CategoryArtificial Intelligence
Large Language Models Are Often Wrong, Never in Doubt
LLMs are statistically driven text generators, nothing more
Is AI’s Future Open or Closed?
Watch Archana Vemulapalli, Head of Solutions Architecture at Amazon Web Services, discuss developments in artificial intelligenceWatch Archana Vemulapalli, Head of Solutions Architecture at Amazon Web Services, discuss developments in artificial intelligence with Bryan Mistele, CEO of transportation analytics provider, INRIX – especially ways in which AI can be employed to make people more productive and efficient, and in the end, make the world a better place. You can watch this video and many more from the most recent COSM conference, which featured leading thinkers and pioneers in the fields of tech, artificial intelligence, and computing.
AGI as Magic: Not Real, But Still Deadly
AI's magical hype will continue to hypnotize, but its fundamental limits are stark, and need to be acknowledged.Andy Crouch is a man who wants to evade the algorithm, so he doesn’t post much on X, but when he does, it’s generally an insightful nugget meant to be noted and digested. Crouch, a tech critic and a partner at Praxis Labs, doesn’t think AI will do all the wild stuff some of the futurists claim, but he does believe a belief in AI’s potential outlandish capacities, like consciousness, could be harmful. He posted on X, The analogy with magic is one Crouch has employed before in his extrapolations of technology. His thoughts echo economist Gary Smith’s frequent musings on this subject. The real danger of AI is not that it will become smarter than humans, but that we Read More ›
Does AI Make Immortality Possible?
Ray Kurzweil speaks outTechnology futurists are confident that artificial intelligence will soon surpass human intelligence, but will it enhance human longevity too? Computer scientist and pioneer Ray Kurzweil addresses this question in his fascinating lecture at COSM 2023, the national tech summit that witnesses the best minds on tech, AI, and its intersections with society. See Kurzweil talk about the direction he thinks AI is currently headed, and how our longevity could be affected as a result. See also a number of other exciting and timely videos from the most recent COSM conference for more material on these topics!
Father Justin, a Chatbot, is Absolving Sinners
Critics are calling for the AI priest to be "taken down immediately."Catholic Answers is a “media ministry that serves Christ by explaining and defending the Catholic faith,” according to their description on X. For Catholic observers, it serves as a good resource for deepening one’s faith and finding clarification on certain Catholic doctrines. However, the site recently introduced a controversial new member to the team: Father Justin, a chatbot “priest” designed to help answer people’s questions about Catholicism. In defense of this AI app, Catholic Answers said, As a leading Catholic apostolate, Catholic Answers is committed to leveraging the latest technologies to advance its mission of explaining and defending the Catholic faith. The Father Justin app is the latest example of this commitment, providing a new and appealing way for searchers Read More ›
Universities Should Prioritize Critical Thinking Over Large Language Models
It is doubtful that LLMs can generate novel ways to boost productivity
AI’s Illusion of Rapid Progress
It always seems to be on the verge of perfection
Joe Rogan Spins Bizarre Take on Evolution and AI
The podcaster thinks AI could become "God"Joe Rogan recently sat down with Tucker Carlson to have an often-bizarre conversation that involved everything from UFOs to evolution to saunas. Rogan’s comments on artificial intelligence, however, were some of the most provocative of the exchange, and reflected a sentiment common among futurists and transhumanists: AI could become a life form, evolve, and replace the human race. Rogan situates his views by noting that only humans think humans are important. In the grand scheme of the cosmos, human life is inconsequential. He went on to note that AI could become “God,” and evolve to a certain point where it would basically know everything there is to know. The question is: why would anyone want that, and why should that Read More ›
More COSM 2023 Videos on YouTube!
The third tranche of COSM videos cover graphene, AI and capital markets, and George Gilder's "Life After Capitalism"
Elon Musk: AI will be smarter than a human in 2025: Why he’s wrong
The superficial glibness of LLMs is a wonderful example of the adage that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing
Deep Fake Videos Can Upgrade Political Humiliation and Rule by Fear
AI human impersonation video technology promises rule by terror to degrees never before imagined
The AI Hype Machine Just Rolls On, Living on Exhaust
Even chatbot enthusiasts, are starting to admit that scaling up LLMs will not create genuine artificial intelligence
Meta AI Scientist: AGI is a Pipe Dream
Human intelligence still can't be matched by a soulless algorithmPredictions on AI’s ever-developing complexity have tech optimists counting the days until the machine replaces the human mind. Artificial general intelligence is the term they use to describe the point in which AI will officially overtake human intelligence. However, certain experts in the field, among them Robert J. Marks, host of the Mind Matters podcast, protest the assumption. AI researcher and scientist Yann LeCun, the AI chief at Meta, said recently that the current AI systems are nowhere close to achieving human-like intelligence. LeCun said, “We’re easily fooled into thinking they are intelligent because of their fluency with language, but really, their understanding of reality is very superficial,” he said. “They’re useful, there’s no question about that. But on the Read More ›
How Could Intelligent Design Help Us In a Conflict?
Well, what would happen if Daffy Duck teams up with Marvin the Martian?In war, the goal is to eliminate a threat as quickly as possible, given available resources. We try to hit the center of a target with the fewest arrows. A key mathematical concept of intelligent design, active information, captures this dilemma. It also helps us understand the role of artificial intelligence might play in wartime. Active information Active information is the difference between two sources of information. Picture archers shooting at a target: 1. Endogenous information: What is the size of the target? And how difficult is the target to hit? It is the difference between hitting a squirrel and hitting the moon. 2. Exogenous information: How skilled the archer is who is firing the arrows? What difference does the Read More ›
COSM 2023 Now on YouTube!
COSM 2023 explored the nature of artificial intelligence, as well as its future potential and risks.You can now watch the 2023 COSM Technology Summit on YouTube. If you weren’t able to attend, or perhaps you want to revisit some of your favorite speakers, we are now releasing the second tranche of videos for your enjoyment. Click here to go to the COSM 2023 Playlist on YouTube! COSM 2023 explored the nature of artificial intelligence, as well as its future potential and risks. Stephen Wolfram spoke about his efforts to make the world more computable so that computers can help us understand the world. Afterward, George Gilder and Bob Metcalfe joined him in a fascinating discussion about Turing machines, neural networks, and AI-driven language models. A panel featuring William Dembski, Robert Marks, and George Montanez offered Read More ›
The AI Bandwagon & Biden’s Executive Order
There are dangers and AI mitigation is needed. The question, though, is how .On Oct 30, 2023, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. A follow-up OMB Policy for management of AI was announced on March 28, 2024. Swallowing AI hype, the AI directive kills a fly with grenade just in case there are other flies nearby. AI remains an exciting often mind-blowing technology, but hyped futuristic depictions of AI in The Terminator and The Matrix are unrealizable science fiction. Unlike humans, AI will never understand what it is doing, be creative or experience qualia. AI is a tool. Like electricity or thermonuclear energy, it can be used for good or evil. Or can be the source of unforeseen accidents ranging from frayed house wiring to Chernobyl. Read More ›
Is Sam Altman Losing Popularity?
People who know Altman are getting tired of his anticsIn November of 2023, just a year after the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Sam Altman was ousted from his post as CEO. Days later, he waltzed back in and retook the throne, snagging a new board in the process. Even though the talk of the drama has died down since then, with other issues, like the 2024 election, taking center stage, it’s still worth wondering why all that happened in the first place. According to Insider and Gizmodo, people familiar with Altman worry that he’s more in it for himself than for the good of humanity. Altman often uses grandiose rhetoric on how AI will enhance and perhaps even define the humanity of the future. (In a good way, of Read More ›
I Don’t Need an AI Refrigerator, but Thanks
We need to clarify what AI is good for and what it would only complicateThe AI hype seems to know no bounds. Is there any sphere of life the optimists will leave untouched? AI techies are coming for home appliances now, too, because it isn’t enough that our refrigerators store our food for us; we need them to refashioned top-down into AI bots that can spin out recipes for us. The main problem with this domestic infestation of AI is the simultaneous invasion of privacy, as noted in a recent Futurism article. Also, it’s just a hassle to keep up with. There’s no doubt there are certain things AI simplifies, like facial recognition on apps and generating an email via ChatGPT, but when I’m in the mood for a frozen burrito, there’s really only Read More ›
Can We Trust Large Language Models? Depends on How Truthful They Are
Just because a piece of tech is highly sophisticated doesn't mean it's more trustworthyThe trust we put in Large Language Models (LLMs) ought to depend on their truthfulness. So how truthful are LLMs? For many routine queries, they seem accurate enough. What’s the capital of North Dakota? To this query, ChatGPT4 just now gave me the answer Bismarck. That’s right. But what about less routine queries? Recently I was exploring the use of design inferences to detect plagiarism and data falsification. Some big academic misconduct cases had in the last 12 months gotten widespread public attention, not least the plagiarism scandal of Harvard president Claudine Gay and the data falsification scandal of Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne. These scandals were so damaging to these individuals and their institutions that neither is a university president any longer. When I queried Read More ›