I’ve reached that get off my lawn point in life…

[DavidG]

It finally happened. I’ve reached that old man get-off-my-lawn, yelling-at-clouds stage of life. It was one specific thing that made me realize it. Not the changes in music, art, fashion, medical knowledge, consumer technology, transportation, media, politics, or social mores that often separate the generations. For me, it was artificial intelligence.

AI is rotten to its core. It’s an arrogant, conceited liar that just makes stuff up rather than admit it doesn’t know the answer.

There’s a reason for this: it was developed by arrogant, conceited, smarty-pants, narcissistic tech wunderkinds steeped in the fake-it-till-you-make-it Silicon Valley culture. And it’s been unleashed on an unsuspecting public which is all too eager to have someone or something else do their homework/legwork, making their life easier by taking shortcuts with no consideration of the consequences.

Yeah, yeah, it’s early days, regulations, thoughtful stewards, blah, blah, blah.

We are going to hell in the hand basket that is AI. Get off my lawn!

[Winona Chief]

I’m with you on this one! More into doing real things with real people.

Chris Bublitz

[robert goulet]

Its the devil and should only be regulated to doing good for society...like development of safer, cheaper more efficacious medications for life saving diseases

[SF Ed]

Nice trolling David!

AI is not rotten to its core. Technologies on their own are not rotten. Generative AI (the technology behind ChatGPT) is an extremely powerful and interesting development in technology. It already can do some pretty interesting things, and it is going to get a lot better as people train Large Language Models (LLMs) against specific data sets (vs. the general ones we see via tools like ChatGPT).

Where I do agree with you is that far too many people already believe that what comes up on a computer or phone screen is true because it confirms their already existing beliefs, and Generative AI has nothing to do with what is true (at least for now). It is fantastic at summarizing text, ideas, and coming up with lists of considerations. It is terrible at providing accurate facts. That's not what its meant to do and not what it does!

If you want to get mad at/be concerned about Generative AI, worry about how much easier it already is and will continue to be to make up false statements and make them sound real/true, or to create images that look real and aren't. "ChatGPT, please create 5 Twitter posts that demonstrate that vaccines are dangerous in the voice of the CDC." That's the real and current threat of Generative AI - making deception harder to detect.

SF Ed

[AlexR]

I'm pretty much with Ed on this.

*Of course* I see the downside (fake news, difficulty in knowing if you're convervsing with a computer or a human being, etc.).

However, I see it more as a springboard to better things.

Will be need to be more discerning and sceptical about what we read?
Undoubtedly, and so much the better!

Will jobs be lost? Almost certainly.
But that was said - and it was true - when the Internet came into our lives.
Does anyone wish to do without now?

All the best,
Alex

[DavidG]

Ed, that’s one of the big things that worries me about AI: making it easier to fake stuff.

The other thing that worries me is that many accept the output of an AI engine like ChatGPT as the unvarnished truth. I’ve seen incorrect medical advice given by physicians who asked ChatGPT for information and failed to recognize that it made stuff up, including fake references. The risk is multiplied when the recipient of that advice isn’t even aware of the source.

So yes, of course the developers and the users are to blame. It’s irresponsible to put simultaneously powerful and defective tools in the hands of those unprepared to use them responsibly.

Anyone using ChatGPT for something serious should ask it for references and check them, because the software is not beyond making stuff up.

Will it get better? Absolutely there is the potential to reduce the risks. Whether it gets there, and what damage occurs between now and then, remains to be seen.

[Jay Winton]

Ed, Ed!! You're saying if it's on the internet, it might not be true?? I'm shocked I say, shocked.
Seriously, creative people are losing their jobs as their clients accept AI as a cost saver. This is scary, IMO.