Invasive AI

[Jacob Petersheim]

One useful part of some current "AI products" is that many of them are good at converting a question into queries and using those to build and return "an answer." Of course you still need to verify with other manual searching or at least following cited source links for the original material.

But one big difference between that and careful use of the old less "editorial" Google is that back a decade when Google was "cleaner" not as much information had been paywalled. These AI bots seem to have better access though though walls to fetch data than you have yourself any more.


As for email platforms spitting out "AI summaries" of email messages though... I'm more unimpressed because of the flaws in the summary than outraged about any of it. There they have less to chew on, and I think that makes it hard for them to produce useful results. That might be a temporary fad that fades away soon.

 

[John Brunner]

Smart...

I've read of experiences where users say that AI does a real good job of writing the core of resumes, annual self-assessment reviews, project reports, technical documents, etc. Apparently, it gives a perspective and content that the humans never considered, maybe because of the functionally infinite sources it draws upon. Of course, the output needs to be cleaned up, but I understand that the required human tweaks are minor. One would assume that you must have a foundation of knowledge in the subject matter so as to assess the accuracy of the output, but I've not heard of anything being grossly inaccurate except for sociopolitical stuff.

I've never played with it.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

If you like to waste time watching YouTube videos, did you ever notice that AI Narration is used extensively, and that depending on what software is used, a lot of it has serious problems pronouncing names properly, and specially tribal names. But some AI has it's merits. You can make some great music with the right software. I particularly like this AI tune...

 

[John Brunner]

I'm reading that AI is taking over a lot of the arts. Folks are saying that people will only continue to write poetry, novels and screenplays for their own self-fulfillment, while AI shall churn out all the commercial stuff.

It's taking over Customer Service Call Centers, and by many reports, it's doing a far superior job of it than the language-barrier ones in India, the Philippines, South America, etc. It's also taking over software development. I was reading an article saying that suicides among India's tech workers is "of concern," as the stress of 90 hour work weeks and the specter of losing their jobs is taking its toll. Link

As a side note, England recently signed a Free Trade deal with India in hopes of increasing England's exports to that nation, and to get more service contracts. But if India is swirling the toilet, fewer British goods (and services) are going to be consumed...all due to AI.

 

[April Vee]

I didnt realise Yahoo is doing it also!!

 

[John Brunner]

I didnt realise Yahoo is doing it also!!

I get email notifications when someone posts a reply to a Thread I am Watching. Here is the Yahoo AI Summary of the notification for one of your replies:

It feels intrusive seeing it, but the fact is they can do it whether or not they display the summery for me to see.

 

[Hedi Mitchell]

I do not like it either, however asking it something and getting an answer is quicker for me than always using search.
For me, I just tell it - hey go back to sleep I will let you know when I need you

 

[John Brunner]

I do not like it either, however asking it something and getting an answer is quicker for me than always using search.
For me, I just tell it - hey go back to sleep I will let you know when I need you

The thing is that it's always listening to everything you say, if that is an issue for you (and if you're talking about Alexa.) Amazon claims they only record your Alexa "conversations" (and they are being recorded), but I have a low trust level. People have stumbled across conversations others are having in the [lost] privacy of their own homes.

Here's an Amazon Customer Service article on managing your Alexa recordings that they have saved in their system. Link

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I think people often worry about the wrong things.

AI alarmism is perhaps another distraction psyop. In the meantime creeping Marxism threatens to muzzle us and shackle us into stanchions and milk us dry.

 

[John Brunner]

I think people often worry about the wrong things.

AI alarmism is perhaps another distraction psyop. In the meantime creeping Marxism threatens to muzzle us and shackle us into stanchions and milk us dry.

That's entirely possible. Folks have been saying the same thing over the Epstein "files." Or it could all be real problems on top of the creeping accelerating Marxism.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

AI can be useful, but not when we allow it to replace our brains or when it's used to deceive. In my web directory job, I use AI to review websites we list because it can do in a split second what it would take me a few minutes, and sometimes longer, to do, but I don't let AI write the description for me, as my employer is paying me to do that, and because good category and site descriptions are what determines the value of web directory pages, and search engines are capable of diffrentiating AI content from that written by human beings. A reasonable use of AI would be to gather information, but we should still interpret that information and question any part that doesn't make sense, because AI does make stuff up from time to time. The AI thought process seems to be that it will do whatever it's told to do even if it has to lie.

But does it concern you that AI will simply replace you at some point?

 

[Beth Gallagher]

I think people often worry about the wrong things.

AI alarmism is perhaps another distraction psyop. In the meantime creeping Marxism threatens to muzzle us and shackle us into stanchions and milk us dry.

Speaking for myself, I am not "alarmed" or "worried" in the least. I am ANNOYED that AI has invaded my email to provide summaries that I never asked for or agreed to. I am still capable of reading an email and "interpreting" what is said by my friends. Good grief.

I don't care if google reads my emails or listens to what I say; I just can't imagine why they care what a crabby grandma is bitching about today.

 

[John Brunner]

Speaking for myself, I am not "alarmed" or "worried" in the least. I am ANNOYED that AI has invaded my email to provide summaries that I never asked for or agreed to. I am still capable of reading an email and "interpreting" what is said by my friends. Good grief.

I don't care if google reads my emails or listens to what I say; I just can't imagine why they care what a crabby grandma is bitching about today.

I bet a lot of folks who are still in the workforce are alarmed.

 

[Marie Mallory]

If you like to waste time watching YouTube videos, did you ever notice that AI Narration is used extensively, and that depending on what software is used, a lot of it has serious problems pronouncing names properly, and specially tribal names. But some AI has it's merits. You can make some great music with the right software. I particularly like this AI tune...

Maybe it was a rubber biscuit?
Ever hear this 1956 song about those?

 

[Ed Wilson]

"Artificial intelligence" seems like an oxymoron to me. Intelligence implies creativity, but artificial intelligence is just copying an re-wording.

 

[Ken Anderson]

But does it concern you that AI will simply replace you at some point?

Of course it does, but it's not like I can do anything about it.

 

[John Brunner]

"Artificial intelligence" seems like an oxymoron to me. Intelligence implies creativity, but artificial intelligence is just copying an re-wording.

I agree. That's the problem with it. It aggregates existing information: the good, the bad and the ugly. As most of us know, some number of lawyers have gotten into trouble for submitting Briefs that contain references to non-existent statutes. So you gotta wonder if AI found that pile of poop somewhere, or if it just made things up to please the requester.

As most folks have observed, AI is great for doing leg work on behalf of someone who has "knowledge of the subject" and can review for quality and accuracy. It often presents data and a perspective the requester was unaware of or did not consider. But the source of "knowledge on the subject" is getting eroded. Newspapers were never pure. Television was never pure. The internet was never pure. Education systems (which are our touchstone for fact) may have been at one point, but that's gone.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

It's gotten so bad that if you post on Reddit using correct grammar and punctuation, people accuse you of using AI. The "wut r u up 2 lol" crowd can't deal.

 

[John Brunner]

It's gotten so bad that if you post on Reddit using correct grammar and punctuation, people accuse you of using AI. The "wut r u up 2 lol" crowd can't deal.

Idiocracy was a documentary.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

The "wut r u up 2 lol" crowd can't deal.

That is because they are too lazy to learn how to read and write properly. I ignore people who write like that, because I consider it to not be Artificial Intelligence, but Natural Stupidity.

However, whenever someone actually asked that question properly, "What are you up to?", my response ever since I was about 12 was "About 6'2", the last time I checked." But now, either the heels of my shoes are lower, or I'm one of the Shrinking Men. I'm only 6'1" now.