Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryArtificial Intelligence

a-digital-tablet-casting-a-hologram-of-a-chatbot-icon-symbolizing-advanced-customer-service-technology-stockpack-adobe-stock
A digital tablet casting a hologram of a chatbot icon, symbolizing advanced customer service technology.

Is It Sinking In? Chatbots Will *Not* Soon Think Like Humans

Tech writer Gary Marcus: Even futurist Ray Kurzweil, a fount of optimism on the topic, is sounding less sure now
Problems like model collapse, hallucination and innumeracy may be inherent in chatbots, which would curtail progress toward thinking like humans. Read More ›
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Robot hand typing on the computer. The concept of artificial intelligence replacing a human in dealing with another human. Ai generative

Marvin Minsky Asks: Can GPT4 Hack Itself? 

Will AI of the future be able to count the number of objects in an image?
Creativity and understanding, properly defined, lie beyond the capability of the computers of today and tomorrow. Read More ›
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cute artificial intelligence robot with notebook

Researchers: Chatbots Generally Flunk Simple Logic Test

From Futurism we learn “when asked to show their work, the AIs would detail bizarre and erroneous lines of "thinking" that made no sense”
The AI researchers report “a dramatic breakdown of function and reasoning capabilities of state-of-the-art models trained at the largest available scales”. Read More ›
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tyrannosaurus rex walks alone into cold lake, art design

Paleoartists — Artists for Dinosaurs — Confront Generative AI

Generative AI cannot yet combine science-level accuracy and sensitivity to artistic issues but it is starting to have an impact anyway.
The paleoartists’ copyright dilemma is one element of the general problem of how to compensate original creators when work is repurposed in AI-generated output. Read More ›
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A robotic hand flawlessly scribing intricate algorithms, a fusion of precision and technology.

Writers Are Getting Fired for…Not Using ChatGPT?

AI detectors aren't totally accurate, and the cost is steep for the writing industry
Even though writers wanted nothing to do with the chatbots, their work is still being flagged by detectors. And it's literally costing them their jobs. Read More ›
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Text written with a vintage typewriter -  That's my story

How Do Writers Get Paid in an Age When Chatbots “Write” Things?

Are lawsuits against Big Tech really the answer? Much of the territory is uncharted
A few Big Tech players control the chatbot market. Could bargaining with them for something like Public Lending Right resolve the writers' issues? Read More ›
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Two programers holding laptop with coding interface walking towards desk and sitting down talking about online cloud computing. Software developers team discussing algorithms on computer screen.

Will AI Replace Developers? A Tale for Our Times

There are calls, even about software, that you would definitely not want a digital assistant to take
Developers don’t just write software; they must understand the whole picture of how it will be used both now and down the road. Read More ›
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Global computer network communication, internet business and marketing concept, blue transparent Earth globe on laptop keyboard macro view

How Ancient Philosophers Can Help Design Better Computers

The Kubernetes program, for example, steers groups of computers the way, in the ancient image, a navigator steers a ship
The program works a bit like our minds, creating information in the world around us by constant comparison, bringing order out of disorder. Read More ›
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Man hand using digital chatbot for provide access to information and data in online network.Artificial intelligence.

But Can Chatbot Claude Keep Its Promise To Reform?

What will happen, after all of Grasso’s careful work, when a different user asks for arguments in favor of intelligent design?
Grasso showed that reform can happen but perhaps it comes down to a question of numbers. Who wants thoughtful discussion vs. new atheist blog rants? Read More ›
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Person is looking for way out of psychedelic maze. A surreal labyrinth in magical forest. Human consciousness is at dead end, searching for solutions. Created with Generative AI

From a Philosopher: Philosophy of Consciousness Is “Bizarre”

Eric Schwitzgebel admits to his host at Closer to Truth that “every single view in the history of the philosophy of mind is bizarre”…
He blames our “folk intuitions” for the problem. Some thinkers would say that the problem arises from seeking a materialist solution to an immaterial reality. Read More ›
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Bot abstract background illustration - 3d rendering

Chatbot Claude Starts to Grok Intelligent Design…

As a result of Grasso’s probing Claude now admits that labeling intelligent design as “pseudoscience” or “non-scientific across the board” was an over-generalization

We’ve been reporting (here and here) on the efforts of Otangelo Grasso to get chatbot Claude 3/Anthropic to quit refusing to answer or shoveling out new atheist boilerplate about design in the universe. The object was to get it to start offering actual information about the controversy. Where we left it yesterday, the chatbot seems to have been searching information sources that did not simply label the intelligent design hypothesis as “pseudoscience” but engaged with the arguments. Here’s it’s subsequent response: Claude: I appreciate you laying out the argument for intelligent design in such detail. You make some fair points that I will consider carefully. However, I still have some issues with the hypothesis and conclusions: So while I grant Read More ›

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Cancer detection and screening as a treatment for malignant cells with a biopsy or testing caused by carcinogens and genetics with a cancerous cell as an immunotherapy symbol

Educating Chatbot Claude on ID and the Nature of Science

When you are arguing with Claude, you are arguing with the internet —well, with whatever slice the chatbot has scarfed up and processed, according to an algorithm
The chatbot, swatching more sources, now reports that it was in over its algorithmic head, simply labeling intelligent design as “pseudoscience.” Read More ›
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Chatbot in a modern GPU card 3D rendering

Educating Chatbot Claude About Design in the Universe

In an age when “prebunking” drowns information, chatbots need to go back to school

Last week, Richard Stevens wrote about the new fad in information control known as prebunking — setting about to destroy the reputation of a news source among the unwary. The tactic seems popular among a newer type of journalist for whom there is no other side to a story, who views alternative takes as a threat. That sort of journalism is currently associated with a huge decline in mainstream media readership even among stalwarts such as the Washington Post, which is currently facing a top-drawer upheaval as a result. Stevens demonstrated how a chatbot could provide free prebunking copy, using Mind Matters News‘s About page and Introduction as the subject. Anything can be prebunked in principle and sometimes chatbots may Read More ›

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hacker cat working job profession illustration generative ai

Generative AI Is Creating a Copyright Crisis for Artists

How does an artist assert copyright when her image was only one of many used to create a new image? How does she make a living if she can’t?
AI companies could be required to record images’ origin and compensate copyright holders. But as Robert J. Marks notes, end users might then have to pay. Read More ›
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Digital surveillance and ID verification, with the eye sharply in focus against a subtly blurred background. Holographic elements should be futuristic.

The Seoul AI Summit: Serious Safety Progress or Window-Dressing?

Whatever differences the firms have in private, they put up a united front in public, pledging to cooperate and continue to meet…
One problem is that the people at the big conference may not be the ones closest to the scene, doing the actual work. Read More ›
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Abstract digital human face.  Artificial intelligence concept of big data or cyber security. 3D rendering

AI Isn’t Going to Destroy the World (or Save It, Either)

Revisiting a classic podcast interview with Robert J. Marks

A classic episode of ID the Future dives into the controversial realm of artificial intelligence (AI). Will robots or other computers ever become so fast and powerful that they become conscious, creative, and free? Will AI reach a point where it leaves humans in the dust? To shed light on these and other questions, host Casey Luskin interviews computer engineering professor Robert J. Marks, head of the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence. In this fast-paced interview, Marks touches on dystopian AI and the limits of computer algorithms (they can never do anything that is inherently non-computable, Marks argues), and discuss celebrity thinkers and entrepreneurs who’ve weighed in on the promises and perils of AI, such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Read More ›

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A futuristic artificial intelligence neural network chatbot. A holographic  AI chatbot assistant. (generative AI)

Is the New Natural-Sounding Chatbot GPT4.o Breaking a Barrier?

It depends on what barrier you mean, says philosopher of technology Shannon Vallor. It could harm vulnerable people by convincing them that it is a person
It’s interesting that science fiction gets so much right — but then, about our relationship with AI, it gets the key thing so wrong. Read More ›
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hand holding smart phone on colorful background

“Dopamine-Maximizing AI”

Elon Musk on addictive algorithms and the future of AI
Tech lords often vacillate between hype and doom, and Musk, who signed a petition to curb AI research until its effects are known, falls into that tendency, too. Read More ›
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Digital transformation, IoT, Internet of Things, Software technology development concept. Software engineer coding on laptop computer with innovation technology interface

Hype Distracts AI Engineers from Real Work

Who is going to solve AI's actual problems?
One reason there wasn’t an emphasis on reducing hallucinations is because the problem is hard. Some argue that hallucinations are “baked into" AI chatbots. Read More ›
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A live chat service for customer support. Modern illustration of a smartphone with a messenger interface and people on the page.

Scarlett Johansson vs. Sam Altman

OpenAI is trying to recreate a cautionary tale
Altman said her voice could be “comforting” to people. She declined at the time, and so was naturally surprised to find that the new program, which was just released, sounded eerily similar to her own voice. Read More ›