From Pine View Farm

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Indiana University law professor Michael Mattioli, reacting to the recent kerfuffle of OpenAI’s attempt to steal mimic Scarlett Johansson’s voice, raises an interesting question:

    Why are Silicon Valley Tech Bros expending so much energy trying to create AI bots that sound human, when other more efficient ways of interacting with computers have worked very nicely for decades?

Here’s a tiny bit of his answer (emphasis added):

Why the fixation on digital companions amid such more meaningful promise and opportunity? The answer is as ancient as the pyramids. Just as the pharaohs poured untold resources into monuments that mirrored their power and beliefs, some within Silicon Valley are pursuing lifelike AI as a grand symbolic achievement.

There’s also an echo of the ancient quest to commune with eternity, to grasp immortality, woven into AI chatbots like Sky. The pyramids served as eternal vessels for a pharaoh’s spirit; what is lifelike AI if not an attempt to capture and channel a human being’s essential nature?

(Or could it be that they just want to make their fantasies of being Captain Kirk sitting the captain’s chair saying, “Computer . . . .” come to life?)

Aside:

Speaking of AI, security maven Bruce Schneier thinks that AI will make phishing attempts even less fishy and even harder to detect.

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