AI? I'm Not Impressed

Matt Taibbi has recently written a couple of articles about AI which made me pay attention. The first started with talking about how Google's AI tool, Gemini, made images which were wrong, but racially diverse! Like everyone, Taibbi thought something like, 'Yea this is bad, but it won't affect me...' Until it did. Right away. He stopped examining the issues with Gemini's images and asked Gemini a question about himself. And it gave him a list of a few things he supposedly did which he actually never did. It mixed up true statements and writings with things it had, apparently, made up. It credited him with articles he never wrote; articles which no-one ever wrote because they didn't exist. And that is both maddening and scary for everyone.

This make me laugh in a rueful way: from https://chappatte.com/en/images/ai-and-future-work

Taibbi's second article, about AI and the website Naked Capitalism hit me even harder. I realized that I had recently experienced some of the same AI mistakes, although I hadn't understood at the time that those mistakes were the result of AI.

A Couple of Thoughts about 9/11

Enhydra Lutris' Post on Monday, 9/11, covered so much of history that happened on that day through the ages. I found the post very informative and learned a lot. It was great! And really showed how our own 9/11 isn't that important in the long run of history, even if it's important, in varying ways, to many of us who see it as a horrid attack, the loss of more of our freedom, a government manipulated spectacle and excuse, and more.

Yep - From: https://xenianwallpaper.blogspot.com/2020/12/9-11-political-cartoon-he-identified.html

The Disinformation War

One of the current events-heists-rigamarole-stunts-etc being pulled on Americans is the war on disinformation (or information) - whatever disinformation (or information) is. I say that, because disinformation seems to vary in meaning depending upon whatever political entity is speaking. I've certainly learned a lot about how to detect and disregard disinformation (of all sorts and kinds) from the people here at Caucus 99% who bring such disinformation to our attention and discuss it, for which I'm very grateful.