Here is your must-read article for the day, a profile of @emilymbender, and her efforts to deflate the ridiculous hype around large language models such as ChatGPT.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbots-emily-m-bender.html
So frustrating how conversation about #LLM and #ChatGPT completely misses the most important point.
We're so easily distracted by #SciFi questions like whether it's a mind, is it sentient, will it destroy humanity.
(No, no, and maybe.)
The most important point is that we (rightly) fear AI run amok because we (rightly) fear #capitalism run amok.
Yes, it hallucinates bogus facts.
Yes, it can be tricked into acting like a creepy stalker.
No, it doesn't simply predict the statistically most likely next word in a sequence.
It actually has an internal model of concepts and relationships, and can draw meaningful and truthful insights that are useful to humans.
In many cases, it's more useful than search engines or Wikipedia.
It's a powerful tool, and like all powerful tools, it will be used for good and for evil.
And you can bet that the evil uses are currently being accelerated and amplified by billionaires and profit-seeking corporations exploiting workers and customers and subverting democracy to enrich themselves.
Same as it ever was.
That's why the real point is that we need non-profit public-benefit organizations to drive safe and positive and trusted uses of this technology.
The Internet Archive, Wikipedia and craigslist are good examples.
The genie is out of the bottle. We can't wish this technology away.
Let's ensure it gets used for good.
Let's ensure humanity has a fighting chance against capitalism amplified by intelligent machines.
