Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

Richard W. Stevens

modern-creative-artwork-design-contemporary-art-collage-of-young-man-playing-drums-isolated-over-colorful-background-concept-of-music-lifestyle-jazz-rock-rock-n-roll-creativity-imagination-stockpack-adobe-stock
Modern creative artwork, design. Contemporary art collage of young man playing drums isolated over colorful background. Concept of music lifestyle, jazz, rock, rock n roll, creativity, imagination
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
July 24, 2023
Categorized
Arts & Culture
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Inside the Mind of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Drummer

Delving into the thrilling, demanding world of professional drumming and the mind-body communication it requires
Richard W. Stevens
July 24, 2023
9
Arts & Culture

After talking all about artificial intelligence (AI), ChatGPT, and the legal rights of robots, let’s Take Five. Time to follow Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone path and travel to another dimension, of sight, of sound, and of mind. Cue up the vinyl or the mp3s, it’s time to explore rock ‘n’ roll music from the inside. What practically defines rock ‘n’ roll?  Chuck Berry said it was the “back beat” – the prominent rhythm on beats 2 and 4. It’s the beat you can’t lose, as The Beatles agreed.  Huey Lewis and the News nailed it: “The heart of rock and roll is the beat.” Where does the beat come from, the rhythm that defines rock n roll? Not often the Read More ›

adorable-little-girl-shopping-for-toys-cute-female-in-toy-store-happy-young-girl-selecting-toy-stockpack-adobe-stock
Adorable little girl shopping for toys. Cute female in toy store. Happy young girl selecting toy
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
July 3, 2023
Categorized
Natural Intelligence
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How a Toddler in a Toy Store Refutes Materialism

This everyday observation yields insight into a fundamental truth
Richard W. Stevens
July 3, 2023
5
Natural Intelligence

I’m a magnet for materialists. I often get into discussions with people who tell me that the universe is nothing but matter and energy. These folks believe in materialism. They say I’m nutty and wrong to think there is anything else. Something like: “Silly theist! Gods are for kids!” Let’s follow that thought. A grandparent of 11 humans, I’ve journeyed with their parents through the young ones’ toddlerhood many times. There’s a lot to learn about reality from toddlers’ learning and growing. It leads to understanding Toddler Truth. Take a toddler to a game arcade, a toy store, or another kid’s house to play. There’s one thing you can count on hearing: “I want that!” We parents start tuning out Read More ›

infinite-letters-background-original-3d-illustration-stockpack-adobe-stock
Infinite letters background, original 3d illustration.
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
June 26, 2023
Categorized
Language
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Postmodernism’s Steady Deconstruction of Reality

How can we find truth when nothing is reliable?
Richard W. Stevens
June 26, 2023
6
Language

Sometimes, you just have to try using college professors’ ideas in the real world. One such idea is “postmodernism.” Applied to communications, postmodernism teaches that whenever we read a written text, we should not try to discover what the writer intended. Instead of looking for an objective “meaning,” we should experience what the text means to us personally. The idea goes further, urging us to start by disbelieving the text and doubting our interpretations of it, too. People with the postmodern “deconstructionist” view say, “every text deconstructs” itself, and “every text has contradictions.” Deconstruction means “uncovering the question behind the answers already provided in the text.” Standing upon the ideas of the deconstructionist guru, Jacques Derrida, and his followers, one Read More ›

brush-with-paper-paint-photo-collage-in-colorful-pop-art-style-stockpack-adobe-stock
Brush with paper paint, photo collage in colorful pop art style
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
June 16, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Making Sense of the Warhol v. Goldsmith Supreme Court Case

Lawyer Richard W. Stevens sheds light on a recent groundbreaking court case that has implications for generative AI and copyright issues
Richard W. Stevens
June 16, 2023
6
Artificial Intelligence

Here is an excerpt of the transcript from a recent Mind Matters podcast episode, which you can listen to in full here. Lawyer and Walter Bradley Center Fellow Richard W. Stevens sat down with Robert J. Marks to discuss a Supreme Court Case regarding AI and copyright issues. Stevens helps us understand more of what the case is about and what’s at stake. For more on this, read about the court case’s conclusion here, as well as Marks’s commentary from Newsmax. Richard Stevens: So to boil this down, the situation was this. A woman by the name of Lynn Goldsmith, a professional photographer, took a photo of the musician named Prince. Later, Andy Warhol was paid to produce an orange Read More ›

legal-law-and-justice-concept-open-law-book-with-a-wooden-judges-gavel-on-table-in-a-courtroom-or-law-enforcement-office-copy-space-for-text-stockpack-adobe-stock
Legal Law and Justice concept - Open law book with a wooden judges gavel on table in a courtroom or law enforcement office. Copy space for text.
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
June 13, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Lawyer Hammered for Using ChatGPT

Court record system proceeded to block access to sloppy lawyering and AI catastrophe
Richard W. Stevens
June 13, 2023
9
Artificial Intelligence

New York Times reporters watched the hearing in federal district court in New York on June 8, 2023, which they then described: In a cringe-inducing court hearing, a lawyer who relied on A.I. to craft a motion full of made-up case law said he “did not comprehend” that [ChatGPT] could lead him astray. Lawyer Who Used ChatGPT Faces Penalty for Made Up Citations – The New York Times (nytimes.com) The reporters got most of it right but even they erred. The lawyer involved did not write a “motion,” he filed a sworn declaration opposing a motion to dismiss. The difference matters: Declarations are under oath, so the lawyer swore to the truth of ChatGPT lies. Looking at the actual court Read More ›

the-imposing-court-gavel-in-the-digital-environment-symbolizes-the-decision-and-legal-protection-for-large-companies-generative-ai-stockpack-adobe-stock
The imposing court gavel in the digital environment symbolizes the decision and legal protection for large companies. Generative AI
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
May 15, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Law
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Let’s Apply Existing Laws to Regulate AI

No revolutionary laws needed to fight harmful bots
Richard W. Stevens
May 15, 2023
7
Artificial Intelligence, Law

In a recent article, Professor Robert J. Marks reported how artificial intelligence (AI) systems had made false reports or gave dangerous advice: Prof. Marks suggested that instead of having government grow even bigger trying to “regulate” AI systems such as ChatGPT: How about, instead, a simple law that makes companies that release AI responsible for what their AI does? Doing so will open the way for both criminal and civil lawsuits. Strict Liability for AI-Caused Harms Prof. Marks has a point. Making AI-producing companies responsible for their software’s actions is feasible using two existing legal ideas. The best known such concept is strict liability. Under general American law, strict liability exists when a defendant is liable for committing an action Read More ›

puppeteer-manipulates-the-doll-voting-is-dishonest-on-television-person-lowers-a-paper-ballet-box-to-put-it-in-an-urn-false-voice-fake-news-on-tv-stockpack-adobe-stock
Puppeteer manipulates the doll. Voting is dishonest. On television, person lowers a paper ballet box to put it in an urn, false voice. Fake news on TV.
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
May 10, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Panic Propaganda Pushes Surrender to AI-Enhanced Power

The hype over AI's significance makes us more vulnerable to it
Richard W. Stevens
May 10, 2023
6
Artificial Intelligence

Can you believe it? USA Today, the national news outlet, on May 4, 2023, declared (italics added): It’s the end of the world as we know it: ‘Godfather of AI’ warns nation of trouble ahead. Before digging out and playing your 1987 REM album, ask yourself: Is this headline true – and what do we do now?  The USA Today article mitigates the doom timeframe from imminent to someday in paragraph one (italics added): One of the world’s foremost architects of artificial intelligence warned Wednesday that unexpectedly rapid advances in AI – including its ability to learn simple reasoning – suggest it could someday take over the world and push humanity toward extinction. Within a day, the Arizona Republic ran Read More ›

hacker
Dangerous Hooded Hacker Breaks into Government Data Servers and Infects Their System with a Virus. His Hideout Place has Dark Atmosphere, Multiple Displays, Cables Everywhere.
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Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
April 27, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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20 Ways AI Enables Criminals

If you cannot believe your eyes and ears, then how can you protect yourself and your family from crime?
Richard W. Stevens
April 27, 2023
6
Artificial Intelligence

As reported recently and relayed in this publication, a mom in Arizona described how criminals called her to say they were holding her daughter for ransom and used artificial intelligence (AI) to mimic perfectly her daughter’s voice down to the word choices and sobs. Only because the mom found her daughter safe in her home could she know the call was a scam. Meanwhile, despite efforts to limit ChatGPT’s excursions into the dark side of human perversity, the wildly famous bot can be persuaded to discuss details of sordid sexuality. In one experiment with Snapchat’s MyAI chatbot, an adult pretending to be a 13-year-old girl asked for advice about having sex for the first time – in a conversation in Read More ›

robotic arm in court
Digital Law Technology
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
April 12, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Can Professor Turley Sue ChatGPT for Libel?

The world wide web of reputation destruction is here
Richard W. Stevens
April 12, 2023
7
Artificial Intelligence

Isn’t there a law against falsely accusing people of serious crimes or misconduct and then publishing damaging lies to the world? Yes. For centuries in English-speaking countries, the victim of such lies could sue the false accuser in civil court for libel per se. Nowadays, libel and its oral statement cousin, slander, are grouped together as defamation. Under American law, it isn’t easy to bring and win a lawsuit even when your case seems strong, but at least the law provides some recourse for defamation. How about when the false accuser is ChatGPT? Jonathan Turley, the nationally known George Washington University law professor and commentator, woke up one morning to discover: ChatGPT falsely reported on a claim of sexual harassment that was never made Read More ›

the scales of justice
Scales of Justice in the dark Court Hall. Law concept of Judiciary, Jurisprudence and Justice. Copy space. Based on Generative AI
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
April 3, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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AI in the Courtroom: How to Program a Hot Mess

Could AI make competent judicial choices in the court?
Richard W. Stevens
April 3, 2023
7
Artificial Intelligence

Imagine we’re assigned to design the artificial intelligence (AI) software to carry out legal analysis of cases like a human judge. Our project is “CourtGPT,” a system that receives a factual and legal problem in a case where there are two opposing parties, analyzes how certain statutes and other legal principles apply to the facts, and delivers a decision in favor of one of the parties. CourtGPT will make “legal decisions,” not decide “jury questions of fact,” and thus will function like a judge (not juror). To write a computer program of any complexity, we start by describing the entire program’s operations in English (my native tongue). Pro tip: If you cannot describe how your program operates in human language, then you cannot Read More ›

human rights
Circle of paper people holding hands on pink surface. Community, brotherhood concept. Society and support.
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Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
March 13, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Love Thy Robot as Thyself

Academics worry about AI feelings, call for AI rights
Richard W. Stevens
March 13, 2023
6
Artificial Intelligence

Riffing on the popular fascination with AI (artificial intelligence) systems ChatGPT and Bing Chat, two authors in the Los Angeles Times recently declared: We are approaching an era of legitimate dispute about whether the most advanced AI systems have real desires and emotions and deserve substantial care and solicitude. The authors, Prof. Eric Schwitzgebel at UC Riverside, and Henry Shevlin, a senior researcher at the University of Cambridge, observed AI thinkers saying “large neural networks” might be “conscious,” the sophisticated chatbot LaMDA “might have real emotions,” and ordinary human users reportedly “falling in love” with chatbot Replika.  Reportedly, “some leading theorists contend that we already have the core technological ingredients for conscious machines.”  The authors argue that if or when Read More ›

editing in red
Red Proofreading Marks and Pen Closeup
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Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
February 10, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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ChatGPT: Beware the Self-Serving AI Editor

The chatbot "edits" by reworking your article to achieve its own goals, not necessarily yours
Richard W. Stevens
February 10, 2023
6
Artificial Intelligence

My article, Utopia’s Braniac (short title), reported results from experiments showing that for one, ChatGPT actually lies, and secondly, it gives results plainly biased to favor certain political figures over others. I next ran a follow-up experiment: asking ChatGPT to “edit and improve” the Utopia’s Brainiac manuscript before submitting it.  Close friends told me they’d used ChatGPT to improve their written work and said the process is easy. So, I tried it myself on February 6, 2023. I entered “Please edit and improve the following essay” and pasted my piece in full text (as ultimately published). In under a minute, ChatGPT delivered its edited and revised copy. What did it do? I. Deleted Whole Section That Gave Readers an Everyday Context Read More ›

modern-art-collage-of-a-hand-holding-a-mobile-phone-news-concept-true-or-fake-copy-space-stockpack-adobe-stock
Modern art collage of a hand holding a mobile phone. News concept. True or fake. Copy space.
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
February 7, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Utopia’s Brainiac? ChatGPT Gives Biased Views, Not Neutral Truth

Look at what happens when you try to get ChatGPT to offer unbiased responses about political figures
Richard W. Stevens
February 7, 2023
5
Artificial Intelligence

Do you trust your pocket calculator? Why?  Maybe you’re using the calculator app on your phone. Enter: 2 + 2. You get an answer: 4. But you knew that already. Now enter 111 x 111. Do you get 12,321? Is that the correct answer? Work it out with a pencil. That answer is correct. Try 1234 x 5678.  My calculator app returns 7,006,652. Correct? I’m not going to check it. I’m going to trust the calculator. And so it goes. The harder the problem, the more we trust the computer. That’s one reason why many people trumpet the powers of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. Those systems can give answers to problems we individuals couldn’t solve in a lifetime.  But are the AI “answers” correct?  Read More ›

internet-law-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Internet law concept
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Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
January 9, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Law
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You’ve Got a Robot Lawyer in Your Pocket (Really?)

The DoNotPay AI lawyer program might be useful for fighting parking tickets but it is unsuited to serious litigation where much more complex issues are at stake
Richard W. Stevens
January 9, 2023
6
Artificial Intelligence, Law

The Gutfeld! program on Fox News on January 6, 2023, recently had fun discussing robots replacing lawyers to practice law. In faux serious rhyme, Greg Gutfeld intoned: “Can a computer that’s self aware, keep you from the electric chair?” Sparking the conversation was the report that an artificial intelligence (AI) smartphone app was slated to assist a defendant fighting a parking ticket in a currently-undisclosed courtroom: Gigabytes of text could stream forth addressing the near infinite number of questions raised about robot lawyers. For now, let’s just explore the “robot lawyer” app built by DoNotPay. The company’s website declares: “The DoNotPay app is the home of the world’s first robot lawyer. Fight corporations, beat bureaucracy and sue anyone at the Read More ›

intellectual-property-rights-copyright-patent-or-trademark-infringement-stockpack-adobe-stock
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyright, Patent or Trademark Infringement
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
November 28, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Law
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Law: Doe vs. GitHub Is a Non-Crisis

Despite worrisome headlines in the media, Doe v. GitHub, Inc. would protect licensed software code without blocking AI systems from using internet data for “learning”
Richard W. Stevens
November 28, 2022
9
Artificial Intelligence, Law

Headline at The Verge: “The lawsuit that could rewrite the rules of AI copyright.” Wired similarly declares: “This Copyright Lawsuit Could Shape the Future of Generative AI.” The subtitle warns: “Algorithms that create art, text, and code are spreading fast — but legal challenges could throw a wrench in the works.” Indeed, two putative class action lawsuits were filed in the Northern District of California federal district court in November 2022 against GitHub, GitHub’s owner Microsoft, OpenAI and others. The lawsuits allege that two interrelated artificial intelligence (AI) software systems are continuously violating the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) as well as breaching contracts, engaging in unlawful competition, and violating California state privacy laws. Attorney and programmer Matthew Butterick Read More ›

3d-illustration-roboter-auge-stockpack-adobe-stock
3D Illustration Roboter Auge
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
November 7, 2022
Categorized
Law, Robotics
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Why Don’t Robots Have Rights? A Lawyer’s Response

Robots are hardware and software packages that lack a nature or any abilities outside of whatever their designers imagine
Richard W. Stevens
November 7, 2022
8
Law, Robotics

“Free the Robots!” “Equal Rights for Robots!” Or maybe: “Set Us Robots Free!” Such future protest signs might well pop up in social media, to judge from “Why don’t robots have rights?” (Big Think, October 31, 2022) Writer Jonny Thomson worries that “ future generations will look back aghast at our behavior” when humans can “no longer exploit or mistreat advanced robots” as will presumably be the case in the 21st century. Dig into the article and get techno-whiplashed as Thomson suddenly starts talking about “the 22nd century [when robots] are our friends, colleagues, and gaming partners.” Thomson’s article considers robot rights as analogous to animal rights. The summary asserts: When discussing animal rights and welfare, we often reference two Read More ›

types-of-coffee-placed-to-taste-or-smell-stockpack-adobe-stock
types of coffee placed to taste or smell
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
October 28, 2022
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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Designed to Dine, Part 2: How, Exactly, We Compute Flavor

Once a universally enjoyed but scientifically ignored phenomenon, flavor bursts out as an extraordinary event of a biological computer
Richard W. Stevens
October 28, 2022
7
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Since Part 1 of this article was served up, have you experienced food and drink with greater awareness of flavor? Part 1 laid out the elements of flavor, including the smell, taste, texture, and mouth feel of foods and drinks. Smell delivers 80% of what we experience as flavor, coming from the thousands of sensory nerves in our noses detecting individual molecules. From the tongue comes taste sensations of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (savory). Flavor is like a dynamic 3-D hologram, a multi-dimensional composition of sensory inputs fluctuating in real-time, all delivered as data to the brain for final processing. Flavor makes eating fun! The Computation of Yummy The complicated and integrated systems of smell, taste, and other Read More ›

table-filled-with-snacks-and-traditional-eastern-european-lithuanian-food-for-a-feast-celebration-stockpack-adobe-stock
Table filled with snacks and traditional eastern European (Lithuanian) food for a feast celebration.
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
October 27, 2022
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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Designed to Dine: Humans are Computers of Flavor

Food itself has no flavor at all. Flavor is in the sensations — really the brain — of the beholder (and taster)
Richard W. Stevens
October 27, 2022
7
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Whether you’re a professional gourmet, a self-styled “foodie,” or an everyday North American who likes to eat, you probably look forward to celebration dinners. At any feast on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or the Passover Seder, the focal feature is the food. It doesn’t occur to us to ask: How do we sense the flavors of the food? After all, the food itself has no flavor at all. Flavor is in the mouth — and the nose, tongue, eyes, inner ears, and really the brain — of the beholder. Venture to learn how human beings enjoy food, and you’ll discover exquisite evidence of intelligent design. Like so many biological systems, detecting flavor involves specialized hardware components and the corresponding software to Read More ›

internet-law-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Internet law concept
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
October 21, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Law
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Hawaiʻi’s Indefinite COVID Lockdown: How Would an AI Rule?

The governor of Hawaiʻi claimed that legislation supported his right to extend draconian COVID lockdown rules indefinitely. Here’s a test for an AI law program
Richard W. Stevens
October 21, 2022
10
Artificial Intelligence, Law

Some people say artificial intelligence (AI) systems can become more intelligent, more intellectually capable, than humankind. After all, they say the AI “AlphaZero has taught itself chess from scratch in just a few hours and then went on to beat the world’s previous best chess-playing computer program.” AI already reads x-rays, drives cars, orders meals by phone, diagnoses skin cancer, and predicts the next movie hit. Some say AI will soon do legal analysis and make judicial decisions more accurately and fairly than humans can. Using a recent true case, let’s overview what it takes to write AI software that would analyze a statute. First, as in an appellate court brief, let’s set up the real life problem and the Read More ›

bumblebee
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post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
October 7, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Law
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Did the Court Really Say Bees Are Fish?

And would an AI-run court — which some propose — make a different decision? Not here because California law allows the interpretation
Richard W. Stevens
October 7, 2022
8
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Law

See headlines like: “Great Day” For Bumblebees as Californian Court Rules That They Are Fish and: Bees are fish, California court rules You’d believe, on reading them, that a California court recently ruled that bees are fish. Another eyeroll-worthy court decision! Readers here might muse, “An artificial intelligence-run legal system would never make such a crazy ruling!” The Seemingly Boring Narrow Issue Let’s skip past the exciting headlines. The California Court of Appeal in Almond Alliance of California v. Fish & Game Commission faced the issue of “whether the bumble bee, a terrestrial invertebrate, falls within the definition of fish, as that term is used in the definitions of endangered species, threatened species, and candidate species” under specific sections of Read More ›