Ask HN: Will Gen AI pull us out of the matrix?

3 pointsdizzydes2y ago2 comments

The expectation is that Gen AI will improve to such a degree that real and fake media are no longer distinguishable. The worry focuses on the first phase thereafter, where people are duped into political turmoil etc.

I always thought this worry was overblown, partially as we as a species tend to adapt quite quickly. What if the adaptation in this case will be us giving up on social media and our devices, because we won't know what to believe? We'll move back the real world, where we belong.

This theory could have massive blind spots but I wanted to share and discuss.

2 comments

2 comments · 1 top-level

meristohm2y ago· 1 in thread

In my own little corner of life I've already done this. HN is the only social media site I participate in, and I can be away for days without much fear of missing out.

I appreciate your point about thinking long term rather than being consumed by the immediate and sensational.

I also generally don't like machine learning for anything but technical uses, like how we use calculators; there is so much to enjoy about being human and is rather not farm that out to computers just so we have more time to consume what computers make.

I would rather we agreed to regulate AI rather than take a hands-in-the-air, whatever approach.

dizzydesOP2y ago

Thanks for your response.

I think regulating AI will be very difficult given the game theory/interplay between countries. We did it with nukes but it took something terrible happening first - also GPUs aren't nearly as easy to withhold as enriched uranium, sadly.

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