
What worries me about AI - runesoerensen
https://medium.com/@francois.chollet/what-worries-me-about-ai-ed9df072b704
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pmoriarty
The article's conclusion:

 _Not only does social media know enough about us to build powerful
psychological models of both individuals and groups, it is also increasingly
in control of our information diet. It has access to a set of extremely
effective psychological exploits to manipulate what we believe, how we feel,
and what we do._

 _A sufficiently advanced AI algorithm with access to both perception of our
mental state, and action over our mental state, in a continuous loop, can be
used to effectively hijack our beliefs and behavior._

 _Using AI as our interface to information isn’t the problem per se. Such AI
interfaces, if well-designed, have the potential to be tremendously beneficial
and empowering for all of us. The key factor: the user should stay fully in
control of the algorithm’s objectives, using it as a tool to pursue their own
goals (in the same way that you would use a search engine)._

 _As technologists, we have a responsibility to push back against products
that take away control, and dedicate our efforts to building information
interfaces that place the user in charge. Don’t use AI as a tool to manipulate
your users; instead, give AI to your users as a tool to gain greater agency
over their circumstances._

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netinstructions
That'd be interesting if I could tell Facebook (or whatever social media) I
want to be closer to my family (so it surfaces family posts) or local
community (so it surfaces geographically close posts) or that I want to lose
weight (so it surfaces motivational/dieting posts) or I am training for a
marathon (so it surfaces running/training posts) or I went through a bad
breakup recently (so it surfaces pictures of puppies and my single friends
living fun bachelor lifestyles), or that I want to learn programming (so it
surfaces programming things). Or like a button for "Only show me positive,
happy stuff".

I mean, I guess you can achieve all of that with a carefully curated Newsfeed
/ friends list, but it's different than having the dials for what you want to
feel/accomplish (how you want to be psychologically manipulated) and the AI
could periodically check in ("Am I making you happier?" or "Do you feel
inspired to run more often?") and adjust how the content is being surfaced.

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zxcb1
I think most people would enjoy that. The problem to solve first though:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal–agent_problem](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal–agent_problem)

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Nomentatus
Isn't he proposing cutting out some of the agent's curating and priorities and
substituting his own, actual interests? Sounds like a start.

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zxcb1
That’s the thing though, right? How do you optimize for two contradictory
objectives? The “simple” answer is that you align incentives and avoid the
problem by redefining it.

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Nomentatus
You mean distinct objectives, and the answer is with weights (sliders, usually
on the UI.) Align what with what? And how is taking these choices out of the
hands of the principle and handing it to the agent avoiding principle-agent?!?
But in any case how does this relate to your previous comment?

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minimaxir
This blog post appears to be the followup to a very good tweetstorm:
[https://twitter.com/fchollet/status/976563870322999296](https://twitter.com/fchollet/status/976563870322999296)

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MR4D
Honestly, I’m not afraid of AI.

Instead, I’m terrified of that step before - which does not yet have a name -
in which sophisticated bots generate a news bubble (whether real or fake may
not even matter that much) that leads us to destroy ourselves.

Think about it - the riots shortly after the election, the cries of fake news
(on both sides of he political spectrum), the growing gap between the left and
right, etc.

That’s enough to get us off the rails in the US. Now imagine what that would
do in a country with a much more fragile democracy, or a split religious
population.

Truly, that is more frightening. If you’ve ever seen what one person can do to
another under strained circumstances, you know what I mean.

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herogreen
Medium's "Pardon the interruption" pop up is starting to pissing me off. This
is the last article I will read on Medium until I've heard they removed it.

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jacquesm
They've removed it.

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herogreen
Thanks for letting me know !

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herogreen
Actually they did not. They must have a timer in a cookie.

