The ability to wipe out human civilisation and Lorum Ipsom,
Before I start - an interesting time-line of generative ai;
BREAKING NEWS 4.7.23
The Russel Group announces new principles on the use of ai within it's universities.
'New principles on use of AI in education'
Universities will support students and staff to become AI-literate.
Staff should be equipped to support students to use generative AI tools effectively and appropriately in their learning experience.
Universities will adapt teaching and assessment to incorporate the ethical use of generative AI and support equal access.
Universities will ensure academic rigour and integrity is upheld.
Universities will work collaboratively to share best practice as the technology and its application in education evolves.
Full report;
Had this been announced at the beginning of this module I would have continued with my original idea and focus. However, I still find the more interesting questions surrounding generative ai are those of ethics, philosophy and theology. The questions of life, meaning, purpose and immortality are those which remain and will continue to dominate our thinking and approach to life - no matter what the latest technological advancement is.
As ever 'why?' is the central question resulting in this ongoing debate. No matter our understanding of the function of ai, it is of interest to all of us as ai effects us all in our daily lives in some way. We all have a valid response
https://russellgroup.ac.uk/news/new-principles-on-use-of-ai-in-education/
Are we able to connect emotionally to an ai generated image or piece of writing?
Example?
Since the start of this module, the subject of large language models has sparked a media frenzy. This has also changed the direction of this report.
As generative ai technology has taken off, particularly in this case large language models, and arrived relatively un-regulated into the public domain, fear of the unknown has raised again the larger ethical practice debate.
The following commentry includes a collection of quotes from articles, documentrys and podcasts which have caught my interest. It is by no means exhaustive of the current debate but a snapshot response.
This opening quote is a good starting point. It articulates a broader perspective from which to form an opinion. It slices through, or perhaps adds to, the hype and fear based attitudes surrounding new technology.
Donna J. Haraway is an American Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As a prominent scholar in the field of science and technology studies Haraway continually probes the status quo from a feminist perspective and raises interesting perspective and critique of the accepted norm. A reasoned, intellectual thinker always worthy of inclusion in any debate on technology and culture.
The focus of her work on the power of words and technology remind me of this Thomas Hardy quote;
There has been a temptation to change the subject of this module all together. However, as I follow the live debate and watch my intentions for this module quickly become irelevant, I have been intrigued by the opinions aired. No surprises really as once again humanity grapples with the consequences of their own creativity and genius. The variety of opinions has raised what many believe to be the far more interesting questions of what makes us human and of "How We Should Then Live." ( 1976 Schaeffer Francis A)
The intention of this section will be to skim the opinions raised in the ongoing media debate which air themselves as I write. As with all writing on progressive technology the conclusion will be outdated the moment of publishing. Still a valid story of progression and trajectory. Obsolete other than a tiny reflection of a moment in time.
Because you can does it mean you should?
What sort of future do you want?
The immediate question over the flurry of media debate on large language models and ai in general is for me 'what are we all afraid of?'
What drives humanity? Fear of the unknown, or hope within the unknown? From my perspective, fear leads to the need to control. That power corrupts and the control esculates. Throughout history and currently the wars and persecution that ensue on a family, community, national and global level provide consequences we all live with.
There then needs to be a pause followed by further questioning. Why the fear from clearly otherwise rational intelligent people? What is it I don't know? Am I living in blissful ignorance?
Technology has changed our lives beyond recognition during the last 30 years. One could argue that it has improved our lives, keeping us more connected to information, entertainment and to each other. Equally the opposite view is valid. But either way and arguably, the technology that could bring about the biggest change and challenge are the possibilities of artificial intelligence.
Throughout the existence of humanity we have developed language as a way of communication. This in turn has dictated how culture and society is constructed, function and differentiates from one community to another.
The particular type of ai technology which effects the subject of this module is large language model or LLM. Essentially it is an algorithm which uses deep learning techniques and huge data sets to generate and predict content.
Another type of ai is machine learning. This can automatically adapt with minimal human interference. Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that uses artificial neural networks to mimic the learning process of the human brain.
in my own words from https://www.coursera.org/articles/ai-vs-deep-learning-vs-machine-learning-beginners-guide
It is the ability to mimic and learn which has brought in to question how it is used, who controls how it is used and why?
One of the earaliest examples of a language model is ELIZA which debuted in 1966. An LLM is simply an evolution of this technology which has dramatically expanded the data used in its training and inference. This means it continues to 'learn' as it mimics and responds to an increasing amount of data. Effectively making its own decisions.
The Ai Chatbot Debate.
A real-time conversation. Current, live and on-going. Pro’s cons, the fall out and a way forward. Is ai art or written content ever ethically correct? How do we live, work and educate with this paradox?
The fear.
A more positive mind set
Interesting debate questions;
An ever changing political stance;
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/5/17/what-is-the-political-agenda-of-artificial-intelligence
Rise of The Moral Machines
What kind of morals would we equip ai with? and who would decide that?
Ai is morally naive.
The last piece of media opinion
7.6.23
Artificial intelligence is already advancing at a worrying pace. What if we don’t slam on the brakes? Experts explain what keeps them up at night
‘If we become the less intelligent species, we should expect to be wiped out’
It has happened many times before that species were wiped out by others that were smarter. We humans have already wiped out a significant fraction of all the species on Earth. That is what you should expect to happen as a less intelligent species – which is what we are likely to become, given the rate of progress of artificial intelligence. The tricky thing is, the species that is going to be wiped out often has no idea why or how.
..
In skimming the ai media debate I have chosen to add to some gravitas to it with some scientific opinion. For the purpose of this short report here are quotes to highlight three differing views on the consequences of ai;
Yuval Harari. Author ...
Old jobs will disappear, new jobs will emerge, but then the new jobs will rapidly change and vanish. Whereas in the past human had to struggle against exploitation, in the twenty-first century the really big struggle will be against irrelevance. And it is much worse to be irrelevant than
And what will happen to politics in your country in twenty years, when somebody in San Francisco or Beijing knows the entire medical and personal history of every politician, every judge and every journalist in your country, including all their sexual escapades, all their mental weaknesses and all their corrupt dealings? Will it still be an independent country or will it become a data-colony?
When you have enough data you don't need to send soldiers, in order to control a country.
Alongside inequality, the other major danger we face is the rise of digital dictatorships, that will monitor everyone all the time.
The power to hack humans can be used for good purposes – like providing much better healthcare. But if this power falls into the hands of a twenty-first-century Stalin, the result will be the worst totalitarian regime in human history. And we already have a number of applicants for the job of twenty-first-century century Stalin.
exploited.https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/yuval-hararis-warning-davos-speech-future-predications/
2. Alexandr Wang | TEDxBerkeley. Ai programmer.
“ai enhances and even supercharges humanity. ... ai will enable us to be more creative and more ideas driven which I personally find incredibly exciting. It allows us to embrace the generative aspects of human nature so we can run faster with ideas and build better more powerful solutions to the worlds biggest problems
ai needs humans to teach it individual values”
3. John Lennox. Mathematician. Scientist and author.
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