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As tech gets more powerful, so do the false positive outcomes.

You can randomly lose your Google or Facebook account for no reason. Or have your app pulled from an app store. And now, you can randomly be smeared. Or your car may crash.

Whoops. Guess that's just how AI works.

Stop defending it. The AI companies should be sued and we should have digital rights. Why is everyone in such a hurry to accept and embrace an imperfect AI anyway? It isn't going to improve your life, it's going to add even more productivity pressure to your life and then replace you. If not destroy much of human culture.

Give AI a hard time and buy time. Don't make it so easy for them by letting them dodge any and all responsibility.



I think these two bits perfectly sum the issue

> Why is everyone in such a hurry to accept and embrace an imperfect AI anyway?

> The AI companies should be sued

Your option to stopping the AI companies goes through litigation in courts, which means you also need to prove harm, which can only be proven once done at scale with obvious and measurable impacts. Basically when it's widely accepted, and also too late.

Other approaches would be through preemptive regulation, which also means limiting what companies can do by law. That needs trust in government and regulators, and active participation of a majority of the actors in legislation and framework building, and making sure everyone's voice has a chance to be heard.


Of course, this is a recipe for turning the future of AI over to foreign technocratic regimes that don't prioritize invented "human rights" at the expense of human progress... but never mind that. I suppose growing a thicker collective skin is out of the question.


>Why is everyone in such a hurry to accept and embrace an imperfect AI anyway?

because this has been the dominant culture in the digital technology space and every argument against it is usually facing some sort of "so you want to stop innovation, huh?!" response.

You're obviously right. Powerful tools require equally powerful means to control them and to make sure they're aligned with our values. Imagine you had a machine on a factory floor with the behaviour of one of these models, or an airplane. It's the same with 'self-driving' cars. Making pedestrians and other drivers unwilling beta testers is absolutely wild to me.


> "so you want to stop innovation, huh?!"

Excitement Considered Harmful

In 1968, Edsger Dijkstra wrote a now-famous letter titled "Goto Considered Harmful", which argued that the use of the "goto" statement in programming languages led to code that was difficult to read and maintain. The letter sparked a heated debate in the programming community, and it ultimately led to a rethinking of programming language design.

Today, we face a similar problem with the way we approach technology adoption. In recent years, there has been an explosion of excitement around new technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain. Tech companies are rushing to integrate these technologies into their products and services, and investors are pouring billions of dollars into startups that promise to revolutionize entire industries.

But is all this excitement warranted? Are we really thinking critically about the potential risks and downsides of these technologies, or are we simply caught up in the hype?

The truth is that excitement can be a dangerous thing. It can blind us to the real risks and downsides of new technologies, and it can lead us to make decisions that we later regret. We need a sober review of where we are as a society and where we want to go, particularly as we face the dawn of AI.

The potential benefits of AI are clear. It has the potential to revolutionize fields like healthcare, transportation, and finance, and it could lead to new discoveries and insights that we can't even imagine today. But we can't ignore the potential risks, either. AI has the potential to automate millions of jobs, exacerbate existing inequalities, and create new forms of surveillance and control.

We need to approach AI with a clear-eyed view of its potential risks and benefits. We need to have frank and honest discussions about the ethical and moral implications of these technologies, and we need to ensure that they are developed and deployed in a way that benefits society as a whole, not just a select few.

Excitement is not inherently bad, but it can lead us to make rash decisions that we later regret. We need to temper our excitement with a healthy dose of skepticism and critical thinking. We need to be willing to ask tough questions and challenge assumptions. Only then can we ensure that the technologies we create are truly beneficial to society.

In conclusion, just as "goto" was once considered harmful to programming, we should also consider the harm that excitement can cause in the context of technology adoption. Let us approach new technologies like AI with a sober and critical eye, and let us ensure that we use them in a way that benefits us all.


We need a sober review of where we are as a society and where we want to go, particularly as we face the dawn of AI.

This is what an intelligent, empathetic, caring population would do. It is what we need to do. I'm sure many people are feeling pretty darn uneasy about where this is all going, especially those with children.

What I'm rather scared of is that we may not really be intelligent, not in the way we like to think of intelligence. I mean look at what we've done to the environment, to each other, now we want to take our ideas and multiple them 10x?

Not sure how this will go.

I always though AI would be kind of, an alien type of intelligence that would tell us where we're going wrong as a society and help us course correct, not this setup we have now.


> Excitement Considered Harmful

> […]

Was this comment written by ChatGPT?


Definitely. It's way longer and a totally different writing style than its poster's other history. If such a work was actually written elsewhere (where this long format would make more sense) and then (self-)plagiarized here, it would likely be published online, but a Google search only reveals this very thread.

When these tells (and thus your hunch and my assertion) diminish, though...

I bet the prompt was something like "write a considered harmful essay, inspired by goto considered harmful, about excitement as it relates to the adoption of technology" -- here's what Google Bard does with that exact prompt:

###

Excitement is a powerful emotion. It can drive us to achieve great things, but it can also lead us to make poor decisions. In the world of technology, excitement can often lead to the adoption of new technologies without proper consideration of the potential risks.

This is especially true for new technologies that are hyped by the media and marketed as being the next big thing. When we hear about a new technology that promises to change the world, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement and rush to adopt it. But before we do, we need to take a step back and ask ourselves if this technology is really right for us.

There are a number of reasons why excitement can be harmful when it comes to the adoption of technology. First, excitement can lead us to make decisions without fully understanding the technology. We may be so eager to try out the latest gadget that we don't take the time to read the manual or learn how to use it properly. This can lead to problems down the road, such as data loss or damage to the device.

Second, excitement can lead us to ignore the potential risks of a new technology. We may be so focused on the potential benefits that we don't consider the potential drawbacks. For example, we may be so excited about the new social media app that we don't think about how it could be used to spread misinformation or cyberbullying.

Third, excitement can lead us to adopt a new technology without considering its impact on our lives. We may be so eager to try out the latest gadget that we don't think about how it will fit into our existing routines. This can lead to problems such as feeling overwhelmed or stressed.

In conclusion, excitement can be a powerful force, but it's important to remember that it can also lead us to make poor decisions. When it comes to the adoption of new technologies, it's important to take a step back and ask ourselves if this technology is really right for us. We need to make sure that we understand the technology, that we're aware of the potential risks, and that we've considered the impact it will have on our lives.

In the same way that goto was considered harmful in programming, excitement can be considered harmful in the adoption of technology. It's important to be aware of the potential risks of excitement and to take steps to mitigate them.

###

If only we had done something like...

    s/essay/hn style comment/


> Stop defending it. The AI companies should be sued and we should have digital rights

But people (in power; police, press, military, politicians, juries, judges etcetcetcetcetc) screw people over all the time without any consequences. How many people in your neighbourhood are calling you a sex offender if you are a bit different than the norm? If AI companies should be punished, so should everyone spreading false information without rock-solid proof and also punish their bosses, parents etc. And that's not 'a jury of your peers'; that's not proof, that's just humans being bad AI's and guessing/hallucinating over generally inconclusive evidence.

> The AI companies should be sued - Facebook - Google

The companies using AI to cut workforce and screw over people without recourse should be sued (they can be the same company of course). When Google or Facebook close your account, there should be a government body you can go to and if it turns out to be wrongful, they have to pay you 1% of their revenue(!). Immediately. That'll fix it overnight. Don't blame the tool makers or we have a lot more to sue in this world and there would be no guns. Or Microsoft products.

> Give AI a hard time and buy time. Don't make it so easy for them by letting them dodge any and all responsibility.

You shouldn't take what they present at face value, ever. No need to 'buy time' etc. Educate people. But people want to believe lies; that has nothing to do with AI and is already a huge industry. Check the audience size of crap like The Daily Mail etc.


Yeah, if everyone waited for perfection, we'd still be in stone ages.

Thank god for the first fish that swam out of the water and didn't wait for perfection


> Why is everyone in such a hurry to accept and embrace an imperfect AI anyway?

Because, while imperfect, it already helps increase economic output and save time and thereby money, all of which this society and country revolves around. They call it "prosperity".


Individualism vs. Utilitarianism

In this case, my bet is on utilitarianism just because the harm to thousands will be much less than the benefit to billions.


> Whoops. Guess that's just how AI works.

So many people are freaking out over this and yet not a single person has been harmed. We've lost our collective nerve and become a bunch of whining wimps.

This tech can't even draw hands yet, for heaven's sake! Calm down.

Something to actually care about is all the death happening in the world. This is nothing. Literally a mole hill.

Accept the current state of imperfection. Even if we *NEVER* move beyond it, the capabilities we will unlock will be immense.

People can say wrong or hurtful things all over the internet. It does not matter. Grow some thicker skin. We evolved to fend off lions and bears, not to be afraid of strings of characters spit out by silicon.

Wake me up when they can hold guns and open doors. Until then, this panic is desensitizing.

> Why is everyone in such a hurry to accept and embrace an imperfect AI anyway?

Because for the first time in my life I can make incredible art. If we keep going, there's no conceivable limit to the amazing world we'll build. Infinite multiplayer VR narratives that'll unfold with you and your friends, more real than any story you've ever read or heard. Unlimited imagination, unlimited exploration. You'll never hear "born too late / too early to explore" ever again.

This tech is going to suck the mundane primate shit we do out of life and fill it up with awesome.


> So many people are freaking out over this and yet not a single person has been harmed

I mean this is demonstrably untrue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Elaine_Herzberg


Whether humans or machines lower the death rates, it's always terrible for some individuals. This happens in medicine all the time when a new treatment changes the group of people who are likely to experience harmful side effects.


the person discussed in the post you replied to is an example of someone being harmed


An LLM did promote a man to commit suicide, which he did. I understand that the LLM was simply reflecting back the feelings he had, but it's still a new and powerful way for people to go down a rabbit hole.





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