Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryArtificial Intelligence

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Panoramic view on planet Earth globe from space. Glowing city lights, light clouds. Generative AI

Productivity Increase Will Take Time in the Age of AI

An acceleration in productivity growth from AI isn’t right around the corner, despite promises by economists.
If we look at the papers presented at the conference, we can’t find evidence that AI is or will improve productivity. Read More ›
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History of science, concept. Isaac Newton with Apple in hand

Don’t Expect AI to Revolutionize Science 

Data science is a downstream phenomenon. Thinking isn't. 
We need to start asking tough questions about what happened to the role of human thinking and insight in the discovery of how the world, and we, work. Read More ›
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Will Digital Inbreeding Be the End of AI?

Without the creative input of humans, AI is doomed to deteriorate.
AI training on itself needs fresh creative material on which to train or algorithms will feed off themselves in recursive cycles and degenerate into nonsense. Read More ›
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Robot typing on keyboard

Does Passing the Turing Test Guarantee We’ve Created True AI?

A true test of AI will be able to distinguish between AI and human intelligence.
AI might give us impressive answers to our questions. But that doesn’t mean they have a humanlike understanding of what is going on. Read More ›
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Hand drawn robot

LLMs Are Still Faux Intelligence

Large language models are remarkable but it's a huge mistake to think they're "intelligence" in any meaningful sense of the word.
It is wishful thinking to interpret these results and other LLM performances as evidence of logical reasoning. Read More ›
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Human multicolored iris of the eye animation concept. Rainbow lines after a flash scatter out of a bright binary circle and forming volumetric a human 
eye iris and pupil. 3d rendering background 4K

At COSM ’23, Futurist Ray Kurzweil Preaches the Gospel of Artificial Intelligence

The technology futurist thinks AI is humanity's destiny.
Kurzweil’s argument essentially assumes humanity is completely good and therefore if AI reflects (is “trained on”) us, then it will also be completely good. Read More ›
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Pipe line oil and gas valves at gas plant pressure safety valve selective

“Ghost Work” and the Enduring Necessity of Human Labor

Contrary to popular assumptions, the greater the automation, the greater the need for human labor.
As automation increases, the need for human labor increases, and as a corollary, so does the need for humans in general. Read More ›
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.The girl plays the guitar. Music lessons. Oil painting on canvas.

Creativity Takes Discipline. AI Offers an Easy, but Boring, Way Out

Because creativity requires work, AI systems will stunt human creativity over time.

Consider the following scenarios and compare: Leilani considered the images on the screen … choose five, copy them, and paste them from the AI generator to the AI evaluator. Two to choose from … creative juices flowing, Leilani chose one and started working on the type. Which typeface would represent the playful air the client was looking for? Back to the AI selector to describe each face. All of them were playful, but one was fun, too — that’s the right match! After a few more minutes of creative release, Leilani leaned back to consider the result. Paste a copy of the final to her local friend’s group and wait a minute … the first response was: “Wow! You’re as Read More ›

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Uroboros, snake coiled in a ring, biting its tail. Engraving sketch scratch board imitation sepia.

Model Collapse: AI Chatbots Are Eating Their Own Tails

The problem is fundamental to how they operate. Without new human input, their output starts to decay
Meanwhile, organizations that laid off writers and editors to save money are finding that they can’t just program creativity or common sense into machines. Read More ›
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The editor is editing the video at the computer

How Can Content Creators Avoid AI Theft?

The world of AI appears to be shaping up much like the world of social media.

Whither AI and copyright? Two significant battles working their way through the United States court system will define the relationship between human creators and AI systems. If you are a creator, you need to pay attention. First, can content created by AI be copyrighted? While it seems evident that content created by a user prompt should not be copyrightable by the user, what about the designer and operator of the AI system? It might seem reasonable to infer the humans who create a system that, in turn, creates new “works” should be able to copyright those works. In August of 2023, however, a United States District Court Judge ruled that AI-generated content cannot be copyrighted because “human authorship is a Read More ›

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How Can We Make Genuine Progress on AI?

True progress on AI means moving beyond induction and data analysis. Researchers must start taking the “commonsense knowledge problem” seriously.
True progress on AI — let alone human progress — means moving beyond induction and data analysis, an approach that is now over a decade old and saturating. Read More ›
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Checklist Writing Notice Remember Planning Concept,home office desk background,hand holding pen and writing note on wood table.

Lawsuit Champions Human Creativity Over AI Mimicry

Copyright laws can protect against sophisticated plagiarism.
ChatGPT is specifically taught to read authors’ works so that a human can request ChatGPT to mimic the original authors’ content and style. Read More ›
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Doubtful young man thinking

Why Are We Obsessed With How Smart AI Is?

The people with the most specific knowledge should be assessing applications for AI and their risks.
The biggest lesson from giving university exams to ChatGPT is that students should be tested in other ways. Read More ›
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closeup of old handwriting; vintage paper background

Authors Guild Sues OpenAI For Unlawful Copying of Creative Works

Did ChatGPT make physical copies of copyrighted books and articles?
It appears the Authors Guild has adequately alleged OpenAI, et al., made and used unlawful copies of copyright-protected written works. Read More ›
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The Captivating Robotic Woman of Innovation

New Poll Says Most People Don’t Want “Super AI”

Not all problems can be solved through tech

Despite tech companies’ search to create an artificial “super-intelligence,” a recent poll suggests ordinary citizens want no such thing to be set loose into the world. Sigal Samuel, writing for Vox, talks about technological “solutionism, ” the idea that all the world’s problems, moral or otherwise, can be solved through mere technological progress. This ideology, he notes, extends to the current craze and hype surrounding AI. Sigal writes, AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) enthusiasts promise that the coming superintelligence will bring radical improvements. It could develop everything from cures for diseases to better clean energy technologies. It could turbocharge productivity, leading to windfall profits that may alleviate global poverty. And getting to it first could help the US maintain an edge over China; Read More ›

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Van, Turkey Ancient Urartu cuneiform from Van fortress. IX-VI century BC e.

Can AI Open Doors to Ancient Human History?

It’s not a time machine, to be sure, but it may help bring the past to life by motoring through dull, time-consuming translation tasks
There’s a lot to discover. Recently, scholars learned that the Babylonians were using trigonometry 3700 years ago, centuries before the Greeks. Read More ›
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demostrator with megaphone and notebook protesting

The Strike is Over

After almost five months, the Writers Guild of America's (WGA) strike against Hollywood has ended.

After almost five months, the Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) strike against Hollywood has ended. WGA and Hollywood came to an agreement that includes higher employee wages and limitations in the ways artificial intelligence (AI) can be employed. AI has been at the forefront of the moviemaking conversation for the past few months, and for good reason. TV and movie writers are concerned with how the technology might take away their jobs or otherwise cheapen the quality of TV scripts. Ryan Faughnder writes for the Los Angeles Times, The new WGA contract includes language that regulates the studio’s use of AI but also provides flexibility to the guild’s members. Companies must disclose to writers if any material given to a Read More ›

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illustration of future education classroom with robotic tech teacher . AI

If ChatGPT Had Children, Would They Be Geniuses or Blubbering Idiots?

It would seem that when AI begets more AI, the result is nonsense.
Blubbering idiocy can be avoided in LLMs by transfusion of fresh information from the creative minds of humans. Read More ›
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illustration of blue water surface with rough wave with glitter glow light, theme of

When ChatGPT Talks Science

Can AI ever transcend its trained biases?
Left to its own devices, ChatGPT is heavily biased toward methodological naturalism and will not say that intelligent design is a theory of biological origins Read More ›