The AI Thread | Ringfencing the discussion

[MartyG]

Yeah, you'd think AI being used to read what's taking so much power on your PC or dominating the read/write processes would be really handy for users, but it'll totally be used to see what you're writing, to ensure you're using own-branded discs and the data is only stuff that's approved.

I think the chances something like this would be implemented is reasonably remote, as all manufacturers would have to do the same - it would essentially tank any vendor's public sales if done in isolation - as people wouldn't buy them once they found out.

The real danger is that it could be lobbied into law and made mandatory on storage, and if these chips are on there, then it's easy to update firmware, including it in OS patches.

I don't think it'll happen, but this technology in drives could allow it to.

[QualityChimp]

If they can do it and get away with it, they will.
They'll test the water until it becomes commonplace.

Remember the furore over horse armour DLC? Look where we are now.

[MartyG]

I honestly don't know why people buy HP printers, or printers in general, at least inkjet printers. HP is trying to move people into a subscription service - the pleb tier lets you print - get 10 pages per month for only £1.49 !1!11!!one1

https://instantink.hpconnected.com/uk/en/l/v2?jumpid=va_65bsqvipye

If you do minimal printing at sparse intervals, buy a cheap B&W or colour laser printer - the toner is a powder and it never really goes off - chances are a single cartridge will last you the entire life of the printer. If you need photo prints, you're better off getting Photobox (or similar) to do them as cost per print will be cheaper.

HP can GTF.

[wakka]

They buy them cos they are cheap up front and the restrictions and additional costs are well disguised.

Inkjets are misleadingly sold imo and it shouldn't be allowed. I don't blame the consumer but the manufacturer and the gov for allowing them to do it.

[Dogg Thang]

There is a great short story by Cory Doctorow about a person who jailbreaks a toaster so it will toast bread that isn't approved by the manufacturer. Word gets around the apartment building and everyone gets their appliances jailbroken so they can do things like store vegetables in their fridge that don't come directly from the fridge manufacturer and so on. It escalates after a cease and desist is ignored and eventually the whole building is under siege. And it just rang true. It felt all too real.

[QualityChimp]

That's the point I'm making - HP shouldn'tbe allowed to do it, but they can and do.
This is the same with AI. Business will implement it to their benefit and it doesn't seem like any governments or regulators are in place, so it's already too late.

[QualityChimp]

Europe's largest fintech firm froze recruitment because its AI assistant is so good —
Klarna's AI bot does the work of 700 people and no, it's not connected to the layoff of 700 employees in 2022

"Swedish fintech Klarna announced proudly that its OpenAI-powered Klarna AI assistant had handled two-thirds of customer service chats in its first month. You’ll need some context for that – Klarna says that is 2.3 million conversations.

It also says that the AI is now doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents and is “on par with human agents in regard to customer satisfaction score”. Klarna also adds that “it is more accurate in errand resolution, leading to a 25% drop in repeat inquiries”, although the decline could be partially attributed to people not wanting to engage with an AI chatbot.

Speed is a positive factor too. Klarna says customers “resolve their errands in less than 2 mins compared to 11 mins previously" and then there’s the bottom line. The switch to AI has reportedly driven a $40 million profit improvement to Klarna in 2024.

“This AI breakthrough in customer interaction means superior experiences for our customers at better prices, more interesting challenges for our employees, and better returns for our investors,” said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna. “We are incredibly excited about this launch, but it also underscores the profound impact on society that AI will have. We want to reemphasize and encourage society and politicians to consider this carefully and believe a considerate, informed and steady stewardship will be critical to navigate through this transformation of our societies."

That the “AI is now doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents” will raise some eyebrows, especially given that the company laid off approximately the same number of employees in 2022 due to inflation and economic uncertainty.

Despite the similarities in numbers, Klarna says there is no relation between the two. When Fast Company asked the company about it, it was told: “This is in no way connected to the workforce reductions in May 2022, and making that conclusion would be incorrect. We chose to share the figure of 700 to indicate the more long-term consequences of AI technology, where we believe it is important to be transparent in order to create an understanding in society. We think [it’s] important to proactively address these issues and encourage a thoughtful discussion around how society can meet and navigate this transformation.”"

[MartyG]

What I'm talking about is subtly different though, I'm not talking about a business controlling the use of its own products and the whole waterfall of that as bad as that is.

I'm talking about legislation limiting what is allowed to be written to your hard drive - i.e., a downloaded movie matching a filehash, or a Nintendo ROM matching the magic byte signature etc, and the hard drive not allowing you to write it to the disk. SanDisk or Western Digital don't give a feck about what you store on their drives, but the technology itself can be hijacked, manipulated, and subverted by other industries, corporations, and governments into a purpose that it was never intended to be used for - and it's much harder to change/bypass something that's embedded at a hardware level, signed into legislation.

There is no bad "AI", only bad actors.

----

With regards to Klarna, have you ever had to deal with their customer support? All they already do is copy and paste from a screen, it's not shocking an LLM can do that, and honestly, it's probably easier to deal with. That's not a dig at the support staff, that's the attitude of the company from the top down who just accept staff churn is the price to pay for low wages and poor conditions and thus bad customer support.

[wakka]

Europe's largest fintech firm froze recruitment because its AI assistant is so good —
Klarna's AI bot does the work of 700 people and no, it's not connected to the layoff of 700 employees in 2022

I read a great feature about the rise of AI customer service the other day in The Economist.

I recommend it, it's a really good read:

https://archive.is/VcZ1I

[Deuteros]

There is a great short story by Cory Doctorow about a person who jailbreaks a toaster so it will toast bread that isn't approved by the manufacturer. Word gets around the apartment building and everyone gets their appliances jailbroken so they can do things like store vegetables in their fridge that don't come directly from the fridge manufacturer and so on. It escalates after a cease and desist is ignored and eventually the whole building is under siege. And it just rang true. It felt all too real.

There's a bundle with many of his novels and short stories (including this one) currently available:

Cory Doctorow Novel Collection

[Dogg Thang]

There's a bundle with many of his novels and short stories (including this one) currently available:

Cory Doctorow Novel Collection

Oh that's great! Thanks! I love his stories.

[fishbowlhead]

Well it seems i spoke too soon on the "AI cant get me" front as i really didn't account for the US slapping AI into an f16 and pushing it up the runway into full dogfighting trials, because why wouldn't they?

[Lebowski]

Ai being used for something interesting for a change generating songs that sound like they were made in the 50s Profanity warning

https://youtu.be/qA_wBSqe-lg?si=PzwYJkNi__0rnrW2

https://youtu.be/ZS6-KCOdRD4?si=jmFv6h_9LvQByXxM

why do i find this so funny