The reality of how much damage AI mania is doing to our ability to run institutions effectively.
  • XLE@piefed.socialEnglish
    44 minutes

    On several occasions, we’ve been exposed to folks that have been sort of lukewarm on our main offerings, but they really, really wanted to use AI to perform a natural language query on their data. And we thought “Okay, if you really want to see it, maybe we can caveat this appropriately and show you what it might look like.”

    This was a terrible mistake. It backfired in the most predictable way imaginable – every lukewarm client that saw the chatbot in action, even with us telling them that it was not going to accomplish what they wanted, wanted to buy it immediately. Every other consideration, including millions of dollars that we could plausibly help them achieve by non-AI means, was swept aside. It was like a dark and terrible force seized control of their limbs, plunged their hands into their own chests, and presented their still-beating credit cards to us in grim supplication.

    The writing here (and everywhere) is phenomenal, and this section echoes something I’ve seen Cal Newport say before, something along the lines that somebody with no technical knowledge sees one neat trick and suddenly assumes AI will turn into a superintelligence deity.

    • MangoCats@feddit.itEnglish
      32 minutes

      What AI “decision making” does in our processes is: write the reports exactly like the procedure says they should be written, and fills them with whatever you want to hear - looking up convenient references to back up your opinions. You probably should double check the references yourself to be sure they actually exist (though I think AI is getting better at checking its own work for things like this lately) - but… yeah. Ask it once and it will give you “an opinion” that doesn’t take into account all of the factors that matter to you. So, as you explain all the factors, it also becomes obvious what you want to hear, so after several rounds the obliging AI eventually not only “sees things your way” but can pile on the BS as deep as you ask it to to back up those opinions. What would have taken days to research and write can be done in an hour or so.

  • Feyd@programming.devEnglish
    7 hours

    I can’t name any specific people because they include personal friends

    From the quote at the top. I keep seeing permutations of this and all I can say is these people are cowards

    • eestileib@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      5 hours

      I have an ex lover that I am still very fond of who is experiencing AI mania as part of their job.

      How would it help anyone for me to call them out by name publicly?

      • Feyd@programming.devEnglish
        4 hours

        The quote is from the founder of hashicorp and is fairly influential. Choosing to let his also influential friends ruin people’s lives instead of publicly speaking the truth makes him an asshole. Chances are you and your ex-lover are not influential so I don’t give a fuck what you do.

        • eestileib@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          4 hours

          You are 100% correct that I am a fucking nobody, which is a given since I’m posting on Lemmy.

        • eestileib@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          4 hours

          It’s not like it would be news to anybody who follows their professional accounts.

  • Andy@slrpnk.netEnglish
    8 hours

    I wish there were more concrete facts, but a good article nonetheless.

    • ripcord@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1 hour

      OK

      • More than 10 billion tons of concrete are manufactured annually
      • The 185 meter high and 2310 meter long Three Gorges Dam is made from concrete
      • Thomas Edison had 49 concrete-related patents
      • The Romans built the Pantheon using concrete
    • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      6 hours

      Woah woah woah. Writers are supposed to support their assertions now? But what about the vibes?!

      • MangoCats@feddit.itEnglish
        30 minutes

        Give it a vibe to document the support, it can do that - it can even do it in non-hallucinatory fashion, if you tell it to.

      • FauxLiving@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3 hours

        Exactly!

        Anyone who has spent any time on social media could tell you that this is more of a ‘feelings’ topic than a ‘facts’ topic.

        • XLE@piefed.socialEnglish
          40 minutes

          Yes, because AI boosters don’t themselves deal in facts. It’s a religiosity.

          If you want statistics about how AI only is losing companies money, or how the finances don’t add up, there are articles for that too.