AIs gunning for our precious freelancers

[/ˌnɐ.ˈɾɛn.dɚ.ˌduːd/]

Sure...its up there with a dog being able to distinguish between its owner and its housesitter - and adjusting canine behavior accordingly.

It seems that despite taking the strongest line against AI here,

screaming "we're all gonna die! AI will kill and replace us all!" is not taking a strong line.

not exactly sure why on earth AI would want to replace most people, myself included. pretty much all I do is sit around and message people about how AI might or might not be capable of one day taking over earth.

[keenir]

It seems that despite taking the strongest line against AI here,

screaming "we're all gonna die! AI will kill and replace us all!" is not taking a strong line.

not exactly sure why on earth AI would want to replace most people, myself included. pretty much all I do is sit around and message people about how AI might or might not be capable of one day taking over earth.

Malloc thinks that not only will AI take all our jobs, but also all our hobbies and anything else that humans do. And maybe kill us all once AI has taken everything else from us.

[bradrn]

Sure...its up there with a dog being able to distinguish between its owner and its housesitter - and adjusting canine behavior accordingly.

It seems that despite taking the strongest line against AI here, I am also the only one willing to credit it with intelligence.

I’ve also credited current models with a certain amount of intelligence. Though not much, mind you — see zompist’s comment about dancing bears.

(It also so happens that, in practice, I take a pretty strong line against them too. I very strongly resist using these tools, and actively discourage other people from using them for anything without at least carefully double-checking the answers.)

[Ares Land]

As for identifying demographics, targeted advertising has been doing it for at least ten years.
It's really not something unprecedented.

[Raphael]

It seems that despite taking the strongest line against AI here, I am also the only one willing to credit it with intelligence.

Well, yes, and that's not a coincidence. You're so much more worried about AI than others here because you know less about it.

[Travis B.]

I avoid AI, largely because I have never had a legitimate need for it, yet I don't fear that AI will replace us humans. Maybe my view will change when a robot can invade my kitchen and make me a cup of coffee, but until then...

[Raphael]

yet I don't fear that AI will replace us humans.

I still think zompist got this right two years ago: the danger is not that AIs can replace human beings, but that idiot executives think they can:

https://zompist.wordpress.com/2023/07/2 ... bout-llms/

[Travis B.]

yet I don't fear that AI will replace us humans.

I still think zompist got this right two years ago: the danger is not that AIs can replace human beings, but that idiot executives think they can:

https://zompist.wordpress.com/2023/07/2 ... bout-llms/

Oh definitely agreed.

[Torco]

I think AI will replace *some* humans, just like tractors etcetera replaced, say, a lot of people in the horse industry, including horseshit disposal, horse breeding, horse traders and so on.

but yeah, the big risks are that executives think AI can replace anyone, but also that it makes deception, misdirection, and lying to millions of people really really really really REALLY cheap... then again, so did TV

[alice]

It isn't much more complicated than this:

Code: Select all

10 IF INPUT$ == "AYE" THEN GO TO 40
20 LET IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH = 1
30 GO TO 50
40 LET IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH = 0
50 REM continue in like manner

Somebody is thinking in C even when they're thinking in BASIC

"A person who knows one programming language knows exactly which programming construct to use. A person who knows several is never sure".

Oh, "IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH" could be considered a shorter form of "IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH_OR_NORTHERN_IRISH", but nobody uses identifiers that long. At least I hope not.

And: to what extent does putting words in the right order constitute "intelligence"? Discuss.

[Travis B.]

It isn't much more complicated than this:

Code: Select all

10 IF INPUT$ == "AYE" THEN GO TO 40
20 LET IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH = 1
30 GO TO 50
40 LET IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH = 0
50 REM continue in like manner

Somebody is thinking in C even when they're thinking in BASIC

"A person who knows one programming language knows exactly which programming construct to use. A person who knows several is never sure".

Oh, "IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH" could be considered a shorter form of "IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH_OR_NORTHERN_IRISH", but nobody uses identifiers that long. At least I hope not.

And: to what extent does putting words in the right order constitute "intelligence"? Discuss.

As you're programming in a classic BASIC there I would actually say that the idiomatic way to put that would be SC rather than IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH -- after all, most of those only used the first two characters of variable names.

[zompist]

Oh, "IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH" could be considered a shorter form of "IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH_OR_NORTHERN_IRISH", but nobody uses identifiers that long. At least I hope not.

As you're programming in a classic BASIC there I would actually say that the idiomatic way to put that would be SC rather than IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH -- after all, most of those only used the first two characters of variable names.

Oh, you fancy young whippersnappers with your two letter variable names. In the BASIC I learned you'd get S% or S1% and you'd like it.

(For those not into paleocomputing, the real C tell was the use of ==.)

(Also, BASIC is horrible. I just happened to come along when it was omnipresent.)

[Travis B.]

Oh, "IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH" could be considered a shorter form of "IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH_OR_NORTHERN_IRISH", but nobody uses identifiers that long. At least I hope not.

As you're programming in a classic BASIC there I would actually say that the idiomatic way to put that would be SC rather than IS_PROBABLY_SCOTTISH -- after all, most of those only used the first two characters of variable names.

Oh, you fancy young whippersnappers with your two letter variable names. In the BASIC I learned you'd get S% or S1% and you'd like it.

Even the Apple ][ had two-letter variable names!

(For those not into paleocomputing, the real C tell was the use of ==.)

Oh, I know. Back in my Applesoft BASIC days I used = and <>.

(Also, BASIC is horrible. I just happened to come along when it was omnipresent.)

I always wish that I had better documentation for Logo, as I had access to Logo as a kid (I talked a teacher at a 'College for Kids' class into parting ways with a Logo disk) and Logo is a much better language than BASIC, but I had little documentation so I could not take advantage of its potential.

What I really wish I had as a kid is Forth, as Forth was a perfect fit for the classic micros, and was infinitely faster and more space-efficient than interpreted BASIC's. Now, 33 years later, I am the maintainer of a (huge) native code Forth for microcontrollers...

[malloc]

I think AI will replace *some* humans, just like tractors etcetera replaced, say, a lot of people in the horse industry, including horseshit disposal, horse breeding, horse traders and so on.

Except that humans are the horses in this scenario. Remember that most horses ended up in the glue factory once new technology made them obsolete and consider who is currently in charge across most countries these days.

I avoid AI, largely because I have never had a legitimate need for it, yet I don't fear that AI will replace us humans. Maybe my view will change when a robot can invade my kitchen and make me a cup of coffee, but until then...

That is simply not what most people mean by intelligence, though. When we describe someone as intelligent, we don't usually mean that they know their way around a kitchen after all. Furthermore it is small comfort if humans find themselves locked into menial jobs like fetching coffee while AI gets all the academy awards and Nobel prizes.

[keenir]

I think AI will replace *some* humans, just like tractors etcetera replaced, say, a lot of people in the horse industry, including horseshit disposal, horse breeding, horse traders and so on.

Except that humans are the horses in this scenario. Remember that most horses ended up in the glue factory once new technology made them obsolete and consider who is currently in charge across most countries these days.

humans doing paperwork in paperless societies.

I avoid AI, largely because I have never had a legitimate need for it, yet I don't fear that AI will replace us humans. Maybe my view will change when a robot can invade my kitchen and make me a cup of coffee, but until then...

That is simply not what most people mean by intelligence, though. When we describe someone as intelligent, we don't usually mean that they know their way around a kitchen after all.

unless they've first gone decades without being able to do even that much on their own.

Furthermore it is small comfort if humans find themselves locked into menial jobs like fetching coffee while AI gets all the academy awards and Nobel prizes.

why would AI be awarded prizes?

[Torco]

cause "AI" isn't people, it's software. people use software to do what they otherwise would need to put in a lot or work. there's already a pretty big proliferation of low quality, AI-written papers in some disciplines. words that are more used by LLMs are much more frequent in the published literature. if LLMs continue getting better, it won't only be instagram reels that will be mostly AI slop... especially cause peers are probably also using LLMs for reviewing papers.

from a systems perspective this is catastrophic, or at least worrying, but from an individual perspective, it's completely logical. if you're told to publish or perish, and this tool lets you publish 20 papers instead of six, then you will not perish. nobels will, if use of llms to write papers increases enough, ultimately go to farms of prompt engineers. or the sysadmins of the bots making those prompts. or, i guess, to the owner of the megacorpo that owns the datacenters where this production of papers is all happening in the first place.

varoufakis technofeudalism socialism or barbarism blabla

[zompist]

Maybe my view will change when a robot can invade my kitchen and make me a cup of coffee, but until then...

That is simply not what most people mean by intelligence, though. When we describe someone as intelligent, we don't usually mean that they know their way around a kitchen after all.

Only because that's a baseline thing for humans. It's beyond present-day AIs, and other animals for that matter.

For literally fifty years, AI researchers have realized that showy stuff like playing chess is easier than real-world knowledge, and far easier than actually doing things in the real world.

[WeepingElf]

Maybe my view will change when a robot can invade my kitchen and make me a cup of coffee, but until then...

That is simply not what most people mean by intelligence, though. When we describe someone as intelligent, we don't usually mean that they know their way around a kitchen after all.

Only because that's a baseline thing for humans. It's beyond present-day AIs, and other animals for that matter.

For literally fifty years, AI researchers have realized that showy stuff like playing chess is easier than real-world knowledge, and far easier than actually doing things in the real world.

Yes. An Elo rating is not a measure of general intelligence, and thus there is no reason to fear a machine with an Elo rating of 3000

[malloc]

Only because that's a baseline thing for humans. It's beyond present-day AIs, and other animals for that matter.

For literally fifty years, AI researchers have realized that showy stuff like playing chess is easier than real-world knowledge, and far easier than actually doing things in the real world.

In that case, why can plenty of animals navigate the world just fine while none of them can play chess? Why can every human find their way around the kitchen while many cannot play chess?

Furthermore it is small comfort if humans find themselves locked into menial jobs like fetching coffee while AI gets all the academy awards and Nobel prizes.

why would AI be awarded prizes?

Because once it becomes advanced enough, it will conduct all the scientific research and write all the literature. Certainly the credit wouldn't go to whatever random know-nothing prompted the AI for revolutionary research or an interesting novel.

[bradrn]

Only because that's a baseline thing for humans. It's beyond present-day AIs, and other animals for that matter.

For literally fifty years, AI researchers have realized that showy stuff like playing chess is easier than real-world knowledge, and far easier than actually doing things in the real world.

In that case, why can plenty of animals navigate the world just fine while none of them can play chess?

There’s no evolutionary advantage to being able to play chess. If there were, evolution would have caused it to happen by now.