AI

scientific investigations of the boundaries between conscious and unconscious systems are urgently needed, and they cite ethical, legal and safety issues that make it crucial to understand AI consciousness. For example, if AI develops consciousness, should people be allowed to simply switch it off after use?

Even the regulatory arena, where Altman publicly champions AI oversight, bears the fingerprints of double-dealing. While testifying in favor of federal regulation, OpenAI lobbied behind the scenes to weaken the EU AI Act and is now advocating for federal preemption of state AI safety laws in the US. Altman has called the very regulatory structure... See more

Anyway, I don’t want to seem like I’m arguing that the internet of 2023 is “fine” or “healthy”--it’s obviously not. Rather, I’d like to make the case that the internet of 2010 (or wherever you would place the peak of “fun” internet) wasn’t particularly healthy or fine, either, and it’s easy to mistake a sense of ease and comfort under bad... See more

The more I use language models, the more monstrous they seem to me. I don’t mean that in a partic­u­larly negative sense. Frankenstein’s monster is sad, but also amazing. Godzilla is a monster, and Godzilla rules.