Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryArtificial Intelligence

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Workplace of contemporary professional painter inside studio of arts

We Shouldn’t Let AI Steal Art and Entertainment

This is an opportunity for artists and writers to create excellent work that champions the uniqueness of human creativity

It’s no secret that new forms of AI threaten the integrity of the arts and entertainment industry. Actors might be deep faked. Artists’ original work can be scraped by word prompts, and writers could be “replaced” by large language models that only seem to be getting more adept at copycatting human language. One of the reasons it’s tempting for Hollywood producers to use AI seems to go beyond simply cutting costs. It makes sense massive companies want to capitalize on a tool that will get them unpaid labor. But in a way, entertainment, including books and movies, have become apportioned to popular demand. Which means they tend to be more formulaic and geared towards marketability instead of genuine quality. I Read More ›

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Biles Appears on AI Risk Podcast

Staying human in the digital world

Mind Matters contributor Peter Biles, who writes often on technology, AI, and culture, appeared on the For Humanity Podcast with host John Sherman to talk about artificial general intelligence, religion, social media, and more. The hour-long episode appeared today on YouTube, and you can access it below if interested. In a world in which AI is hyped as the future of technology, with futurists claiming it can (and must) shape our society moving forward, how can we retain the perennial truths of human exceptionalism?

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AI robot profile, Section showing the brain and internal working system, AI generated.

Science Writer: No Way To Tell If AI Is Conscious

Absent a definition of consciousness, it might not be possible to prove extravagant claims wrong
The difficulty of defining consciousness could very well be one of the reasons why tech moguls can get away with extravagant claims about conscious AI. Read More ›
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Beautiful unicorn in a magical forest - digital illustration

Tech Industry: Are the Unicorns an Endangered Species?

The canaries are cheeping loudly that new tech startup funding is fading
How serious the current downturn will be, they say, depends on how long the current AI bubble lasts. Winter always comes, just not when many of us expect it. Read More ›
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Web Development Dreams Come True: Silhouetted Developers in Discussion with Company Logo

Are We Close to Peak AI Hype?

Outrageous statements are proliferating.
Sanity might be about ready to return to the market. Just maybe, we have reached peak hype. Read More ›
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artificial intelligence machine learning transhumanism visualization augmented reality

High Tech Wizards Are Trying To Create a God in Their Own Image

Some AI industry figures believe in the coming of the Singularity, wherein machines duplicate and then exceed the abilities of man
There is no convincing evidence that computers will ever experience creativity, understanding, and sentience. These are human attributes that can't be computed. Read More ›
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Woman's face with AI wireframe for artificial intelligence deepfakes and facial scanning concepts

YouTube Tries to Take Down Deepfake Impersonations… Well, Sort Of

The difficulty is, as the technology explodes, so does a minefield of complications
YouTube doesn’t want to harm its business model, which thrives on sensation and controversy but it must also avoid at all costs a legal and political powderkeg. Read More ›
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Artificial Intelligence Content Generator. A man uses a laptop to interact with AI assistant. AI offers functions like chatbot, generate images, write code, writer bot, translate and advertising. LLM.

Written by Human or Bot? Researchers Have a New Way to Tell

After the use of chatbots surged in 2023, some common words appeared much more often in the abstracts of journal papers, hinting at AI origin
The researchers warn against using chatbots in research writing: While it can compose correct English, what it says may be false, inaccurate, or confabulated. Read More ›
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3d rendering, Scene of television cartoon mock up with blank empty space, setting on colorful room and lighting background.

Famous Actress Wonders About AI, TV Culture, and Humanity

AI isn't like the printing press, Rashida Jones laments
We no longer talk about mainstream entertainment swallowing art. Now, distraction is swallowing both entertainment and art. Read More ›
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Three friendly happy playing dogs in summer park. German shepherd, american staffordshire terrier and french bulldog holding one stick. Different dog breeds have fun together.

Will AI Soon Help Animals Talk To Us?

Many animals have a natural tendency to hide their problems for self-protection. AI trained on massive animal datasets might suss them out
That doesn’t mean we can “talk to the animals.” AI can do a lot of things but it won’t give animals rational faculties that it does not have itself. Read More ›
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plain blank Detailed DIC micrograph of a single-celled Phacus pleuronectes euglenid displaying its distinct striated pellicle, whip-like flagellum, eyespot, paramylon body, and chloroplasts

Dembski Asks the Chatbot: Is Intelligent Design Testable?

ChatGPT4o’s tour through the internet on the topic suggests that there may be some improvement in rational discussion out there
Many of the people who produce the material that the bot encounters desperately want to find ET and don’t want to find design. It still shows. Read More ›
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Upset senior elderly man holding credit card by laptop having trouble worry finance safety data or online payment security. Bank client concerned about problem with credit card, financial fraud threat

Interpol Crackdown: Have You Been Scammed on Social Media Too?

Some details of the law enforcement release hint at the intimate reach of international online crime as well as its broad scope
It’s not that you’re naive. Rather, it is much easier than it used to be to fake up all kinds of things using social media — much easier than hacking computers. Read More ›
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Crashing Ocean Wave with view inside the wave

New Podcast Asks, Is the World Really Enchanted—or Disenchanted?

At Created Souls and The Banquet of Souls, I want to explore the fact that human consciousness is not about to be made obsolete by AI or explained away by neuroscience
The tide is turning. The idea that science will soon explain away human consciousness is ceasing to be a live discussion. Let’s hear the new discussions! Read More ›
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Data analysis science and big data with AI technology. Analyst or Scientist uses a computer and dashboard for analysis of information on complex data sets on computer. Insights development engineer

Can AI Replace Science? Gary Smith and Jeffrey Funk Say No

At Fast Company, they explain some of the real problems with mistaking hype for results
The everyday reality is more like this: AI speeds up many tedious processes but doesn’t replace creative thinking. Read More ›
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a pile of shovels and forks laying on the ground

AI Is Still a Delusion

Following instructions and performing fast, tireless, error-free calculations is not intelligence in any meaningful sense of the word
Not knowing what words mean, neither OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5 nor Microsoft’s Copilot nor Google’s Gemini can do a simple logic test. Read More ›
humanoid-ai-robot-assists-old-senior-woman-in-her-household-serving-drink-and-food-replacing-human-caregiver-stockpack-adobe-stock
humanoid AI robot assists old senior woman in her household. serving drink and food, replacing human caregiver

Why AI Will Not and Cannot Think Our Thoughts

How can a robot ever have a spiritual vision of reality? How can it even be emotional?
Could an android at a child's funeral read the mourners' thoughts and emotions? Or would it view the death as a mere rearrangement of atoms in a wooden box? Read More ›
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Microscopic view inside a human cell, science, biology, anatomy, microscopic, cellular, organelles, nucleus, cytoplasm

Will a Machine Ever Behave Like a Life Form?

A theoretical biologist developed a mathematical theory in 1991— so far not disproven — that a machine could not replicate life via calculations
The “strange loop” of life — a loop with no apparent beginning in non-life — was, Robert Rosen concluded, beyond the reach of computing. Read More ›
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Empty wooden table top with bokeh lights in blur restaurant background.

Apple Vision Pro, Part 2: When Other People Are Not Fully There

The immersive nature of Vision Pro seems formative in a different way than computers or phones
The false sense of vision, connection, control, and spirituality remain, and are even more evident as people are starting to use and study the device’s impact. Read More ›
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The young man stands on the crowdy street

How My World Looked Inside Apple Vision Pro

I felt everything the script intended for me to feel. But I left with a lot of questions
What happens when people perceive reality differently? Will our painfully divided culture will be even more fractured? Read More ›