One of the most personally pressing issues is that this would have been a moment for Dr. Hinton to denormalize the firing of @timnitGebru (not to mention many that have recently followed). To say it was the wrong choice. Especially given his statements supporting ethical work.
He did not.
This is how systemic discrimination works. The people in positions of power normalize. They do the discrimination, they watch their peers do it, they say nothing and carry on: This makes discrimination normal.
Next: "Dr. Hinton said he has quit his job at Google...so he can freely speak out about the risks of A.I."
Pay attention to this.
It seems: The most qualified researchers in the world are not able to say what the future might hold for AI because they are gagged, implicitly/culturally if not directly censored, by short-term profit at the hands of Sundar.
If Google is doing this, it's pretty dismal for humanity. Sundar gets rich now, but everyone else may experience serious issues long-term.
@mmitchell_ai
I had initially boosted this post, but I've just seen Hinton's own tweet which I think is at odds with rthe description of events given here?
see screen grab here
@mmitchell_ai
I guess he has to call it as he sees it...
his role/experience there will likely have been quite different from yours for many reasons...😶
This is part of why leaving Google is the right decision for those who can afford it. If you're capable of understanding ethical nuances, you need to be part of the solution, not part of those enabling Sundar.
Next: People in this article thinking about long-term AI with foresight are described as "doomsayer", "worrier". That's a bias that's (obviously) reductive and demeans the point. You could also say we are constructively critiquing the technology, that we think about the future.
Next: "Jeff Dean, said in a statement: “We remain committed to a responsible approach to A.I...while also innovating boldly.”"
Yeah...that's not Jeff. That's PR/Comms. Does anyone else in the world think "innovating boldly" sounds like something other than a marketing term?
"A neural network is a mathematical system that learns skills by analyzing data."
GREAT JOB here from Cade!!! Not a brain metaphor!! Somewhat Helpful Description!!! YAAAY!
I give you all permission to plagiarise versions of this.
In particular, "mathematical system". 😍
"The tech giants are locked in a competition that might be impossible to stop, Dr. Hinton said." 😬
Aaah, I had not thought of "impossible to stop".
Uh oh.
What are some solutions to help deal with that?
Regulation is clearly one...
Next, "His immediate concern is that the internet will be flooded with false photos, videos and text, and the average person will “not be able to know what is true anymore.”"
SAME! 😮
Also propagation of hegemonic and discriminatory viewpoints, heh.
But losing touch with truth is a DEFINITE CONCERN.
"chatbots like ChatGPT tend to complement human workers, but they could replace"
Right. A different path for how things could go -- if run by leaders with different biases -- would be AI as complement not replacement.
I'm concerned with the thrust forward towards replacement.
Especially because it's not a good replacement. Like trying en masse to make everything a little more shittier. "Enshittification" Cory Doctorow says.
Next, "as individuals and companies allow A.I. systems not only to generate their own computer code but actually run that code on their own."
Yes. If a computer thinks a red orange pink sky is beautiful ("beautiful sunset"), and beauty is Good, then causing a mass explosion (eg) for the orange/purple sky is foreseeably on the table for these systems.
"The best hope is for the world’s leading scientists to collaborate on ways of controlling the technology." Cool! So that means women, Black people, older people, will not be excluded from events and stuff. Right? RIGHT???
@mmitchell_ai maybe we could help kick start the collaboration of leading scientists on ways of controlling #LLM technology by improving the discourse on this very platform in such away that it brings together the many sources of academic expertise that are already here?
@mmitchell_ai It would be nice if we switched over to smaller models running on personal devices instead of the monolith burning through the water near where I live to cover cooling :/
@mmitchell_ai This just jumped out at me - shitty/mediocre text, as a parallel to the enshittification of American food (vs. e.g. Italy/EU, with stronger food industry regulations).
@mmitchell_ai Yes!!! Why do so many people think it’s going to be great to get a worse service from some chatbot than from some actually qualified human being? This is purely a corporate interest, not a societal or consumer one.
“Farting boldly”
“Cramping boldly”
“Skipping boldly”
“Shitting boldly”
“Waving “bye-bye” like a toddler boldly”
“Doing the “Hokey-Pokey” boldly”
“Blinking boldly”
“Doing the same shit you’ve been doing but slapping “boldly” on the end to make people think you’re doing something amazing rather than rat-fucking society so you can goose the value of your options. Boldly.”
@mmitchell_ai@judell “The idea that this stuff could actually get smarter than people — a few people believed that,” he said. “But most people thought it was way off. And I thought it was way off. I thought it was 30 to 50 years or even longer away. Obviously, I no longer think that.”
Aaronson though centuries. I thought 60 years. Now we all think within 0-10y.
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