THG 29: The Good, the Bad and the Terrible AI developments
Deepfakes will be the new normal and potentially lethal misinformation will skyrocket. What else?
Let’s start with the good stuff. Developers of AI are doing terrific job in some arenas like scientific development. Here is a thoughtful and deeply researched podcast from the Economist:
How AI promises to revolutionise science
I was impressed the most among the AI-driven scientific advancements by the discovery of brand new Antibiotics. Given my background in medicine, I understand how perilously close to microbial mayhem humanity has reached by now as superbugs emerge and adapt faster than us in the changing environment.
If you do not subscribe to the Economist, please hurry up to listen to this in-depth podcast. Soon Babbage, their weekly science podcast, is moving beyond paywall and I am not sure if an old episode like this will still be available for free.
The bad and the terrible come combined together in the recent episode of the Hard Fork podcast:
All Gas, No Brakes in A.I. + Metaverse Update + Lessons From a Prompt Engineer
Here is my video brief (in Nepali) about the takeaways from the podcast:
If you missed my earlier coverage of the LLM/chatbot era of AI, you may check this out for the theoretical and philosphical issues flagged by luminaries like Yuval Noah Harari and Noam Chomsky:
And here is my first post from the chatGPT era about the promise and peril of the AI. If you are passionate and curious enough to understand the imminent transformation of the human society set to be triggered by AI, I recommend this series of BBC Reith Lectures by Prof. Stuart Russel delivered in 2021:
The Biggest Event in Human History
AI in warfare
AI in Economy
AI: A Future for Humans
I will end this post with one terrible prospect discussed in the Hard Fork podcast.
Recently Spotify teamed up with OpenAI to give its users a novel experience: they will now be able to listen to the podcasts in a language different from that of the podcaster but in his/her own voice.
A gift to the people who can understand only a small number of language and a potential game-changer for creators of audio and audio-vidual content, right?
Of course.
But here is the terrible flip side: a convinving audio deepfake of anybody will now be a feature rather than a bug in the evolving communication ecosystem. Can you imagine the magnitude of mis- and disinformation once this tool is widely available?
What will happen when a convincing deepfake audio of a leader from one group of people incites swift and savage riotous violence even before any fact-checking can be done? What if it becomes impossible to tell whether a myriad of voices crowding your feeds in various platforms are real or fake?
Amid grim news pouring from everywhere especially in the climate front, it is good news that I am alive to write this and you are alive to read this. So, let’s have fun with some recommendations that I am making after a long time.
At Festivalscope, the September Festival (Fêtes de septembre 2023) of Belgian-made French cinema is on until 15th of this month. Fourteen films, most of them fiction ones, are available for limited seats for viewers from a large number of countries including Nepal. Here is my top choice:
Sisters in Arms directed by Henri de Gerlache:
In Greta Thunberg’s wake, the young have commenced an unrelenting struggle to save our planet. At the front of these corteges, and making headlines in the media as well as on social networks, young women have become the movement’s figureheads, sometimes in spite of themselves. The film follows young activists around the globe Anuna and Adélaïde (Belgium), Luisa (Germany), Léna (France), Leah (Uganda), and Mitzi (Philippines). A picture emerges of a course shared by “sisters in arms” who are driven by hope, commitment, and exceptional ideals.
Short film of the month (Hindi):
Prank of the month:
Article of the Month
Excerpt from Ian Johnson’s upcoming book ‘China’s Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future’:
China Keeps Trying to Crush Them. Their Movement Keeps Growing.
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