A Carnegie Mellon study analyzed more than 200 million tweets discussing COVID-19 at the height of the first lockdown. Eighty-two percent of influential users advocating for “reopening America” were bots. This was a targeted “propaganda machine,” most likely Russian, designed to intensify the worst public health crisis in a century.”
You can't hit the breaks when you're going uphill.
After playing around with ChatGPT, I have decided to allow my history students to use AI. Working out ways to stop them from using it will only create more stress and work than it's worth. I have therefore included instructions in the syllabus about how they can and cannot use AI.
And so I set sail on uncharted waters towards the endless horizon, like generations of intrepid explorers before me.
A conversation that keeps popping up in my mind since FOSDEM centers around open source projects and “AI,” and I still don’t know what I think. So let me share some thoughts here on the famously nuance-friendly Internet. 😜
During a chat w/folks from several open source organizations, someone suggested GNOME could attract funding by “sprinkling some AI on it.” Several folks laughed at the topical joke, but then realized it was in earnest. 🧵
“The entire case for “AI” as a disruptive tool worth trillions of dollars is grounded in the idea that chatbots and image-generators will let bosses fire hundred of thousands or even millions of workers.
That’s it.”
Yep. Spot on. This is the fundamental reason that #AI is getting so many billions poured into it. It’s the lure of replacing expensive labor with automation. Corporations have endlessly squeezed blood from lower-cost labor and they are salivating at the prospect of getting rid of high-cost labor.
This is unfortunate, because AI has actual uses. As models get more specialized and smaller, I can see AI automating a lot of rote work away at reasonable cost. Unfortunately, the corporate hype is so strong right now it’s muddying all the conversations.
EDIT: the word "hallucination" is probably out of place and misleading here, as @apodoxus argues in this thread. The anthropomorphic connotations of the word may actually create more misconceptions than help eliminate.
> Mimo bombastycznych zapowiedzi dotyczących rzekomo nieograniczonych możliwości „sztucznej inteligencji” wygląda na to, że przestajemy kupować bajki gigantów technologicznych dotyczące wielkich modeli językowych. „AI” staje się coraz bardziej wyświechtanym zwrotem marketingowym
Robots presented at an AI forum said on Friday they expected to increase in number and help solve global problems, and would not steal humans' jobs or rebel against us.
“I don’t like this form of automation because it does not address any of my existing deficits, therefore no one needs it”
okaaaaaaay?
Just a fundamentally unserious chapter in critiquing technology, and a waste of time and organizing energy that could go to building the counter power against the mega wealth #AI is about to concentrate in the hands of seriously bad dudes
I keep bringing this up in replies, and people keep dismissing me. So I'm going to say it in my own post, and hope for a real conversation.
There is currently a raging debate about whether the ability of current AI systems to imitate human creativity indicates incipient sentience. This is a hard case to make, as current AI is just big predictive models based on training data.
What if instead this indicates that we humans are mostly big predictive models based on training data?
It's the weekend so let's all comment below with our weekend plans and what we're all going to do.
For me, I'll be having lunch with my cousin and her two daughters and my wife. My cousin and I haven't seen each other since Thanksgiving, so that will be nice.
The rest of the day will likely just be relaxing and laying on the new couch to catch up on some TV shows we're behind on.
Remember the 22 word statement about #AI and human extinction & such? Its originator, the founder of, wait for it, the center for AI "Safety" says
"Natural selection disfavors individuals who stop caring about acquiring more resources and expanding their influence. The individuals who always want more are selected for."
Yea what we need to do is "build bridges" and "talk it out" with these people 🙄 next day after the "statements" he joins Elmo's grift, XAI or whatever bullshit its called.
Jokes aside, it was bad before but now I have completely given up on buying ebooks or go through Kindle Unlimited as a result. Instead, I do it the slow way, via Goodreads or social media recommendations. That's the only way I know to cut through the noise, and I feel bad for the #WritingCommunity because they have to battle through this trash to be found 😔
AI and Coding.
How reliable is AI lke ChatGPT in giving you code that you request?
AI Lie: Machines Don’t Learn Like Humans (And Don’t Have the Right To) (www.tomshardware.com)
Some argue that bots should be entitled to ingest any content they see, because people can.
Robots say they won't steal jobs, rebel against humans (www.reuters.com)
Robots presented at an AI forum said on Friday they expected to increase in number and help solve global problems, and would not steal humans' jobs or rebel against us.
Would you transfer your consciousness to a robot for immortality?
I wouldn't. Immortality sounds miserable to me.