I bitch a lot on AI and that mainly is because I dislike generative AI that's been thrown out into the public like a massive alpha test and some people are using AI to generate more AI content to flood everything
But AI can certainly be used in a LOT of cases where it can be of huge benefit, tasks, calculations or simulations that are just too hard or complicated for the human mind
So yeah, my relationship with AI is uh.. "difficult"
@stux I think it’s simple.
Generative AI is awful and damaging.
Pattern-matching number-crunching AI in fields of research is fantastic.
One seeks to enrich, and save, lives. Another seeks to pillage lives. They are not the same.
@wiredfire Exactly!
I mean we need solution against HIV, cancer etc
Not stupid fake pictures of politicians kissing each other..
@stux absolutely! I forget the number but I also heard that once an AI was thrown at radio telescope data it found more exotic-planets in a few months that human had been able to sift out of the data since we started looking.
In these contexts is extremely powerful and THAT is where the billions of funding would make a real impact. Instead we have OpenAI saying “we want to scoop up all your data and expect to make a $1bn loss”. Crazy.
@stux @wiredfire This is part of the reason I significantly reduced my usage of Facebook and other Meta platforms. It's weird and should not be normalised.
@wiredfire @stux I asked Gemini about ethnic cleansing in Gaza…its view was balanced, thoughtful, and a complete fucking lie
@wiredfire @stux
Hard agree.
Also, there's definitely a lot of grey in the spectrum between those two extremes.
@wiredfire @stux if only it were that simple https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/113701686670133413
I rejected it at first because of the same issues. I hate being used as an inadvertent Alpha tester.
Now I cautiously use it for limited applications.
@stux My opinion on AI is that it shouldn't be used to "create art" it should strictly be an efficiency enhancer for use alongside humans at work for the sort of things that you mentioned, the moment its connected to social media or web video platforms it becomes an issue for me.
@stux Exactly my position.
@stux
I used to use a health tracking app which apparently* used AI to produce its outputs, and it was incredibly useful for me, I've never found another service that could produce the same insights. It got closed down :/
Why can't we keep that kind of AI, and throw out the "ask this thing a question and receive a completely unreliable answer" variety
*I say apparently as I suspect a lot of the products claiming to use AI just.. don't?
@stux I find the collapse of a bunch of disparate machine learning technologies into the term "AI" to make talking about it frustrating! Principal component analysis is great for medical datasets! Cheap large language models have made the problem of internet SEO spam more intractable than it's ever been! I would prefer to not have to discuss these things together.
@stux Mine too. I support humans (in spite of their failings) way ahead of AI.
@stux generative AI always bothered me; why do we need technology to make videos, pictures, or audio of people doing/saying things that never happened? what good can come from this?
@stux Accessibility stuffs, also. One tool comes to mind that reframes words in a different tone, ie for autistics who aren't good with words or tone.(What it really should be used for)
Like, a re-toner/refiner to rephrase our words.
(Side note: I don't use that nearly as often as I should.)
I also despise most AI, except useful things.
@alex Exactly! That would be amazing!
I know a few ppl who could really use it that way instead of a screenreader that can suck from time to time
@stux I love using AI for hypothetical scientific calculations
@DarthAstrius @stux We cannot afford the energy use of AI. We cannot afford the energy use of the things we already use. Energy use has to go renewable *and* *also* drop off a cliff, not by 2050 but by yesterday. There are no doubt many very cool and very worthwhile tasks that AI could be put to, but it requires a gross underestimation of the scale and speed of energy use reduction we (especially we in the developed world) need to do to even consider them.