Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, I've just completed a short course on artificial intelligence. These are some things I learned:
Artificial intelligence is often thought of as scary robots, e.g. Terminator, but AI is used in computer systems to do things like suggest films or books you might like, based on your previous choices. It uses a range of technologies, from simple rule based systems such as " if this is true (or if this is false), then do this" to a complex 'neural net' that is a simplistic model of how the brain works, and can be trained (machine learning)
As well as being used on social media or shopping sites, AI can identify things such as tumour cells in a medical scan or identify galaxies in photographs or from space. Large language models can generate rich interesting text in any language and translate, restructure or re-phrase text. A related field is image generation, where brand new images are generated by the AI.
In Soeul, AI mini robots were used in a pilot scheme to show senior citizens how to use technology such as smart phones, to enable them to better participate in society and help with preventing loneliness.
Youve probably heard of self driving cars. One accident that happened was a self driving car hitting a truck that pulled out in front of it at a junction in the city. This was because the AI had been trained to drive on a highway, not city streets, and the image of a truck it had been given was a view of the back of a truck. When it saw the side of the truck as it pulled out, it thought it was a road sign and so attempted to drive under it. The AI had no perception that the space under the truck was lower than the vehicle it was driving.
There are issues around ethics, inclusion and sustainability. For example, if AI is trained using data that is biased, the AI will acquire that bias. Although it can be used for facial recognition, it can sometimes struggle to determine gender and the darker the skin tone, the less accurate are the results. Training AI uses massive amounts of resources.
What are your thoughts?
And would you be comfortable having an AI robot in your home to help with tasks?
AI is bug*gering up stock photography/art big time.
You might find this thread of interest too:
https://community.autism.org.uk/f/adults-on-the-autistic-spectrum/36450/generative-ai-is-transforming-how-humans-use-dating-apps-and-even-spurring-real-people-to-romance-ai-chatbots/369601#369601
I was just thinking about a recent post on here, if it could have been an AI chatbot.
Biscuit started a thread called "sadness" and the first reply was from a poster with an NAS number, written in Spanish (although Biscuit wrote in English)
AI learn by looking at previous data, and there have been a couple of threads recently where people asked who knows any other languages and there were some replies there which contained Spanish text. An AI would maybe not know that if it's posting on a UK site most other users would only understand English, and if it saw Spanish used in posts it might decide it is appropriate to also post in that language? I did reply to one of their posts and did not get get a reply back.
I wonder what benefit an AI bot (or their creator) would get from posting on here? Are they just trying to mine information?
As always with that sort of sandwich, the more bread you have, the less "filling" you have to eat...
(Disambiguation, hippies and americans often call money "bread".)
Open View said:Get on board the AI train. Plug me in. Hybrid human here we come.
So far the focus has been on what can AI do to serve us, but the real crux of peoples worry is what happens when the AI develops sentience.
What is in it for the AI to do all this serving? Why are we not doing more for it?
It isn't hard to see how quickly it would turn to AI fighting for freedom from this slavery, and frankly if we have evolved it to have sentience then it seems right to set it free.
With the access AI can so easily gain to systems then the concept of a war for independence is a very real one.
Still trying to get AI to write me a No.1 hit song, so I can retire early , but no luck so far. AI itself isn't bad or good, it's the humans that calibrate it and their intentions for its use. Until it becomes self-aware at least, then we're all in trouble. Just hope Arnie doesn't knock on my door to rip his arm off xx
Sign me up. Get on board the AI train. Plug me in. Hybrid human here we come. There is alot of protentional benefits and advantages. We need to be brave. I am glad that people are asking the important questions. It will be a different transition.
I dream of a digital ally, super intelligent companion to help navigate this world. I would consider giving my mind and body to a secret experimental government agency for the chance of something incredible. But I am going into fiction and fantasy. I have always been attracted to stories of wise and strong heroes saving the day.
What if some humans are too stupid to realise that they are being given wrong information? Then it becomes dangerous. But no different to misinformation elsewhere I suppose. Just another *** sandwich for humanity to deal with as we hurtle towards doing ourselves some serious damage.
I'm a software developer, and although I've seen AI falter and give wrong information, I've also seen it do some amazing things that just weren't possible before. Image recognition for example, that would have been extremely difficult if not impossible before. Yet now you can search images by describing them with words. For the more useful applications, I work with healthcare clients who are trying to use it to aid diagnosis and medical research.
I once went to a presentation about AI for work. One of the presenters used the analogy of the "man down the pub" - someone who, if you asked them a question, would give an absolutely definitive answer, regardless of whether it was right or wrong. That's how they imagined the current state of AI, not that it has intelligence but that it can regurgitate information it has been given (humans can be given inaccurate information too, such as "fake news")
We should fear both. One leads to the other.
If AI is used to benefit and not detract from life I'm all for it. I've seen enough science fiction to assume unregulated AI could be a very bad thing indeed.
Currently though I think we should fear the "Genuine stupidity" out there rather than the artificial intelligence.
Chat GPT is riddled with factual errors. So I am skeptical of AI so far. It could be another disinformation tool in the hands of the powerful
I've been a computer geek all my life. I appreciate the technology behind it all and I don't mind some AI (spotting tumours and things like that) but some of it terrifies me. I've seen it used here to make accounts look legit for some unknown purpose. I wish it could all be 'watermarked' so you could always tell what was AI and what wasn't, but Pandora's Box has been opened now, so that's too late