Okay, so it was a scary meeting. It was about AI—artificial intelligence. Specifically Generative IA. That’s the kind that makes up answers to questions put to it, or does tasks it’s assigned. The scary part, to me, is that we are being forced to deal with it because tech companies have unleashed it upon the world without thinking through the consequences. Such hubris gets us into trouble again and again but it never stops us. We’re sapiens! You see, GAI (Generative AI) is under no obligation to tell the truth. It likely can’t even understand the concept, which is a human concept based on perceptions of reality. GAI simply provides answers based on the dataset it’s been fed. It can generate texts, and photos (which are so doctored these days anyway that we need a photo-hospital), which means it can, to borrow the words of a sage, “make a lie sound just like truth.” We already have politicians enough to do that, thank you.
Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash
My real fear is that the concept of truth itself is eroding. With Trump’s “truth is whatever I say it is” administration, and its ongoing aftermath, many Americans have lost any grip on the idea. Facts are no longer recognized as facts. “Well I asked ChatGPT and it told me…” It told you whatever its dataset told it and that dataset contains errors. The other scary aspect here is that many people have difficulty distinguishing AI from human responses. My humble advice is to spend more time with honest human beings. Social media isn’t always the best way to acquaint yourself with truth. And yet we’re forced to deal with it because we need to keep evolving. Those Galapagos finches won’t even know what hit ‘em.
Grandma was born before heavier-than-air flight. Before she died we’d walked on the moon. About two decades ago cell phones were around, but weren’t ubiquitous. Now any company that wants its products found has to optimize for mobile. And mobile is just perfect for AI that fits in the palm of your hand. But where has truth gone? You never really could grasp it in your hands anyway, but we as a collective largely agreed that if you committed crimes you should be punished, not re-elected. And that maybe, before releasing something with extinction-level potential that maybe you should at least stop and think about the consequences. I guess that’s why it was a scary meeting. The consequences. All technological advances have consequences, but when it takes a lifetime to get to the moon, at least you’ve had some time to think about what might happen. And that’s the truth.
