Ted UnderwoodHuman beings have built an abstract model of language that *multiplies* their own linguistic powers. But most of my friends are really depressed about it because they’ve seen so much science fiction that they interpret anything called #AI as a *diminishment* of human agency. It’s a testament to the power of fiction, but also a little loopy if I’m being honest.
I seriously think it might be smart to move toward a discussion of “language models” & “image models” and ditch the AI acronym, which seems to contribute nothing but millenarian fantasy + apocalyptic despair + reactive moralism.
Then we could have a critical discussion about “who owns the language models?” We can’t have that discussion (in any useful way) if half my FB feed is weeping into their coffee because human life is meaningless now that robots are taking over.
The original dream of #AI producing autonomous robotic agents has meanwhile come to seem implausible on social grounds. Looking at how angry people get about models that just respond to human prompts by predicting the next word, it is very difficult to imagine we’ll tolerate systems executing real-world actions to fulfill even intermediate goals chosen by the system itself. C-3PO would get indicted on AI ethics charges irl. Stammering and calling us all “master” will not save him.
pensato@TedUnderwood what we call things really matters.
suushikijitsu@TedUnderwood some people have been getting angry, but has that been slowing progress significantly? the technology & its deployment seems to be rapidly moving forward regardless?