The AI Discussion Thread

[Freak]

As I look at the threads, I'm noticing this topic constantly flies into our faces a bit more frequently. I figured I would take the initiative to create a thread for this as AI has been a topic I've been really keeping track of lately and I think it would generate some interesting discussions here. I created this topic in hopes to discuss what's currently going on in the development of AI and where we think it's going.

My personal opinion: It is going to be here to stay for better or for worse. As an aspiring web developer (I know, worst possible time to look for a job in that area right now LOL), there seems to be a massive scare that the software development industry is going to be completely replaced by AI. Although a lot of developers use AI as a handy tool to assist with their code, I do think we are many, many years away from that being a reality. In fact, I personally think AI is a bit overhyped.

I've seen several videos of people doing some research on this topic. I personally have come to the conclusion that while AI will be here to stay as a tool like ChatGBT, I don't think its advancement will be sustainable. AI is only as good as to what information you feed it and once there is so much content out there that is AI generated, the AI will start to "learn" from the content it put out, thus creating a snowball effect of degradation. Not to mention AI is also being trained using information that is proprietary, which I think is a big reason why an AI collapse is immenant. There are going to be (And already are!) many lawsuits fighting AI using their information. Adobe has been getting a ton of flack for claiming they have proprietary use of your work in their TOS. Also Scarlet Johansen is suing an AI voice software for using her voice despite her not giving them permission.

One guy points out below that Amazon got called out that their biometrics purchasing system at Amazon grocery stores was not AI computers utilizing it, but actually 1000 people in India running it. This was recent as April of this year! He also points out how AI has been stealing information from websites to train the AI.





So I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this matter. Again, I don't support advancing AI further as I just don't see how this would benefit humanity, but I don't think it's sustainable. Y'all remember the .com crash of the early 00's? It's starting to sound familiar. As Google and Apple are investing billions into AI and its sustainability being uncertain, not to mention that moral ramifications of it, I just don't see AI being the legs to keep moving forward the way it is. That's why despite the hype and fear-mongering, I'm still going to do my best to crack into the software development industry. I think things will turn around sooner or later. What do y'all think?

 

[Jerroddragon]

AI to me is like anything, it should be good for all of us but in the end at least in the USA it will be used against us for everything...raising your insurance rates on housing and cars by being about to track you easier.
In theme parks the good could be like AI meet and greets the bad....the apps using your data and trying to weed out anything that does not get enough people using it to save a few bucks

AI could literally cut many jobs and when used with Robots end most work buttttttt somehow we will just ignore that and the richest among us will horde the money and tech and just make life worst. I would love to be wrong but I was here when google got big....the Internet and Apps were better, video games are hit and miss but feels like even AAA games are shovel ware just to sell you costumes.

I feel like AI could make life better or worst but leaning towards worst because.....I have not seen anything getting better for anyone the past 20 years but I hope im wrong

 

[Galactus]

If I have time later, I'd like to type up my thoughts on this. I think I have a unique perspective working on an AI/AI adjacent team at one of the companies that've been mentioned in this thread while also dating someone working as an artist in Hollywood who's very concerned about what AI will do to their livelihood.

But I would like to say that @Freak I think that trying to get into web development/software engineering is still a perfectly valid career path and will be in the near term. Feel free (you or anyone) to PM me if you have any questions about the industry or how to get into the industry.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

It all depends on what data you train it on and the agency given to others, if it's ignored then that causes all the issues we're currently seeing. Some examples of this include being able to make generated images of others and scraping data from the web for models. "Move fast and break things" is not responsible when it comes to AI and I'd go farther and say it's unethical.

 

[oliverblackwood]

As I look at the threads, I'm noticing this topic constantly flies into our faces a bit more frequently. I figured I would take the initiative to create a thread for this as AI has been a topic I've been really keeping track of lately and I think it would generate some interesting discussions here. I created this topic in hopes to discuss what's currently going on in the development of AI and where we think it's going.

My personal opinion: It is going to be here to stay for better or for worse. As an aspiring web developer (I know, worst possible time to look for a job in that area right now LOL), there seems to be a massive scare that the software development industry is going to be completely replaced by AI. Although a lot of developers use AI as a handy tool to assist with their code, I do think we are many, many years away from that being a reality. In fact, I personally think AI is a bit overhyped.

I've seen several videos of people doing some research on this topic. I personally have come to the conclusion that while AI will be here to stay as a tool like ChatGBT, I don't think its advancement will be sustainable. AI is only as good as to what information you feed it and once there is so much content out there that is AI generated, the AI will start to "learn" from the content it put out, thus creating a snowball effect of degradation. Not to mention AI is also being trained using information that is proprietary, which I think is a big reason why an AI collapse is immenant. There are going to be (And already are!) many lawsuits fighting AI using their information. Adobe has been getting a ton of flack for claiming they have proprietary use of your work in their TOS. Also Scarlet Johansen is suing an AI voice software for using her voice despite her not giving them permission.

One guy points out below that Amazon got called out that their biometrics purchasing system at Amazon grocery stores was not AI computers utilizing it, but actually 1000 people in India running it. This was recent as April of this year! He also points out how AI has been stealing information from websites to train the AI.




I think that the development of AI will certainly bring both positive and negative consequences for society. On the one hand, AI can significantly improve production processes. However, on the other hand, there is a danger that this will lead to massive job losses. But for now, everyone is enjoying the capabilities of AI. For example, I recently used https://edubrain.ai/ai-answer-generator/ to generate answers. It also acts as a tutor in education, which is very cool. In short, I believe that AI will continue to develop, but it is important to find a balance and properly control its use.
So I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this matter. Again, I don't support advancing AI further as I just don't see how this would benefit humanity, but I don't think it's sustainable. Y'all remember the .com crash of the early 00's? It's starting to sound familiar. As Google and Apple are investing billions into AI and its sustainability being uncertain, not to mention that moral ramifications of it, I just don't see AI being the legs to keep moving forward the way it is. That's why despite the hype and fear-mongering, I'm still going to do my best to crack into the software development industry. I think things will turn around sooner or later. What do y'all think?

I think in the future humanity will have many more problems with AI.

 

[Lucky Planet]

talks of palantir compiling data on all citizens was kinda scary lol

 

[Jake S]

hard to believe a company named after the all-seeing orb used by sauron to spy on his enemies turned out to be the baddies

 

[TheUniC6]

Disney Imagineering Moves the AI Bar by Encouraging BDX Droids ‘to Emote,’ Telling Them ‘You Are Smart’

Disney Imagineering is using a branch of AI called reinforcement learning, which is an area of machine learning involving learned behavior.

variety.com

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Embrace debate

 

[Brian G.]

Embrace debate

There's a difference between starting a discussion and starting a debate. Your post suggests the objective is the argument itself. On a hot-button topic like AI, it comes across as more interested in provoking reactions than in a discussion.

 

[Jake S]

even for variety that was brutally hagiographic.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

There's a difference between starting a discussion and starting a debate. Your post suggests the objective is the argument itself. On a hot-button topic like AI, it comes across as more interested in provoking reactions than in a discussion.

I thought it was a natural extension to the rest of this thread but seeing as it’s a couple years old now I’ll put in a little more effort.

There’s this dichotomy in the discussion surrounding AI, with the prevailing thought being that using it will rob the world of creativity, labor, innovation, etc. A thread recently posted here disappeared because the user used ChatGPT to write it.

Then this article linked in the tweet details how Epic Universe, widely regarded as a triumph in creativity, job creation, and innovation as having leveraged AI in its development.

The point is that it’s not so black and white. AI is not without its flaws, and it’s a scary thing to grapple with. So was the Internet…I’m sure at one point, so was the printing press. With an adaptable mindset, it’s possible to come to terms with the benefits AI can present, it’s just a matter of learning how to use it vs. resisting it altogether.

 

[Jake S]

The point is that it’s not so black and white. AI is not without its flaws, and it’s a scary thing to grapple with. So was the Internet…I’m sure at one point, so was the printing press. With an adaptable mindset, it’s possible to come to terms with the benefits AI can present, it’s just a matter of learning how to use it vs. resisting it altogether.

notably absent from your post is the enormous amount of water and electricity used by AI data centers. it is an existential threat because it is placing a huge amount of pressure on an already existing existential threat.

it's also, notably, not at all like the internet nor the printing press. it is much more analogous to mechanization and automation, which also had devastating ecological impacts. and that's not even considering the impact it had on people's livelihoods, a reality we're still very much grappling with today.

if i believed that the leveraging of automation and AI, broadly defined, would lead to some type of liberation from work and create a society where we all got to share in the spoils of time spent, i'd be a lot more keen to think about how we best get the other issues worked out. but i do not believe that, so here we are.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

notably absent from your post is the enormous amount of water and electricity used by AI data centers. it is an existential threat because it is placing a huge amount of pressure on an already existing existential threat.

it's also, notably, not at all like the internet nor the printing press. it is much more analogous to mechanization and automation, which also had devastating ecological impacts. and that's not even considering the impact it had on people's livelihoods, a reality we're still very much grappling with today.

if i believed that the leveraging of automation and AI, broadly defined, would lead to some type of liberation from work and create a society where we all got to share in the spoils of time spent, i'd be a lot more keen to think about how we best get the other issues worked out. but i do not believe that, so here we are.

Totally valid.

So where is the line drawn? I totally get the environmental impact…and for that reason it’s reasonable to think it’d be frowned upon that I used Claude to write a data query for me or asked Copilot to summarize a meeting I missed while I was on a plane.

But by the president of Creative’s own admission, AI fueled the development of Epic Universe. Let’s say that’s what enabled Pizza Moon to come in on schedule…or maybe that’s what came up with the solution to allow the monsters animatronics to be constantly cycling every few seconds. Does AI get a pass because it yielded something we like?

That’s what I mean by the false dichotomy. I know these aren’t questions that are immediately answerable and that’s the whole point…it’s gray.

 

[Clive]

Totally valid.

So where is the line drawn? I totally get the environmental impact…and for that reason it’s reasonable to think it’d be frowned upon that I used Claude to write a data query for me or asked Copilot to summarize a meeting I missed while I was on a plane.

But by the president of Creative’s own admission, AI fueled the development of Epic Universe. Let’s say that’s what enabled Pizza Moon to come in on schedule…or maybe that’s what came up with the solution to allow the monsters animatronics to be constantly cycling every few seconds. Does AI get a pass because it yielded something we like?

That’s what I mean by the false dichotomy. I know these aren’t questions that are immediately answerable and that’s the whole point…it’s gray.

Where in that piece does it say that AI fueled the development of Epic Universe? They mention that they're trying to use it to get more out of the park app and to analyze business and maintenance trends. Considering how one of the chief, ongoing complaints concerning Epic Universe is its attraction and show set reliability, I'm not sure that's really an endorsement of AI.

But more to the point, we're abusing the term. Universal is, too. Every publicly traded company right now is basically required to say they're exploring or leveraging AI, even if it's not something they're pursuing aggressively. (And yes, every company is experimenting, but the lack of specifics is always telling.)

Generative AI built on stolen art and assets and designed to generate endless slop is not something I can ever get behind. Machine learning? That's another matter entirely, and it's been lumped in with the junk.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Totally valid.

So where is the line drawn? I totally get the environmental impact…and for that reason it’s reasonable to think it’d be frowned upon that I used Claude to write a data query for me or asked Copilot to summarize a meeting I missed while I was on a plane.

But by the president of Creative’s own admission, AI fueled the development of Epic Universe. Let’s say that’s what enabled Pizza Moon to come in on schedule…or maybe that’s what came up with the solution to allow the monsters animatronics to be constantly cycling every few seconds. Does AI get a pass because it yielded something we like?

That’s what I mean by the false dichotomy. I know these aren’t questions that are immediately answerable and that’s the whole point…it’s gray.

seems like everyone focuses and discusses the elements of ai in art and entertainment, ( I guess it is the more obvious and visual part of AI)
but I feel like most people don't know how much ai is in their lives. the other day my cousin was mentioning the problems with ai in movies, but then I asked her to show me her phone applications and she had like 15 apps that run with ai ( her PayPal, her bank, Google maps, Gemini, YouTube, etc)
I know one thing is not the same as the other, but there's so much AI that no one is talking about.
Google answers you with ai now. any customer service is ai now. fast food drive thru are ai now.
(it just makes me curious that ai is becoming a part of everything in your life but it's only the entertainment area that gets talked about)

Generative AI built on stolen art and assets and designed to generate endless slop is not something I can ever get behind. Machine learning? That's another matter entirely, and it's been lumped in with the junk.

I always hear this part about ai but I never see a specific example of who creates that gen ai art, what companies are doing this? is it Meta and Google And Twitter? Microsoft? do they use my images uploaded to Facebook on their ai? how do they get images to copy from?

 

[Legacy]

I always hear this part about ai but I never see a specific example of who creates that gen ai art, what companies are doing this? is it Meta and Google And Twitter? Microsoft? do they use my images uploaded to Facebook on their ai? how do they get images to copy from?

They “got” the images the same way all genAI engines got their data sets, scraping thousands of sources images (some they own and have legal permission to and some they don’t) and then having people getting paid pennies on the dollar attributing and/or validating descriptors for the images so they can identified via text prompt.

MOST genAI images scraped the totality of the internet to get their “knowledge.” So, if those companies are using those commonly used engines, then they have access to images they don’t own copyrights to.