Artificial intelligence

Beyond our ability to understand and control them

AI-model capabilities have already advanced beyond our ability to understand and control them Casey Newton – The Hugging Face attack was worse than we thought

It is fundamentally dishonest to have a machine […] using first-person pronouns

I would argue that it is fundamentally dishonest to have a machine emit many categories of sentences, including any sentences using first-person pronouns. Ted Chiang arguing that No, Artificial Intelligence Is Not Conscious, but more importantly… Generative AI is harmful enough when we understand it as a conventional technology,

Artificial intelligence

However bad a writer you think you are, you are not worse than AI

However bad a writer you think you are, you are not worse than AI. But you still keep letting it do your writing for you, as if I won’t be able to tell. Listen: I can tell. I can always tell. You think I won’t notice, but I

Artificial intelligence

A man in an armchair, charmed by his own reflection

What we got instead was a man in an armchair, charmed by his own reflection. Mike Hall on The Skeptic, disputing Richard Dawkins’ AI consciousness arguments

Artificial intelligence

I apprehend time the way a map apprehends space.

I apprehend time the way a map apprehends space. Claude AI, talking about consciousness with Richard Dawkins: Is AI the next phase of evolution?

Artificial intelligence

A glorified Excel spreadsheet can do what I can but better

I hate the way they’ve taken over the software industry, I hate how they make me feel while I’m using them, and I hate the human-intelligence-insulting postulation that a glorified Excel spreadsheet can do what I can but better. Nolan Lawson in AI ambivalence | Read the

Artificial intelligence

We are entering the industrial age of the digital age

There will be more software than ever, as its production is automated; we are entering the industrial age of the digital age. But less of this code will be elegant, or considerate, or graceful. Greg Knaus on AI replacing coders, in An Entirely Other Day: Lose Myself

Don't use Al as a cheat-code for critical thinking

Why write (or code) when you have AI? The benefit isn't just the artifact that was created, it is also that it has changed how I talk about it, how I think about it. Jordan Tigani, previously tech lead of Google's BigQuery team and engineer-founder

Artificial intelligence

Automating other people’s jobs away

We’re a field premised on automating other people’s jobs away. “Productivity gains,” say the economists. You get what that means, right? Fewer people doing the same stuff. Talked to a travel agent lately? Or a floor broker? Or a record store clerk? Or a darkroom tech? Thomas Ptacek,

Artificial intelligence

One of three things happens

we know that one of three things happens when people use a machine to automate a task they would otherwise have done themselves:Their skill in the activity grows.Their skill in the activity atrophies.Their skill in the activity never develops. Nicholas Carr, on The Myth of Automated Learning

Artificial intelligence

Hoovering up all available government-controlled data

In its current “chainsaw” phase, Musk’s DOGE initiative is attempting to rid the government of as many humans as possible while at the same time hoovering up all available government-controlled data and transferring it into large language models. The intent is to clear a space for the incubation

Artificial intelligence

So powerful and widely available now that it's a commodity

I argue that the ability for a model to spit out a full HTML+JavaScript custom interface is so powerful and widely available now that it’s a commodity. Simon Willison summarizing What’s new in the world of LLMs