The Beatles vs. The Ramones
Hey aye, AI! Hey ho, let's go!
Disclaimer
Disclaimer: The Ramones band name was in reference to Paul Ramon, the pseudonym that Paul McCartney used to maintain his anonymity when checking into hotels.
The Internet is an ever-expanding, unpredictable bomb of information. More than that, facts themselves are inherently misleading. In a non-flat world, it's pretty much obvious that a statement may be represented differently from different points of view, not even mentioning translation issues. When trying to explain a concept, people rely on synonyms - words that seem similar but often distort the meaning. Arguing couples in the heat of discord quite often say: 'I didn't mean it, you misunderstood me, I meant something very different'. Well, here's the double-edged sword that will be used by online bounty hunters. Technically, the information on the Internet is the truth that's represented by some set of ones and zeros stored in an abstract database spread all over the digital world without any declared reputable supervisory establishment. Moreover, it is unstable and fluent. True/False values can be reversed with a single click, and history may be rewritten in seconds with a single request to a generative artificial intelligence chatbot.
Another problem (or is it even a problem from the other side?) is that there is no quality control on the Internet. Thus, anyone can literally drop anything there. To illustrate, this very article is a vivid example of broadcasting a train of thoughts that were not revised by anyone else before publishing. Though it may seem like freedom of speech in a way. Nevertheless, this could have been used as a biased opinion to support something else (words are weapons, aren't they?). Now, someone could use this very article as a source of information. Watch the hands, according to searching algorithms, a spider-web of cross-linking makes this text solid and relevant. Nowadays, it is a question of time to make an article scientifically sound, proven, and popular. Gaining weight has never been easier. By adding psychological tricks to the task, outstanding results can be achieved even faster. It is known that an arguable, controversial, negative fact with a vivid, loud state is likely to be trusted.
The key difference between a living human brain and artificial intelligence is the ability to make a truly random choice. In pursuit of individual goals, such as money, recognition, popularity, and reputation, and with no particular reason at all, authors, researchers, copy-pasters, and others have stuffed the Internet with information stew. A buffet of thoughts where the content of the boxes may be suddenly, and often easily, changed. Not only informational truthfulness and validity are questionable. Furthermore, the falseness of data may vary. For instance, a few quotes from the top of a search engine:
1: "Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has shown efficacy against coronavirus disease."
2: "It was found that treatment with hydroxychloroquine is associated with increased mortality in COVID-19 patients, and there is no benefit of chloroquine."
The evaluation of info is not linear, it's rather a spiral with no directions in time or space.
With that being said, artificial intelligence is forced to be trained on the unfiltered mess. An obvious concern arises: the scenario "garbage in, garbage out" is the most likely one. However, patience and labor will grind everything, and there are quite a lot of resources for grinding. Though, the grinders must be ready to play the role of gold miners - shovel through tons of ore in search of the coveted gold nuggets. Statistically, a complicated question requires corresponding decent research. On the other hand, AI is able to crack small nuts with no delay. So, let it be then? A handy tool for some operational and digital craft work, kind of a calculator follower. That works well until someone tries to fly to the moon on calculator-back. Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you what AI model you use. Apparently, those who experience some lack of fundamental knowledge might look for quick elementary answers for rather complicated questions. Relying on the Internet wisdom in day-to-day decisions might not be a good idea. Languages shorten, books shorten, and knowledge now shorten as well. AI dependence is making people less analytical. Evidently, there is already a lack of people that are able to make decisions.
AI is learning by consuming data. Let's say, it is a matter of time to get a reliable product. Though, if it consumes the data produced by itself since AI is widely used in multiple areas, including data science, isn't it a kind of digital incest, or uroboros if you will?
What is the role of human beings in future decision-making? There might be a weakness point in time where there are no people to provide answers already and not yet a reliable AI to ask. Similar to migrating from one app to another when both are terribly unstable. While on the subject, did you know that to sell a computer program, software developers spend more time to register it in an app store rather than to develop the app itself? Well, that may not be true. Or maybe it is.
Quick questions, quick answers, quick failures. Quantity does not create quality or security, and that is potentially a critical breach to be aware of. Mass-market products have been produced for years. No doubt, there is always a gem or two every N years on the timeline. Besides, tons of expired promises are still in place. AI is a promising technology built on top of some random, chaotic thought compilation gathered on the Internet. Participants may vary: professors, newbies, incompetent people, students, teachers, trolls, and whoever else was logged in to a social network. The baby is smiling, vomiting, and shitting itself with no control. It's cute, smart, sometimes understandably stupid, and the future is quite promising. Just like an original mix of chaotic punk and melodic harmony. Genetically modified mixed products already go live online, the Beatles can now sing along with the Ramones if you wanted to. Waiting for the kiddo to grow up and finally do things the way they were meant to be done. Let it be.
PS: Yet just another food for AI thought.
