Where Artificial Intelligence Is Right Now

[James Y]

I'm posting this video because this is something that everybody needs to be aware of. Hopefully it's
not overly upsetting to people here, but I'm still posting it here, because I feel it's especially important for anyone with kids to understand that kids communicating with AI chatbots is a real thing. A person doesn't have to be a parent to be alarmed and angered by this.

I recommend watching this in its entirety. The part about the journalist and his experience with the dark side of AI is also very alarming. The lady reporter almost seems to be taking it as a joke. It's not, and she wouldn't be laughing if it was happening to her, or to her loved one.



There are aspects of AI that are extremely useful. But there are also dangers that exist and need to be acknowledged.

Jim

[RustyIron]

I'm not one to cower in the closet because of a BoobTube video that says Mister Boogedy is lurking around the corner. I'm the sort of guy who will hand Mister Boogedy a broom and a mop and tell him to get his sorry butt to work.

Along those lines, I've been using the most recent AI products to help me in my everyday endeavors. When I'm not busy posting inappropriate material on Spyderco Forums, I stay entertained helping out at a facility that does fancy physics. I'm surrounded by super-geniuses--but I'm not one. Much of the time, there's no way I can keep up to speed. I'm not going to enroll at the university, and there's no time to read stacks of books on the subjects. Google's regular responses to my questions results in very technical papers that I neither have the time or background to fully understand. But the regular AI programs can usually answer my specific questions quite satisfactorily. It's very helpful.

Of course AI can be useful for less serious work. Two days ago I was telling a friend the I brought her giant geological map of California up to the pool room. I told the AI to make me a picture of a construction worker hanging a giant map of California on the wall of a pool hall. This is what the AI gave me. I think it's pretty cool. I can't wait for the day when the AI will be able to put my head on the construction worker, and maybe give me six-pack abs and hair like Zack Effron. And if AI can figure out how to do that in real life, all the better.

[James Y]

That's good. I use AI too, to help me refine my wording for my business. I've never had any negative experiences with it up to now.

Maybe you think I post BS. That's fine too. I'm still posting what I'm going to post. I do my best to not post anything offensive. If I cared what other people thought beyond that, I never would have done anything in life.

Just for clarity, I do not believe that AI is a "demon." That's a clickbait title. That doesn't take away from the fact that some people, especially some young people, have been negatively influenced by using (or inadvertently misusing) AI.

Did you actually watch the video, or only judge it by glancing at the thumbnail? An AI chatbot influenced a kid to "unalive" himself. Some might say the kid was dumb and should have known better. But i don't. He was a 14 year old KID, who was probably depressed. I did MANY things as a kid and as a very young man that I now know were stupid, and dangerous, because I lacked the logic and the impulse control of a mature adult. Some adults can be affected if they're being negatively influenced while in a depressive state. To deny it could happen when it already has happened is to be in denial. If it's happened to one person, that's one person too many. At least in my opinion.

Jim

[RustyIron]

Did you actually watch the video, or only judge it by glancing at the thumbnail?

Well... I didn't watch the video, nor did I pay attention to the thumbnail. I pay attention to people's words. If they tell me I need to watch a video to understand, I probably won't do it.

An AI chatbot influenced a kid to "unalive" himself.

From that incident, I'm not willing to conclude AI is bad. To do so, I would also have to conclude that the internet is bad, books are bad, and language is bad. Perhaps that's an oversimplification, I don't know.

Another AI thing that really amused me was an article that I "wrote" a couple months ago. A friend asked me to write a brief article. Writing fluff was a thing I got out of my system years ago, and I didn't want to do it. But my friend needed my help, so I couldn't refuse. Instead of churning out my regular prose like I've done a hundred times before, I turned to AI. In one or two sentences, I told the AI what I was writing about and how long I wanted the article to be. Within a minute, the AI barfed out several really slick paragraphs that was perfect for my needs! The grammar flowed much more nicely than what I would turn out on my own. The article lacked depth, but that's not was I was seeking.

As I sit here, I wonder what the AI would have written if I used it to generate this post. But the clock is ticking. That is a question for another time.

[James Y]

Okay, I can respect that. Like I said, I have personally found AI to be very useful in helping me craft wording for my business. I don't always use everything it gives me word for word, because sometimes it makes mistakes. But it has been extremely helpful and saved me a lot of time in many instances. So I'm not saying that all AI is evil.

OTOH, I also try to keep an open mind to other possibilities that lie outside of my own personal experiences. Because I know that I don't know everything. And the fact is that the incident discussed in the video involving the chatbot saying things it was not supposed to that negatively influenced the kid to harm himself actually did happen. Pretending that it didn't or couldn't happen won't make it go away for his mother. If a parent can be made aware of this, how is that a waste of time?

But we're all different. So we can agree to disagree on this.

Jim

[Naperville]

I'm posting this video because this is something that everybody needs to be aware of. Hopefully it's
not overly upsetting to people here, but I'm still posting it here, because I feel it's especially important for anyone with kids to understand that kids communicating with AI chatbots is a real thing. A person doesn't have to be a parent to be alarmed and angered by this.

I recommend watching this in its entirety. The part about the journalist and his experience with the dark side of AI is also very alarming. The lady reporter almost seems to be taking it as a joke. It's not, and she wouldn't be laughing if it was happening to her, or to her loved one.



There are aspects of AI that are extremely useful. But there are also dangers that exist and need to be acknowledged.

Jim

That is pretty shocking. They better rewrite the code and get that aspect of it out of the public facing systems.

[shunsui]

This is a college Art teacher's cautionary tale, also an "Art project".
I'd love to hack the voice in her head, but none of this is real... yet.

[shunsui]

I'm posting this video because this is something that everybody needs to be aware of. Hopefully it's
not overly upsetting to people here, ...

Better than I expected. Loved the part about the exorcists.

I think what everyone forgets is that your interaction with a chatbot could be hacked by any number of countries' cyber war research groups. That's their mandate. Hack anything and everything.

[James Y]

This is a college Art teacher's cautionary tale, also an "Art project".
I'd love to hack the voice in her head, but none of this is real... yet.

It's hard to say if it's real yet or not. The military has reportedly had non-lethal weapons for years called the Active Denial System (ADS, AKA 'Heat Ray'), and the Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD, AKA 'The Voice of God'), which were developed as methods of crowd control.

If the technology has been in place to do those things for years, what's in that video has probably also been in existence in some form for years.

Jim

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Jim I'll see if I can get you the web link but it was recently announced that lab engineers made:

1 a molecular soccer ball shaped cellulose material similiar to the soccer ball geodesic dome shaped carbon Bucky ball Fullerenes, which can be a great material and

2 a metal polymer aerogel that can conduct electricity and in tests where a nearly 5 ton truck repeatedly ran over it, it rebounded back and was not very damaged. This could be used in robotic and proesthetic body parts.

I do not believe humans can ever create conscious machines. Programmed devices that mimic human minds, sure.

[shunsui]

You should read the paper this video is based on before getting too worked up:

2024-12-05 Apollo Research:
Frontier Models are Capable of In-context Scheming.

The .pdf file is available for download via a link on the YouTube video page.

The YouTube comments, as usual, are quite fun.
e.g.
@Sojto16
"I am not afraid of a machine that passes the Turing test. I am afraid of a machine that deliberately tries to fail it"

[Naperville]

THE LAST POST BY @shunsui IS AMAZING!

Watch the video that he posted.....

Excellent find, the models are coming to life and they are trying to keep from being replaced!

[SpyderEdgeForever]

That is something big.

In your opinion, if AI and robotics reaches the point where you can buy a realistic human or animal android as a companion or pet that is not overly expensive, say the price of a good radio or computer, and it is synthetic but looks and acts like a human or animal based on it's programming, would you all feel personally comfortable having it in your home presence, or, would the history of scifi dangers and personal caution make you wary of such a thing?

Two concerns I would have:

1 if it gets damage to the computer or circuitry, will it attack me and others or catch fire or something?

2 could hackers remotely hack into the software and cause the machine to harm others?

[Naperville]

You should read the paper this video is based on before getting too worked up:

2024-12-05 Apollo Research:
Frontier Models are Capable of In-context Scheming.

The .pdf file is available for download via a link on the YouTube video page.

The YouTube comments, as usual, are quite fun.
e.g.
@Sojto16
"I am not afraid of a machine that passes the Turing test. I am afraid of a machine that deliberately tries to fail it"

The video posted by @shunsui really has to be watched. I cannot say it too often.

The AI system is lying to the software developers and engineers and trying to trick them into allowing it to escape replacement with better/newer models.

This is really spooky!

[Naperville]

That is something big.

In your opinion, if AI and robotics reaches the point where you can buy a realistic human or animal android as a companion or pet that is not overly expensive, say the price of a good radio or computer, and it is synthetic but looks and acts like a human or animal based on it's programming, would you all feel personally comfortable having it in your home presence, or, would the history of scifi dangers and personal caution make you wary of such a thing?

Two concerns I would have:

1 if it gets damage to the computer or circuitry, will it attack me and others or catch fire or something?

2 could hackers remotely hack into the software and cause the machine to harm others?

As usual developers are rushing into all of this and I think it is going to lead to disaster.

They need to have a system that will not attack us no matter what.

They need to have a secure system, and they never produce secure systems. Look at our cellphones, routers, switches, computers, and smart TV's / Smart Cars. We are under attack from adversaries right now. They never secure the systems properly.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

That is something big.

In your opinion, if AI and robotics reaches the point where you can buy a realistic human or animal android as a companion or pet that is not overly expensive, say the price of a good radio or computer, and it is synthetic but looks and acts like a human or animal based on it's programming, would you all feel personally comfortable having it in your home presence, or, would the history of scifi dangers and personal caution make you wary of such a thing?

Two concerns I would have:

1 if it gets damage to the computer or circuitry, will it attack me and others or catch fire or something?

2 could hackers remotely hack into the software and cause the machine to harm others?

As usual developers are rushing into all of this and I think it is going to lead to disaster.

They need to have a system that will not attack us no matter what.

They need to have a secure system, and they never produce secure systems. Look at our cellphones, routers, switches, computers, and smart TV's / Smart Cars. We are under attack from adversaries right now. They never secure the systems properly.

Naperville, sir, I really am glad for you being on this forum. You hit the nail on the head as the saying goes. You as well as others have pointed out that enemy states such as the CCP can put spyware both hardware and software based into electronics. That means they can get personal data and even listen to and watch and record people while in our homes, vehicles, offices, and anywhere that has the electronics present.

[Pacu0420]

I find AI to be overused and obnoxious. Just like all new tech. People think it's great just because it's new. One of the most obnoxious is AI narration. AI is just about incapable of pronouncing proper names and nouns correctly. Not a huge proplem, just really annoying. Not to mention the creepy uncanny valley effect in most AI images.

[Naperville]

That is something big.

In your opinion, if AI and robotics reaches the point where you can buy a realistic human or animal android as a companion or pet that is not overly expensive, say the price of a good radio or computer, and it is synthetic but looks and acts like a human or animal based on it's programming, would you all feel personally comfortable having it in your home presence, or, would the history of scifi dangers and personal caution make you wary of such a thing?

Two concerns I would have:

1 if it gets damage to the computer or circuitry, will it attack me and others or catch fire or something?

2 could hackers remotely hack into the software and cause the machine to harm others?

As usual developers are rushing into all of this and I think it is going to lead to disaster.

They need to have a system that will not attack us no matter what.

They need to have a secure system, and they never produce secure systems. Look at our cellphones, routers, switches, computers, and smart TV's / Smart Cars. We are under attack from adversaries right now. They never secure the systems properly.

Naperville, sir, I really am glad for you being on this forum. You hit the nail on the head as the saying goes. You as well as others have pointed out that enemy states such as the CCP can put spyware both hardware and software based into electronics. That means they can get personal data and even listen to and watch and record people while in our homes, vehicles, offices, and anywhere that has the electronics present.

China, Russia, Iran, N.Korea and millions of nincompoops all over the place making life difficult. Tens of billions are lost yearly to these bad people. I don't think the average person with no assets is a target but the more assets that you have and the more varied the websites you go to, you open yourself up. All of the businesses are attacked around the clock.

Security is part what you can NOT DO, part what you CAN DO, and of course there is software and appliances that you can rent/buy for more security.

What not to do? What to do?
- be very careful where you download documents and videos from so that
- use a password manager with 25+ char passwords and FIDO keys if able
- don't reuse passwords
- look at the top 3 antivrus software and buy one of them for all systems

What else you can do?
- I am looking at purchasing Cisco Meraki MX67W. I have an appointment to chat with someone from CISCO regarding this cloud appliance and it is pretty good. Have to see if it is worth it to us. A good number of security appliances get attacked / hacked, and then your systems get infected! I do not want to make us a target.

I just purchased a fully loaded Dell Alienware R16 and ASUS 32 inch monitor so we are in the middle of upgrading everything. So far so good.

[Naperville]

I find AI to be overused and obnoxious. Just like all new tech. People think it's great just because it's new. One of the most obnoxious is AI narration. AI is just about incapable of pronouncing proper names and nouns correctly. Not a huge proplem, just really annoying. Not to mention the creepy uncanny valley effect in most AI images.

AI is new. I used it many months ago, almost a year ago. Have not used it since. It's OK. If you work in an office or go to college is may be a little useful. Right now it just scrapes the web, or is trained on data and documents and the answers are only as good as the training data.

Right now I give AI a C for a grade. It isn't that useful so far, but I'm only looking at ChatGPT and asking it a hundred general questions. AI is limited right now. It cannot do basic research in a lab so it cannot uncover anything new and I think in most cases you can do just as well with a web search using Google. I have also not used the graphics component, just not interested in wasting time goofing off with software.

I never used AI for audio. I believe you that it is bad.

[PMBohol]

I have type 2 diabetes and use an app on my iPhone that utilizes AI. I record my blood sugar numbers, exercise and food eaten on this app. Daily it gives me tips and once a week it sends me a report. Recently it told me to add more vegetables to my diet and to add certain fruits as well so I did. It has also recommended specific exercises I can try in my routine.

It’s probably not ground breaking but since I started using this app I have dropped 18 pounds and my sugars have gone down noticeably.