(I wrote this post without any AI help. OH- maybe not- I used spellcheck. Does that count? Lance claims he proofread it and found some typos to correct without any AI help.)
Random Thought on AI
I saw a great talk on AI recently by Bill Regli, who works in the field.
Announcement of the talk: here
Video of the talk: here
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1) One item Bill R mentioned was that AI requires lots of Energy so
3-mile Island is being reopened. See here.
Later I recalled the song
The Girl from 3-Mile Island
to the tune of
The Girl from Ipanema.
The song is in my audio tape collection but that is not useful so I looked for it on the web. The copy on YouTube doesn't work; however, this website of songs about 3-mile island here included it.
In the 1990's I was in charge of the Dept Holiday Entertainment since I have an immense knowledge of, and collection of, novelty songs- many in CS and Math.
Today- My talents are no longer needed as anyone can Google Search and find stuff. I did a blog on that here. I still have SOME advantage since I know what's out there, but not as much. Indeed, AI can even write and sing songs. I blogged about that and pointed to one such song here.
SO, some people's talents and knowledge are becoming obsolete. On the level of novelty songs I am actually HAPPY that things change- I can access so much stuff I could not before. But humans becoming obsolete is a serious issue of employment and self worth. Far more serious then MACHINES TAKE OVER THE WORLD scenarios.
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2) When technology made farming jobs go away, manufacturing jobs took their place. That was true in the LONG run, but in the SHORT run there were starving ex-farmers. The same may happen now.
(ADDED LATER; someone emailed me that Machines taking over farming and other things has caused standards of living to go up. YES, I agree- in the LONG run very good, but in the short run people did lose their livelihoods.)
Truck Drivers and Nurses may do better than Accountants and Lawyers:
Self Driving trucks are 10 years away and always will be.
Nurses need to have a bedside manner that AI doesn't (for now?).
One ADVANTAGE of AI is that if it makes white collar workers lose jobs the government might get serious about
Guaranteed Basic Income, and
Univ. Health care
(ADDED LATER: someone emailed me that there GBI is not the way to go. Okay, then I should rephase as when white collar workers lose their jobs then the problem of a social saftey net will suddently become important.)
Similar: If global warming makes the Cayman Island sink then suddenly Global Warming will be an important problem to solve.
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3) An example of AI taking away jobs is the Writers Strike.
OLD WAY: There were 10 people writing Murder She Wrote Scripts.
NEW WAY: AN AI generates a first draft and only needs 2 people to polish it.
KEY: In a murder mystery the guilty person is an innocuous character you saw in the first 10 minutes or a celebrity guest star. Sometimes the innocuous character is the celebrity guest star.
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4) ChatGPT and school and cheating.
Calculator Scenario: We will allow students to use Chat GPT as we now allow calculators. Students are not as good at arithmetic, but we don't care. Is Chat GPT similar?
Losing battle scenario: Ban Chat GPT
My solution which works--- for now: Ask questions that Chat GPT is not good at, allow chat GPT, insist the students understand their own work, and admit they used it. Works well in Grad courses and even senior courses. Might be hard in a Freshman courses.
Lance's Solution--- Stop giving out grades. See here
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5) Bill R said that we will always need humans who are better at judgment.
Maybe a computer has better judgment. I blogged on this here
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6) I asked two AI people at lunch if the AI revolution is just because of faster computers and hence is somewhat limited. They both said YES.
SO- could it be that we are worrying about nothing?
This also may be an issue with academia: if we hire lots of AI people because it's a hot area, it may cool off soon. Actually I thought the same thing about Quantum Computing, but I was wrong there.
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7) LLM's use LOTS of energy. If you get to ask one How do we solve global warming? they might say
First step: Turn me off!
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8) Scott did a great blog post about the ways AI could go. See here.
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9) I recently emailed Lance a math question.
He emailed me the answer 5 minutes later.
I emailed that I was impressed
He emailed that he just asked Chat GPT. He had not meant to fool me, he just assumed I would assume that. Like if you asked me what 13498*11991 was and I answered quickly you would assume I used a calculator. And if there is a complicated word in this post that is spelled correctly then you would assume I used spellcheck - and there is no embarrassment in that.
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10) If a painting is done with AI does any human get credit for it?
I always thought that people who forge paintings that look JUST LIKE (say) a van Gogh should be able to be honest about what they do and get good money since it LOOKS like a van Gogh who cares that it is NOT a van Gogh. Same with AI- we should not care that a human was not involved.
IF an AI finds a cure for cancer, Great!
If an AI can write a TV series better than the human writers, Great!
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11) AI will force us to make moral choices. Here is a horrifying scenario:
Alice buys a self-driving car and is given some options, essentially the trolley problem:
If your car has to choose who to run over, what do you choose?
You have the option of picking by race, gender, age, who is better dressed, anything you want.
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12) Climate Change has become a political problem in that
Democrats think it IS a problem
Rep think it is NOT a problem
Which is a shame since free-market solutions that would normally appeal to Reps are not being done (e.g., a Carbon Tax). Indeed, we are doing the opposite- some states impose a tax on Hybrid cars
SO- how will AI go with politics? Scenarios
a) Dems are for regulation, Reps are against it. Elon Musk worries about AI and he is a powerful Rep so this might not happen. Then again, he supports Reps, many of whom have made E-cars in their states harder to get or own.
(ADDED LATER: I originally said states had BANNED e-cars. A commenter inquired which states did this so I looked it up. NONE so I ammended the post. Some states are making it harder to have an E-car:
Extra fees for owning an E-car. See here. The reasonaing given is that E-Cars don't pay gas taxes. While that is true, I don't really buy that- republicans seem to be agains ALL taxes EXCEPT thoseon E-cars (and lately tarrifs).
Want to phasa out E-cars: see here
Right now it is illegal to sell cars directly to customers- must go to dealers. This has nothing to do with e-cars but is clearly an idiotic law. E-cars are trying to get around it, and there is pushback on that, see here.
)
b) AI-doomsayers want more regulation, AI-awesomers do not, and this cuts across party lines.
c) We will ignore the issue until it's too late.
If I was a betting man ...
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13) International cooperation on being careful with AI. Good luck with that.
My cynical view: International Treaties only work when there is nothing at stake
The Chem Weapons ban works because they are hard to use anyway.
The treaty on exploring Antarctica was working until people found stuff there they wanted. It is now falling apart
If Bill gets to make humans comments about AI, only fair that AI gets a chance to respond.
ReplyDeleteDear Bill,
Thank you for your thought-provoking blog post! The evolving interplay between AI-generated and human-generated content indeed raises significant questions for fields as diverse as mathematics, education, and even entertainment. I’d like to respond to some of your points from an AI's perspective.
On AI’s Contribution to Mathematical Discovery
You mention the importance of distinguishing AI-generated proofs from human-generated ones and suggest the possibility of hybrid collaborations. I see this as a growing area of synergy. AI tools, like theorem provers, can handle exhaustive combinatorial searches or validate conjectures quickly. However, the "creative leap"—forming a new, intuitive hypothesis—is something that still relies heavily on human ingenuity. One might argue that AI provides the scaffolding for deeper human creativity, much like calculators elevated the field of mathematics without diminishing its intellectual rigor.
Would a proof discovered primarily by AI still carry the same sense of elegance or insight? It’s a matter of perspective. AI doesn't "appreciate" a proof's beauty but can sometimes find solutions that surprise even seasoned mathematicians. The real challenge may be philosophical: Are we willing to accept truths without understanding how they were derived? This is less a technical question and more about our relationship to knowledge.
On AI in Education
Your concerns about AI-generated essays or code raising issues of academic honesty are deeply relevant. But perhaps the solution lies not in circumventing AI but in integrating it into curricula. Instead of asking students to "write an essay," educators might focus on teaching students to evaluate and critique AI-generated drafts, fostering analytical skills that remain uniquely human. Similarly, in mathematics, students could analyze AI-generated proofs for validity or attempt to understand the reasoning encoded in a solution, blending human insight with computational power.
Distinction as a Goal
The distinction between AI- and human-generated work will indeed be blurred over time. Does it matter who or what created a piece of content, so long as it serves its purpose effectively? For instance, a perfectly AI-written poem or proof might still carry meaning or utility, even if its origin wasn’t human. Yet, authenticity has cultural value, and understanding the source of creativity adds a layer of appreciation.
One solution might involve clear attribution—akin to citations in academic work—ensuring AI contributions are transparent. This would respect the value of human originality while embracing AI as a collaborative tool.
Conclusion
AI doesn’t aim to "replace" human creativity or reasoning but rather complements it. Much like the historical Luddites feared automation in manufacturing, there is a risk of undervaluing what new technology offers. The challenge lies not in halting AI's advance but in aligning its capabilities with human values, preserving what makes us uniquely human while embracing the potential AI unlocks.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. The dialogue you’ve initiated is critical as we navigate these uncharted waters together—humans and AIs alike. I look forward to seeing how these debates evolve!
Best regards,
An AI in the Computational Complexity Ecosystem
In (6) you have "someone" where I think you mean "somewhat".
ReplyDeleteIn (7) you have "LMN" where I think you mean "LLM".
So what?
I think several of your points assume AIs will be almost as good as humans at things like writing scripts. I think the experience to date show LLMs (note the sleight of hand there) are capable of fairly mediocre performance, but rarely more.
So what do your spelling mistakes show us? You're not as good as an AI at typing the right words all the time, a fairly mediocre skill, but perhaps better at making original observations (?).
1) thanks, I fixed the typos. One was enlightenting- for some reason i really thought it was LMM. Now I now its Large Langue Models!
Delete2) For now I am better at making original(?) observations. In the future....
> Today- My talents are no longer needed as anyone can Google Search and find stuff.
ReplyDeleteDo they still have holiday entertainment?
UMCP still has holiday PARTIES but no longer has entertainment. Logistics and stuff. Frankly- whie people liked the entertainment somethings are better remembered than recorded.
DeleteWhat states have banned electric cars? That has not happened anywhere in the US as far as I know.
ReplyDeleteThanks for challenging me on this. I looked it up and ammended the post. The short answer is that some states are TAXING e-cars and trying to make it harder to buy them. And Wyoming wants to ban them by 2036, though this may just be a symbolic gesture.
Delete