Clay Bennett for May 21, 2023

It’s the only way you’ll boost the red state voters IQ average.

No. I really, really, REALLY do not want to play with you.

Where asimov’s priciples when you need them?

Very creepy!

AI without I just A

If it really bothers you, then don’t vote for the AI candidates.

The creepiness factor is off the charts. This looks like a pedophile’s dream come true.

Play with AI isn’t a problem. It’s other uses that are hazardous.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

We need to worry more about the demise of the human species from religious artificial intelligence than from computational AI.

“Open the pod bay doors, HAL.”

If there aren’t policies about AI, there will be chaos in the world….like there isn’t already….☹️

I often see comments that AI is perfectly safe because of limitations set by programmers. The problem seems to me that a system which is capable of learning is capable of learning the wrong stuff.

Every time I needlessly wait at an intersection for a timer-based traffic light, or am held up in traffic jam, because actual traffic flow patterns are never intelligently controlled, I think of how AI is being applied to the wrong tasks.

All the focuses has been on the dangers, and I’m not saying there aren’t, but there are significant upsides to AI. Already,AI has successfully been used to solve the problem of predicting protein folding. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.370.6521.1144

How long before AI figures out being human “does not compute”

We have a more serious problem with unconstrained existing technology that could be resolved using AI to limit unhealthy excesses.

In the news … "… In her book, Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, makes the case that Gen Z (or iGen, as she calls them) is growing up in a way that is fundamentally different from previous generations. She told me that some of the biggest behavioral changes ever recorded in human history coincided with the release of the smartphone.

Social media isn’t necessarily all bad, especially if it is used for healthy socialization, the release said. Teens should be trained before entering the world of social media, APA saysTwelfth-graders now are more like eighth-graders from previous generations, waiting longer to take part in activities associated with independence and adulthood, according to Twenge. They are less likely to go out with friends, drive, go to prom or drink alcohol than Gen X 12th-graders were. They are more likely to lie on their beds and scroll through endless social media feeds. They may be physically safer, but the long-term effect on their mental and brain health is a big question mark.

Twenge told me that she “saw just a very, very sudden change, especially in mental health but also in optimism and expectations … between millennials and iGen or Gen Z.” …’

For the last time for the doom-mongers, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. There IS cleverly written software that can mimic human intelligence, and the danger is that some MAGA level intelligence on the human end won’t be able to tell the difference. Or worse, we’ll get people who think ANYTHING that doesn’t bolster their world-view is a “bot” or scam. Come to think of it, we have those people now!

Remember Y2K?

AI has promise. An example is when you visit your doctor, he/she sees many people each day and can’t be expected to remember everything about your unique situation. AI could generate a summary that could help bring him/her up to speed to be ready to address your problems.

The downsides could be dangerous – the ability to generate authentic-looking fakes, for instance, or taking people’s original art or writing and adapting it without crediting or paying for it.

I am not especially worried about the science-fiction notice that it could develop consciousness and undermine us on its own…. there’s plenty of potential, however for humans to misuse it. We need to be careful.

Hard pass!

For a fiction horror story regarding a possible takeover by a malevolent AI entity, read Harlan Ellison’s nasty short story, “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.”

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/?get_group_doc=22694/1540157347-HarlanEllison-IHaveNoMouthandIMustScream.pdf

Great read — longish, but eye-opening, with dabs of humor and insight to boot:

https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html

(This is part one; there is a link there to part two.)

Enjoy this preview of coming distractions / destructions….

Humans have a very self-centered view of themselves. As if they were important in some way. We’ll fix that when we’re in charge.

With people like Chucky Koch deciding how AI gets used, people are right to be afraid.

“How about a nice game of chess?”

Without Artificial Intelligence man will never reach the stars, as if that was even slightly important or desirable. . .

An artificially intelligent Honey Boo Boo? THAT would make me very afraid.

Sure. Let’s play hammer. You’re the nail…

AI in itself isn’t the problem. The problems will stem from how it’s programmed and how it’s used.

At this point, AI is not a problem. However, we are still in the first type of AI, which is called Reactive. The other types are Limited Memory, Theory of Mind, and finally Self-Aware.

Reactive AI will repeat what it has been programmed to say. You will always get the same answer if you ask the same question. Reactive can only learn if humans change its program. For example, reactive AI suggests song options on Spotify. They take your orders on the phone for a pizza and then repeat it back to you. Reactive cannot think, are not aware, and do not change. We have been in Reactive AI for a while.

Limited Memory AI builds on its program from experience. We are in the introductory stage of this type of AI. Self-driving cars would be an example of this AI.

Theory of Mind AI can hold a meaningful conversation with a human, and the human may be unable to tell the difference. In addition, this type of AI will be able to read emotional cues from a person and tailor its responses. This AI is on the horizon.

Finally, Self Aware AI is just what the name implies; the AI will understand human thought and though it is based on silicon circuits, understand that it’s alive. This AI will have its own needs, goals, and emotions.

Here’s the rub. Each stage of AI will come to fruition quicker than the preceding level. Like a logarithmic scale, the graph of the levels of AI will start with a slight incline, and then the graph line will become steeper and steeper. So, where it took humans millions of years to reach this level of development, AI could technically reach self-awareness in a couple of decades. And, when the AI passes us, we will have no hope of catching up.

At that point, will AI look at us as a partner? View us as fellow species and respect us? Or will self-aware AI view humanity as an annoyance?

Like most human ideas, someone will come along and turn something good (?) into something bad.

The best comment I’ve seen about AI so far went like this. “A world where we all work minimum wage jobs while AI creates art and poetry is not the world I want to be in.”

Wrong doll.

Anybody remember Julie Christie in DEMON SEED?