aiiee for AI

On our encroaching “AI” dystopia

I put “AI” in quotes because it’s not really about intelligence at all, people just glommed to the term because it:

  • Already existed
  • Sounds futuristic
  • Sounds high-tech

Google released an ad that has been airing during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics (as an aside, this is the first Olympics that has been known probably as much for its meme generation as the athletic competition) which showed a father helping his young daughter write a fan letter to Olympic athlete Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone–by using Google’s Gemini AI.

The ad (and Google’s defense of “it tested well”) is wildly tone-deaf and a prime example of how people don’t want AI to work. Leave the creative stuff to humans, AI can handle the drudgery. And yet a lot of the big AI push is the exact opposite.

Ars Technica story: Google pulls its terrible pro-AI “Dear Sydney” ad after backlash

In the comments to the above story is the following comment, which resonated with me:

A growing number of people expect the AI bubble to burst, it’s just a question of how soon.

I’m thinking it will be sooner rather than later. We’ll see what happens by the end of the year!

Totally not a dystopian future thing

Posting “online insults” will be punishable by up to a year in prison time in Japan starting Thursday, when a new law passed earlier this summer will go into effect.

People convicted of online insults can also be fined up to 300,000 yen (just over $2,200). Previously, the punishment was fewer than 30 days in prison and up to 10,000 yen ($75).

The law will be reexamined in three years to determine if it’s impacting freedom of expression — a concern raised by critics of the bill. Proponents said it was necessary to slow cyberbullying in the country

From the story on The Verge: Japan to start jailing people for online insults

Cyberbullying is a real issue, of course. But I’m not a big fan of governments enacting sweeping, yet vague laws that punish people for online behavior. It also doesn’t get anywhere close to addressing what prompts the cyberbullying to begin with. And call me crazy, but in 2022 I am not keen on any allegedly democratic government giving itself this kind of power.

At least our robot overlords are a long way off from being competent enough to take over.