Artificial intelligence discussion

Neither would I

Id argue it's going to change all jobs. I'm 20 years into my career now and very much invested in it so changing now is a difficult task, but I'm doing my best to find a way through. Touch to pay bills and retrain though

A said:

I would not count on Elon supporting a humane transition

It isn't often you hear Elon and humane in the same sentence LOL

JT said:

The only part I really care about is the transition from where we are now to AI doing all the jobs.

Find a field where AI cannot do the job.

I've moved into property development as AI can't plumb, install electrics, plaster, build a partition wall or eat all the owners biscuits at tea break.

I don't need to interact with people much either which is a bonus, but if you don't like unpredictability and loud noises / mess then it probably isn't for you.

My last job was preparing a multi billion pound companies IT support service for replacement by AI so I most certainly saw the writing on the wall.

I would not count on Elon supporting a humane transition 

Yes, it may be time to stop stigmatisong and punishing the unemployed. 

The only part I really care about is the transition from where we are now to AI doing all the jobs. Why aren't governments putting plans into place for the impending purging of staff as AI Hoovers up the work??

I am very worried about this phase

I also did a module in creating AI systems as part of a computing course.

Although AI can be useful.  The big problem is that it lacks compassion,  intuition and common sense.

The classic problem was how an AI system and a human doctor would identify a dead body.  A human doctor would come to the conclusion almost instantly.   An AI system would ask question after question trying various hypothesis to figure out a possible illness.

A said:

Now, how do you feel about people like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos having thousands or millions of brains vastly smarter than Einstein under their control? Imagine what they’d do with that.

Amodei thinks we have less than 18 months.

What all this means is that o3 (which already exists but hasn’t been released) will likely be capable of generating prize-winning novels, musical compositions and scientific discoveries.

Dario Amodei (CEO of Anthropic) used this analogy - imagine a data centre full of instances of a system like this. It would be like having an entire country of geniuses at your finger tips.

Now, how do you feel about people like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos having thousands or millions of brains vastly smarter than Einstein under their control? Imagine what they’d do with that.

Amodei thinks we have less than 18 months.

I totally agree with all of these points 

I think it has its place, it's already used to undertake certain kinds of precision surgery. 

The question will always be making sure we use it rather than being a slave to it. In many countries, Smartphones are being banned from classrooms because of the potential for contrant distraction they bring for kids. Tablets with no access to the internet might be a way they could be used better in the classroom, for example. Or with an intranet exclusive to the school.

Robots in the house? Well. I  could already go out and get a robot vacuum leaner today if I wanted. Robots would have to be better coordinated to do much more though. 

I do get mad when I hear about humanoid robots selling their artwork or tens of thousands of dollars, when I can only sell mine, refined after decades of practise, for peanuts because I don't have enough of a Name, and am mainly self taught. But the same goes for animal artists. I've half a mind to rebrand myself as a pig, or an elephant. I could make me a nice dangling trunk and reidentify. I could rebrand as a robot dog even! The possibilities are boundless! I could tape a rotten banana skin to the wall on my next Exhibition! And no, I wouldn't be interested in coming out as neurotypical, with all the condescension that would bring. 

Casting pearls before swine, and yes I know that artistic self expression is often a spiritual thing. 

The big question of SF is again, will the robotorcsentient computer become a Frankenstein monster, or will they become infused with the divine spark? Some scientists fear that in the case of A1 we are already there. 

Interesting times then. 

I’m not sure the word “intelligence” applies to the current system.

A said:

I think the forum admins could do with some help from a decent AI.

Or can't they just contact the provider about the one in use?

Too simple perhaps

I think the forum admins could do with some help from a decent AI.

AI to my mind has a very specific definition. I remember in the early 2000's when I undertook my A Level in Computing, the defintion of AI was far tighter than it appears to be today. Of course back then, we were also taught to print off hard copies of our code, so I know that times have moved on somewhat!

I still largely hold true the axoim that no computer program will ever be smarter or more intelligent than the developer(s). 

The main problem I have with more modern attempts at AI is that they are largely built from questionable practices. I know for example that the books I have published were used in part of the libraries of information used to train a well known LLM. That is unquestionable an illegal use of copyrighted materials. Such systems then in my opinion simply should be shut down immediately. They were developed unethically and cannot be without bias and can never be used ethically.

Similarly to that, let's imagine AI for self-driving cars. Are we as a society mature enough to have a conversation about the ethical choices that an AI driven car may have to make. Let's imagine the busy road. There is an accident ahead, a cyclist on in the lane to the right, and a pedestrian on the pavement to the left. The only way to protect the car is to swerve left or right. What level of decision making are we as a society comfortable with. Do we program these vehicles to always endanger the pedestrians? The cyclist? Or do we program them to destroy themselves and compound the accident ahead?

I don't think society in the UK, USA, or Europe is mature enough or tech aware enough to make that choice well. 

AI - of any stripe, must be developed according to incredibly high ethical standards. Standards that are applied to few, if any companies in the western world today. As a result, I don't believe that human civilisation is capable of utilising such technology and this I would rather have it banned entirely.

IrishInManchesterUK said:

Some of the reasons I have for my total opposition to AI and all advances in science and technology is that, as we have all seen in the past, it always falls into the wrong hands and is always used for evil purposes

If you apply this logic to the earliest technological advances then society would remain living in caves.

The earliest technology - fire - was corrupted and used to burn down buildings, set fire to crops and even burn people on the cross (think of the Salem witch trials)

Bow and arrows were great for hunting but soon corrupted to be a weapon of war.

Buildings gave shelter but also became prisons.

Fabrics kept us warm and dry but could also be made into straightjackets and restraints.

Injections can be used to cure a disease or cause it.

Organised religion (not belief mind you) can be used to enlighten or subjigate whole populations of people.

Any invention / discovery can be used for good or bad purposes. Trying to cancel it will only negate all the good it can do and unfortunately it is easily demonstrated that mankind will always find ways to pervert the use of the inventions.

Blame the workman, not the tool.

Thanks for the info.

A said:

I thought  the first day of a new year might be a good time to revisit this.

I'm just replying A so that this is bumped back up as your response has appeared (which I find fascinating).

I should think you are now released from spam prison as this post has been approved.

Number said:

I'm missing you Uhane.

She has told me that if anyone has her email address contact would be much appreciated.

She is quite unwell and said it is ok to share this information without details.