Flawed Intelligence
If you have been following my posts and comments for any amount of time, you probably already know that I am not really a fan of AI. It's interesting how sentiment on this popular subject spreads all across the board. Folks like @ericvancewalton are mostly excited for the potential it could bring. @tarazkp on the other hand is understandably concerned about where we are heading as a civilization in the wake of AI. Then there are those like his brother @galenkp who are openly and adamantly against AI.
The funny thing is, I don't think anyone is right or wrong. I've heard arguments on many sides and I am open enough that I can see the validity in all of them. Personally, I'm not really impressed with what I have seen so far. Believe it or not, I think working in tech is probably to blame for that.
I was sitting in a meeting the other day with a number of public school district Technology Directors from my region and at least with them, AI is more of a punchline than something to actually be impressed about. I think a large part of that is due in part to vendors. We probably all know that vendors love their buzz words, and right now AI is the biggest buzz word there is.
They feel that simply saying their product uses AI to do this or that is going to make us beg them to take our money. While that might work with principals and superintendents, the tech guys know what's up. Oddly enough, the guy who was most vocal about his disdain for AI is also the same guy that was ridiculing me with the same enthusiasm several years ago when I was talking about Bitcoin.
That didn't age so well for him now did it?
Now, I'm not suggesting that AI is similar to crypto, but it is interesting how the overly "techy" people seem to be the most skeptical about new technologies like this. At least most of the time. @themarkymark would be one exception I can think of. He is actually running his own ChatGPT instance at home I think.
I'd be lying if I said that I didn't use AI. In fact, most of us would probably be lying if we claimed that. If you do a Google search and you don't read past the first little paragraph that Gemini gives you as a response, I'm sorry to tell you, you are using AI. Sure, it's basically just a glorified search engine, but the fact remains.
I say all of this to tell a funny story about Google AI specifically. Most the time I write my posts around the photos that I take. However, occasionally, I have a topic in mind that I don't have photos for. I then go to either my Google Photos storage or my Amazon Prime Photos storage and I do a search for whatever I need.
A few weeks ago I wrote a post that had to do with horses. I can't quite remember what it was, but just trust me on this.
Horses
So I jumped into my Google photos and I typed "horses" in the search bar. Sure enough, along with some other photos, it handed me back the one I shared above.
This photo was actually taken a couple of Springs ago when my wife and I were down in Nashville, Tennessee. We traveled to The Hermitage which is the estate where Andrew Jackson used to live. This building was out on the outskirts of the property and I think it was either a utility building or one of the slaves quarters.
If you zoom out just enough, you might be able to see why the Google AI thought this was a photo of a horse.
Can you see it?
Now can you see it? The funny thing is, now that Google did that, every time I look at this photo, I always see a horse. Feel free to scroll back and forth between the two. I have a feeling you probably see it now too. As I said, the effect works better when the photo is smaller or you are zoomed out, but I still find it amusing how something so far removed from a horse could be perceived as one.
We've all probably heard plenty of stories about how even earlier AI than where we are now was woefully biased when it came to race and gender, but identifying a building as a horse is a whole new level for me.
Clearly, there is still some work to be done, and despite hesitation and doubts, we know that people are going to push forward no matter what. Hubris knows no bounds.
Anyway, that's all I've got for you today. I hope you at least got a little laugh out of this misstep by Google's flawed intelligence.
My Sports Account - @bozz.sports
I'm so confused by Googles AI search assistant. I have yet to figure out how this would make any economic sense for Google. What this AI-box does is to worsen the quality of answers given and lessen the clicks on any links in the search results - including ads!
Of course I also regularly use AI. My main research tool shifted from Google/DuckDuckGo to PerplexityAI and ChatGPT. It is fairly rare that I am still using a real search engine. I only do so, when my intention is to actually find a link I want to click on and not just get a summarized reply to my question.
But this leads to websites receiving less traffic and also makes me more volatile to believing hallucinated answers.
Also, there is the topic of energy consumption. I think we don't have to talk about climate change: It's a disaster we need to stop - and popular AI in its current form and use isn't particularly helping. But the thing that makes me a lot more curious: When will AI be monitized? As I said before, AI just leads to decreased clicks on links, including ads AND it consumes more energy, meaning higher costs for the companies. This doesn't sound ideal to build an economic model around...
What I think we will see in the upcoming years is that - as with other platforms like YouTube, Amazon etc. - certain companies will build a near absolute monopoly with their technology and then plaster it with ads to near un-usability.
From what I have seen a lot of the AI tools already have a paywall or something like that. Google has a pretty hefty fee schedule if you want to use Gemini with Workspace. I understand what you are saying though. Eventually they are going to need to recoup that money somehow.
That's so funny. I totally see the horse when I look at the original photo now 😂
Cool optical illusion
I'm glad it isn't just me!
AI as a technology is in it's infancy. Bitcoin is 16 years old... Let's see where where AI will be in 10 to 15 years...
And the dude who was against BTC and now against AI is simply resistant to change, but the only constant in this world is change...
He's honestly a bit of a douche. It's surprising that he hasn't lost his job yet.
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It's usually good for a laugh when the AI search feature finds an unrelated image like that. I did not see the horse at all in your image!
This happened to me the other day, searching my Google Photos for pictures I had taken of Kangaroos. The AI thought this chihuahua was a kangaroo. At least there is some resemblance.
It's gotta be the ears! Right?
That's what I think too. Plus a similar color.
Horse? Building? What's the difference? That is an interesting illusion of the horse outline though, I doubt either of us would have seen the horse like outline had the AI not discovered it for us. AI great at finding patterns we miss, which can be very useful in scientific research. I do agree that for the most part it's a glorified search engine, although I do find it fun to play with the generation of images. Sometimes things come out nicely, others it makes you think what the hell?
Like it or not it's here to stay though, it is in a bubble right now value wise that will crash sooner or later. Everything will be powered by AI, why? Because it's the buzz word everyone is looking for... The sad part is the majority of the people out there really have no idea what AI really is!
Yes, there are a lot of clueless folks out there. You are right though, the ability to see patterns like that will definitely pay off in the future. The fact that it can already decipher scrolls that were previously unreadable is proof of that.
It's so difficult to know how this will all impact us in the long term but I have to say after listening to this podcast I have a different, much more cautious, take on AI.
I think one of the first fallouts from this will be a massive economic recession if AI doesn't prove to be all that Big Tech is promising. It seems like a lot is riding on AI performing miracles and governments solving societal problems AI causes (like lost wages from displaced workers). I hear more and more talk about how the "AI Bubble" is the only thing keeping the US economy afloat. I remember the Tech Boom and subsequent crash of the mid 1990's well but that during that era there wasn't nearly as much riding on the technology then.
Check this out....https://hive.blog/philosophy/@fermentedphil/somehow-managing-to-survive-ai-slop-and-crumbling-academia-or-diary-of-a-failing-philosopher
It definitely feels like everyone is going all in on this and if it doesn't quite live up to the expectations there is a lot that could come crashing down. I think at this point we are just kind of along for the ride.
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As someone who’s grown up with AI tools all around, it’s weird to see how much adults either hype it up or hate it. I think for my generation it’s more like… just normal, but I can see why it’s both exciting and kinda scary at the same time.
You and I both, man! I certainly peruse the AI thing here and there but people treat it like it's the best thing since sliced bread. Sadly, it ain't! Yes it for sure makes things a bit more convenient but throwing it at absolutely anything and everything is going to end abysmally. It's the best and worst marketing run amok, unfortunately.
I'm a bit of the odd one out in my team. They are all trying to build more and more AI tools, and I'm not necessarily disagreeing with them per-se, but I'm the only one saying "be careful what you wish for" when they are ecstatic about feeding the beast this information or that information. Just like any company.. we have bean counters at the top who right now are okay, but eventually, they will be looking for costs to cut and if you give them ALL of the information they need, then you might find yourself out of a job.
I can tell I get a little bit of angst when I dampen their AI obsession a bit, but I try not to do it too much, so I'm not the black sheep as we do get along really well otherwise lol.
I just think the hype is so overblown, it's wild. It will eventually be the dot-com bubble, where eventually the hopes and dreams that these companies are trying to deliver are nothing more than smoke in the wind.
oh, I love the pic of the "horse" 😂 That reminds me of a frequently-driven route through the country a few years ago. At one curve in the road, there were a couple of houses that had roadside mailboxes set next to each other. From a distance when approaching the curve, it looked like a cow standing there! Only when one got close were the mailboxes distinguishable! 🤣