printed on 09/30/2022
This business of artificial intelligence, or AI as it’s called, is starting to worry me, although I’ve started to believe that all intelligence must be a good thing since we seem to be running out of the normal kind.
Still, it can be a matter of species survival when AI can do so many more things than humans can.
For example, there is an honest AI application on the web that can put together any image you want just by typing in a description. It’s a fact.
Suppose you typed “Nancy Pelosi in a high school prom dress” into the program.
Within a few minutes, such a photo-like image would appear on your computer screen. And no, I haven’t tried that.
And then you could write, “Nancy Pelosi in a high school prom dress making out with Senator Mitch McConnell.”
Within a few minutes you would get something pretty close. No, I haven’t tried that either.
So, encouraged by your accomplishments, you could write, “Mitch McConnell wears nothing but a corsage on his wrist.” No no no.
The truth is that with this application you can do so many things, good things, bad things and terrible things that some scientists have started to worry that even though Mitch McConnell doesn’t wear clothes ( that we know of). and Nancy Pelosi hasn’t been going to prom lately.
But it gets worse, as everyone knows after the recent chess scandal between the world champion and a young player who beat him with perfect moves throughout the competition.
The first comments after this big fuss – make sure the second comments after the first were “You’re cheating on little so-and-so” – included the rumor that the young winner was AI-assisted.
Yes indeed. That unsubstantiated report, which appeared on dozens of websites, claimed that the young gamer received encrypted messages during gameplay via a small transmitter that he (or a very close friend) installed in his, um, well, you know would have. Let’s just say the approach to victory in this case started from the bottom.
I’m not joking. You can check that. But while I’m sure something like that can be done, and probably was — “Gosh, Tommy, you killed that entrance exam” — I seriously doubt that’s what happened in this case.
For one thing, I can’t imagine anyone being able to focus when all this news comes in. I mean, how on earth would you broadcast the “Sanz’ Shocking Endgame Sacrifice” move?
The bigger question, however, is whether the recipient of that message would sit still for that.
While I see AI making great things possible, I tend to agree with their critics that the evidence so far suggests that over-reliance on AI will end us.
