Artificial Intelligence

dotti34 · 26-07-2023, 04:32

Any comments about artificial intelligence? I find it all a bit scary - probably because I don’t understand it or know why it’s needed. Well what I do know is that it’s a machine’s ability to perform the cognitive functions we associate with human minds because Mr Google told me, in other words it’s completely beyond my comprehension. Is it something we need?

It will replace humans in numerous jobs, has in fact already done so, but apparently will also create jobs. It’s a worry if it gets used inappropriately and you can bet your bottom dollar someone will find a way of doing so. I was listening to a man on the TV who was trying to explain it and he said that AI does not know the concept of truth. What! By the time he had finished a convoluted explantation of AI I was more confused than ever.

landhusweg · 26-07-2023, 07:56

I must admit that I don't understand what AI is, nor why we need such a thing.
Will it mean that the following things will be over with:
- Climate change
- Famine of people around the world
- Wars around the globe

The explanations of AI given by scientists on TV. leaves me in the dark as before.

Cheers

Margaret Pilkington · 26-07-2023, 08:31

It scares the behjasus out of me. I think it is very sinister as it adds another dimension to the ability of scammers.
Imagine the situation where the voice of a young person is cloned…and their type of language used is employed to scam money out of their elderly parents.

I do not understand it fully because I believe the scientists who are formulating this want us to be kept in the dark about the possibilities.
One of my other concerns is that people will lose their jobs because if AI can do the job then it costs less and it will never phone in sick saying it has been up all night with a poorly child.

The possibility that AI might learn how to think for itself is the stuff of nightmares.
There are those in the computer world…far more savvy than me…who are expressing concerns.
Now if that doesn’t worry you then what would worry you?

dotti34 · 26-07-2023, 10:22

Delving further into the subject I have read that (in simple terms) it is computer science that can simulate human intelligence in machines making it possible for these to think like humans, to perform tasks that humans would normally do. Of course there is much to it than that but to me it’s all as clear as mud. It’s like more of science fiction is becoming fact. Definitely a worry on a few points.

Hill Walker · 26-07-2023, 13:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by dotti34

Delving further into the subject I have read that (in simple terms) it is computer science that can simulate human intelligence in machines making it possible for these to think like humans, to perform tasks that humans would normally do. Of course there is much to it than that but to me it’s all as clear as mud. It’s like more of science fiction is becoming fact. Definitely a worry on a few points.

The first thing that should be recognised in any discussion about ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is that it is completely misnamed. Intelligence is one of those things that is usually easy to recognise but is almost impossible to define, like (for example) beauty it has intangible properties. It is therefore impossible to produce an artificial version of something which cannot be defined.
The second thing is that the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is being used to cover a range of things that are completely different and have no fundamental connection to each other.

For example ‘Computer Image/Vision Recognition’ is based on so-called ‘Neural Networks’ the design of which was an early attempt to produce a computer model of a very tiny bit of how brain tissue was thought to be constructed. They do work and are useful, BUT they have to be trained and it is almost impossible to be certain quite what they have been trained to do. For example self driving cars are trained to recognise people crossing the road but this can fail when the situation differs from the training, if for example two people carrying a long ladder cross the road the software will probably recognise the people but could fail the recognise that they are connected by the ladder.
On the other hand ChatGPT is based on a (language) syntax analysis programme which tries to work out what the user said, the results of this analysis then triggers a reply which usually is derived from searching a database of previous replies and/or searching the larger ‘database’ of a web search engine.
‘Artificial Intelligence’ covers both these examples (and many others) but the only thing that is common is the use of a computer.

The above is greatly simplified but I’m sure you’ll get the idea.

(Also note that Evolutionary Biologists are still undecided if ‘Intelligence’ is a Darwinian survival characteristic so it could all be a waste of time and effort.)

Margaret Pilkington · 26-07-2023, 15:25

It still scares me.

taddy · 27-07-2023, 08:01

[QUOTE=Hill Walker;1273235]The first thing that should be recognised in any discussion about ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is that it is completely misnamed. Intelligence is one of those things that is usually easy to recognise but is almost impossible to define, like (for example) beauty it has intangible properties. It is therefore impossible to produce an artificial version of something which cannot be defined.
The second thing is that the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is being used to cover a range of things that are completely different and have no fundamental connection to each other.

For example ‘Computer Image/Vision Recognition’ is based on so-called ‘Neural Networks’ the design of which was an early attempt to produce a computer model of a very tiny bit of how brain tissue was thought to be constructed. They do work and are useful, BUT they have to be trained and it is almost impossible to be certain quite what they have been trained to do. For example self driving cars are trained to recognise people crossing the road but this can fail when the situation differs from the training, if for example two people carrying a long ladder cross the road the software will probably recognise the people but could fail the recognise that they are connected by the ladder.
On the other hand ChatGPT is based on a (language) syntax analysis programme which tries to work out what the user said, the results of this analysis then triggers a reply which usually is derived from searching a database of previous replies and/or searching the larger ‘database’ of a web search engine.
‘Artificial Intelligence’ covers both these examples (and many others) but the only thing that is common is the use of a computer.

The above is greatly simplified but I’m sure you’ll get the idea.

(Also note that Evolutionary Biologists are still undecided if ‘Intelligence’ is a Darwinian survival characteristic so it could all be a waste of time and effort.)

A well put together post but I am even more confused now,

MoreJoe · 03-08-2023, 12:04

Marc Andreessen is one of the smartest guys I know. He is a pioneer of the early Internet days, a founder of Mosaic and the primary author of two of the most successful Internet Browsers in the world. He is "One Smart Cookie".
I just watched him participate in a two and a half hour conversation with Joe Rogan on the "Joe Rogan Experience". Among the many subjects they covered there are AI, the future of AI, potential misuse of AI, the emerging product of Chat GTP and who could and should make use of such capabilities.
I was amazed that Marc has permitted access to Chat GTP to his 8 year old son.
My opinion of the wisdom of this diverges from the opinion of Marc.
I admit that he is way smarter than me and therefore I might be a Technical Luddite.
I recommend that if you can access the "Joe Rogan Experience" on Spotify you should watch or listen to the July 19 edition.
At 2 hours and 40 minutes it is lengthy but you will walk away with a more complete grasp of what is coming at us.
Good Luck to us all...
-Joe

MoreJoe · 06-08-2023, 10:47

Link to the Marc Andreessen conversation.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3EW...1ad5e9f277479d

If it works?

MoreJoe · 06-08-2023, 10:51

Link to the Marc Andreessen conversation.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3EW...1ad5e9f277479d

If it works?

-MoreJoe

kestrelx · 30-11-2023, 12:10

I know the first picture created by A.I. looked evil by human standards - the experts explained why!

It's fact that a human can no longer beat a computer at chess.

But a school used A.I. to work out questions/answers for a test and they were all wrong, so it said on the news.

Margaret Pilkington · 30-11-2023, 12:55

Can you clarify the point of your last post Kestrel?
Are you saying that AI is good or are you saying it is bad?

From my point of view AI is very worrying on a number of levels.
It will be detrimental to the working population because it will remove the opportunity to work….work is essential for self esteem. It is not just to pay bills and put food on the table.

It will give the criminal element another way to scam people.
It will stop children from having the opportunity to develop the skills of critical analysis…why try to think for yourself if AI will think for you?
Then there is the more worrying thought that AI learns….and may decide that humans are unnecessary and exterminate us.

I am sure there are more drawbacks but I will leave others to commen5 on them.

kestrelx · 03-12-2023, 19:27

I agree with you. In an ideal world A.I. could be used to make life easier for all. But it's more likely it will be used for the benefit of the rich, to keep rich
and control the poor . Have you seen the Spielberg film "A.I." about a robot A.I. child struggling to cope with trying to be human.

Margaret Pilkington · 03-12-2023, 21:13

No I haven’t sent the film you mention. I am not a great watcher of films
My concerns are that the general population will gain little from AI and as it continues to learn it will disadvantage the human race.

I have no confidence in anyone controlling it and I fear that AI will end up controlling us
But by then I will very likely be dust.

I have an iPad that thinks it knows what I want to say when I am e-mailing family.
Frequently I change what it thinks I mean, only to find that the sent document contains what it wanted me to say.

skuta · 07-12-2023, 02:06

A.I.is computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. This includes learning, problem-solving, speech recognition, and decision-making.

A.I. can be categorised into narrow or weak A.I., designed for specific tasks, embedded electronic EEPROM or Flash Memory controlled systems? and general or strong A.I., which would have human-like cognitive abilities across a range of tasks. This is achieved by comparisons & logical? derivations from a growing online Dataset. Watch out, it doesn’t always return the correct answer, sometimes it’s irrelevant or just plain wrong. It can have problems with context too. Humans will need to supervise it until the tech expands to make it autonomous. Or if there’s no information it can use online it just fails.

Look at midrange for A.I. art from verbal cues. I’ve had a play with this online & it’s already pretty good & will improve exponentially over time. I did a few pieces & that was it.
I can’t pretend to be an expert on this or A.I. in general as is.

Rapid machine learning gives the advantage of speed & accuracy of repetitive tasks which lends itself well to a wide range of applications. Including tissue diagnostics & X-Ray Plates, detecting subtle, easily missed aberration's in Pulmonary, Brain & other areas of examination.

Imagine a robot controlled by A.I., it can perfectly repeat tasks & learn from & adapt to changes. 24/7, no holidays, no “sickies” or any other Human BS. The perfect employee. just routine maintenance & programming.

Yes, there will be many people released from their monotonous, low paid hum-drum unskilled jobs who can re-skill for a skilled, better paid future building & maintaining these systems.

There are vast opportunities with this technology, many of which have not been recognised. Or have even been invented yet.

The biggest risks as I see them are the very probable abuses by governments to surveil people & businesses to rip you off & pester folk with their new, intrusive, personalised marketing spam.
Banks will definitely try & rip people off if they ever update their archaic IT back end. It’s incredible how old the SWIFT settlement system is.

It’s not surprising Pensioners will be confused & suspicious. It’s something Government has assumed you will just have to learn to deal with. They think everyone has a computer & is online.
For some technically capable people this can be used as a great tool.

I used to access ChatGPT online through a Browser, now I quickly access it through their App on my iPad. I’m fiddling around with building a probably wildly popular application to enable 24/7 monitoring, Cash management, execution of entry & exit of Market Positions in different Markets & Timeframes. Imagine making money while you sleep.
There’s already loads of scam applications out there, I decided to build my own & keep it to myself. If something like this really existed & was released to Retail Traders it would cause huge Market distortions. Profitable volatility will disappear. The Software will quickly become worthless & pointless to use.

Of course, it’s nowhere near trustworthy. Sentiment expectations is its major weak point. It can’t think & view risk like Humans do. Coding Algorithms for this are…

This side project is a tiny example of what ordinary folk like you & me can do with this technology. Maybe one day it’ll save my life by spotting malignant Cancer Cells of a Tissue sample on a microscope slide that had been missed by tired Humans.

Fun fact: parts of this post were edited & pasted from ChatGPT.