Maybe building a whole product off of generative AI might be a bad idea.As pointed out by more than one Verge commenter and on this post on Threads, Humane’s AI Pin demo features it confidently making an error about where you can watch April’s total solar eclipse. I’m getting flashbacks to when Google’s Bard made a factual error in its first demo.
These sorts of high-profile flubs are why I have a hard time getting excited about many generative AI tools right now.
"Confidently providing incorrect information" is something AI has been repeatedly found doing. It's also something characteristic of the human Left brain hemisphere, which also becomes defensive when its misinformation is challenged. Left-hemisphere dominance has seeped into the culture, fortified by modern tech and, for that matter, by things as simple as the emphasis on reading (especially by reading left-right alphabetic languages).
You can say the same about fire, but at least we know what to EXPECT from fire, and how to deal with it.
AI is new, and -- despite being a tech nerd and excited about AI and this new product in particular -- I have always been concerned that we take its dangers too lightly.
Comment from https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/9/23954497/humane-ai-pin-wearable-news-announcements --
Jay Peters NOV 9
JAY PETERS
"Confidently providing incorrect information" is something AI has been repeatedly found doing. It's also something characteristic of the human Left brain hemisphere, which also becomes defensive when its misinformation is challenged. Left-hemisphere dominance has seeped into the culture, fortified by modern tech and, for that matter, by things as simple as the emphasis on reading (especially by reading left-right alphabetic languages).
A related characteristic of both AI and the human Left hemisphere is a way of attending to the world that virtualizes what is real, seeing things as mechanical, lifeless, and parts to be dealt with individually as opposed to seeing the whole as a connected organic unit. Empathy does not exist in either the Left hemisphere (only in the right), nor in a computer program, no matter how complex and sophisticated.
AI is an incredibly powerful and useful tool.
It is also an incredibly dangerous one.
You can say the same about fire, but at least we know what to EXPECT from fire, and how to deal with it.
AI is new, and -- despite being a tech nerd and excited about AI and this new product in particular -- I have always been concerned that we take its dangers too lightly.