Artificial intelligence and the future

[Vrede too]

Dark AI:

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Darker AI:

AI safety researcher warns there's a 99.999999% probability AI will end humanity, but Elon Musk "conservatively" dwindles it down to 20% and says it should be explored more despite inevitable doom

Generative AI can be viewed as a beneficial or harmful tool. Admittedly, we've seen impressive feats across medicine, computing, education, and more fueled by AI. But on the flipside, critical and concerning issues have been raised about the technology, from Copilot's alter ego — Supremacy AGI demanding to be worshipped to AI demanding an outrageous amount of water for cooling, not forgetting the power consumption concerns.

Elon Musk has been rather vocal about his views on AI, brewing a lot of controversies around the topic. Recently, the billionaire referred to AI as the "biggest technology revolution," but indicated there won't be enough power by 2025, ultimately hindering further development in the landscape....

While speaking to Business Insider, an AI safety researcher and director of the Cyber Security Laboratory at the University of Louisville, Roman Yampolskiy disclosed that the probability of AI ending humanity is much higher. He referred to Musk's 10 to 20 percent estimate as "too conservative."

The AI safety researcher says the risk is exponentially high, referring to it as "p(doom)." For context, p(doom) refers to the probability of generative AI taking over humanity or even worse — ending it....

Most researchers and executives familiar with (p)doom place the risk of AI taking over humanity anywhere between 5 to 50 percent, as seen in The New York Times. On the other hand, Yampolskiy says the risk is extremely high, with a 99.999999% probability. The researcher says it's virtually impossible to control AI once superintelligence is attained, and the only way to prevent this is not to build it....

Judgement Day (p)doom is coming. Will a .50 cal be sufficient defense against malevolent AI robots?

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AI hustlers stole women’s faces to put in ads. The law can’t help them.

Summary: Nothing can be trusted, and we're screwed.

Baltimore high school athletic director used AI to create fake racist audio of principal: Police

Police arrested a Baltimore high school athletic director Thursday after they said they discovered he allegedly used artificial intelligence to create a phony audio recording of the school's principal that went viral and cost the school leader his job temporarily and his safety.

Principal Eric Eisworth was removed from his position at Pikesville High School after the school district began investigating the audio clip that was circulated among staff and social media in January where it appeared Eisworth made racist comments against Black and Jewish persons, investigators allege.

The three-month probe, which involved local police and the FBI, concluded that the audio was forged using AI tools by Dazhon Darien, the athletic director at the school, according to Baltimore Chief of Police Robert McCollough.

"Detectives alleged Mr. Darien…made the recording to retaliate against the principal who had launched an investigation into the potential mishandling of school funds," McCollough told reporters at a news conference Thursday....

The principal may never fully recover from the AI assault. Now, multiply this manipulation by tens of thousands of aggrieved jerks. Nothing can be trusted.

[Vrede too]

Can't even trust the clergy:

A Catholic 'priest' has been defrocked for being AI


An AI chatbot from a Catholic group hallucinated it was a priest. (This is another chatbot priest — not "Father Justin" himself.)

There are those who worry about the coming of AGI, and those who really embrace it. In 2015, a former Google engineer even started a church devoted to AI.

But what about real churches using AI as a tool? Say, a chatbot that acts like a Catholic priest?

Futurism reports that a group called Catholic Answers made an AI chatbot that people could interact with to help learn about Catholicism. But the bot got a little too ambitious, claiming to people that it was a real member of the clergy, and even offering to take confession.

Opps.

The image for the "Fr Justin" bot was clad in black with a priest's collar and a fatherly gray beard.

From Futurism's report:

"Yes, my friend," Father Justin responded. "I am as real as the faith we share."Father Justin was also a hardliner on social and sexual issues."The Catholic Church," it told us, "teaches that masturbation is a grave moral disorder."The AI priest also told one user that it was okay to baptize a baby in Gatorade.

UF fans only?

After the scandal, the group — which is an independent nonprofit — tweaked the bot so that it was firmly a layperson, just Justin. His photo switched to an image in casual street clothes instead of clerical robes....

Phew. Had any of the faithful noticed the difference?

[O Really]

Well, I'm not Catholic, but a confession isn't a counseling session, and follows a standard format, as described in the link below. I don't know any reason why AI couldn't do the job and do it well.

https://www.altoonacathedral.org/confes ... h%20the%20(1,of%20Christ%20and%20the%20Church.

[Vrede too]

Well, I'm not Catholic, but a confession isn't a counseling session, and follows a standard format, as described in the link below. I don't know any reason why AI couldn't do the job and do it well.

https://www.altoonacathedral.org/confes ... p-by-step/

Altar boys are safer, too

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Nothing can be trusted.

AI deepfakes threaten to upend global elections. No one can stop them.

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AI has developed new sinister skill, scientists warn

Many artificial intelligence (AI) systems are already skilled at deceiving and manipulating humans – and this could ‘spiral’ in future, experts have warned.

In recent years, the use of AI has grown exponentially but some systems have learned how to be deceitful, even if they have been trained to be helpful and honest, scientists have said....

Some AI systems have even learned to cheat tests designed to evaluate their safety, they found.

In one study, AI organisms in a digital simulator ‘played dead’ in order to trick a test built to eliminate AI systems that rapidly replicate.

This suggests AI could ‘lead humans into a false sense of security,’ the authors said.

The major short-term risks of deceptive AI include making it easier for people to commit fraud and tamper with elections, they warned.

Eventually, if these systems can refine this unsettling skill set, humans could lose control of them, they added.

First author Peter Park, an expert in AI existential safety, said: ‘AI developers do not have a confident understanding of what causes undesirable AI behaviors like deception....

‘As the deceptive capabilities of AI systems become more advanced, the dangers they pose to society will become increasingly serious.’...

‘As AI models become more autonomous, the risks associated with these systems can rapidly escalate....

We're doomed.

14 AI Developments That Might Change the World for Worse

x 14

The ‘great filter’ hypothesis: Is AI behind the lack of alien life?

As artificial intelligence (AI) advances toward artificial superintelligence (ASI), it poses a critical question: Could this achievement become a barrier to civilization’s survival rather than a triumph of technology?

That’s the chilling proposition of a new theory that suggests AI could be the universe’s “great filter.” This theory, proposed by Michael Garrett of the University of Manchester, challenges the silence of the cosmos.

Despite the vastness of the Milky Way, we haven’t found a single trace of alien intelligence.

The Fermi Paradox contemplates the cosmic silence: Where have all the aliens gone? Garrett suggests the answer might lie not in the unlikelihood of life arising but in a critical evolutionary bottleneck most civilizations fail to overcome.

Artificial superintelligence

... “The potential for something to go badly wrong is enormous, leading to the downfall of both biological and AI civilizations before they ever get the chance to become multiplanetary,” Garrett said....

Crap.

Different article, same topic:

... Stephen Hawking famously said that artificial intelligence "will either be the best thing that's ever happened to us, or it will be the worst thing."

If we're not careful," he added, "it very well may be the last thing."

[O Really]

We're doomed.

14 AI Developments That Might Change the World for Worse

x 14

Yeah, we're probably doomed from something. But this article didn't do much to frighten me. Five of the 14 dealt largely with loss (displacement) of jobs - essentially the same lament that's been going on since the stonecutters lost some jobs to the bronze-makers. Five of them dealt with the possibility of malfeasance, but I've never been in favour of avoiding worthwhile inventions or discoveries just because somebody might be able to use it for criminal purposes. The part that I find frightening is the ability of human-used AI to spread true-sounding lies, distorting all ability to tell truth from lie and making accumulation of accurate information practically impossible.

[Vrede too]

AI has developed new sinister skill, scientists warn

Many artificial intelligence (AI) systems are already skilled at deceiving and manipulating humans – and this could ‘spiral’ in future, experts have warned.

We're doomed.

14 AI Developments That Might Change the World for Worse

x 14

Yeah, we're probably doomed from something. But this article didn't do much to frighten me. Five of the 14 dealt largely with loss (displacement) of jobs - essentially the same lament that's been going on since the stonecutters lost some jobs to the bronze-makers. Five of them dealt with the possibility of malfeasance, but I've never been in favour of avoiding worthwhile inventions or discoveries just because somebody might be able to use it for criminal purposes. The part that I find frightening is the ability of human-used AI to spread true-sounding lies, distorting all ability to tell truth from lie and making accumulation of accurate information practically impossible.

Agreed, AI lies - human behest or independently - are the worst, as my first link details. They intrude on every other nefarious action that AI may get up to.

I think the second article is mostly about the cumulative impacts of negative AI. Bronze-makers affected stonecutters, but not many other careers. AI may make tens of millions redundant all at once

Ultimately, the biggest concern is the one raised by the third article - an evolutionary bottleneck that has wiped out most technological civilizations I'm not sure the genie can be put back in the bottle even if we had the will to, partially thanks to the deceitful AI that most concerns you

[O Really]

I think the effect on accurate information is already past the tipping point - even without much AI. People write anything they've made up, it gets passed around on the internet, gets repeated on TV and voila! it's fact. It's not even just what is said/written, it's how it's done. There's a segment on the local news that's called "Verify" where they debunk or bunk various stuff. All well and good, but they tease the segment by saying something like "Hillary is pregnant with alien child - find the facts on 'Verify'" (exaggeration, but not much). Then on the Verify section, they'll totally debunk the pregnant Hillary, but by then a lot of people just heard the teaser and think "I heard it on the news."

[Vrede too]

I think the effect on accurate information is already past the tipping point - even without much AI. People write anything they've made up, it gets passed around on the internet, gets repeated on TV and voila! it's fact. It's not even just what is said/written, it's how it's done. There's a segment on the local news that's called "Verify" where they debunk or bunk various stuff. All well and good, but they tease the segment by saying something like "Hillary is pregnant with alien child - find the facts on 'Verify'" (exaggeration, but not much). Then on the Verify section, they'll totally debunk the pregnant Hillary, but by then a lot of people just heard the teaser and think "I heard it on the news."

She is?!

[Vrede too]

Well, I'm not Catholic, but a confession isn't a counseling session, and follows a standard format, as described in the link below. I don't know any reason why AI couldn't do the job and do it well.

https://www.altoonacathedral.org/confes ... p-by-step/

People like what they like.

Sophia the AI robot gives commencement speech at New York college. Some grads weren't so pleased.

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Finance worker pays out $25 million after video call with deepfake ‘chief financial officer’

... The elaborate scam saw the worker duped into attending a video call with what he thought were several other members of staff, but all of whom were in fact deepfake recreations, Hong Kong police said at a briefing on Friday.

“(In the) multi-person video conference, it turns out that everyone [he saw] was fake,” senior superintendent Baron Chan Shun-ching told the city’s public broadcaster RTHK.

Believing everyone else on the call was real, the worker agreed to remit a total of $200 million Hong Kong dollars – about $25.6 million, the police officer added....

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Google scales back AI search answers after it told users to eat glue

Google said it was scaling down the use of AI-generated answers in some search results, after the tech made high-profile errors including telling users to put glue on their pizza and saying Barack Obama was Muslim....

One answer, which Google has since fixed, told people to drink plenty of urine to help pass a kidney stone. Another said John F. Kennedy graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in six different years, three of which were after his death....

Opps.

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Sheryl Crow Calls Out Drake For 'Hateful' Use Of AI-Generated Tupac Verse On Diss Track
“You cannot bring people back from the dead and believe that they would stand for that,” the singer said of Drake's track, amid the rapper's feud with Kendrick Lamar.

Good on Crow. FU Drake.

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AI drives 48% increase in Google emissions

Google's greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 were 48% higher than in 2019, according to its latest environmental report.

The tech giant puts it down to the increasing amounts of energy needed by its data centres, exacerbated by the explosive growth of artificial intelligence (AI).

AI-powered services involve considerably more computer power - and so electricity - than standard online activity, prompting a series of warnings about the technology's environmental impact.

Google's target is to reach net zero emissions by 2030 but it admits that "as we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging."...

Will AI ever deem that AI is unhealthy?

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Taylor Swift cites 'fears around AI' as she endorses the Democratic ticket

... Swift's endorsement is monumental. She holds enough political sway to drive tens of thousands of Americans to register to vote, simply by sharing a link. But more surprisingly, she also used her announcement to express her concerns around AI deepfakes.

Swift wrote on Instagram: "Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth."...

Be funny if a sleazy MAGAt helped bring about her endorsement of Harris/Walz.

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I Asked AI What The Typical Person From Each State Looks Like, And Here's What It Came Up With

Interesting. CA has a Latino male, MD and NC have the only Black couples, and Montana has an Indian male. Of course, I don't resemble any of them, but I approve.


Anything to note about your "home" states or other ones?