Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

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covid-19-coronavirus-and-crisis-concept-us-president-franklins-eyes-and-face-mask-on-100-dollar-money-bill-corona-virus-affects-global-stock-market-stockpack-adobe-stock
COVID-19 coronavirus and crisis concept, US president Franklin`s eyes and face mask on 100 dollar money bill. Corona virus affects global stock market.

Is the Public Health Technocracy Faltering?

Technocrats don’t rely on mandates but eagerly impose policies that render society less free

In February, I warned about a treaty being negotiated to empower the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic, which would trigger governments assuming mandatory emergency powers. From, “Transforming WHO into a Public-Health Technocracy“: The WHO director-general would be granted the power to “declare pandemics,” at which point emergency provisions of the treaty to impose public-health policies would go into effect. . . . The WHO would be able to dictate policies if international consensus were not obtained by a vote of the two presidents and four vice presidents of the WHO CA+. . . The International Court of Justice would also be granted decisive power. . . . It would centralize pandemic planning and response into itself. . . Read More ›

editing in red
Red Proofreading Marks and Pen Closeup

ChatGPT: Beware the Self-Serving AI Editor

The chatbot "edits" by reworking your article to achieve its own goals, not necessarily yours

My article, Utopia’s Braniac (short title), reported results from experiments showing that for one, ChatGPT actually lies, and secondly, it gives results plainly biased to favor certain political figures over others. I next ran a follow-up experiment: asking ChatGPT to “edit and improve” the Utopia’s Brainiac manuscript before submitting it.  Close friends told me they’d used ChatGPT to improve their written work and said the process is easy. So, I tried it myself on February 6, 2023. I entered “Please edit and improve the following essay” and pasted my piece in full text (as ultimately published). In under a minute, ChatGPT delivered its edited and revised copy. What did it do? I. Deleted Whole Section That Gave Readers an Everyday Context 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.

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

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 ›

satellite image of china
Planet Earth from Space People's Republic of China highlighted, elements of this image courtesy of NASA

War With China: Who Will Win?

Has the United States lost its status of military superiority?

General Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command and 50,000 US service members, said, “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight [China] in 2025.” China’s invasion of Taiwan might spark this war. Predictably, the politically obedient Department of Defense (DOD) responded “comments [by Minihan] are not representative of the department’s view on China.” “Views” can be unimportant. Whether or not General Minihan is correct is important. Who would win the war between the US and China? Many are pessimistic about the chances of the United States being the victor. Here are short summaries (with links) of a few disturbing opinions from those who should know. So, how is the US doing?  Here are some disturbing Read More ›

surveillance
Video camera lens

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

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 ›