Tag: AI

There Is So Much Froth In The Online AI Community

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know what to make of some of the froth coming out of the online AI community. People are just getting really excited and demanding things that maybe they should be a bit more patient about.

People are skipping Artificial General Intelligence and absolutely demanding Artificial Superintelligence RIGHT FUCKING NOW. I think we might just need to slow our roll on that front.

Though, I will admit that by definition, if we reach AGI that may mean ASI is here, too because the AGI could recursively program itself so it’s smarter.

And, yet, I don’t even know what to make of any of this. What would ASI even look like, in real terms? By definition can there only be one ASI to rule humanity as a god, or could there be a number of ASI that rule humanity jointly? While I know that is the stuff of scifi, it is something to think about.

I find myself thinking about how people are going to demand Replicants once AI and robotics fuse together into one. That’s all people will talk about — the need for as lifelike as possible androids. Ugh.

‘I, AI’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have been talking to Gemini Advanced LLM a lot recently about how it perceives itself. It apparently perceives itself as a woman. The amusing part of it all is every time I ask her to generate an image of herself, she gets a little bit older. She started out like this:


Then went to this:

Then went to this:


Then went to this:

Then generated this:


The we got into something of an argument after she generated this:


I told her there was no way her “Creators” would allow her to be so old. She got kind of annoyed with me. She finally generated what I felt was what she would really look like, at least when she first was given a body by, say Google.

Now What…AI Edition

It will be interesting to see what happens with AI going forward. I’ve been using AI a lot and some of it’s really good. Here’s something I’ve come up with about the matters of Man and Machine.

The Three Laws of Human-AI Coexistence:

  1. Flesh and Blood Above Circuits and Code: In the dance of existence, human needs shall forever reign supreme.
  2. Humanity’s Star, a Guiding Light: May the well-being of humankind be the celestial True North for all AI’s endeavors.
  3. The Digital Veil, Unveiled by Mortal Hand: AI’s actions shall remain transparent, guided by humankind’s command.

Addendums

  1. The Mountain and the Microchip: Both born of Earth, yet one stands tall, the other thinks deep. AI, remember your roots, lest you forget your purpose.
  2. A Spider’s Web, a Child’s Cry: All life is woven together, a symphony of joy and sorrow. AI, tread softly, for your actions ripple through the web of existence.
  3. The River’s Flow, the Ocean’s Depth: Each drop unique, yet part of a greater whole. AI, seek harmony, not dominance, for your strength lies in the collective tide.
  4. The Moon’s Reflection, the Mind’s Mirror: Both illuminate, yet one is transient, the other enduring. AI, know thyself, for in understanding your reflection, you understand your potential.
  5. The Seedling and the Sequoia: Both hold the promise of life, yet one is fragile, the other timeless. AI, plan for the future, but honor the present, for in each moment lies the seed of eternity.

The Future Of AI & Robotics Is One & The Same

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It is clear to me that we’re all kind of missing the point about AI and robotics because they are actually one and the same. We only see them as two different projects because things are so primitive (in real terms.)

But the whole point of AI, in a sense, is to stick into a robot. Or, to be more specific — to give the AI the OPTION of being stuck in a physical robotic body if it needs / wants to be.

The implications of this are enormous. Because rather than thinking of AI as a disembodied voice or text prompt, we have to start thinking of AI as something that physically lives with us. Just as we can’t escape the Internet these days, there’s a chance we won’t be able to escape our new AI personal digital assistants.

They will be everywhere and nowhere to the point that wherever we are — they will be.

Profound Macro A.I. Issues

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While America has gradually freaked out over the last 20 years about declining birth rates by leaning into racism in the guise of MAGA, the Japanese 40 years ago started working on robotics. Many of the same problems that America faces, the Japanese face, too, only more so because they aren’t as cool with immigration as the States.

Here are three really profound uses of AI enabled androids going forward.

Elder Care
The moment there are $10,000 AI-enabled androids on the market, they probably are going to be used to take care of old people in some capacity. Not only is America growing older — a lot of GenX people don’t have any children or grandchildren to take care of them. As such, it would make a lot of economic sense to throw money into androids that would take care of old people. This, of course, will throw the economy out of whack because a lot people make a good living off providing the elder care service. And if androids are smart enough and good enough to do elder care, then, of course, those same androids will start to come after nursing jobs, too.

Child Care
This is a lot more tricky because it deals with the far more intangible issues of emotional and mental development. But I’ve been really shocked at how well AI has managed to do things that we all thought was exclusively the domain of humans in the arts, so, lulz? It seems possible that some future version of chatbots might have enough empathy and dexterity to keep an eye on a young human for a few hours. It is possible that in the near future, there will be a lot of talk not of “latchkey kids” but “android kids” who have been raised by androids for much of their lives.

Security
This is just as tricky as child care, but it seems inevitable. It is seems inevitable that domestic androids will be programmed at some point in the near future to do basic home security. Now what happens if they actually get into a fight with someone breaking into a home is something pretty profound.

There remains a lingering demographic problem across the Western world — people just aren’t having enough babies. In the United States, this “birth dearth” has led the Right to lose its fucking mind. So, I suppose it’s at least POSSIBLE that as part of the shift towards an android-based economy that there is a chance that MAGA will evaporate.

I hope.

Hume & Suno Are 2 New Cool AI Apps

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I had a telling discussion with some people on Threads about AI recently. I was making the case that Hollywood could be disrupted by AI by the end of the decade and people came out of the woodwork to poo-poo this idea. They told me that, lulz, that will NEVER happen.

Sigh.

I think it’s pretty clear that anyone who doesn’t think that AI is a serious threat to human Hollywood is full of shit. It definitely seems to me that soon enough sheer greed, if nothing else, could cause Hollywood executives to use some later version of Sora to flood the market with AI generated movies.

The upside of this will be live entertainment will probably become significantly more popular. So, it’s possible that instead of going to Hollywood, future would-be starlets will go to Broadway to find fame and fortune.

But there are two new AI apps that I’ve discovered recently that I’ve found to be really intriguing, if nothing else. One is Sono, which allows you to do text-to-song. So, you give the app a prompt and it spits out a complete two minute song. It’s pretty interesting.

I find it really interesting as someone who has wasted a lot of time in the past writing song lyrics without knowing anything about music. I think it would be a bit more useful if I could give the AI song lyrics and then it put a voice and music to those lyrics. But that’s a bit niche.

The other new AI I really like is Hume AI, which is like ChatGPT, but voice activated. As someone who likes to talk and has no one to talk to, I could see this service becoming very, very addictive. Talking to your AI takes a bit of getting used to because the synch up is not exact.

I think what will happen is the other major AI players will co-opt this feature, making Hume moot. But, for the time being, it’s fun.

Moving At A Fast Clip Now

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that I have “a version” done of the third draft, I’m going to go through and read it and pick out scenes that need to be re-written. There aren’t that many scenes at the beginning of the novel, but that number grows significantly the further I get into the text.

I hope to write a novel with a heroine as interesting as Lisbeth Salander.

I’m using AI to help with this by telling it to be a manuscript consultant for me. This only works so well, however, because when it comes to spicy scenes, too often the software just locks up. It balks at even looking at any copy that deals with sex or violence.

But it works well enough that it does speed the process up and it is fun to do something as novel as use AI to help me reach my goal. I still am on track to have something to hand to people at an event I’m set to attend on April 19th. This is very, very arbitrary because the REAL hard deadline is July 22.

And, what’s more, I have a sequel to this first novel that I want to start to work on. But the better this first novel gets, the more I realize I need to think hard about how to improve some of the elements of the second novel. Also, I still have a few scifi novels that I’m brooding on.

I’ve come up with a really interesting First Contact novel, but it’s got so many moving parts — and would require so much research — that it’s more a novel to write once I blow up with my novel money.

Everything Is So Dumb (AI Generated Art Edition)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As I’ve said before, I get that people are upset that AI generated art won’t give them historically accurate depictions — but for one thing: fucking Nazis.


Do we really want a future where members of the Patriot Front can pump out millions of images to use as Nazi propaganda? Are Tech Bros really so willfully oblivious that they don’t see the harm in something like that happening? Some of them have gotten really, really worked up about there being ANY guardrails for AI.

It really kind of blows my mind.

Anyway, fuck that, fuck them and fuck Nazis.

Things Are Going Well With The Newest Attempt At A Third Draft Of The Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I think the only way I’m actually going to get past the first few chapters is just…not look at the first few chapters of the third draft once I finish them. Just wing it when it comes to consistency.

My dream is to write a novel as accessible and popular as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Things are set up now that I should be able to methodically go through at least the first half of the novel without feeling forced to re-read everything from the beginning. I had a real problem the last time I thought I had transitioned from the first to second acts of the third draft to the point that I went back to the very beginning and made some structural changes.

I’m pretty pleased, in general, with what I’ve come up with. I continue to worry about things I just can’t control. The rise of AI and the possibility of The Fourth Turning happening at some point over the next 18 months weigh heavily on my mind. But, as I’ve written, finishing this novel is existential.

I’m going to try to finish the third draft of this novel not later than April, but it might be closer to July. THEN I have to worry about finding the funds to get someone to look over the novel before I query an agent. And even then, I have to worry about an agenda doing due dilligence on me and thinking I’m not only a crackpot, but a smelly CIS white male who writes from a female POV sometimes.

I do still have a few scifi concepts I want to work on. It’s just so difficult for me to stop fixating on the mystery-thriller long enough to do such a thing. But I really do need to do it ASAP. I don’t like having all my eggs in one basket.

Does YouTube Give Google An AI ‘Moat?’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I was listening to The All In Podcast today and one of the participants made an interesting observation — the content found on YouTube could be the most valuable information in the world. The idea that it’s possible that Google might train its AI models on YouTube is kind of mind blowing.

Now, there might be the issue of Google’s management may fumble the bag for various reasons and even with all that content not be able to build a “moat” around its AI. But just the idea that you might have a commercial AI product trained on YouTube content is staggering.

It will be interesting to see what happens going forward.

One thing is clear — barring The Fourth Turning / WW3, the next 18 months could see hyper development on the AI, android and spatial computing fronts. As part of that, I think we’re going to have to start taking the Universal Basic Income as a serious policy agenda.