AI Megathread

Pavel

IMHO we need structural change.

Agreed. It’s fundamentally not even really an “AI” problem at its core, but a sort of “humans relying on authorities instead of thinking” problem.

Faraday

@Yam That isn’t exactly what I said. It’s a complex issue requiring multiple lines of defense, better education, and structural change. But I am saying that even 99% accuracy is too low.

For example, say you have a self-driving car. Are you OK if it gets into an accident 1 out of every 100 times you drive it?

Say you have a facial recognition program that law enforcement leans heavily on. Are you OK if it mis-identifies 1 out of every 100 suspects?

I’m not.

1% failure doesn’t sound like much until you multiply it across millions of cases.

Trashcan

@Yam
I think that some amount of mistakes in any system are acceptable. Nothing is flawless. To me the barrier that a system needs to clear is “better than any alternative”.

In AI detectors, we’ve already seen that most of the time, people unassisted get it right only 50-60% of the time. Certain detectors are performing at level where less than 1% of results are false positive. That seems better.

@Faraday said in AI Megathread:

say you have a self-driving car. Are you OK if it gets into an accident 1 out of every 100 times you drive it?

There were about 6 million auto accidents in 2022. If the self-driving car (extrapolated to the whole population) would have caused 5 million accidents, it would be better.

@Faraday said in AI Megathread:

Say you have a facial recognition program that law enforcement leans heavily on. Are you OK if it mis-identifies 1 out of every 100 suspects?

If this facial recognition program does a better job than humans, yes I am okay with it. Humans are notoriously poor eye witnesses.

Eyewitness misidentification has been a leading cause of wrongful convictions across the United States. It has played a role in 70% of the more than 375 wrongful convictions overturned by DNA evidence. In Indiana, 36% of wrongful convictions have involved mistaken eyewitness identification.

@Pavel said in AI Megathread:

but a sort of “humans relying on authorities instead of thinking” problem

There are cases when humans should rely on authorities instead of thinking. No one is advocating for completely disconnecting your brain while making any judgment, but authoritative sources can and should play a key role in decision-making.

Yam

@Trashcan said in AI Megathread:

There were about 6 million auto accidents in 2022. If the self-driving car (extrapolated to the whole population) would have caused 5 million accidents, it would be better.

Lol man, I have to agree. I realize that we’re generally anti-generative AI in art/writing here but I’ll be honest, if the computer drives the car better than my anxious ass, I’ll ride along.

Jumpscare

@Trashcan said in AI Megathread:

There were about 6 million auto accidents in 2022. If the self-driving car (extrapolated to the whole population) would have caused 5 million accidents, it would be better.

Making cities walkable would be far better than throwing more money into the abyss that cities become when they’re overrun by self-driving cars.

Faraday

@Yam said in AI Megathread:

if the computer drives the car better than my anxious ass, I’ll ride along.

That’s a big “if” though, and is the crux of my argument.

@Trashcan said in AI Megathread:

If this facial recognition program does a better job than humans, yes I am okay with it. Humans are notoriously poor eye witnesses.

The difference is that many people know that humans are notoriously poor eye witnesses. Many people trust machines more than they trust other humans, even when said machines are actually worse than the humans they’re replacing. That’s the psychological effect I’m referring to.

NotSanni

@Jumpscare said in AI Megathread:

@Trashcan said in AI Megathread:

There were about 6 million auto accidents in 2022. If the self-driving car (extrapolated to the whole population) would have caused 5 million accidents, it would be better.

Making cities walkable would be far better than throwing more money into the abyss that cities become when they’re overrun by self-driving cars.

Unfortunately, tech bros would rather reinvent bandaid solutions over and over again instead of actually working to improving the future.

Yam

@Jumpscare Walkable cities is a whole 'nother can of worms.