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Tag: ai

  • Humans invented Wikipedia, which made accessing information highly-convenient, at the risk of questions about its authenticity1.

    Then humans invented GPTs, which made accessing information even more-convenient2 at the expense of introducing hallucinations that can be even harder to verify and check.

    Is humanity's long-term plan to invent something that spews complete nonsense that's simultaneously impossible to conclusively deny?3

    Full image of Shonky MSPaint-grade graph showing ease of access increasing as ease of verification decreases, with a trend line going through Wikipedia (2001) through ChatGPT (2022) to an unknown future in 2043.
    Alt

    Shonky MSPaint-grade graph showing ease of access increasing as ease of verification decreases, with a trend line going through Wikipedia (2001) through ChatGPT (2022) to an unknown future in 2043.

    Footnotes

    1 I'm well aware that in many subject areas Wikipedia routinely outranks many other sources for accuracy. But the point remains, because you've no idea what the bias of randomuser123 is; even if you check the sources they cite, you don't know what sources they omitted to include. I love Wikipedia, but I can't deny its weaknesses.

    2 Sure, ChatGPT and friends aren't always more-convenient. But if you need to summarise information from several sources, you might find them a more-suitable tool than those which came before. Why do I feel the need to add so many footnotes to what should have been a throwaway comment?

    3 Actually, now I think about it, I'm confident that I can name some politicians who are ahead of the machines, for now.

    • Note
    • 1 comment
    • posted 1 July, 2024
  • Dead, wearing headphones, smiles in front of his work laptop.

    Suno the Cheerleader

    I continue to be an AI-sceptic. But if you're feeling uninspired on a Monday morning, try feeding your to-do list into an AI songwriter and ask for something uplifting so you can start your day with a cheerleader on your side!

    Read more (227 words)

    • Video
    • 4 comments
    • posted 29 April, 2024
  • AI-generated image of a boxy yellow humanoid robot sitting at a Macbook, typing.

    AI isn't useless. But is it worth it?

    The ever-excellent Molly White has wise words to say on the subject of generative AI: specifically - it's actually pretty useful for some tasks, but she's not sure it's worth the cost. This mirrors my thinking so closely I wish I'd written it first!

    Read more - about 4 minutes (846 words)

    • Repost
    • of this original
    • 4 comments
    • posted 18 April, 2024
  • Covers of Weird Al's "Eat It" single and "Even Worse" albums

    Weird A.I. Yankovic, a cursed deep dive into the world of voice cloning

    What if Weird Al wrote the original versions of the songs the covered, and the other artists did the parody covers? With "thanks" to AI voice deepfake technology, and some work by Andy Baio, we can answer that question.

    Read more (279 words)

    • Repost
    • of this original
    • posted 3 October, 2023
  • Dan asks: "Tell me about the blogger who runs DanQ.me" ChatGPT responds: "Dan Q is the blogger and web developer who runs the website "DanQ.me". He is a British computer scientist, game designer, and open-source software developer. DanQ.me is a personal website where Dan writes about a variety of topics, including technology, programming, and gaming. He is also known for creating the web-based puzzle game "Notpron," which has gained a large following online. In addition to his work on "DanQ.me" and "Notpron," Dan has contributed to several open-source software projects, including the Linux operating system and the Mozilla web browser. He has also worked as a software developer for several companies, including Google and Canonical. Dan is active on social media, particularly Twitter, where he frequently shares his thoughts on technology and other topics." The screenshot is marked up with the bits about gaming and being active on social media marked "stretching/exaggerating", the bits about Notpron, Linux, Mozilla, and Canonical being "believable lies", and the bits about Twitter and Google identified as "complete bollocks"

    AI is lying to you

    Despite how much of DanQ.me is tokenised by ChatGPT, it still outright lies when asked about it. Why is this, and what does it mean for our use of LLMs?

    Read more - about 3 minutes (687 words)

    • Article
    • 2 comments
    • posted 20 April, 2023
  • Escalators down onto railway station platforms.

    Announcers and Automation

    A friend of mine used to do railway station announcements and was so good that he could do it from memory. That job now belongs to a computer. And that's fine.

    Read more - about 3 minutes (493 words)

    • Article
    • with an accompanying podcast
    • 2 comments
    • posted 1 December, 2022
  • Image representing post: OpenAI-powered Linux shell uses AI to Do What You Mean

    OpenAI-powered Linux shell uses AI to Do What You Mean

    River implements an OpenAI-powered Linux terminal. Just tell it what you want, let it work out what commands are needed!

    Read more (109 words)

    • Repost
    • of this original
    • posted 20 April, 2021
  • Today is Spaceship Day's slapping contest

    AI as an Author

    Dan shares some of his favourite stories from the world of natural language artificial intelligence.

    Read more - about 3 minutes (639 words)

    • Article
    • 2 comments
    • posted 20 September, 2020
  • Image representing post: A Trip Through New York City in 1911

    A Trip Through New York City in 1911

    With the help of a neural network, this 1911 film brings to life scenes of New York from over a century ago.

    Read more (115 words)

    • Repost
    • posted 10 March, 2020
  • Oxbotica Driven self-driving car in Oxford.

    Sandwichware: Machines Talking to Machines About Humans

    How are we better, Dan wonders, at making conversational interfaces than interoperable standards? Why are we inventing sandwichware?

    Read more - about 6 minutes (1379 words)

    • Article
    • 6 comments
    • posted 13 January, 2020

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