Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagAI

lightbult brain
Brain Flourescent Light Bulb
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post
Author
News
Date
February 14, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Will AI Ever Achieve Consciousness?

A former Facebook executive thinks so, assuming progress will eventually get us there
News
February 14, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

John Carmack, a former Facebook executive who famously expressed doubts over Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitious metaverse project, thinks AI is “on the cusp” of simulating the human brain. Per a report from Futurism, Carmack sat down with Dallas Innovates and talked about the possibilities of AI, as well as its prime obstacle: an inconvenient thing called consciousness. Carmack said, The thing we don’t yet have is sort of the consciousness, the associative memory, the things that have a life and goals and planning. I mean, forget human brains; we don’t even have things that can act like a mouse or a cat.” Despite the far-off dream of developing consciousness in AI, Carmack thinks it’s plausible, given the great strides we’ve seen Read More ›

Jesus-and-AI
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post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
February 13, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Artificial Intelligence and the Love of Jesus

The "He Gets Us" video ends with the declaration "Jesus' love was never artificial"
Robert J. Marks
February 13, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

How does artificial intelligence deal with the teachings of Jesus Christ? Apparently quite well in some cases.   Super Bowl ads this year included two about Jesus from the ministry He Gets Us.  There are more thought-provoking videos at their web site HeGetsUs.com. One, linked here, is about AI.  An artificial intelligence image synthesizer  Midjourney was asked by He Gets It to generate images about love from simple text prompts. The video shows generated images using software from the company Midjourney. When prompted to synthesize an image from the prompt “love”,  the response was pictures containing hearts – the kind you might see on a cheesy valentine day’s card.   Then the AI was asked to  visualize love the way Read More ›

art-collage-businessman-with-a-laptop-instead-of-a-head-online-research-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Art collage. Businessman with a laptop instead of a head. Online research concept.
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
February 13, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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The Need for Accountability in AI-Generated Content

Just because we live in a world of AI does not mean we can escape responsibility
Jonathan Bartlett
February 13, 2023
4
Artificial Intelligence

AI-generated content has become increasingly common on the web. However, as we enter this new era, we will need to think through the moral and social ramifications of what we are doing, and how we should negotiate the new ethical landscape. But first, a brief recap of recent history. The first major player to pioneer AI-generated content was the Associated Press. AP realized that many market-oriented articles were pretty monotonous and read like templates anyway, so they decided to fully commit and auto-generate many of them. If you read an AP story about a company’s earnings report and it sounds eerily like every other story about other companies’ earnings reports, there’s a reason for that. Templated content, while annoying, provides window-dressing to raw Read More ›

bunch of junk
mosaic
Type
post
Author
News
Date
February 8, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Is It Worth Having ChatGPT Janitors to Clean Up Its Toxic Content?

News
February 8, 2023
7
Artificial Intelligence

This piece by Mathew Otieno originally appeared at MercatorNet (February 8th, 2023) and is republished here under a Creative Commons License. Ever since OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot burst out into the limelight late last year, its popularity has grown by leaps and bounds. By the end of January 2023, according to a report from UBS, a bank, ChatGPT had garnered over 100 million monthly active users, beating all social media sites as the fastest consumer internet service to achieve that distinction. Unsurprisingly, in lockstep with its growing popularity, controversies have also started dogging the company. For instance, in mid-January, Time magazine published a bombshell report about how OpenAI sub-contracted Kenyan workers earning less than US$2 per hour to label toxic content, like violence, sexual abuse and hate speech, to be used to train 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, ChatGPT
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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, ChatGPT

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 ›

hand in searchbar
Hand click searching data information networking. Concept for network web and technology
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
February 6, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT
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Whatever You Do, Don’t Ask GPT for Sources

The chatbot will give you a lot of links that don't necessarily direct you where you want to go
Jonathan Bartlett
February 6, 2023
4
Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT

One of the more amusing things I’ve found from OpenAI’s GPT-3 and ChatGPT is the fact that it will very confidently provide you with sources on anything you ask—and they will often be completely made up. It will even provide fake (but real-looking) URLs for you! I stumbled across this feature when researching a previous GPT-3 article about how well it could write blog posts compared to real authors. I initially tried asking GPT-3 to include sources, and it generated complete nonsense for the sources. I decided that, for that article, sources were not the main question, so I left it out of the final queries. However, in response to my latest article about ChatGPT not being a Google replacement, someone commented Read More ›

imagination
Book of Wonders: A Magical Book who makes dreams come true - Digital Art Design, unique illustration concept | Generative AI
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post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
February 3, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education
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What Can’t A.I. Do? Quite a Lot, Actually

NYT columnist David Brooks makes a list of uniquely human skills that students should develop in college
Peter Biles
February 3, 2023
3
Artificial Intelligence, Education

In an increasingly artificial world, how are we to remain human? New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote an opinion article this week seeking to answer that question. Brooks notes some of the benefits of “machine learning,” but also lists some of the characteristics artificial intelligence will forever fail to embody. “A.I. will probably give us fantastic tools that will help us outsource a lot of our current mental work,” he writes. “At the same time, A.I. will force us humans to double down on those talents and skills that only humans possess.” Uniquely Human Traits What are some of these “talents and skills” that people should intentionally develop in the age of A.I.? Brooks says an incoming college student Read More ›

robot at typewriter
A robot typing on a rypewritter, generating text, artificial intelligence illustration, generative ai
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post
Author
News
Date
February 1, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Tech Journal CNET Used AI to Write Articles

A writer laments CNET's reckless embrace of AI generated content
News
February 1, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

The prominent technology journal CNET has used AI to generate some of its articles, although the results have been embarrassing. Apart from general outrage from critics, who claim this maneuver will obliterate the need for entry-level writers, the unspecified AI system made lots of errors. Jon Christian gives an example of the AI’s “boneheaded” work in a Futurism report, To calculate compound interest, use the following formula: Initial balance (1+ interest rate / number of compounding periods) ^ number of compoundings per period x number of periods  For example, if you deposit $10,000 into a savings account that earns 3% interest compounding annually, you’ll earn $10,300 at the end of the first year.“ It sounds authoritative, but it’s wrong. In reality, Read More ›

surveillance
Video camera lens
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 31, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, China
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China Leads the World in Face Recognition Exports

The global power is exporting the AI to weak and autocratic countries, according to a report from Brookings Institute
Peter Biles
January 31, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence, China

China is the world’s leading exporter of facial recognition technology, according to a study conducted by researchers from Harvard and MIT. The study aimed to elucidate the ramifications of the AI revolution and what it means for such technology to be exported from a global power like China. They found that China is more likely than other countries to export AI technology to other countries. China also focuses on exporting facial recognition to countries with weak democracies that are experiencing social unrest and upheaval. Political motivation might be driving such trades. The authors write, The Chinese government’s demand for surveillance and political control translates into more exports of AI. Moreover, our finding that autocrats and would-be autocrats abroad demand surveillance Read More ›

person at the internet
Business man works in office with laptop. Concept of internet network. double exposure
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
January 30, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Why ChatGPT Won’t Replace Google

With Google, the algorithm eventually leads you to content made by real people. With ChatGPT, you never leave the algorithm
Jonathan Bartlett
January 30, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

To some extent, ChatGPT is a newer, easier-to-use interface than Google.  Unlike Google, it doesn’t make you waste time by visiting those pesky websites.  It not only looks into its database for content, but it also summarizes it for you as paragraphs. There is a problem lurking in there, however.  Being computers, neither Google nor ChatGPT cares about the truth.  They are algorithms, and they merely do as they are told.  Additionally, you can’t code the human mind into algorithms.  However, there is a fundamental difference between what ChatGPT does and what Google does that will prevent content generators like ChatGPT from displacing search engines like Google: Google eventually lets you out of its system. Ultimately, the goal of search Read More ›

living forever
Abstract image of Artificial Intelligence
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 27, 2023
Categorized
Transhumanism
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Do You Really Want to Live Forever?

Organizations like Altos Labs are funding research in cell rejuvenation and biological longevity
Peter Biles
January 27, 2023
4
Transhumanism

2023 is expected to yield “breakthrough” research in aging treatments, led by the Palo Alto medical company Altos Labs. Jeff Bezos is among the donors of the organization, which notes on its homepage that its mission is “to restore cell health and resilience through cellular rejuvenation programming to reverse disease, injury, and the disabilities that can occur throughout life.” A Wired article is optimistic about the direction of the research and compares its potential to the development of antibiotic treatment. Andrew Steele writes, In 2023, early success of these treatments could kickstart the greatest revolution in medicine since the discovery of antibiotics. Rather than going to the doctor when we’re sick and picking off age-related problems like cancer and dementia Read More ›

AI taking exam
Generative AI illustration of cute little robot reading assignment on paper during exam at school
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post
Author
News
Date
January 26, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education
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AI Can Pass the MBA Exam, Wharton Professor Says

In the wake of ChatGPT uproar, its abilities (and limits) are becoming better understood
News
January 26, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence, Education

OpenAI’s ChatGPT passed the Master of Business Administration (MBA) exam according to a news report from NBC. Professor Christian Terwiesch of Wharton, who conducted the research and authored a paper on the matter, said that the bot scored somewhere in the B range on the exam, and that this has major implications for education. The report is just another in a flux of news and concerns about AI invading the spheres of education and academia. Terwiesch wrote, [The bot’s score shows] remarkable ability to automate some of the skills of highly compensated knowledge workers in general and specifically the knowledge workers in the jobs held by MBA graduates including analysts, managers, and consultants.” Despise its apparent advancement, the bot did Read More ›

science page
Drawings of microbes in antique book with annotations on an abstract language, generative ai illustration
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post
Author
News
Date
January 24, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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ChatGPT Listed as “Co-Author” For Several Scientific Papers

Large language models can’t be authors of text because they can’t have responsibility, critics say
News
January 24, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

ChatGPT was listed as a contributing author for at least four scientific articles, according to a report from Nature. The news arrives amid a flurry of debate over the place of AI in journalism and artistic and academic disciplines, and now the issue has spread to the scientific community. People are pushing back against the idea of ChatGPT “authoring” text, claiming that because AI cannot take responsibility for what it produces, only humans should be listed as authors. The article notes, The editors-in-chief of Nature and Science told Nature’s news team that ChatGPT doesn’t meet the standard for authorship. “An attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to LLMs,” says Magdalena Skipper, editor-in-chief of Nature in London. Authors using Read More ›

humans vs
Human vs Robots concept. Technological revolution. Unemployment in the digital world. Symbol of future cooperation, technology advance, innovation. Businessman flips wood cubes human to robot symbols.
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
January 23, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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GPT-3 Versus the Writers at Mind Matters

How does the AI fare when it is asked to write on topics covered in Mind Matters articles?
Jonathan Bartlett
January 23, 2023
12
Artificial Intelligence

In order to give a real-world comparison of the output of GPT-3 to human-written writing, I decided it would be a fun activity to see how OpenAI’s GPT-3 compares to Mind Matters on a variety of topics that we cover.  Here, we are using OpenAI’s direct API, not ChatGPT, as there is a lot of evidence that ChatGPT responses have a human-in-the-loop.  Therefore, we are going to focus on the outputs from their API directly. I used several criteria for article selection in order to even the playing field as much as possible.  For instance, I only chose articles that did not depend on recent events.  This way, GPT-3 is not disadvantaged for not having up-to-date material.  However, I also Read More ›

drone-sunrise-in-princeton-new-jersey-stockpack-adobe-stock
Drone Sunrise in Princeton New Jersey
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post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 18, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Princeton Student Develops AI Detector App

Software engineers are finding creative ways to regulate and detect ChatGPT
Peter Biles
January 18, 2023
3
Artificial Intelligence

A 22-year-old student from Princeton, Edward Tian, has designed an app to discern whether text is human or AI generated. The tool, GPTZero, is already garnering interest from potential investors and will come as a sigh of relief to teachers and others who are worried about the advanced abilities of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s new text generator. According to a piece from Fast Company, Tian says his tool measures randomness in sentences (“perplexity”) plus overall randomness (“burstiness”) to calculate the probability that the text was written by ChatGPT. Since tweeting about GPTZero on January 2, Tian says he’s already been approached by VCs wanting to invest and will be developing updated versions soon.” Megan Morrone, Was this written by a robot? These tools help detect AI-generated text (fastcompany.com) Read More ›

abstract-ai-generated-illustration-of-a-colored-floating-liquid-in-the-trend-colors-pink-orange-blue-and-violet-stockpack-adobe-stock
abstract ai generated illustration of a colored floating liquid in the trend colors pink, orange, blue and violet
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 17, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Law
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Three Artists Launch Lawsuit Against Stable Diffusion

Content creators claim new AI tools violate copyright and intellectual property
Peter Biles
January 17, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence, Law

Three artists, Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz are filing a lawsuit against the AI image generators Midjourney, Stability AI, and DeviantArt. They claim the AI tools commit copyright violation and infringement of intellectual property. The lawsuit appears amid growing concerns among content creators over the increasing popularity and use of new AI image and text generators like DALL-E and ChatGPT. According to a report from Techspot,  The trio have launched a class action on behalf of all artists affected and are “seeking compensation for damages caused by Stability AI, DeviantArt, and Midjourney, and an injunction to prevent future harms.” The lawsuit alleges direct copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement related to forgeries, violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Read More ›

young-african-male-programmer-writing-program-code-sitting-at-the-workplace-with-three-monitors-in-the-office-image-focused-on-the-screen-stockpack-adobe-stock
Young african male programmer writing program code sitting at the workplace with three monitors in the office. Image focused on the screen
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
January 17, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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How are Developers Using OpenAI’s Tools in their Software?

There are several interesting uses of the new AI tools, but time will tell which ones take off
Jonathan Bartlett
January 17, 2023
5
Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI has released two major tools for developers to make use of GPT-3 and DALL-E.  GPT-3 is the radical new text generation tool, which generates large or small amount of texts from simple prompts.  It can also classify text into categories  GPT-3’s text-generation system forms the core of OpenAI’s new chatbot, ChatGPT.  DALL-E is an image generation tool, which creates images from text prompts.  Together, these two tools provide today’s state-of-the-art in AI-based content generation. So how are developers making use of these new features?  Today we are looking at several ways that these tools have been put to use. Basic Content Generation The core of GPT-3 is generating content from prompts.  Whether for making blog posts, writing summaries, or Read More ›

plato-fresco-at-greek-orthodox-church-stockpack-adobe-stock
Plato, fresco at Greek Orthodox Church
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 16, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education
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What Students Lose by Embracing Easy Tech Like ChatGPT

AI systems not only pose a problem for teachers, but will compromise intellectual excellence and moral virtue
Peter Biles
January 16, 2023
4
Artificial Intelligence, Education

We’ve heard a lot about ChatGPT and its wonders and gaping pitfalls. Among the dangers it poses is academic cheating and corner-cutting. It’s no secret that the new bot makes Comp 1 a whole lot easier for a typical incoming freshman. Some universities and schools are banning the AI system outright. Teachers wonder how they will be able to discern plagiarism. Other voices chide the alarmists and call for students and teachers to use ChatGPT as a classroom aid.   But one area that has gone a bit underdiscussed in the conversation is ethics. Dr. Anthony Bradley of The King’s College tweeted this a few days ago, Students are writing papers using AI. Colleges are scrambling to combat it. We Read More ›

error-page-template-for-website-retro-robot-with-monitor-computer-head-warning-message-on-blue-screen-macro-view-copy-space-stockpack-adobe-stock
Error page template for website. Retro robot with monitor computer head. Warning message on blue screen. macro view copy space
Type
post
Author
Jeffrey Funk and Gary Smith
Date
January 16, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Large Language Models Can Entertain but Are They Useful?

Humans who value correct responses will need to fact-check everything LLMs generate
Jeffrey Funk and Gary Smith
January 16, 2023
7
Artificial Intelligence

In 1987 economics Nobel Laureate Robert Solow said that the computer age was everywhere—except in productivity data. A similar thing could be said about AI today: It dominates tech news but does not seem to have boosted productivity a whit. In fact, productivity growth has been declining since Solow’s observation. Productivity increased by an average of 2.7% a year from 1948 to 1986, by less than 2% a year from 1987 to 2022. Labor productivity is the amount of goods and services we produce in a given amount of time—output per hour. More productive workers can build more cars, construct more houses, and educate more children. More productive workers can also enjoy more free time. If workers can do in four Read More ›

man-reading-in-the-park-stockpack-adobe-stock
Man reading in the park
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 13, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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Will ChatGPT Replace Human Writers?

Some people think so. But maybe they’re mistaken about the purpose and nature of language
Peter Biles
January 13, 2023
5
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

In the wake of the notorious ChatGPT chatbot from OpenAI, many are asking, “What’s going to happen to people who make their living as writers?” We’re talking journalists, novelists, academics, etcetera. It’s a valid question given the dexterity of the new technology. OpenAI’s DALL-E image generator poses the same question to visual artists. If a machine can generate a skillfully crafted piece of text or an image, the need for human writers and artists turns opaque. That is if we actually think artificial and natural intelligence are comparable competitors.   Cynics are claiming a doomsday for writers. Sean Thomas of the Spectator thinks doomsday is upon us. He wrote in a January 10th article, I’ve done writing of all kinds Read More ›