The 151st Block: The artificial hallucination
Go to the reading list for a snippet on the stupidity of AI by James Bridle
This week…
I’m back on the generative AI chatbot train. (Wait, was I ever off?) On March 14th, OpenAI released GPT-4, the successor to ChatGPT. The new model now responds to images and can process about eight times more words than its predecessor (up to 25,000 words). However, although it has “more advanced reasoning skills” than ChatGPT, GPT-4 is still susceptible to artificial hallucination (the phenomenon when an AI makes things up) and sharing disinformation. Sounds pretty human to me.
Anyway, here’s a selection of top stories on my radar, a few personal recommendations, and the chart of the week.
ChatGPT is about to revolutionize the economy. We need to decide what that looks like
David Rotman for MIT TR:
“We’re talking in such a moment because you can touch this technology. Now you can play with it without needing any coding skills. A lot of people can start imagining how this impacts their workflow, their job prospects,” says Katya Klinova, the head of research on AI, labor, and the economy at the Partnership on AI in San Francisco.
“The question is who is going to benefit? And who will be left behind?” says Klinova, who is working on a report outlining the potential job impacts of generative AI and providing recommendations for using it to increase shared prosperity.
The optimistic view: it will prove to be a powerful tool for many workers, improving their capabilities and expertise, while providing a boost to the overall economy. The pessimistic one: companies will simply use it to destroy what once looked like automation-proof jobs, well-paying ones that require creative skills and logical reasoning; a few high-tech companies and tech elites will get even richer, but it will do little for overall economic growth.
Well, on that note…
AI takes the airwaves
Quinn Henderson for The Peak:
Media company Futuri has launched RadioGPT, billed as the first radio platform powered entirely by AI. The tech looks to make on-air talent obsolete with its ability to scour the web for trending topics in local markets and generate scripts for robot hosts.
RadioGPT can also automate other tasks, including making social media posts, creating short-form videos, and converting radio content into podcast content.
Actual stations will start using RadioGPT in mid-April. One broadcaster that’s signed up? Rogers. The telecom giant’s media subsidiary owns 55 radio stations across Canada.
Check it out yourself. Visit Futiri’s RadioGPT page here to listen to some samples.
Be My Eyes meets GPT-4: Is AI the next frontier in accessibility?
Chase DiBenedetto for Mashable:
In a Be My Eyes survey polling blind and low-vision users, [Mike Buckley, CEO of Be My Eyes] explained, the predominant feedback on barriers to use was that some users actually felt uncomfortable with Be My Eyes’ human aspect. Most respondents said they don’t use the app as often because they “don’t want to take a volunteer away from someone who might need them more,” and others recounted that it was because they were “wary about calling a stranger or a paid agent.” Buckley explained that some were worried an urgent call wouldn’t be picked up in time, and a significant portion of surveyed users said it was an issue of independence, not wanting to feel reliant on another volunteer.
“Up to this point we just haven’t seen a technological tool that would solve these needs quickly enough and accurately enough to launch something like this,” he said. But the public availability of ChatGPT, and the collaboration with GPT-4, changed that reality for the company, accelerating an addition to their services.
And yet a ChatGPT bug this week leaked users’ conversation histories, so don’t get too comfortable yet (Ben Derico, BBC).
What I read, listen, and watch…
I’m reading an article adapted from James Bridle’s ‘New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future’ on The Guardian.
I’m watching Lisa LaFlamme talking to Adrienne Arsenault about her unceremonious departure from CTV.
I’m also watching Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy Timothy Caulfield speak about health misinformation for the Center for Inquiry conference in October 2022.
Reviews, opinion pieces, and other stray links:
A Woman’s World: Creating spaces for joy, leisure, and resistance in South and Southeast Asia by Mariyam Haider in collaboration with Khabar Lahariya for Kontinentalist.
This fake country is run by a guru accused of rape. How did it end up at the UN? by Pallavi Pundir for Vice.
L’électrochoc de l’IA by Katia Gagnon for La Presse.
Gibraltar lucha para no perder su identidad llanita en ‘espanglish’ by Jesús A. Cañas for El País.
Chart of the week
And one more thing
Naomi Wu on the tyranny of the native speaker.