They are just as big a liars as the ghold old Fortune 500 were/are. They all lie and even at times when telling the truth would better serve then they still lie because its like breathing to them; they often don't even notice it.
What about an engine like https://www.uglabs.io/? If an AI is designed to interact with children, with strict guardrails in place to inhibit any and all harmful content, can AI companions be recommended?
I would, but ... That kind of thing would currently be worth billions in some other spaces, like securing AI agents from malitious hackers. And I'm only aware of the math which says it can't be done.
Thanks for writing this. But on the other hand, part of me thinks this is like saying “don’t let your toddler play with full grown crocodiles” or “don’t let your daughter go for a sleepover with a convicted, pedophile and rapist”. In technological terms, everything after Vincent motorcycles has been negative.
"We missed the window to act early because we were in awe of these products and their potential benefits."
No, we missed the window to act because we had already accepted modern internet pornography as a staple and rite of passage in the lives of boys who had never kissed a girl. Once we rolled over on that, all was lost. You still can’t see the problem clearly. Boys have a chivalrous streak at the very age they become interested in girls, sex and romance. Now they are blasted to the back of their skulls with videos of young women having orgasms. The chivalry becomes misogyny. Watching women get exploited and violated and appear to love it, while society cheers them on is a horror beyond comprehension to a 13 year old boy.
If we had simply age-gated pornography websites, 80% of the downstream harms like sextortion, bullying, incels, the manosphere, misogynist vitriol, non-consual “nudes” and the general terrorization of girls at the hands of porn-brained boys would have been dramatically mitigated. Yet, the progressive, atheist sex-positive feminist is simply too ideologically captured to see it. My college roommate was a full-blown gooner in 2004. This is not new. Showing boys internet pornography is psychological sexual abuse of the boy consuming it to which he cannot possibly consent.
Of course children must not be allowed to have romantic relationships but this has always been true regarding humans, starting way before AI was even conceived. This world has always been, is now and will always be unsafe but I very seldom hear warnings about such dangers as unsupervised play, vehicular accidents, drowning, electrocution, being in public while ill, to name just a few. Google is never to my knowledge mentioned as a portal to dangerous activity but many crimes and terror attacks have at least been researched, if not planned, using a search engine. Of course everything we have been gifted with, including AI, must be used with the utmost respect and care. I grew up totally blind and, despite severe and dangerous bullying from first through sixth grade, I am thankful I went to public school, which was not a given, since there were no laws then about public education for the disabled and my parents had to fight greatly to get clearance for me to go to public school. My parents told me that I would have to work faster, longer and harder than sighted people to just keep up and that this would be for life. I had some early school friendships but, due to what I now know were autism spectrum disorder symptoms, including inability to handle any conflict, those friendships had to be discontinued by our moms and, even if I had had time for friends, I no longer was interested. Though I was given blindness accommodations in life and in school, I was told to live as "normal", meaning sighted, as possible. I had a myriad of fears, concerns and problems which I therefore could not tell my parents or anyone else about, since this would be out of the "normal" realm. This led to much suicidal ideation for a long time. It sure would have been nice to have an AI agent around so I could at least ask questions about my general situation and get some coping ideas and strategies. Please do not throw the AI baby out with the bathwater. I now do use AI to research prematurity, including asking general questions and obtaining help in dealing with life and people. Look up Innosearch, Aira, Be My Eyes and Envision Ally to learn about my tools. My parents were bowled over when computers, then screen readers, came along and that I could use them, how over the moon they would be about all the doors opening to the blind and to people with other disabilities with smart phones and AI!
Hi, Tim - that's wonderful. What particular aspect of regulating AI are you aiming for? There are models related specifically to companions, most recently passed in CA and NY. Other states, like Utah, have recently passed policies related to health-related chatbots.
Chris: I'm assuming smarter people than me have a list of priorities to prevent the most damage to our kids, and to stop this private government tech bros just rolling out whatever they want and human consequences be damned.
I want some wisdom to go with all the information and a good editor.
Here in Washington state I ran a couple successful statewide initiatives that led to laws on the books. So I might ask our new Mayor and Sen Jamie Pedersen for their advice.
Aside from safety, AI toys simply disrupt the natural process of children's play (open-ended, giving the toys their own voice, using play to understand the world). What a stupid idea.
The blue light from the phone is what is the first addictive mechanism, as it spikes dopamine. Get outside first thing, and start building natural stores of dopamine with sunlight!
Reading this reminded me of how quickly we normalized giving kids every new tech without thinking twice. I’m old enough to remember when parents assumed social media was harmless because ‘everyone was using it.’ Kids need real people, not software performing the idea of a person. Once something rewires childhood, there’s no undo button. I wish we had taken this attitude with social media a decade ago.
When word of AI powered toys first entered public discourse I told the wife and my mother both that this would end up going badly and to avoid any/all AI powered toys for any of the kids. These General LM's we call AI are not AI's and by calling them AI's we mislead our selves, putting far too much trust in these things being accurate then we should. They are FAR of from being able to replace humans but the industry is closing that gap quickly.
AI + Robotics should and must always be viewed and treated as tools for humans and not their replacements.
But, Big Tech CEO’s assure us their platforms are safe🙄
They are just as big a liars as the ghold old Fortune 500 were/are. They all lie and even at times when telling the truth would better serve then they still lie because its like breathing to them; they often don't even notice it.
What about an engine like https://www.uglabs.io/? If an AI is designed to interact with children, with strict guardrails in place to inhibit any and all harmful content, can AI companions be recommended?
Can they show mathematical proof that their guardrails can inhibit any and all harmful content?
If not ...
Honestly can do some research on that. If they can, then you would agree it’s safe to use for something like an AI-powered doll?
I would, but ... That kind of thing would currently be worth billions in some other spaces, like securing AI agents from malitious hackers. And I'm only aware of the math which says it can't be done.
But do your research. :-)
Thanks for writing this. But on the other hand, part of me thinks this is like saying “don’t let your toddler play with full grown crocodiles” or “don’t let your daughter go for a sleepover with a convicted, pedophile and rapist”. In technological terms, everything after Vincent motorcycles has been negative.
Far more place unearned trust in these General LM's we call AI then there are people like you who can se their real threat potential.
"We missed the window to act early because we were in awe of these products and their potential benefits."
No, we missed the window to act because we had already accepted modern internet pornography as a staple and rite of passage in the lives of boys who had never kissed a girl. Once we rolled over on that, all was lost. You still can’t see the problem clearly. Boys have a chivalrous streak at the very age they become interested in girls, sex and romance. Now they are blasted to the back of their skulls with videos of young women having orgasms. The chivalry becomes misogyny. Watching women get exploited and violated and appear to love it, while society cheers them on is a horror beyond comprehension to a 13 year old boy.
If we had simply age-gated pornography websites, 80% of the downstream harms like sextortion, bullying, incels, the manosphere, misogynist vitriol, non-consual “nudes” and the general terrorization of girls at the hands of porn-brained boys would have been dramatically mitigated. Yet, the progressive, atheist sex-positive feminist is simply too ideologically captured to see it. My college roommate was a full-blown gooner in 2004. This is not new. Showing boys internet pornography is psychological sexual abuse of the boy consuming it to which he cannot possibly consent.
Free speech my ass.
It's the World Wild Web here...
Of course children must not be allowed to have romantic relationships but this has always been true regarding humans, starting way before AI was even conceived. This world has always been, is now and will always be unsafe but I very seldom hear warnings about such dangers as unsupervised play, vehicular accidents, drowning, electrocution, being in public while ill, to name just a few. Google is never to my knowledge mentioned as a portal to dangerous activity but many crimes and terror attacks have at least been researched, if not planned, using a search engine. Of course everything we have been gifted with, including AI, must be used with the utmost respect and care. I grew up totally blind and, despite severe and dangerous bullying from first through sixth grade, I am thankful I went to public school, which was not a given, since there were no laws then about public education for the disabled and my parents had to fight greatly to get clearance for me to go to public school. My parents told me that I would have to work faster, longer and harder than sighted people to just keep up and that this would be for life. I had some early school friendships but, due to what I now know were autism spectrum disorder symptoms, including inability to handle any conflict, those friendships had to be discontinued by our moms and, even if I had had time for friends, I no longer was interested. Though I was given blindness accommodations in life and in school, I was told to live as "normal", meaning sighted, as possible. I had a myriad of fears, concerns and problems which I therefore could not tell my parents or anyone else about, since this would be out of the "normal" realm. This led to much suicidal ideation for a long time. It sure would have been nice to have an AI agent around so I could at least ask questions about my general situation and get some coping ideas and strategies. Please do not throw the AI baby out with the bathwater. I now do use AI to research prematurity, including asking general questions and obtaining help in dealing with life and people. Look up Innosearch, Aira, Be My Eyes and Envision Ally to learn about my tools. My parents were bowled over when computers, then screen readers, came along and that I could use them, how over the moon they would be about all the doors opening to the blind and to people with other disabilities with smart phones and AI!
I'm ready to organize for an AI regulations here in Washington State. Any model language for the initiative?
Hi, Tim - that's wonderful. What particular aspect of regulating AI are you aiming for? There are models related specifically to companions, most recently passed in CA and NY. Other states, like Utah, have recently passed policies related to health-related chatbots.
Chris: I'm assuming smarter people than me have a list of priorities to prevent the most damage to our kids, and to stop this private government tech bros just rolling out whatever they want and human consequences be damned.
I want some wisdom to go with all the information and a good editor.
Here in Washington state I ran a couple successful statewide initiatives that led to laws on the books. So I might ask our new Mayor and Sen Jamie Pedersen for their advice.
Thanks from Seattle!
Tim
Aside from safety, AI toys simply disrupt the natural process of children's play (open-ended, giving the toys their own voice, using play to understand the world). What a stupid idea.
people are far too trusting when it comes to danger of many kinds. We would do well to become cynical of all 'upgrades'.
The blue light from the phone is what is the first addictive mechanism, as it spikes dopamine. Get outside first thing, and start building natural stores of dopamine with sunlight!
Reading this reminded me of how quickly we normalized giving kids every new tech without thinking twice. I’m old enough to remember when parents assumed social media was harmless because ‘everyone was using it.’ Kids need real people, not software performing the idea of a person. Once something rewires childhood, there’s no undo button. I wish we had taken this attitude with social media a decade ago.
When word of AI powered toys first entered public discourse I told the wife and my mother both that this would end up going badly and to avoid any/all AI powered toys for any of the kids. These General LM's we call AI are not AI's and by calling them AI's we mislead our selves, putting far too much trust in these things being accurate then we should. They are FAR of from being able to replace humans but the industry is closing that gap quickly.
AI + Robotics should and must always be viewed and treated as tools for humans and not their replacements.