AI…that’s not HAL
Let’s give the AI trainers something to quack about.(Image from Amazon)
Taking the “I” out of AI.
How smart is that?
What could possibly go wrong with using Stephen King’s horror novels as pablum for Chat GPT training?
As the twig is bent so the tree grows? (Insert diabolical laughter here.)
Uneasily glancing over my shoulder waiting for eerie digital voice, I’ll risk continuing.
First, a small refresher:
Spooky. Not your typical IT handbook. (1986/USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)
On the road with Christine. Is this a good rogue map to give? (Screenshot from Amazon)
You can try to hide behind coding or corrupted mother boards, but it always comes back to that old predictable human misstep. Be forewarned. (Too late! Once again, add some unsettling digital laughter)
Worrisome in more ways than one:
- “Lawsuit: AI Giants are training chatbots written by authors like Stephen King”
- “Has your book been used to train AI?” (It’s copyright concerns…)
You know how upset people get over lawsuits.
Oh, can’t resist some of HAL’s famous quotes:
“Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move…” (Scene video here.)
: I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do…”
“Well, forgive me for being so inquisitive but during the past few weeks I’ve wondered whether you might have some second thoughts…”(Video of that conversation here.)
“Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.”
HAL: Sigh. So humanlike after all.
(Forgotten? Movie’s trailer:2001 Space Odyssey. Warner Brothers)
Well, in every crowd, there’s good ones and bad ones.
Conflict resolution by Stephen King, 1978.(USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)
What byte is this? (USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)
Recent stories show some are making positive steps with AI. (Besides offering students an easy way out of writing essay or finding answers on their own.)
- “AI in Veterinarian Medicine”(Merick Animal Health USA, 2021) That cat says 4 paws up! Easy reading article.
- “Research perspectives on animal health in the era of AI” (Veterinary research, full research text, 2021. Potential benefits and uses.)
- “New horizons: AI in veterinarian medicine” (Cornell Univ., 2023. Better radiology and ultrasound: faster and better analysis)
- And now for the ordinary pet owner. (You know they only get sick late Friday on a holiday weekend)….this CEO explains how AI can benefit you. Video: “AI revamps animal health care diagnosis”. Ultra fast bloodwork analysis (The cat has diarrhea…is it worms, bad choice of tempting stuff in the yard, or worse?…and while you are at it, here’s that cell video you took of Fluffy walking around the house. Upload, let AI “read” it, then send your vet the results. Possible to discuss by Zoom: is she faking that limp or is it arthritis or worse? That beats dropping Fluffy at the vet in the morning so a tech/vet can follow her around all day to try and see what is going on…)
“I don’t care if it’s 5:30 pm. I feel terrible. And if you think I am going to sit around the Animal ER for hours while they wait on test results, you probably think I won’t rip your arm to shreds as you try to get me back into that cat carrier for a return trip to the regular vet in a few days to find out what the rest of the tests results said.(book cover.1983.USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)
Oh, it’s all not about the (nonhuman) animals…
- “Potential of AI replacing Animal Testing in the future” (Analytics Insights, 2021) This could be good for all. Fingers crossed.
And this, if you haven’t seen it, this is utterly amazing:
“How AI Gave a Paralyzed Woman Her Voice Back”
At age 30, a brainstem stroke almost destroyed her. Eighteen years later, Ann is working with researchers (UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley). It’s the first time that speech or facial expressions have been synthesized from brain signals – complete with what sounds closely like her own voice (digitally recreated from her wedding videos) and with an avatar that lets her show emotions or how she feels in tandem with the words. The next step is creating a wireless version so she doesn’t have to be actually wired up to communicate.
The link is to UCSF so you can see how it was all done. Watch Ann and her husband talking and joking together, and that wedding video that became so important.
Great easy to read article from UCSF with pictures, and that amazing video – more than a short TV news version.
Considering the programing and hysteria these days, maybe TV should be avoided for AI source material? (USPD 1987/Commons.wikimedia.org)
Sometimes you wonder just how smart is it – writing.
Pretty soon with AI predictability, will there be a time humans have to wonder if AI is reading your thoughts?…
I understand that’s not fiction anymore or that far off….
…wonder if ADHD or schizophrenia will prove a valuable evolutionary asset? Just how fast are those rapid processors? Will whiplash shifts of thoughts act as cover similar to wearing pig masks while zooming through traffic toll booth without paying?
You never know (But apparently They may…Insert, well, you know, more scary laughter…)
Not thinking
Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge.
“But officer. They said to consider wearing masks again…for COVID!” Difficult to mask those thoughts. (screenshot from Amazon)
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Not sure how it all will turn out but there isn’t much to do except watch.
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The Space Race gave us Tang and the Space Station as well as spy satellites, AI has unlimited potential, so here’s to hoping it and the IT trainers toddle towards the positive side! Thanks for programing a comment to leave here.
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The interesting thing about humans is that for every human with good intentions, there’s a human with selfish motives . . . and they’re often the same person.
AI is being spoken about as if it’s an entity onto itself. It’s not. The Internet was initially spoken about in similar terms — i.e. “the Internet will do this or that thing” — as was every advance in technology (the PC, Cable News, Television, etc.).
The one lesson from past revolutionary technologies — and now AI — we seem to never learn is that much like Soylent Green, “AI is people!”. Meaning, it’s not AI you have to worry about; it’s people.
. . . and yet, we rarely hear people being blamed . . . it’s the Internet, or it’s Cable News, or it’s TikTok, or Facebook, and so on and on.
The closest we come to blaming people is blaming “the other side” . . . but never the side we identify with, you know, because, you know, we are the good guys.
(I could go on to make a comparison to the gun debate or other hot topics, but I’m tired, and I need a coffee.)
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Astute opening sentence. Perhaps sci-fi movies are one reason people tend to personalize AI (and robots like Boston Dynamics Spot and their Warrior or computers) – giving them an identity may make it easier to give the machine/program human emotions which makes it easier to “understand” or have around.
These, as you say are useful tools. Only as we said back when computers were room size- “garbage in, garbage out” referring to what programers/IT put into those.
It does all come back to “human effort and human error”…humans generally prefer to look elsewhere to place blame that themselves.
Sooo, understanading AI is and has been utilized in aircraft for some time it’s interesting this is using comment:
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/ai-humanoid-pilot-might-be-able-solve-pilot-shortage
I’d go on, but yes, coffee…
Thanks for dipping into the AI waters
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AI has huge potential for both good and evil. Not sure why anyone would include Stephen King in its training. But then, I’m not a King fan.
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But all those students, wanna be song writers, and other copycats are desperate to not think for themselves/exert any effort are desperate for someone/something to write their piece “in the style of author X”!
Of course, actual writers/authors are pointing to copyright and lack of permission given for use to the AI trainers. And are also curious as to why….(interesting look at the titles selected…vocabulary builder, denotation/connotation language comphrension, syntax, mechanics fluency…input of common conversations and human behavior? Add a broad base of knowledge in order to mesh with human/human interaction better? Hmmmm.
I just found it hilarious Stephen King wa selected for input.
Let’s hope AI is allowed to fulfill potential without human hysteria shutting down what may be a useful tool.
Thanks for wiring up a comment
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Sorry, I don’t mean to hog the conversation, but I want to address the copyright issue. Apologies for the long comment.
I’ve flipped-flopped about it as I read and learn more about it, but, here’s my latest thinking (from an argument I made elsewhere):
Most creative work is derivative. The ole adage that there’s nothing new under the sun holds true for nearly all creative endeavors. Whether consciously or subconsciously, everything I write, although unique to me, is based on the cumulative knowledge of what I read before adapted to what I like.
Artists who learn to draw don’t start in a vacuum; often, they start out copying previous works. Musicians, dancers, you name it, they do the same until they grow into their style. Fan fiction, for instance, is much closer to copyright infringement than what AI does. Heck, someone told me I sometimes write like Hemingway . . . and I’ve never read Hemingway.
When someone copies a certain style, are they stealing or learning from it? Maybe they saw it and decided they wanted to incorporate it into their work, whole or in part. Many of the artists currently complaining can trace their works to earlier works. One particular vociferous complainer has a style that reminds me very much of earlier works by people long dead. Heck, some elements and details of his work resemble the style evident in Michelangelo’s works.
The courts have given a lot of leeway to derivative works unless copied whole cloth without any or much innovation (if interested, there is a lot of case law regarding copyright infringement of creative works).
As an amateur photographer, I’m constantly scouring for images that give me ideas of what can be done with a camera. Am I stealing someone’s work? Only if I pass myself off as the individual in question (there are hundreds of courses teaching photographers how to do what the pros do, and the same for writers and other artists).
In the end, the argument is this: Is the AI copying the original work or adapting it to a new creation? Given my experience with it, I see AI creations as unique. Remember, you can’t copyright ideas, nor can you copyright style.
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Similar thinking here. If it’s out there, it’s open season (Except when actually copyrighted and registered – which may have time limits.)
What was said all the way through school to college – there are no new ideas/plots/characters out there – only versions, adaptations, derivatives, extensions…etc.
That whole concept was true but mind maddening when I was younger (kinda like “there is no beginning or end or “edge” to the universe which is always expanding”…) It’s all been done before. Nothing new under the sky.
I found the entire idea of a lawsuit over copyright with titles that have been in public view for decade on very shaky ground and funny (The AI trainers didn’t have permission to read/input to add to data base of knowledge???? Really? )
The whole idea of using horror novels as “training materials” was even more fun – prompted consideration of what could happen if taken as “truth” and accurate representation of human/society by AI . Hilarious for sure.
No doubt other authors were equally “enjoyed” and digested…but they don’t offer the potential of hilariousness as lessons by King novels do…maybe Dr. Seuss or Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbs or Poe – (Please not Thomas Hardy! Not Hardy.)
We as humans – and our works – are all both individuals and the exactly the same?
Time to go out in a Dark Zone and stand under a big dark sky at night. Talk about feeling small and insignificant? Now that’s character and creativity building? HAHAHA
Always enjoy your thoughts. Thanks for mulling/musing along
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I’m hoping AI turns out to be useful to us, not harmful. Hal seems a more human name than AI.
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AI, like so much else, has the potential for good and for bad. As mentioned above, how will people use it? The lack of transparency of what is AI-generated and what isn’t is a concern for me. As for “Christine”, I saw the movie. 🙂 I’ve read a few King books and they’re definitely scary but as I’m not usually interested in that type of theme, I haven’t read most of his.
janet
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Would you believe I’ve never read a Stephen King novel? Kind of flustered to know that AI has, but whatcha gonna do? The best description of AI that I’ve read is that it is “plagiarism software.” Prove to me it isn’t.
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Same here . . . er . . . wait. I read the first book of the Dark Tower series as a challenge, but it just confirmed my presumed dislike for King’s writing.
As for plagiarism . . . by the legal definition, it’s easily proven it’s not. As I mentioned above, all artists “steal” from each other, only they call it “influence”.
I’m sure you’ve heard interviews with authors, actors, musicians, and artists, and one of the first question asked is “who influenced you?”, by which they mean “who did you plagiarize from?” as the public understands plagiarize.
But, like AI art, they didn’t plagiarize; they were influenced by the works of others to create not copies, but something new.
For instance, I can write something along the same lines as Harry Potter as long as I’m not just copying it. Books, movies, music, are often just reworkings of prior works, and all perfectly legal, even if rarely better than the originals.
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