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AI and the future ...

ViewAheadViewAhead Posts: 866
in The potting shed
I am just reading a book called The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman.  Fascinating stuff, if not a little scary.  It has got me wondering where humans will find niches they can excel at.  Will there be any point spending yrs learning to play a musical instrument if AI can do it more perfectly and with no effort or expense (lessons, string replacements, sheet music, etc)?  Will there be any point taking scenic photographs if AI can create better ones?  Currently sites like Adobe mark content that is AI generated, but how long will that happen for?  Will the fake crowd out the real? 

And what about gardening?  AI already impacts farming with machinery that can judge exact soil conditions, need for fertilisers, etc, much better than humans.  Will gardens similarly become areas with no need for human intervention?  

I can't help feeling a lot of the stuff under development is missing the point.  Humans  like  becoming proficient at things.  We need that sense of achievement.  Without it, what might be left?  




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  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    OH put ChatGPT on his phone yesterday and asked it to show him an example of the guitar notation for a rock riff. It gave him Smoke on the Water (predictable!) but in the wrong key!! I don't think it'll be replacing human musicians any time soon.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • ViewAheadViewAhead Posts: 866
    It is progressing in unstoppable leaps and bounds though.  Today's tentative will become tomorrow's expert.

    AI that can teach itself is here.  Humans, stand back, you are no longer required. 😉

    More worrying things than AI are also on the cusp of taking off - quantum computing (which will render all current passwords instantly hackable) and the ability to create synthetic bacteria.  "Can of worms" isn't really an adequate description.

    Of course, both good and bad will be the result.  I can't help thinking it is a watershed for humankind though.  We will need AI; it will not need us.  That's a recipe for problems ... and in the fairly near future.  

    It's a really interesting book ... and surprisingly easy to understand, given the subject matter.  The author is that rare thing - a geek insider able to communicate clearly to non-experts.  
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited December 2023
    This year's RI lectures are on AI. I will watch wth interest. 

    Good to bring curiosity to learning.


  • ViewAheadViewAhead Posts: 866
    I am looking forward to watching! 🙂
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    It seems to be an exploration of the science, not the ethics.
  • ViewAheadViewAhead Posts: 866
    I just hope I can follow it!  😂  
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited December 2023
    I watch the RI lectures every year and I think this is the most advanced I have seen, from the get go. It's not the type of thing to watch while doing the washing up. I guess perhaps they are assuming that kids will have already grasped the basic concepts. I don't really have the basic concepts and think I will get a very general gist, at best. (With my tired brain). But that's fine for me today.

    I like seeing kids attending, eyes shining - hopefully they will be inspired for a lifetime. It's unlikely they will ever forget the experience.

    ---
    One basic question I would want to follow up is -
    one of the scientists looks at the way Google Translate manages large datasets to create accurate translations. I'm not sure what counts as an algorithm-driven system and what counts as AI. Is there a clear line?

    -----
    A good series of programmes will always throw up more questions than it answers. I feel sure this series will for me. I am sure quite a chunk of the adult home audience will struggle to concentrate on the science, being consumed by the baseline ethical questions of the whole project. "Is it a good idea" seems to be the first question.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    The Merlin bird ID app is powered by AI


  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited December 2023
    JennyJ said:
    I don't think it'll be replacing human musicians any time soon.

    I think, to some degree, that ship has already sailed. Listeners could not tell the difference between compupter-composed music and authentic Bach in 1997.






  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Some people like to concentrate on the potential harms of AI, but there are so many positives. We have been using the technology for some time, to help us interpret MRI scans, and the results are very encouraging.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
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