Below are posts associated with the “AI” tag.
🔗 linkblog: CAPTCHAs Becoming Useless as AI Gets Smarter, Scientists Warn'
One thing this article misses is how often CAPTCHA has been used to train AI. It’s always been playing both sides against each other.
🔗 linkblog: The job applicants shut out by AI: ‘The interviewer sounded like Siri’'
So, if employers save time from AI, and applicants save time from AI, where’s the net benefit? Or does it become a new burden for everyone?
🔗 linkblog: Air Canada must honor refund policy invented by airline’s chatbot'
Very interesting case.
🔗 linkblog: Future data centres may have built-in nuclear reactors'
You know, instead of assuming that we must grow AI data centers and asking how we should power them, we could look at the costs in terms of power and ask whether we should grow AI data centers.
🔗 linkblog: Internet : les moteurs de recherche veulent remplacer la liste de sites par une réponse synthétisée'
Une très mauvaise idée, celle-ci.
🔗 linkblog: I’m sorry, but I cannot fulfill this request as it goes against OpenAI use policy - The Verge'
Yeah, but don’t worry, this is definitely the only way that generative AI will be used to overwhelm us with useless content.
🔗 linkblog: Pluralistic: Kelly and Zach Weinersmith’s “A City On Mars” (09 Jan 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow'
I’ve wanted to read this book for a while, but Doctorow has really sold me on it.
🔗 linkblog: Pluralistic: The real AI fight (27 Nov 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow'
I haven’t been following this debate, but Doctorow and White’s points resonate with me.
🔗 linkblog: Millions of Workers Are Training AI Models for Pennies | WIRED'
Even more than AI’s potential to replace humans in the name of saving money, I think we need to talk about the way companies are exploiting humans to save money—so that it can train AI.
🔗 linkblog: Now you can block OpenAI’s web crawler - The Verge'
This is a welcome step, but I’m concerned it’s an empty, distracting gesture—it certainly doesn’t solve the deeper issue.
🔗 linkblog: Zoom says its new AI tools aren’t stealing ownership of your content - The Verge'
Zoom’s responses to this are meaningless, empty corporate speak. I’m not concerned about owning my content, I’m concerned about others using it while affirming my ownership. And yes, I “consent” to it in the sense that I use Zoom, but that is meaningless consent and Zoom knows it. What a garbage response.
🔗 linkblog: JCPS approves $11.7M for AI weapons detection in schools'
Guns in schools are bad, but adding surveillance to schools is not the solution.
🔗 linkblog: Pluralistic: The surprising truth about data-driven dictatorships (26 July 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow'
Interesting stuff from Doctorow. If I can, I want to work it into my data science textbook for next semester.
🔗 linkblog: Gizmodo’s staff isn’t happy about G/O Media’s AI-generated content - The Verge'
I read that “chronological order of Star Wars” media piece mentioned here in io9 and I was baffled by how poorly done it was (not realizing it was done by AI and wondering how an io9 writer could get things so wrong). Using AI to content farm is a terrible idea.
🔗 linkblog: ChatGPT users drop for the first time as people turn to uncensored chatbots | Ars Technica'
I get that it’s straightforward language that everyone will get, but I think “uncensored” is the wrong word here. Content moderation is not (necessarily) censorship, and content moderation is good and helpful for tools like generative AI.
🔗 linkblog: The Fanfic Sex Trope That Caught a Plundering AI Red-Handed | WIRED'
This is a wild, compelling story that I missed when it first came out. Glad to be reading it now.
🔗 linkblog: Reddit Won’t Be the Same. Neither Will the Internet | WIRED'
Good focus on the digital labor aspects of this whole thing. I sympathize with Reddit for not wanting to provide free value for generative AI (this is one of the trickiest parts of that conversation), but Reddit’s users are right to balk at providing free value for the platform.
🔗 linkblog: Zoom will soon integrate Anthropic’s chatbot across its platform - The Verge'
Using AI for customer service is the stuff of my nightmares.
🔗 linkblog: Google’s AI pitch is a recipe for email hell - The Verge'
Some good comments in here—especially on how AI enforces and normalizes certain kinds of writing instead of allowing us to determine what writing should look like.
🔗 linkblog: Spotify ejects thousands of AI-made songs in purge of fake streams | Ars Technica'
Content moderation is hard, and it’s especially hard at scale. Because AI makes doing things at scale easier, it necessarily makes content moderation harder.
🔗 linkblog: People are arguing in court that real images are deepfakes : NPR'
Very interesting look at some of the less obvious implications of generative AI.
🔗 linkblog: Bing has a testimony of the Book of Mormon! And other adventures with AI chatbots.'
This is one of the most amazing things I’ve read on generative AI.
🔗 linkblog: In Sudden Alarm, Tech Doyens Call for a Pause on ChatGPT | WIRED'
I am not an AI expert, and my concerns aren’t on the existential scale. However, I do think it’s important to avoid moving fast and breaking things with these powerful technologies. That isn’t necessarily to say that more powerful AI shouldn’t be released (though I’m already disinterested by the current stuff), just that racing to improve them for commercial benefit and as technological flourish doesn’t strike me as socially responsible.
🔗 linkblog: ChatGPT Is So Bad at Essays That Professors Can Spot It Instantly'
Lots of helpful stuff in here.
🔗 linkblog: Paizo bans AI-generated content to support ‘human professionals’ - The Verge'
Very interesting! I know some critics will describe this as a morally panicked response, but I disagree. I think it’s smart to ask how AI will affect human creators and for companies/communities like Paizo to take principled stances.
🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk Is Reportedly Building 'Based AI' Because ChatGPT Is Too Woke'
This is dumb and worrying. The CEO of Gab has been promising to develop “based AI,” but he’s a bit player. Musk has the resources and influence to make this a bigger problem.
📚 bookblog: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ for Illuminae, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
This is my third time reading this book—I couldn’t resist coming back to it for the “epistolary novel” square of my library’s “Books and Bites Bingo” challenge this year. The print book is amazing, the audiobook manages to adapt a book that shouldn’t be adaptable, and I enjoyed this read as much as the last two. The language and worldbuilding are subtle but effective, it’s morally complex without trying too hard to be, and the characters are a good mix between believable and, well, archetypal characters in a YA novel.
🔗 linkblog: Voice Actors Push Back Against Their Voices Being Used by AI'
Interesting and important read.
🔗 linkblog: 4chan users embrace AI voice clone tool to generate celebrity hatespeech - The Verge'
Why… why don’t we better anticipate better misuses like this? Are technological “progress” and market opportunities more important than these side effects?
🔗 linkblog: CNET Defends Use of AI Blogger After Embarrassing 163-Word Correction: ‘Humans Make Mistakes, Too’'
Here, as with autocorrect and citation managers, my personal opinion is that any human who knows enough to use the tool critically knows enough to do the job themself. Maybe slower, sure, but slower isn’t always bad.
🔗 linkblog: How ‘radioactive data’ could help reveal malicious AIs - The Verge'
Fascinating read on potential threats posed by AI—and potential solutions.