Notes for "AI is a Bad Friend"

What are some real-world examples or case studies that illustrate your points?

There are hundreds and hundreds of potential examples. Here are few that capture the imagination:

• https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-retracts-ai-written-article-advising-tourists-to-visit-a-food-bank-on-an-empty-stomach-182701884.html?guccounter=1 reports an example where an AI (since retracted) was asked to identify places to go while in Ottawa, Canada. The AI initially identified a food bank as a place to go if you had an “empty stomach.”
• https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/texas-am-chatgpt-ai-professor-flunks-students-false-claims-1234736601/ reports an example where a professor used ChatGPT to try to identify student academic dishonesty. Unfortunately, ChatGPT inaccurately claimed it had written all of the student papers. The professor gave all the students an Incomplete grade, and was soundly mocked for not understanding how ChatGPT works.
• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/23/two-us-lawyers-fined-submitting-fake-court-citations-chatgpt reports an example (one among many in the legal domain) where two lawyers from a law firm submitting a court filing containing references to previous cases that didn’t exist. The lawyers and their firm were fined, and claimed they did not know that it was possible for an AI to hallucinate citations. “We made a good-faith mistake in failing to believe that a piece of technology could be making up cases out of whole cloth,” the law firm (Levidow, Levidow & Oberman) said.
• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/01/mushroom-pickers-urged-to-avoid-foraging-books-on-amazon-that-appear-to-be-written-by-ai reports on a potentially life-threatening situation, when a handbook targeted at amateur mushroom foragers contains information that lack sufficiently detail to differentiate between toixc and edible mushrooms “Prof Myron Smith, a fungi specialist at Carleton University in Canada, said the books were ‘totally irresponsible’ He said: ‘Some of the differences between edibles and non-edibles are very subtle and it really takes an experienced eye and knowledge to discriminate between them.’”
• https://www.fastcompany.com/91077664/nyc-ai-chatbot-business-advice-violate-laws reports on a chatbot created by New York City to provide guidance for small business owners gave out “bizarre advice” including incorrect answers related to food safety, waste management and disposal, and inappropriate advice for handling hiring and firing decisions.

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Minor Threat - Straight Edge

(45 seconds)

I’m a person just like you
But I’ve got better things to do
Than sit around and fuck my head
Hang out with the living dead
Snort white shit up my nose
Pass out at the shows
I don’t even think about speed
That’s something I just don’t need
I’ve gone straight edge
I’m a person just like you
But I’ve got better things to do
Than sit around and smoke dope
Because I know that I can cope
Laugh at the thought of eating ludes
Laugh at the thought of sniffing glue
Always gonna keep in touch
Never want to use a crutch
I’ve gone straight edge
I’ve gone straight edge
I’ve gone straight edge
I’ve gone straight edge

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[My own brush with Hardcore Punk and specifically Swiss Hardore punk is another story. Maybe someday.]

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