Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagAI

fire
fire flames with sparks on a black background, close-up
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post
Author
News
Date
April 24, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Google CEO: AI is More Significant Than the Invention of Fire

Pichai compared the invention of AI to the creation of fire, claiming it surpassed even great leaps in technology like electricity
News
April 24, 2023
1
Artificial Intelligence

The Google CEO Sundar Pichai appeared on a 60 Minute segment to discuss state of the art AI, Google’s Bard, and what AI means to humanity. Pichai compared the invention of AI to the creation of fire, claiming it surpassed even great leaps in technology like electricity. When asked the reason, he replied, “It gets to the essence of what intelligence is.” See the clip below: Pichai also discussed some of the dangers posed by AI, such as the potential proliferation of misinformation and false images. ChatGPT, for all its dexterity, still makes mistakes, as Google’s Bard does too, and concern over the ambiguity over the reliability of photographic images will only grow as AI develops. Of course, Pichai may Read More ›

modern-apartment-block-at-dusk-stockpack-adobe-stock
Modern apartment block at dusk
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post
Author
Gary Varner
Date
April 22, 2023
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction
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Her, Part Two

What happens when you’re dating the AI secretary
Gary Varner
April 22, 2023
6
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Last time, we began talking about the movie Her, a story of a man falling in love with his AI and compared it to the abysmal season three of the Orville. Unlike the Orville, which insisted that the viewer take the romance between the robot and the human seriously, Her treats the subject as a what-if scenario, playing the whole situation straight and letting the viewer draw their own conclusions. Theodore had just finished uploading the AI onto his computer, which called itself Samantha, and was impressed by how human-like the operating system seemed. Samantha begins organizing Theodore’s computer and helping him around the office, but it doesn’t take long for a romantic relationship to develop between them. When Theodore Read More ›

allure of the metaverse
Moving Forward to Metaverse, New Technology, Web3.0, Blockchain and the Next Layer of the Internet Concepts. Man Steps into Future Door. Futuristic Tone.
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post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
April 17, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Transhumanism
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For BitHeaven’s Sake

A satirical short story on the transhumanist quest (and failure) to achieve immortality
Eric Holloway
April 17, 2023
7
Artificial Intelligence, Transhumanism

Bob and Sue were on their way to church one morning. On their way they ran into their friend Fred. Fred was very wealthy, a billionaire in fact. Fred waved hi. Bob and Sue waved back. They asked Fred to come with them to church.  Fred said no, he had more important things to do. “What is so important,” asked Sue. “I’m off to the real deal,” beamed Fred. Bob looked confused. “Real deal about what?” “You have a fake promise of eternal life. I’m about to get the real thing.” “You can’t be serious. Start talking some sense.” “Seriously. Here’s my voucher, see it right here.” Sue grabbed the piece of paper from Fred and read it aloud. “Good for one digital immortalization Read More ›

alone in a big city cosmos
Back view of businessman suit standing at office looking at night city through panoramic window. Generative AI
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post
Author
Gary Varner
Date
April 15, 2023
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction
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Her, Part One

The 2013 dystopian film proposes an intriguing "what if"
Gary Varner
April 15, 2023
6
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

When I was reviewing the Orville, Season Three, I spent a lot of time complaining about the robot-love subplot which consumed far too much of the series. I will probably always find the idea of such a relationship ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean the concept can’t be explored in a thoughtful way. One such thoughtful exploration is the movie Her, where a man falls in love with his AI operating system. Unlike the Orville, which demands that the viewer take the relationship seriously, almost going so far as to call the viewer a bigot if they don’t get on board with the fantasy, Her leaves everything open-ended, treating the whole idea of a man and robot falling in love as Read More ›

education
education
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post
Author
News
Date
April 13, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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More Than Cogs in an AI Machine

Perhaps it isn't only AI which poses a challenge, but the mainstream model of education
News
April 13, 2023
3
Artificial Intelligence

Education seems especially vulnerable to ChatGPT. Universities now have to grapple with AI plagiarism, and even teachers and administrators are being tempted to use the Large Language Model to generate syllabi and even condolence emails in the wake of tragedies. Leah Libresco Sargeant, author of Building the Benedict Option and Arriving at Amen, wrote a piece on this issue at First Things last week. She goes past simply the struggle schools have in detecting ChatGPT’s presence, but also why it’s so easy to use AI generated language in school settings. Many educational institutions, like AI, promote the appearance of productivity but lack real value. She writes, If schools are primarily dedicated to producing workers, rather than holistic human beings steeped Read More ›

old timey movie pic
ON THE BIG SCREEN
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post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
April 6, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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Future Films: Written and Directed by…AI?

AI's abilities in visual creation are remarkably good and are getting better fast
Peter Biles
April 6, 2023
4
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Artificial intelligence is exploding right now. From ChatGPT to Google’s Bard to DALL-E, these new technologies are forcing the question about the place of human agency in a technological society. That includes the world of cinema. Here’s a Scenario Here’s a cheery scenario: you drop by the local Barnes & Noble before seeing the seventeenth iteration of Spider-Man in theaters. The year is 2040. You buy a hot new bestseller written by a chatbot and are impressed by the linguistic originality, even though the novel still follows a pretty crude narrative structure. Then, it’s off to see the show. You’re in the theater with your ticket and popcorn, both of which were given to you by a non-sentient robotic arm Read More ›

Daft Punk headset
Illustration of a Futuristic cyber helmet inspired by music group Daft Punk . Cyberspace Augmented Reality. , Generative AI
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post
Author
News
Date
April 6, 2023
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Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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Daft Punk and Being Human After All

Former member said AI concerns contributed in part to the band's breakup
News
April 6, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Legendary electronic pop duo Daft Punk split ways two years ago after decades of collaboration and are esteemed as pioneers in the creative ways they infused their music with cutting edge sonic technology. However, in a recent interview, ex-member Thomas Bangalter said that artificial intelligence contributed in part to the band’s separation. Per a report from Futurism, Bangalter said, We tried to use these machines to express something extremely moving that a machine cannot feel, but a human can. We were always on the side of humanity and not on the side of technology. -NOOR AL-SIBAI, Daft Punk Says They Broke Up Partially Over Fear of AI (futurism.com) The pop duo notoriously dressed up in robotic garb during their musical Read More ›

finding a solution in the maze
Businessman in creative blue maze background.
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
April 5, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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AI is a Tool, Not a Solution for Everything

Life is complicated and our problems can't always be solved through an engineering approach
Peter Biles
April 5, 2023
4
Artificial Intelligence

AI is a tool. In the words of Robert J. Marks from an interview at last year’s COSM conference, it can’t be a “friend or foe,” because it’s not a living entity. It’s something that can be used (or abused). Such a neutral, balanced attitude toward AI is alien to many Big Tech moguls who are pitching AI as the solution to many of the world’s complicated problems. For them, on the flipside of the doomsday alarmists, AI will usher in a new epoch of human progress. They may be partially right about that, but according to this writer at Slate, their hype reflects a commitment to technological “solutionism,” the idea that tech, once adequately suited for the task, can Read More ›

writing text in floating boxes
Businessman showing online document validation icon, Concepts of practices and policies, company articles of association Terms and Conditions, regulations and legal advice, corporate policy
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post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
April 3, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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AI and Human Text: Indistinct?

Here's a mathematical proof that challenges the assumption that AI and human-made text are the same
Eric Holloway
April 3, 2023
4
Artificial Intelligence

What is a poor teacher to do? With AI everywhere, how can he reliably detect when his students are having ChatGPT write their papers for them? To address this concern, a number of AI text detector tools have emerged.  But do they work? A recent paper claims that AI generated text is ultimately indistinguishable from human generated text. They illustrate their claim with a couple experiments that fool AI text detectors by simple variations to AI generated text. Then, the authors go on to mathematically prove their big claim that it is ultimately impossible to tell AI text and human text apart. However, the authors make a crucial assumption. Faulty Premises The proof assumes that AI generated text will become closer and closer to Read More ›

close-up-of-calculation-table-printed-in-an-old-book-stockpack-adobe-stock
close up of calculation table, printed in an old book
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post
Author
Gary Smith
Date
March 31, 2023
Categorized
Mathematics
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An Illusion of Emergence, Part 2

A figure can tell a story but, intentionally or unintentionally, the story that is told may be fiction
Gary Smith
March 31, 2023
5
Mathematics

I recently wrote about how graphs that use logarithms on the horizontal axis can create a misleading impression of the relationship between two variables. The specific example I used was the claim made in a recent paper (with 16 coauthors from Google, Stanford, UNC Chapel Hill, and DeepMind) that scaling up the number of parameters in large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT can cause “emergence,” which they define as qualitative changes in abilities that are not present in smaller-scale models but are present in large-scale models; thus they cannot be predicted by simply extrapolating the performance improvements on smaller-scale models. They present several graphs similar to this one that seem to show emergence: However, their graphs have the logarithms of Read More ›

concept-of-robots-replacing-humans-in-offices-stockpack-adobe-stock
Concept of robots replacing humans in offices
Type
podcast
Author
Robert J. Marks and Andrew McDiarmid
Date
March 30, 2023
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Navigating the Technological Age

Robert J. Marks and Andrew McDiarmid
March 30, 2023
1

Humans have created technology for centuries. But what happens when we stop using tech and tech starts using us? In this episode, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Andrew McDiarmid sits down with Robert J. Marks to talk about the root meaning of technology, how it has developed, and the ways we can healthily navigate our highly technologized world. Additional Resources

Elon_Musk_at_a_Press_Conference
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post
Author
News
Date
March 30, 2023
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Artificial Intelligence
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Elon Musk to AI Labs: Press Pause

The petition reflects growing concern over the proper role of AI in human society and its potential for overreach
News
March 30, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

Over 1,000 leaders and experts in technology and science, including Elon Musk, are now urging artificial intelligence labs to pause their research and distribution of new AI technologies. They believe moving forward so swiftly on AI research could bring about unintended consequences in the future, and that we don’t understand AI well enough yet to be casting so much trust in it. According to The New York Times, The open letter called for a pause in the development of A.I. systems more powerful than GPT-4, the chatbot introduced this month by the research lab OpenAI, which Mr. Musk co-founded. The pause would provide time to introduce “shared safety protocols” for A.I. systems, the letter said. “If such a pause cannot be Read More ›

reaching out ai
White cyborg finger about to touch human finger 3D rendering
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post
Author
News
Date
March 28, 2023
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Artificial Intelligence
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Robert Marks at The Daily Caller

Despite the confidence in new AI coming from Big Tech executives, it makes quite glaring mistakes
News
March 28, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

Robert J. Marks wrote a piece at The Daily Caller this week on artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, and the manifold problems of new AI systems like Google’s Bard and older ones such as Amazon’s Alexa. Despite the confidence in new AI coming from Big Tech executives, it makes quite glaring mistakes, although Marks believes AI has its genuine uses and benefits. Snapchat’s chatbot “My AI” gave advice about how to hide the smell of pot and alcohol to someone posing as a disgruntled teenager. Microsoft’s Bing bot professed its love for a tech journalist. A Google app made egregiously racist errors. ChatGPT is also politically biased despite claiming neutrality. Marks writes, Many warn of the future dangers of artificial intelligence. Many Read More ›

bard the bot
Artificial intelligence ai chat bot idea hands holding a phone against a blurred abstract background chatbot providing website support. Generative AI
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post
Author
News
Date
March 24, 2023
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Artificial Intelligence
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The Bard is Beginning to Sing

Google has unleashed its own bot. Does that mean they're in the running in the AI race now?
News
March 24, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

Google has officially made its AI chatbot “Bard” available in the United States and the UK, notching their place in the artificial intelligence “arms race” that has taken the tech world by storm since OpenAI released its GPT-3 program last November. Microsoft released its own bot just a few weeks ago, though it immediately heralded concern for its unpredictable mannerisms and even “creepy” behavior, as described by Kevin Roose from The New York Times. “Google’s had a rocky AI journey after being caught out by the runaway success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot,” write a team of contributors at Forbes. This all begs the question: is Google really prepared to be a leader in this field? It may be a forefather Read More ›

observing the data
In the System Control Room Technical Operator Stands and Monitors Various Activities Showing on Multiple Displays with Graphics. Administrator Monitors Work of Artificial Intelligence.
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post
Author
News
Date
March 23, 2023
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Artificial Intelligence
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Gary Smith’s New Book Reviewed in Washington Post

Smith argues that science itself is being undermined by the tools scientists use
News
March 23, 2023
3
Artificial Intelligence

Walter Bradley Center Senior Fellow Gary Smith’s book Distrust: Big Data, Data-Torturing, and the Assault on Science was reviewed in The Washington Post today. Smith is a frequent contributor to Mind Matters and teaches economics at Pomona College. In his new book, Smith argues that science itself is being “undermined” by the tools scientists use. Reviewer Abby Ohlheister writes, Smith, an economist whose work often examines the misuse of data and statistics in a variety of disciplines, argues that the current crisis of trust in science falls at the intersection of three forces: disinformation, data torturing and data mining. Disinformation, as Smith writes, is “as old as the human race,” but accelerated in speed and reach alongside social media. Data Read More ›

COSM2022-Nov10-174A0113-blake-lemoine-panel
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post
Author
News
Date
March 23, 2023
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Artificial Intelligence
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Lemoine at COSM 2022: A Conversation on AI and LaMDA

Will AI ever become "sentient"?
News
March 23, 2023
1
Artificial Intelligence

Blake Lemoine, ex-Google employee and AI expert, sat down with Discovery Institute’s Jay Richards at the 2022 COSM conference last November. Together they discussed AI, Google, and how and why Lemoine got to where he is today. Lemoine famously claimed last year that LaMDA, Google’s breakthrough AI technology, had achieved sentience. Lemoine explains that many people at Google thought AI had the potential for sentience, but that such technology should not be made prematurely for fear of the negative impacts it could have on society. You can listen to their interesting and brief conversation in the video below, and be sure to see more sessions from the 2022 COSM conference featuring Lemoine and other leaders and innovators in technology on Read More ›

bulb brain
Creative Idea with Brain and Light Bulb Illustration, with Generative AI Technology
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post
Author
News
Date
March 21, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Dear Silicon Valley: You’re Over-Hyping ChatGPT

The abilities of these new chatbots are grossly overstated
News
March 21, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

Gary Smith and Jeffrey Funk, frequent Mind Matters contributors, co-wrote a piece at Salon on the over-exaggerated dreams big tech has for AI. They write, Silicon Valley’s pre-eminent leaders love prematurely predicting that their products will completely upend the world as we know it. The latest case study comes from Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind the ChatGPT AI chatbot that has gone viral for its convincing imitations of human writing. Two years ago, Altman wrote a manifesto, “Moore’s Law for Everything,” in which he forecast that artificial intelligence would make huge swaths of both white collar and blue collar jobs obsolete. -Smith & Funk, Don’t believe the hype: why ChatGPT is not the “holy grail” of AI research | Read More ›

looking at art
Rear view of a guy in his 30s looking at an art exhibition
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post
Author
News
Date
March 21, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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Artists and Writers Unite Against AI

New Guardian article highlights the artists and writers pushing back against AI
News
March 21, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

A new article from The Guardian covers the struggle of artists, writers, and other “creatives” who are pushing back against AI systems like Midjourney and ChatGPT, which they purport is starting to replace their viability. Betsy Reed writes, Poetry may still be a hard nut for AI to crack convincingly, but among the first to face a genuine threat to their livelihoods are photographers and designers. Generative software can produce images at the touch of the button, while sites like the popular NightCafe make “original”, data-derived artwork in response to a few simple verbal prompts. The first line of defence is a growing movement of visual artists and image agencies who are now “opting out” of allowing their work to Read More ›

three-pigs-laptop
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
March 21, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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AI vs. Human Intentionality

If ChatGPT were trained over and over on its own output, it would eventually turn to gibberish
Eric Holloway
March 21, 2023
4
Artificial Intelligence

We can do a simple experiment that demonstrates the difference between AI and human intentionality. ChatGPT and the like are a sophisticated form of a mathematical model known as a Markov chain. A Markov chain is based on the Markov assumption that the future is entirely a product of the recent past. In other words, if we know the recent past, then nothing else we learn about the more distant past will improve our ability to predict the future. In ChatGPT terms, this means ChatGPT is based on the assumption that everything we need to know to predict future words is contained within a limited window of previously seen words. ChatGPT’s window was 3,000 words, and I believe the newest version has Read More ›

COSM2022-Nov10-174A0082-bob-marks***compressed
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
March 20, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Robert J. Marks on Fox News

Dr. Marks talked about the hype over AI and where the danger really lies
Peter Biles
March 20, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

Robert J. Marks, director of the Walter Bradley Center, was the subject of a new op-ed at Fox News, which featured his unique insights on artificial intelligence and how it can best be used by human beings. Contrary to much of the present alarmism over AI systems like ChatGPT, Marks remains level-headed about AI’s place in today’s world, pushing back against “sci-fi” apocalypticism while at the same time addressing real issues and concerns. Marks said, “No, AI is not going to take over. You’re not going to be its pet in the future. It’s going to be a tool which disrupts society, but we’re still going to be in charge. -Scott Whitlock, AI expert warns of too much ‘hype’: Humans Read More ›