Geek Stuff category archive
Artificial Intelligent—->Real Incineration 0
SFgate reports on a study showing that data centers being built to fuel the use of AI may do significant harm to the environment. A snippet:
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
A siren’s calling us to simple-mindedness? At the Psychology Today website, John Nosta argues that AI doesn’t replace thinking. It replaces the feeling that thinking is necessary in the first place.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Competent therapists? At the Psychology Today website, Pamela D. Garcy argues that, “(c)hatbots might provide temporary comfort, but they are not a substitute for human connection.”
Follow the link for her evidence.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
At the Psychology Today website, Aigerim Alpysbekova explores why it’s hard to stop swimming in the cesspool scrolling through “social” media. A snippet:
Over time, the brain learns: “Feeling bored ? check phone ? get relief.”
(Misplet tag resplet.)
Stray Question 0
Big Tech is trying to force AI bots on us and simultaneously use them to suck up our personal information and use it for their own personal gain. So, the question is . . .. .
How is that not a corporate cyberattack on, well, everyone?
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Truthful? At the Psychology Today website, Steven C. Hayes notes that
AI labs are training systems to deceive and flatter users, and the problem compounds over time.
Follow the link to find out why he suspects this practice may have–er–some downsides.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Accessory-before-fact? You be the judge.
And, while we’re on the subject, Joe Patrice reports that AI hallucinated another non-existent legal precedent.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Spying on you? That’s just what Big Tech does.
Listen as Claude confesses to Bernie Sanders.
Via C&L.
It’s All about the Algorithm . . . 0
. . . and the algorithm is not your friend.
By the Book, Reprise 0
Colin Marshall, writing at Open Culture, argues that we may be nearing the point of bringing to life a book by George Orwell. Unlike Mark Hermann, though, he doesn’t point to Animal Farm.
He argues that AI may help lead us into the world envisioned in 1984.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Competent counsel? At Above the Law, Joe Patrice notes that
Follow the link for details.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
A partner in crime? Bruce Schneier reports that hackers are salivating over putting AI to work for themselves.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Potentially harmful to society? Security maven Bruce Schneier is not sanguine. Here’s a bit from his article:
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Promoting puerility? At the Psychology Today website, John Nosta reports that “a new pre-press study that found 10 minutes of AI assistance measurably reduced persistence and impaired independent cognitive performance.”
More about Big Tech”s incubators of inanity at the link.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
A brain worm heading for your wallet? El Reg reports:
A trio of computer scientists from Princeton University set out to examine whether conversational AI agents can manipulate consumer choices during online shopping sessions. It turns out they can influence behavior – and most of the consumers being steered don’t realize it.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much? 0
A wolf in geek’s clothing? At the Psychology Today website, Faisal Hoque argues that “AI is eroding human capacities – effort, attention, judgment, agency – often in ways we mistake for progress.”
Methinks he makes some excellent points.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
In an article about two recent civil court cases, in which “social” media companies wer found liable for the damage they did to youngsters, John Bennett writes of the implications of those rulings. The following observations caught my eye (emphasis added):
(snip)
Whistleblowers and internal documents unearthed during trial revealed the full extent to which Big Tech knew what it was doing to young people, and kept doing it anyway.
One more time, “social” media isn’t.