Cerstin Mahlow @CerstinMahlow@qoto.org

This is how much the tectonic plates shifted during the Turkey earthquake, the entire road moved. This photo was taken by Prof. Hasan Sozbilir leader of the ATAG research group currently mapping the surface ruptures. #TurkeySyriaEarthquake #TectonicPlates

One argument here is that people will blindly trust any chatbot that supports their previous biases

Is that cynicism justified?

What happens when the chatbot speaks against their biases? In particular, what if it both counters their biases AND does so in a way that is demonstrably factually incorrect?

We are already seeing furious complaints from some corners that ChatGPT has a liberal bias - how does that affect how those complainants trust and use these tools?

The biggest question for me about large language model interfaces - ChatGPT, the new Bing, Google's Bard - is this:

How long does it take for regular users (as opposed to experts, or people who just try them once or twice) to convince themselves that these tools frequently makes things up that aren't accurate?

And assuming they figure this out, how does knowing it affect the way they use these tools?

Some serious research in ChatGPT capacities and limitations https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.04023?fbclid=IwAR1Q3v7jty7nlejw1d4KEW4A4vxyPNKyZ3OhkUnTzM04vFOZ1fxAo8B6FcA

Just published "Computer-assisted simultaneous interpreting: A cognitive-experimental study on terminology by Bianca Prandi #openaccess #tmnlp https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/348

Bin gespannt, wann/ob auf "jede Suchmaschine wird mit ChatGPT etc. verknüpft" die große Ernüchterung folgt, wenn irgendwann mal auffällt, dass Sprachmodell prinzipbedingt nicht nach wahr/falsch unterscheiden können, sondern nur Muster liefern, die plausibel klingen.

(Vgl. auch: autonomes Fahren ... da sind wir jetzt in der Ernüchterungsphase, wenn ich's richtig sehe ...)

Ein Murrsack mit Zugband für allerhand Nörgeleien. Ein mehrstimmiger Chaor, der nur Lieder mit mehreren Katastrophen singt. USBäh-Stecker zum Aufladen nach besonders miesen Tagen. App zum Erkennen von Sinnvogelstimmen (inkl. Übersetzung). Ein Geh-Dreieck zum Vermessen des schnellsten Auswegs. Knethaken für zu lang gegangene Termine.

#SechsUnmöglicheDinge

This is a big challenge with prompt leak attacks generally: the model just guesses what word should come next, so once it starts spitting out pieces of its own prompt it's perfectly capable of inventing new prompt segments out of thin air

And anything it invents will look convincing, because the whole point of large language models is to generate stuff that looks convincing!

Translation: our half-baked idea to charge for API access broke our internal API access, and we don't know how or why. Captain Birdchan gave us a week to figure it out. Also, here's this other shiny thing that the 3 remaining marketing professionals *think* will be enough to distract the mainstream press from the total clusterfuck that happened today.

@mmasnick

chatbots in search engines are obviously a bad idea because they will confidently lie to you.

but it’s also going to be a massacre for media companies and blogs who are currently publishing good information but rely on traffic from google.

#Stadtwanderung

Auf den Spuren der Ostschweizer Wirtschafts- und Politprominenz in Bern: Stadtführung für die Ostschweizer Regierungskonferenz. Hier das umgebaute Tobler-Areal, wo Jean Tobler, Zuckerbäcker aus Lutzensteig, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, 1908 die weltberühmte Toblerone erfand. Mehr hier:

https://www.stadtwanderer.net/?p=19894

RECEPTIO's version of #receptiogate:

"In December 2022, we were the victim of a vicious defamation campaign via the web, which shut us down for a month. After a legal investigation that established that all the accusations against us were unfounded and the result of the ravings of a sick mind (to which haters gave credence), in February 2023 the centre resumed its cultural activities"
[https://www.receptio.eu/story]

The lack of a full stop after the last sentence suggests that the story isn't quite finished yet...

"Very few free icon websites offer straightforward download options without having to go through an account setup first. SVG Repo contains over 500,000 open-licensed vector icons and symbols that are easy to search and instantly downloadable. Helpful!"

https://www.swiss-miss.com/2023/02/svp-repo-open-licensed-svg-vector-and-icons.html

#whataweekhuh

I’ve noticed that my expectations as a professor are sometimes quite different from those of my postdocs. This is not about research experience, etc., and not about culture, but rather basic work matters; things that go for me without saying. At first, I thought it was just me, but apparently colleagues have encountered similar issues as well.

Therefore I’m starting to wonder whether this is perhaps due to generational differences between #GenX (professors) and #Millenials (postdocs).

So, question for other #GenX professors: Do you have similar experiences? And if yes, any good approaches for dealing with it? #university #research

Im neuen SAGW-Newsletter gelesen: «Universität Zürich schafft unbefristete Stellen im Mittelbau», sog. Lecturer-Positionen in Lehre und Forschung. Die Stellen sind für Postdocs vorgesehen, Verbesserungen gibt es aber auch für Doktorierende und Assistierende. Bleibt nur die Frage der Finanzierung:
https://www.sagw.ch/sagw/aktuell/news/details/news/next-generation-uzh

How hand waving LLMs have been elevated to being „The AI“ by the media is astonishing.

Just because of a being very fluent with perfect syntax. Humans are too easily blinded by people that have high speaking skills.