800 authors against AI use

[Emelee]

800 authors have joined together against free use of AI getting fed with their work.

Understandably so.

If AI companies are allowed to use authors' work as they please, the future will no longer need human authors. What an awful shame that would be.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/19/tech/authors-demand-payment-ai/index.html


It's time ALL unions take a stand on AI. Even my teachers union. I don't want AI to be programmed well enough to take over my profession.

Just think how many people will be unemployed in the future if we let AI take over many professions.

 

[Gabriel Maxwell]

Since this is a thread about AI, I thought it’d be interesting to see how ChatGPT would respond to @Emelee ‘s post above and here’s what it wrote — within 5 seconds, of course:

“I understand your concerns about the potential impact of AI on various professions, including authors and teachers. It's natural to worry about how technological advancements can disrupt traditional job roles and employment prospects.

However, it's essential to consider a few points in response to your opinion:

1. Complementary nature of AI and human creativity: While AI has the potential to generate content and mimic human writing styles, it's important to recognize that AI is still a tool created by humans. AI can be used as a complementary tool to assist authors, helping them in their creative process, enhancing productivity, and providing new avenues for exploration.
2. Collaboration rather than replacement: Instead of seeing AI as a complete replacement for human authors, it can be viewed as a collaboration between human creativity and AI capabilities. Many AI-generated works still require human input, editing, and fine-tuning to achieve the desired quality and coherence. This collaboration can lead to innovative creations that wouldn't be possible through either human or AI efforts alone.
3. Ethical concerns: The concerns raised by authors about free use of their work by AI companies are valid. Intellectual property rights, fair compensation, and proper attribution are essential to protect the interests of creators. Striking a balance between technological advancements and creators' rights is crucial to ensure a sustainable and ethical future.
4. Job displacement and upskilling: It is true that automation and AI advancements can lead to job displacement in some areas. However, history has shown that technological progress also creates new job opportunities in different sectors. It's important for societies and governments to focus on upskilling and retraining programs to prepare the workforce for the changing job landscape.
5. Teachers' role in education: While AI can support educational processes, teachers play a vital role in fostering critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and personalized guidance to students. AI cannot fully replace the human touch in education, and its integration should be seen as a tool to enhance teaching practices, not a replacement for teachers.

In conclusion, rather than taking an extreme stance against AI, it is more beneficial to embrace technological advancements while being mindful of the potential challenges they pose. Collaborating with AI, advocating for ethical use, and focusing on upskilling can help us harness the potential of AI while preserving the value of human creativity and expertise.”

 

[Emelee]

ChatGPT is too good. No wonder many students use it to write texts for them. Either in full or "in collaboration".

Too bad AI is still not smart enough to understand itself. If it did, it'd recognize when bad people want to use AI for bad purposes and refuse to do that.

My fear is mostly this:
Humans can be evil, manipulative and/or calculating. These people will absolutely use AI for bad things. Just as generally good inventions have been used for horrible things in the past (and is still used). Dynamite was created for a good cause, but in the hands of an evil person, it can turn deadly.

ChatGPT's reply is quite naïve.

 

[Gabriel Maxwell]

All valid points. But how do you put Pandora back into the box?

According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ChatGPT is just a little mild teaser to prepare the public for what’s about to unfold in the near future:

“We could have gone off and just built this in our building here for five more years,” he said, “and we would have had something jaw-dropping.” But the public wouldn’t have been able to prepare for the shock waves that followed, an outcome that he finds “deeply unpleasant to imagine.” Altman believes that people need time to reckon with the idea that we may soon share Earth with a powerful new intelligence, before it remakes everything from work to human relationships. ChatGPT was a way of serving notice.

More: “Does Sam Altman Know What He’s Creating?” a lengthy article in The Atlantic raising numerous concerns (behind paywall):

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/09/sam-altman-openai-chatgpt-gpt-4/674764/

 

[Emelee]

All valid points. But how do you put Pandora back into the box?

According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ChatGPT is just a little mild teaser to prepare the public for what’s about to unfold in the near future:

“We could have gone off and just built this in our building here for five more years,” he said, “and we would have had something jaw-dropping.” But the public wouldn’t have been able to prepare for the shock waves that followed, an outcome that he finds “deeply unpleasant to imagine.” Altman believes that people need time to reckon with the idea that we may soon share Earth with a powerful new intelligence, before it remakes everything from work to human relationships. ChatGPT was a way of serving notice.

More: “Does Sam Altman Know What He’s Creating?” a lengthy article in The Atlantic raising numerous concerns (behind paywall):

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/09/sam-altman-openai-chatgpt-gpt-4/674764/

When Pandora's box has been opened and the secrets exposed, it can't be taken back. We have to live in a very uncertain world where we constantly have to wonder what's real and what's not.

I foresee lots and lots of fake news that can be devastating. As an example: Currently Sweden is "at war against the muslim world", according to some (at least hundreds) of muslims in countries like Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libanon etc. True story. (https://apnews.com/article/sweden-q...ssia-ukraine-bbcf9ebcae1b2897df77929919a4f765)
This is because it's legal to publically burn holy books here in the freedom of speech law. And a number of people have recently required to publically burn the Koran, and also done just that, outside embassy buildings in Stockholm. Both far-right people and muslims critical of their home countries. This has enraged people in arab countries who are burning the Swedish flag and threatening with violence and protests. Even banning Swedish products and threatening terror attacks.

So far, the government has stated that they do not condone these actions but it's legal to do this. They can't stop freedom of speech as it's a constitutional law in Sweden. Islamic states find this to be horrible.

Now (to the AI issue).......... imagine if a state would like to cause chaos in a western country like Sweden and they have access to AI. Just feed AI with video clips of our prime minister and/or other politicians and make it look like they are also burning the Koran or standing by applauding it. A picture tells the truth, right? A video clip can't possibly lie! And this clip is spread around the islamic world. What would the reactions be then? A full out war?

 

[Brian Kinney]

Dynamite was created for a good cause, but in the hands of an evil person, it can turn deadly.

ChatGPT's reply is quite naïve.

Just think what some people believed before ChatGPT - the uneducated "social" media warriors think psychopaths Trump and Musk are their heroes and they rather trust crazy conspiracy nonsense on YouTube than any reliable sources (they ignore the latter). They believed in obvious fakes before AI. It was already deadly thanks to Facebook and Twitter. But AI makes it worse.

Currently Sweden is "at war against the muslim world", according to some (at least hundreds) of muslims in countries like Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libanon etc. True story. (https://apnews.com/article/sweden-q...ssia-ukraine-bbcf9ebcae1b2897df77929919a4f765)
This is because it's legal to publically burn holy books here in the freedom of speech law. And a number of people have recently required to publically burn the Koran, and also done just that, outside embassy buildings in Stockholm. Both far-right people and muslims critical of their home countries. This has enraged people in arab countries who are burning the Swedish flag and threatening with violence and protests. Even banning Swedish products and threatening terror attacks.

I bet a cup of coffee that's Putin's work. He's the one who doesn't want Sweden in the NATO. Sweden isn't the only country where people can burn fairytale books as the Bible and others. But they don't do it somewhere else now. Just in Sweden at this crucial moment. Imagine how the Arab-Muslim countries would react if they find out that it's just another attack on our freedom by Russia. That could change some alliances in that part of the world. How long will it take the world to find out? I don't know what does it need after the war on Ukraine to not believe he's behind it? Destroyed airplanes and Nord-Stream, the series of people falling out of windows, poisoned scientists, manipulation of elections in the free world... sooner or later we knew who's responsible for it. Russia paid for Brexit campaigns, lent money to Le Pen in France, is helping the Nazi party in Germany and all other right-wing extremists on different continents.

 

[Emelee]

I bet a cup of coffee that's Putin's work. He's the one who doesn't want Sweden in the NATO. Sweden isn't the only country where people can burn fairytale books as the Bible and others. But they don't do it somewhere else now. Just in Sweden at this crucial moment. Imagine how the Arab-Muslim countries would react if they find out that it's just another attack on our freedom by Russia. That could change some alliances in that part of the world. How long will it take the world to find out? I don't know what does it need after the war on Ukraine to not believe he's behind it? Destroyed airplanes and Nord-Stream, the series of people falling out of windows, poisoned scientists, manipulation of elections in the free world... sooner or later we knew who's responsible for it. Russia paid for Brexit campaigns, lent money to Le Pen in France, is helping the Nazi party in Germany and all other right-wing extremists on different continents.

That would certainly not knock my socks off if it turned out to be the huge Russian propaganda machine at work yet again. It wasn't ling ago since the hacker group "Anonymous Sudan" targeted Sweden because the the Koran burnings. That group turned out to be a Russian hacker group.

It's no secret Russia don't want Sweden to join NATO. They've been threatening with "repercussion" for years. Russia wants Turkey to veto Sweden's NATO application. So Turkey will need something big from Sweden, USA and NATO to ratify Sweden. Lord knows Turkey has been stalling for months, and it's obvious why. How much can they get for their yes?

But to return to authors' worries, I can fully understand why they want to make sure what happens with their work.

 

[kenneth]

There never has been and never will be created anything that will only be used by decent people.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Unfortunately, all those signatures were generated by AI.

 

[Frank Underwood]

It's fascinating how someone who complains about "crazy conspiracy nonsense" ends up pushing a conspiracy of their own (and within the same post!)

It's also sad to know social media and AI are pushing misinformation on people. The "reliable sources" in the mainstream media must really have their work cut out for them when it comes to countering it. I know we can count on them to always tell the truth like they did about WMDs in Iraq, Russia-gate, the efficacy of masks and vaccines, etc.

I mean, it's not like they'd ever manufacture consent for war, lockdowns, the mandated intrusion of big pharma into our lives, etc. And they certainly wouldn't make Trump and Musk out to be worse than every other nefarious oligarch simply because they occasionally cross the establishment. Yes, it sure is great knowing they tell the truth, unlike AI...