My view of AI (2)

[BRBFBI]

Regarding why Google Search now sucks, I had put that in a private message, sorry if I caused confusion by acting as if it was public.

Some articles on it:

The Man Who Killed Google Search

The Rot Economy

Funny, I've ready that very article. Maybe that's why I'm confused. I could swear I'd read your post on it.

I am using Windows 10 at the moment, but am seriously considering moving to Linux rather than Windows 11. My summer project may be building a Linux PC.

I'm sure you know this, but you can install linux on a USB stick and play around with it if you don't want to commit. I actually use Windows on my desktop for some Adobe products as well as occasional gaming, but I use Linux Mint on my laptop which is where I spend most of my time browsing the web and watching media. This is a funny quibble, but on Windows from the lock screen you have to click the mouse or hit a key before you can type your password. On Linux Mint you can just start typing. It irks me so much when I log into Windows. I was also getting sick of Windows forcing updates; I'd be in the middle of gaming with friends and need to restart and Windows would take advantage of that to update without my permission, causing me to be absent for 10 minutes. Modern Windows is built for the lowest common denominator; Linux Mint is built for normal people. It feels like how I remember Windows 7.

I think AI is the devil and I would disable it the instant I got a new iPhone (I have a 15 which thankfully can't use it).

I didn't know that about how it would work, but I never looked into it because I have zero interest in using AI of any kind, especially on my personal devices, from Apple or anybody else. By its nature it is evil in every way, built on theft and spying.

It's funny, you normally write a lot, and with a lot of nuance, but when it comes to AI you speak so curtly of it. I guess I've read some of your more nuanced opinions on it in other posts around here so I won't ask you to repeat them. I think I feel the same way as you, I just haven't taken the time to fully justify my feelings.

This week I was searching for medications which caused a particular side effect. I tried 15 times on Google and went through 150 results or whatever it was. Then I tried Bing and found exactly what I was looking for in the very first result on the first page. A reminder of how good Google used to be, but now isn't.

I want you to try an experiment. Go to chatgpt (you can access it from TOR if you want, no account needed) and search for that same medication. Surely you're not too superstitious of AI for that. I predict it will find it on the first prompt.

[chuft]

Since Microsoft/Bing are using ChatGPT-4 to power searches, that would not be a particularly surprising result. But ChatGPT.com did not list the specific drugs that would cause this side effect, but rather classes of drugs, and gave a real howler of a reason why they would in at least one category. Hallucination.

Bing and Bing Deep Search (which uses ChatGPT-4) both gave better results than ChatGPT.com, interestingly.

Unlike Bing and Bing Deep Search, ChatGPT.com does not list its sources. Bing's implementation of ChatGPT is actually better than OpenAI's, from my point of view.


Google's results, both the AI Overview and the search results, were just crap, as has long been the case. I am used to using Google by habit, but that may soon change.


I should note ChatGPT Search, which uses ChatGPT-4o, was only made free to the public with no sign-in two days ago. So this is a very recent development.

Surely you're not too superstitious of AI for that.

I am not sure what superstition has to do with any of this.

[chuft]

On Google's abandonment of its promise not to use AI for weapons:


‘Godfather of AI’ sounds alarm on Google weapons plan

The “godfather of AI” who pioneered Google’s work in artificial intelligence (AI) has accused the company of putting profits over safety after it dropped a commitment to not using the technology in weapons.

Geoffrey Hinton, the British computer scientist who last year won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in AI, said the tech giant’s decision to backtrack on its previous pledge was a “sad example” of companies ignoring concerns about AI.

...

Mr Hinton’s comments are the sharpest criticism he has leveled at Google since he quit the company two years ago over fears the technology could not be controlled.

In 2012, he and two students at the University of Toronto developed the neural network technology that has become the foundation for how modern AI systems are built.

He joined Google the following year after the tech giant acquired his start-up and helped advance the company’s work in AI, leading to developments that have paved the way for chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

He left in 2023 saying he wanted to be free to criticise it and other companies when they made reckless decisions about AI.

Mr Hinton said at the time that part of him regretted his life’s work and he was worried about the “existential risk of what happens when these things get more intelligent than us”.

I don't normally link to stories by the Torygraph, er the Telegraph, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

[chuft]

On Apple:

U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

The law, known by critics as the Snoopers’ Charter, makes it a criminal offense to reveal that the government has even made such a demand.

...

One of the people briefed on the situation, a consultant advising the United States on encryption matters, said Apple would be barred from warning its users that its most advanced encryption no longer provided full security. The person deemed it shocking that the U.K. government was demanding Apple’s help to spy on non-British users without their governments’ knowledge. A former White House security adviser confirmed the existence of the British order.

This is really unbelievable. It is not just British users. It's every Apple user in the world. To avoid it I think Apple would have to stop doing business entirely in the UK. No more iPhones for Brits. No iCloud, Macs, or iPads either. And presumably no more software updates to any Apple device in the UK.

[boredjedi]

On Google's abandonment of its promise not to use AI for weapons:


‘Godfather of AI’ sounds alarm on Google weapons plan




I don't normally link to stories by the Torygraph, er the Telegraph, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

of putting profits over safety after it dropped a commitment to not using the technology in weapons.

The military of course. They always get first dibs on technology for weapons of war. The rest of us we get the seconds.

It is not just British users

I don't know what's going on with Britain but holy crap are they turning into what George Orwell actually warned us about.