Artificial intelligence exists in a very interesting place in our society. Much like nuclear power, it has the power to either revolutionize society or destroy it. Considering this, the discussion regarding AI (much like politics) is especially fierce.
Generally, I see both good and bad in the technology. I use ChatGPT a bit and would generally say that it is a very useful tool. While in a calculus class, I would often ask ChatGPT how certain calculations work (since it took about a day for my instructor to get back to my questions). I also use ChatGPT much like a coder uses a rubber duck, in that I explain what Iâm trying to write and can often course correct myself just by laying it all out; occasionally, ChatGPT will throw some neat advice back at me for whatever it is Iâm doing.
On that note, I should also note that there are quite a few negatives as well. Water usage and pollution in general is horrible. The internet is getting consumed by AI âslopâ in all mediums. Perhaps worst of all, peopleâs data is taken without compensation and is used to make large corporations wealthy.
I know that AI has its ups and downs but I think that completely taking a hard-lined stance against it is a bit over the top. I would rather some areas of human creativity (images, video, writing) stay with humans and allow the AI to serve as a tool rather than a worker. I would also like for its unintended impacts to be lessened (especially in regards to water). Unfortunately, it appears that, like most things in life, society has decided that you must either condemn the technology (it appears most people are in this camp) or fully embrace the technology. If I remember correctly, a famous scientist got booed from a graduation speech due to his position remark on AI.
Iâve talked with friends who also see the good and bad in the technology, so I hope me and my friends are not alone in this argument. What is your stance on the technology?
Like any tool it can be used for good or bad. Trying to get rid of it isnât going to work. The djinn is out of the bottle. Pandoraâs box has been opened. [consult ChatGPT to generate additional items for this list]
I certify think so too. My qualm is that there is just so much hostility on both sides of this issue. I generally have some optimism of what this technology could bring, but still worry about the negatives that havenât been dealt with much. People being publicly shamed for their stances on AI just doesnât sit right with me.
I recall an article a while back that reported on a country that had passed a law declaring that all data about people belonged to those people. Iâve advocated for that for years.
One thing that I wonder is how it will be monetized. Businesses that use proprietary AI pay for it, but all the common people, they will probably get us hooked on it then start subscription fees.
I use it all the time. It is an indispensable tool. It does not possess actual intelligence, comprehension or consciousness and never will (it is an artifact not a natural substance). Pixels on a screen (derived intentionality) are just random electrical signals without a mind-independent observer to give them meaning (intrinsic intentionality).
I already pay for Gemini pro as part of a bundle with extra cloud storage lol
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SkovandOfMitaze
(One 8 ounce steak used as much water as 6,000 ai searches. )
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People often bring up the water consumption aspect and the aspect of plots of land being cut down in order to create space for data centers .
People should look up how much water is used to generate a single typical AI response and then compare that to how much water it takes to get a calf to the point where youâre consuming an eight ounce steak. A single steak uses several thousands times more water. Also 80% of pastures and crops are for livestock. So if the natural resource drains of AI bothers you then you should be thousands of times more horrified by the meat industry.
But beyond that AI is not a moral thing. Itâs not good or evil. Itâs a tool. The people who use it can use it for good or for evil. So most likely the upper class will weaponize it in thousands of ways to harm the working class. Workers from laborers to office admin to truck drivers will lose their jobs while the business owner makes millions more. Most people use AI as just a fun image generator or as a way to better lay out data for researches. It often needs to be double checked though.
But AI is here to stay and Data Centers are coming. Like 99.9% of people wonât ever call their mayors, their senators, their representatives and so on and demand regulations for social justice. Hopefully the right people will ensure the correct regulations are in place to protect the average human and our planet. But it is growth. Itâs innovation.
I fall into the camp that I think abiogensis is a fact and it required no supernatural tempering. That life developed and later on consciousness. Itâs why diseases can completely alter a persons personality. I think that in the same way we naturally developed intelligence that perhaps AI will be able to go
Through some form of abiogenesis or at least consciousness as well. That itâs just data and electrical/chemixal systems.
I often find myself asking complicated questions that would either warrant a search through college resources or scanning online forum posts. For example, why are our planets lined up as they are, with their orbits spaced as so?
I understand why many people would fear the technology but I think sometimes the rage that AI causes is a bit unwarranted.
I have always been suspicious of technology that is trying to teach or control me. For a long time now there is so much background programming in computers without Cortana or whoever butting in whenever I try and do anything. If I search the first answer is always AI. Itâs not anger or fear just leave me alone! If I want AI I will specifically ask it. I do not want to be badgered or even fooled by AI generated trash.
Whether we like it or not, AI is already part of our life. The transition to the AI era is happening right now. I see it everywhere, both in good and bad.
Building of data centers for AI is ongoing in many places and there are others waiting to get sufficient (gigawatt-level) electricity connections to the building place. It is estimated that the price of electricity will increase because the data centers will use a marked proportion of all available electricity.
People are losing jobs because of the AI revolution. In one healthcare unit, many workers got the task to teach to the AI how to do their basic work. When they had done that, tens lost their jobs because the AI did it. Programming, translation and some other tasks are already done by AI so well that humans loose their jobs. Many more jobs are probably shifting to AI in the near future.
Autonomous units are becoming common, in traffic, logistics and warfare. That is a trend that cannot be halted. An important question is how much autonomy is given to AI. It seems that in warfare and probably in other fields after that, autonomous units will make independent decisions after they have been given general orders of what is the goal.
Autonomous units will probably become more common in other everyday life, as helpers in various kind of tasks. Even more common are the AI that takes care of digital services, like chats.
In the near future, the capabilities of AI will increase because of more advanced technology. Quantum computers are still taking baby steps but there are already plans to build AI software on technology that unites both âtraditionalâ and quantum computers. That would demand new security solutions because such an AI could crack the old-fashioned security codes in a short time. The work place of my wife (a healthcare institute) already uses a combination of personal ID cards, personal security memory sticks and personal security numbers that are checked by calling to a security service - all three methods need to be used simultaneously to get into the digital work environment in the work computer.
Our digital footprints will become monitored by the authorities and probably others, so best to ensure that everything you do digitally can stand both legal and public scrutiny.
Which might well be appropriate and needed! As environmentally expensive as all the needed computing power is, it should have an explicit cost associated, right? Just as we would expect reasonable compensation to be demanded from us before we have any right to ask someone to dig a ditch for us, maybe I should also be obliged to face some sort of cost before asking AI to do rather extensive labor on my behalf. The trouble is, any such costs leveraged on us will rarely, if ever, be used to reduce or compensate environmental degradation and will instead go straight into the pocket of just another billionaire tech bro.
I would agree. It is sort of like alternative energy. The biggest threat to it is low oil prices. If it is to thrive, you have to have higher energy prices. It is all about the money.
I avoid AI as much as I can. Definitely not a fan and glad to have made it through my working life before some kind of AI competency becomes de rigueur.
I feel this gets a bit tricky since the data that AI uses comes from the work that regular olâ humans have done without getting compensation. Sure, the AI companies are providing a service by âprocessingâ all this data but isnât it our data to begin with? I feel this is just another question we need to resolve.
I felt this way when all the grocery stores began offering order pickup for free. They wanted people to get used to having their grocery shopping done for them, then they would start charging fees. And thatâs pretty much what happened.
I think much of the fear is due to a magical understanding of life and intelligence. On the other hand, I think it is foolish to put weapons under the control of AI. So⌠it is not magical but a matter of connection and programming, and AI will not acquire control of things to which it is not connected and which it is not programmed to control. To be sure, AI employs learning techniques to get brilliant solutions to the problems we program it to handle. But it will not magically acquire capabilities without the programming work to get it to do such things. Attempts to create something more generalized imitating evolution have failed due to considerable inefficiency of the process. Evolution only works because of the vast time scales on which it functions. And the founding motivation of software will always be human utility not survival.
I have already done that so I only use AI when I want to.