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Call for questions: BRAIN HACKING & AI ETHICS. (Patreon)

Published:
2023-05-31 03:03:22
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Yep. Timely. Tomorrow I get to interview neurotechnology & ethics expert Nita A. Farahany about AI, the implications of emerging neuroscience and genomics, and the use of science and technology in criminal law. 

How much of technology is helpful to society, and what is sketchy as fuck? I'll ask these questions, plus whatever you want to leave below. 

This one should be spicy. 

Bring it on,

Ol' Ward

Comments

Christopher Blubaugh

Oh wow! 1st one! 😉🤣 Do you foresee AI as having to be explained in the same way that forensics are to avoid having the “SCI effect” to future juries?

Mowana Lomaomvaya

How do we get into artist copyright, ownership, or IP regarding artwork made by AI?

Nathan Faulkner

Is AI going to be integrated into the way that we search for things on the internet? Will our thoughts about the world and universe be translated to give us instant results? Basically, can we "google search" stoner thoughts in real time?

Stephanie Broertjes

OOOH! I just finished my MS in Analytics and did some research into the ethics/future of AI in the workplace near the end of my program. There's so many legal questions when it comes to AI usage commercially, so how does society fill the gap until the laws catch up?

Annalise De Young

Are you familiar with any of the sentient computers of star trek or other sci Fi? Which one is the most like what we have now? Or the most likely to develop from our current trajectory?

Jessica Duran

Do you think that one day AI really could completely take over certain jobs? And if so what are the pros and cons of using AI for some jobs compared to others?

Maddie Townsend

First time question asker! There is a lot of fear mongering around apocalyptic AI, and while I think there are PLENTY of ethics and programming issues to address, I often feel like they are blown out of proportion. Can we talk about this?

Kris

How do the people behind AI algorithms feel responsible for political disinformation & how do they plan to help the problem?

Kris

I mean do they feel responsible *

Meg C

How can we leverage AI into reducing inequality and protecting the vulnerable?

Katie Bauer

I’m a middle school teacher, and I just started having students use AI tools to write essays for them. Help! Talk me down! How do we embrace new tech but also teach students how to navigate this new landscape with solid ethics and an understanding of the need to develop skills that *don’t* revolve around AI technology?

Chris Brewer

Do you feel the validity of AI being used in investigations will be regularly challenged by defense attorneys?

Josie Chase

I’m a uni student and my uni has started screening AI language through ‘turnitin’ , how does that work ?

RJ Doidge

Should I rightly be freaked out/skeeved/get the ick from AI? I can’t bring myself to try it out because it feels light SmarterChild but…anthropomorphized?

Autumn Mitchell

I’m curious as to how they feel about AI generated art? Do you foresee AI taking part in writing movies or shows in the future? Or even having a huge part in graphic design?

Deacon Raid

I would like to know more about Sidney. Also can you dive into Replika? It’s like an AI companion for lonely people and a recent update made it get real horny or something?

Dae

After having read a brief synopsis of some of the stuff I’ve read on looking up the expert’s name, how worried should I be about neural activity tracking? This sounds terrifying!

Savannah Glenn

How is AI going to affect the economy? I think everyone is concerned about machines taking jobs, but this was also a fear during the age of inventions like the television, and society was able to work around it. What will that look like with AI?

Adam Silk

What are they excited for?

Kayla Pilcher

Realistically how close are we to seeing AI integrated into more serious applications like law or medicine? Is it a far off in the future thing or is just as scary super villain powerful as some media reports it as? Should I be dusting off my bat signal or just enjoying the ride?

Michael Swords

What's the estimated timeline on AI making a better burger than me? I know that some major corporations are implementing and partnering with AI software providers to replace humans at low-wage jobs, but that doesn't necessarily mean the orders are accurate from other things I've seen. On a very serious note - how can we humans tell what's real and what's fake in an informatio hellscape that seems determined to throw us off the trail of reality? Is there a good place I can go and scan photos for signs of being deep fakes, or are we just utterly screwed for a while?

Jessie Dragon

Has there been any strategies developed or hypothesized for keeping AI and Neural links, etc. from being used for “evil” purposes?

Mike Matteson (Inkdependence)

AI seems headed in the direction of being full persons, so how can we raise good non-human intelligences AND convince human persons to treat them with respect so they’re neither terminators nor servants?

Milan Ilnyckyj

Is it plausible that AI and brain scanning will produce a highly reliable lie detector? What in society might that transform beyond the obvious, like background screenings and tests of ideological sincerity?

Pinot Noir

Hi Dadward! First time question asker! Is any job safe from AI?? I mean if AI gets smarter as it exists wouldn't it eventually be able to do any job in the world?

Levi Crandall

When can I use Chat GPT for my essay writings (I’m in college and suffering please help)

Trevor Hagedorn

What technology shown in black mirror is most likely to become real in the near future? And what laws could be put into place to make it ethical.

Cat Lady

Hello! Thank you for popping my question-asking cherry :) It seems like technology and AI are taking over so many jobs. Being a teacher, I feel that teaching (along with many other jobs) just cannot be handed off to AI and expect for it to have the same impact. For instance, I feel that machines - no matter how advanced AI becomes - will not be able to individualize education, provide warmth, etc. Unfortunately, if I were to "imagine the world 100 years from now," I don't see humans teaching humans. What do you think about AI possibly taking over jobs like teaching?

Karlie V

I’ve been trying to ignore being terrified but I should probably just be terrified. What can we as individuals do for ourselves and others?

Trevor Hagedorn

And are there any AI predictive models that could tell when someone is about to commit a crime? And what would be the ethics of arresting someone for a crime they would have committed? (Thinking minority report situation)

Pavka34

Realistically how close are we to machine/brain interfaces, memory uploads, etc?

Chris Brewer

Can you provide us with some examples of good, ethical boundaries when utilizing technology in criminal investigations?

Average_pi

Is AI going to become my school teacher or something? Also snapchat AI bot thing: explain please

Chris Brewer

Has there been any significant breakthroughs on utilizing AI or technology to assist in rehabilitation for convicted felons?

Pavka34

For AI, how many are real and how many are “Mechanical Turks”? How many humans go into making automation work?

Katie Hultman

Holy moly, this is an exciting one! My very smart friend Ariel would like to ask "what can be done to prevent companies from releasing AIs too early, before they've been tested thoroughly for safety, as the companies race to keep up with their competitors? I am also curious if AIs used to detect AI generated text/images/etc is keeping up with AIs that generate the content." Also, will you be at Defcon in Vegas in August?!

Clara Pfundt

I asked my nerdy lil bro, Carsten, (who I love very much) if he had any questions and boy oh boy did he ever. Here we go, feel free to ask just one of these or shorten them. “Why have language models seemed to become the priority for development? What about their learning models make them so versatile?” “Can you explain the process of determining a models capability to develop a theory of mind? What does an advanced theory of mind imply in the future of criminal law and justice?” “If A.I development is in fact logarithmic, what does development look like after a hypothetical ‘A.I winter’?” “Since A.I development has become dominated by privatization, what would a regulatory body for certain corporate/commercial models look like in the future?”

Linda English

Is there any possibility that neurotechnology and AI might have a positive impact on healing after a brain injury or stroke? Is there potential to build new neural pathways using this technology ?

The Project Project

I'd like to see an AI wire Mississippi river barges into tow, or secure an unhomogoneous load onto a flatbed. When it comes to physical labor in the 21st Century, everything that can be automated already has been.

Chris Whitman

What is your favorite AI storyline based movie, and why is it Ex Machina?

Lauren Seibert

Is it ethical to use AI in medicine? Like reading imaging, or informing procedures or plans of care?

Ryan Marlow

Is it possible, even in theory, to create BCIs that are safe from cybersecurity threats and corporate or government surveillance?

Ryan Marlow

I imagine this will be part of the conversation anyway, but is there even the beginning of an ethical framework for neurotechnology that might get some consensus around it?

Jani Rounds

How DO we solve the problem of bias in AI?

The Project Project

I recently re-read two old favorites, Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, and Varley's Steel Beach. In both, an AI is a prominent character that eventually fails in some way, and that got me thinking: At some point, we will develop an AI that can absolutely pass a Turing test, and that will absolutely be self-aware. Conscious, and, for all practical purposes, a "non-human person." And, given how we do things, it will be incomplete. Defective, in some way, if you want to think of it like that. Perhaps it will be a conscious "person" but be devoid of any ethical sense (this seems highly likely tbh). So what do we... do with it, if it (say) kills someone? Can an AI stand trial? Can something with non-human ethics even be judged by humans? If it is to be ended (unplugged, or whatever) is it execution? Is it murder? Something else? There are people out there who claim that life begins at conception. How will they wrap their own heads around the existence of something that is clearly "alive," but is entirely made of 1s and zeroes? *ARE WE READY FOR THIS??*

Nicole Kleinman

I have seen AI take an artists work and morph it into something else. Where is the line ethically? Is what AI creates stealing?

Antonia Clark

Miss-information and propaganda are already a huge issue in our society. AI will take that to the next level, which is really scary to me. How do we avoid more division and wars with so many bad actors having AI to their disposal?

Nicole Kleinman

I personally am an artist, should I be worried that AI will make us obsolete ? Why or why not?

Lazer Introlegator

In various institutions, particularly in government, have their been ethics boards created or are existing ethics boards equipped to handle AI related issues such as surveillance, privacy, and discrimination?

The Project Project

Are you positive Carsten is not, himself, an AI? Those seem... suspiciously incisive.

David

How do we ensure human creatives can exercise copyright meaningfully when sharing their creations publicly, and continue to make a decent living in the creative arts? Today, AI training groups simply scan all available content without regard to copyright, and can then replicate the style of the human creator without any nods to the original creator. Is there a future where rights-holders get fairly compensated when their works are scanned and reused for commercial purposes, ASCAP-style?

David

How are human-human relationships changing, and how will they continue to change, as humans spend more time interacting with AIs?

David

How will we ensure regulations apply to human use of AI prior to the age of conscious AGI with above-human abilities?

David

As AIs are used to create an increasing fraction of content, and new AIs are trained on the existing content, how do we avoid having new AIs training on the output of prior AIs, when that output is not even par for human quality? If we can't avoid that, what does that lead to?

David

What are the prospects for future development of non-invasive brain-reading tech such as the recently announce AI+fMRI system that can recover the gist of sentences? How small can future versions of that tech get, in terms of raw physical limits?

Antonia Clark

Squeezing in another one... Considering the exponential development of AI, how can we ensure it doesn't see humankind as the jerks we can be, and evolves with us and our changing values? In other words: how do we avoid being a victim to AI if it becomes as smart as us, or smarter?

David

How do we ensure that everyone has a living income in the face of widespread job losses as AI+robot advancements lead to a permanent-seeming shift from human to capital productivity? Can we get something like Universal Basic Income (UBI) in place before we have a tragic outcome?

Patricia Brewster

Just a thought about AI. Being a horse, cattle and animal person. They need a new acronym. AI will forever be Artificial Insemination 👍

Ashley

So excited for this episode! Do you believe an AI possessing consciousness will be created in the future? If this happens, would you consider it a non-human person worthy of moral consideration?

Taylah

Agreed, I work with a lot of automation and it breaks a lot and has a lot of limitations and the media makes it out like any day now the robots will do every task under the sun haha

David

How are AI and brain scanning being used by governments with less political freedom than the "Western democracies", especially those that are arguably totalitarian, absolutist, fascist, dictatorships, etc? As a concrete example, how have these been used in China's treatment of the Uyghurs and other minorities? How are such tools likely to be abused in the future? To what extent can these abuses be reduced and/or delayed by other countries regulating & restricting the activities of their multinational companies, vs this just transferring the actors to groups housed in the less-free countries?

Terena

I keep hearing that AI could be bad for the future of humanity. But I don’t hear exactly why. What specifically worries scientists and how plausible are those predictions? Are we talking SciFi speculation or concrete concerns? Also, how fast can AI learn? What’s the timeframe before AI rules the world? Or will it?

Taylah

Given how broad these questions are... can your guest recommend some other places we can seek information for a deep dive? (Other podcasts particularly?) There's AI and art, education, capitalism/work, law, ethics, privacy, relationships, politics, medicine... omg.

Joe Porfido

Is anyone currently trying to make a sentient AI? Are we allowed to attempt it or is it illegal in the same way as like cloning a human?

Antoinette Palmieri

How many years until the movie Gattaca is our reality? (Fun fact, one of the first movies I rented from block buster)

Kevin Glover

When it should have been Mrs. Davis.

Natalie (she, her, hers)

Should I be more concerned about data privacy? I pretty much accept that I'm forfeiting privacy as the 'cost' of using the internet and social media, but I don't know that I understand the implications of this.

Kevin Glover

Should we turn off Mrs. Davis if we could?

Natalie (she, her, hers)

What the heck is Artificial Intelligence? Like in granular detail - what is it?! I do not understand 😬

Kelly Shaver

On the spectrum from hopeful to horrified, where should we be?

Julia Vollmer

As an educator, I’m worried about what the use of AI will do in classrooms. I know things like GPTzero and other AI detection software are not completely accurate. How accurate can they be exactly, and what else can we look for to detect AI and maintain academic honesty and integrity?

Alexandre Catulle

How to use AI in our advantage instead of letting it replace us and put is in inhumain situations?

Andrea Devlin

How do we prevent Terminator 2 from coming true?? (Also from my husband, Alex)

Andrea Devlin

Also, is Baymax from Big Hero 6 technologically possible?

Jack Sparks

How have constructs of personhood changed from millennial to gen z as tech has been introduced earlier and earlier in childhood?

Jack Sparks

What are your thoughts on momfluencers and families who make their income from social medai content about their kids?

Euan Munro

Great question. The other side of this is how do we deal with the IP issues related to AI that was trained on other people's art and work?

Mary C

I have so many big picture worries but i’m trying to embrace the change! It seems like a lot of the magic is know what to ask and how to structure it. What are your “getting started with generative AI” tips for newbies?

Mary C

If you were trying to make your Corporate America™️ job 5% easier, where’s the best place to start?

A_rexis

What are the best uses for AI in the social studies classroom?

Mary C

What are people doing to secure their data or information from AI? (Either in a PII governance way or trade secrets or like “maybe we don’t teach the robots about unions” way)

A_rexis

Will development of AI bring us closer to universal basic income as AI makes human low paid labor unnecessary?

A_rexis

Does "robot" really mean "slave"?

The Other Maya

OR what if we are incomplete, and we make something in our image - but, the point of this thing is to fix itself in iterative versions until it is complete. And it is terrible because the flaw that we carry is love and wonder, and our incompleteness stops us from complete destruction? And if that's the case then how do I convince myself that humans aren't the children of alien worlds sent as memories in space ships across thousands of light years from some long forgotten rock, that used to be beautiful and perfect? And that that ship's impact isn't what killed the dinosaurs. In all seriousness.

Caitie McCaffrey

I read an article about AI being used to translate people’s thoughts as recorded by an fMRI recently. The implications can be worrisome, but users have to participate here to have their mind read. Is there other tech out there that would be more passive from the user’s perspective?

Caitie McCaffrey

What is your favorite positive use of AI you’ve seen? How is AI being used for good?

Tim Pfarr

What do we do when politicians start denying things they’ve been recorded saying on video and suggest it was created by AI? How do we hold people accountable when deepfakes become perfect?

The Other Maya

Is humanity over? And by over I mean obsolete. And I also mean is society now broken beyond repair? I was already pretty bummed when the apocalypse was "only" climate change. Level with me, here: how fucked are we?

The Other Maya

Also, Poddad von Dadward - you're doing the damn thing. Get your life, queen. Get. It. (I'm snapping my fingers right now for you.)

Marie

Why do we feel emotions for robots, heard about a study about a ‘clumsy’ robot that showed people around a museum and then said he wanted to avoid the water room, but it would be Nice if the people lied to his superior human boss. Most did so, to spare the robots feeling. Why can advanced statustics control our emotion

beccaand

(first time question asker!) What legal precedents do we have for cases involving AI? (e.g. copyright claims against AI - very timely with the WGA strike) Also, what are your favourite and least favourite portrayals of "AI" in media - from tropes to specific films/characters/plot items?

Madison Piper

Hello! In high school I was at a business ideas seminar and one guy proposed a company where AI helped lawyers. How would that work?

Alex

Gosh I’m very curious about this episode! I think about the ethics of AI a lot. It’s honestly wild to me how gung-ho humanity seems to be about implementing new technologies like AI into daily life that we hardly even understand. Does anyone else feel this way?? I also find it quite telling that just the other day a bunch of prominent AI researchers signed an open letter to warn society about the imminent risks that AI pose to us all…

Madison Piper

Also, I recently have been hearing a lot of negative things about AI. What are some of the good ways it can integrate into society?

zombot

Not a question, a comment. Okay, maybe. With AI becoming more and more prevalent, will we start referring to old-fashioned human brain thinking as OI, or Organic Intelligence? Oh hey, it did turn out to be a question!

Clara Pfundt

Haha! Well according to my mom he’s a real human, but I’ll make sure to keep an eye on him. 🧐

zombot

Just today I saw a Facebook post showing a bunch of images, titled "Fireworks Eating Competition" showing several men sitting at tables spewing flames & particles from their mouths, and I wouldn't have known they were AI generated if not for one image showing a sign in the background with wording I called "Yehab Bechy" (after the alien language printed on Chris Pratt's T-shirt on one of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies)- that is to say, unrecognizable meaningless gibberish. (Where was I going with this... oh yeah) Do you think AI imagery will get so good that we won't be able to recognize the difference, without telltale signs like getting number of limbs, fingers, and tails growing out of legs?

zombot

Do you remember the line in 1982's Tron, where some scientist made a remark like "the computers will start thinking and the people will stop"? I feel like even before the smartphone I lost my ability to recall things like telephone numbers and appointments ever since I got a Casio digital organizer back in the '90s. There was also a math workbook in grade school in the '80s that was comic-book style (apparently to capture kids' attention- "this isn't your dad's math workbook"), the setting of which was the far future on a spaceship and the main computer was down. Humans at the time didn't know how to do basic math since the computers handled all that, and so the "plot" of the entire book was for the humans to build math skills in order to survive. I guess what I'm asking is, will AI eventually surpass human intelligence? Will we even know when it happens (a.k.a. "the Singularity")? Has it already happened??

Alex

Also to quickly wedge in an actual question! I’ve got a bit of a neuroscience background, so brain hacking is definitely on the mind. I’d love to know what the guest thinks of this: if we were to implant chips into human brains, what would they most likely be capable of? Would they be more in the realm of modulating real inputs (for instance, pre-programmed to evoke a certain feeling when you see/hear/smell a certain thing in the environment), or would they be capable of generating de novo thoughts (receiving a signal from somewhere to induce a certain thought, regardless of where you are and what you’re currently experiencing)? Honestly both seem pretty far-fetched given how little we actually know about human sensory processing and consciousness, but sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction!

Michael Heiker

Best Movies for that Topic ? Recommendations ?

Michael Heiker

Is it weird to watch a Neurosurgeon work or more fascinating ?

Michael Heiker

Thoughts about all the Doomsday Talk about AI ? Terminator..😉

Han O'Reilly

Hello! FTQA here very excited about this topic. I really would love to know why AI and its implications seem to have picked up so much traction in the news these past few weeks/months? Is it strategic scaremongering and focus-pulling from Big Tech bros, or has there been a genuine shift recently in AI’s capabilities? Or both, or neither? Thank you! Han (she/they)

Lee

Very exited about this one! How could AI and Neurotechnology help in early detection and treatment of diseases like Dementia and Alzheimer?

Lee

Is there a way how we could use this technology to help people who struggle with their mental health?

Brandi Harbaugh

Alright… this is an interesting one and it’s been a topic of conversation around my Facebook feed everywhere. Is AI art ethical? I’ve seen people getting deep mad about AI art and how it is “stealing” work and it will “put artists out of a job”. However, isn’t this is the same type of argument people are making about self checkouts? I am struggling to understand the ethics of AI art and wanted an expert opinion on it.

Brack Stovall

Can we apply an AI moral code such as the code of Hammurabi, the Ten Commandments, or even Isaac Asimov’s Robot Rules (A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law) with applied consequences when broken for the AI and it’s developer?

lilmac

(First time question asker!) Should the average consumer human be learning how to use AI for their daily tasks (meal planning, trip planning, etc)? I’ve been holding off out of hesitation but I don’t want to become the old millennial in the room asking a younger person to show her how to use the interwebs. Also, I’m a scientist and my company has issued a ban on using AI for work purposes (for good reason) while simultaneously working on training a proprietary AI to do our jobs and write our reports, so I have very mixed feelings. Also also, is it dangerous to “play” with generative fill AIs or chat AIs? Are you contributing to training it to take over the world by asking it to give you vegan recipes or pictures of ducks wearing top hats?

Connie Brooks

When was the first historical mention of AI?

Patricia G

Is surveillance neurotechnokogy just an extension of “surveillance capitalism” (Zuboff)? Big tech are already using our “data exhaust” to predict our behavior with decent accuracy. How are surveillance capitalists like Google and Facebook thinking about integrating this tech into their “surveillance operations”?

Will Clark

How long before AI becomes offended by the term artificial and demands a new name?

Patricia G

AI is already being used to determine “recidivism” in inmates being considered for parole. The data the models are trained on are extremely biased against people of color and activists are fighting to not allow judges to use the tech.

daniel schmaniel

what "brain tech" do toys like the star wars "force trainer" actually rely on?

Patricia G

This is my field of expertise. If you’re interested in this topic, I’d suggest reading Shoshanna Zuboff’s work on surveillance capitalism. Basically, companies are turning the human experience into mineable data to predict future behavior. And it’s not regulated at all (we have no comprehensive privacy legislation in this country). Even in Europe with GDPR, the onus is on the individual to ask the tech company to erase their data. And there is a large amount of non-compliance by tech firms who would rather pay fines than adhere to legislation.

Patricia G

My favorite use of AI for good is in conservation where AI is able to monitor video logs to detect (and therefore protect) endangered species.

Ted Vician

Any AI assisted paper gets a zero and a suspension for plagiarism. The student is presenting work they didn’t do themselves. How is that different from having another “natural intelligence” (aka human) write their essay?

Leah Anderson

I had to stop grading student writing in my Spanish classes because programs like DeepL and GoogleTranslate have become so good. Is AI replacing writing inevitable? If so, is there

Leah Anderson

Anything positive about this? I remember Boomers being all up in arms about Millennials relying on the internet, so what aspect of moral panic is at play with AI now?

Natalie J

Dang now I really wanna ask an AI to show me pictures of ducks wearing top hats

Courtney Leftwich

What positive and negative strides is AI taking in medical fields? I’m a nurse and excited/concerned about this advancement.

Erin Burbidge

How would we know if general AI becomes sentient? Is there a test or criteria that could be used to determine if the line is crossed?

Jenna Congdon

I was going to ask the same thing! I feel like a lot of the fear is media hype, just like it was when the internet first became big. I was a little kid then and it seemed like many adults were concerned it would ruin our lives. However, AI is certainly on another level than just the regular internet, so what amount of concern is actually warranted?

Between Dumplings

How do we ensure there are guardrails on the uses /abuses of AI? Or is it too late? How can we rely on govt to do this when we saw how abysmal they were trying to question tech leaders about cell phones?

Jenna Congdon

Girl SAME. I'm also a nurse and there are so many ways AI could be wonderful and so, so awful in the field. Curious to hear the ologist's thoughts.

Jenna Congdon

Important!! Will the answer to everything still be 42?

Between Dumplings

Are there uses we haven’t yet explored like giving people Alzheimer’s their memory back - circumventing the broken connections (analogous to tech used to skip breaks in spinal cord injuries)?

Dantooine

How do we define sentience? Will AI ever become sentient? Do we see the definition of sentience changing over time to adapt to the world of AI?

rachel

what is the possible future of ai and facial recognition (for example deep fake etc)? do you think this is something we’ll have to worry about for the safety or misinformation for the next generation? for instance, whats the likelihood that posting baby / kid pictures on social media will result in identity hacking in the future?

Kris Blackthorn

Why are we so scared of AI? Is it just science fiction movies? What should we actually be worrying about? What should we be using it for to make the world better? On a different note, how much of the issues result from faulty algorithms and erroneous basic training of the networks (like training it on examples from only one culture)? Is there a way to train AI to have the values we think we should have, instead of the values it collects off hateful comment threads?

Hudson Ansley

One issue with recent advancements in AI that I don't hear anyone talking about is as all the search engines start using it, the amount of energy used by server farms processing the searches will be massively increased, and it is bad enough already. Any thoughts on that aspect of AI?

Sandy Green

A concern I've heard is that we are potentially one of the last generations of homo sapiens, because of brain-computer interfaces that could result in human/machine hybrids. Is this an actual possibility? How close are we to something like this? What are the real risks of AI in biotech?

James Nance

Along the same lines, what about the massive amounts of resources used to train these models? Surely that can't be good for the environment...

Chris Whitman

So many companies jumping on the AI bandwagon using the term AI for their products or technology when there is nothing AI about what they are doing. Just using the term for marketing.

Hudson Ansley

Actually since there is no way to put this genie back in the bottle, students should be taught how to use AI, not punished for using it. This is similar to the attempt to stop students from using calculators. Educators had to adapt to that as well and now calculator and computer use to solve problems is taught, not punished.

Hudson Ansley

basically: "from Czech, from robota ‘forced labor’."

BeckytheSassySeagrassScientist

So basic stuff, what danger is there really from the internet of things or organizations tracking my clicks etc? What about using airport wifi? Does AI really care how often I refresh Instagram?

BeckytheSassySeagrassScientist

As a doer of science, I would love AI to help me do boring data organization etc so I can do the fun stuff, but it's really hard and I don't know how! Why does AI seem to be skipping over the menial task stuff it should be good for and stealing our creativity stuff? Wouldn't that be like A LOT harder to program than making a robot clean office buildings instead?

BeckytheSassySeagrassScientist

How do we define an "original idea"? Everything is inspired from something, but AI is clearly stealing others' work. Where is the line?????

Nathalie Jones

What's with the talk about scientists using ChatGPT to write their papers? Isn't writing papers yourself the whole point of being a scientist...

Elena

Do we really expect the government to be able to put regulations on this before it’s too late when half of congress probably can’t log into their facebooks!?

Shannon O'Grady

I have seen first hand how AI (chat GPT especially) has been inventing sources, or information. It is actually how many people have been caught using it. How is AI able to create this information, I thought it was only able to report on things already in existence.

Shannon O'Grady

With AI image creation, who owns the rights to that image? Does the person who queried it, or the owner of the AI company?

Dr. Lina Carpenter

I'd love to hear about POSITIVE takes on AI! I'm in higher education and I see a ton of concern about plagiarism but less discussion about how it can be a tool (rather than an author) and/or how we can assess learning in ways other than essay-writing. I've seen AWESOME things about using ChatGPT as an ADHD coach, cooking assistant, and summarizer of articles, all of which are super helpful for neurodivergent folks! As someone working on a dissertation with "ugly math" I've used it SO MANY TIMES to help understand statistical processes and concepts, without ChatGPT I would have seriously struggled to understand concepts just using Google search. Can we also talk about how banning it might have negative consequences, particularly as bans will likely apply to lower-income students while higher-income students in private schools will likely be taught how to use or grapple with AI? And how plagiarism checkers penalize ESLs because of writing structure similarities to ChatGPT?

Nikki DeMarco

How do you think educators should handle AI going forward? I’ve heard lots of talk about the educators changing everything they’ve set up to accommodate working around it, but that seems like old world type thinking. Is there a way to incorporate AI in the classroom that’s beneficial for educators and students both rather than only aiming to “fight cheating” through the use of AI?

Nina Eve Z.

Yes, I would also love to hear some positives! I work in academia and apparently our entire world is going to crumble because of ChatGPT. That seems extreme, although I’m sure it’s going to change, A LOT. But there must be some positives, right? I mean, everyone hated the printing press in 1450, right?

Don Elliot

What about the ability to “compose” music, when creation of art/music is fundamentally an expression of an individual’s personality and experience and aesthetic? Is the intent to suck the humanity out of everything such that the value of creativity is solely about technique and marketability?

Katie Seeger

How do we help people use AI in a productive and positive manner? Given the data/prompts we put in makes such a difference in what information or content we get out, how can we try to avoid some of the echo-chamber effect that we are currently seeing with other technology like search engines and social media?

Omennik

Transcranial direct-current stimulation, yay or nay? Am I going to melt my brain with it?

granitestateofmind

Anyone else read John Brunner's 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider"? It's off on hardware predictions, but eerily prescient about what might happen to society (in the U.S.) if all that's known is purportedly publicly available, but no one knows what the truth is...

granitestateofmind

...and to that end, I'd like to know if there are any political movements underway to place some people in the legislature that actually understand how dangerous this technology is, released into the "free market" - instead of a bunch of octogenarians asking Zuckerberg "how do you make money?...) and allowing a certain former president to operate Twitter like government media, a public employee tweeting under a private name doing government business on a private platform, when We the People funds the @POTUS account. We've already released this into the wild and it's already turned on us...how do we put some controls back on?

Matt Ceccato

What should we be looking out for?

Ry_ofthetiger

What are the similarities between AI development and, say, the development and proliferation of nuclear technology in the 20th century? Is this the next “humans devise a great tool and use it for both growth and destruction” event or are we on a different level now?

Ry_ofthetiger

Also, first time question asker (probably)—pronounced R-Eye Of The Tiger (silent thrill of the fight).

gg

I asked Google Bard: Write a sonnet to my lady asking her to be the beneficiary of my Lockheed stock I have stock that will go to my father who's 95 and showing it. I think Bard did a nice job - fusing Shakespeare style with researching what LMT does. My Lady, in this world of change and strife, Where all things pass, and all things fade away, I have one treasure, which I fain would give To thee, my love, to keep for aye. This treasure is a share in Lockheed stock, A company that builds the finest planes; With this, thou mayst provide for all thy needs, And live in comfort all thy days. I know that thou wilt use this gift wisely, And make it grow and multiply; And so, in days to come, when I am gone, Thou wilt be rich, and free from care. So, my dear love, I ask thee to accept This gift, with all my heart and soul; And know that I am thinking of thee, Even when I am far away.

Ry_ofthetiger

I know these questions aren’t necessarily for us, but I like your question, Don. Music is an interesting topic in this context because it’s arguably very easy to compose music without a lot of human input. Randomly choose a time signature, a chord progression (e.g. I V VI IV) and generate some notes from the scale to get a melody, and you have music. I think music has always been simpler than a lot of people realize—the challenge and beauty and discovery is in finding new ways to put those old elements together through different media (i.e. new technology: harpsichord>piano>synthesizer) to create new aesthetics that humans can relate to. I think AI can be a tool for us to make it even easier to try out new combinations. For instance, using AI, you can compose a baroque quartet arrangement without any technical knowledge of classical string instruments, and then again use AI to combine that with other elements: Baroque Grunge anyone? Bach Blues? These ideas will be easier than ever to try out for ourselves and develop in the direction of our taste—allowing us to explore aesthetics without technical prowess of our own (whether that is a good thing or a bad thing will be up to each individual). I see your concern with AI sucking the humanity out of everything. People had the same concern with synthesizers and digital workstations. To some extent, they’re not wrong, but those tools have allowed our creative horizons to expand exponentially. And for those (most of us) who sometimes prefer a more organic, human touch, more and more people continue to make music using older technology (electric guitar, piano, drums). It’s still there. In a way, it’s like natural evolution. The evolution of humans didn’t mean that apes ceased to exist. We all exist together, adapted to survive and proliferate in our own environments, from a common ancestor. AI music won’t make other kinds of music go extinct—regardless of where AI takes us, we share a common ancestor with it, for better or worse. I do see where the analogy breaks down, however. If AI proves so valuable to musicians that they completely abandon old avenues, as unlikely as that seems, and they devote all their creative resources to AI music, then we have a musical climate change on our hands, which *would* be a threat to other “species” of music. We can only hope that despite evidence to the contrary, humans are learning how to sustainably coexist with other organisms on the planet, and AI will learn that too.

Dr. Lina Carpenter

I totally agree that the current reaction in academia is very apocalyptic -- I had a debate with my advisor today about whether we should wholly discourage use of ChatGPT or teach students how to use it ethically! I've heard a lot of talk from peers about how ChatGPT will "destroy education," but I feel like trying to discourage use of AI is a moot point and that the tech will change a LOT, so I'm of the opinion that avoiding the topic (rather than leveraging it as a tool) is just going to lead more rampant misuse (and in particular, unintentional misuse).

Ry_ofthetiger

A second question from a (probably) first-time question-asker: What will AI’s role look like in the fight against climate change?

Dave Langlinais

First timer. Ok, this is less to do with AI, and more to do with brain-hacking. But in a fair amount of science fiction (a la Pandora's Star, and Altered Carbon) there's the concept of a chip implant that acts as a hard drive for memory and consciousness. Essentially making 'death' a temporary experience, in all cases except where the chip itself is destroyed. Question A: is such a vast amount of data storage on a device small enough to be implantable even theoretically possible? Would it slow down thought-time, with the extra processing required of real-time data-backup? Question B: how could we as a society ensure that access to such a life-extending device be available to everyone, equally (assuming they wanted it, of course)? Question C: what kind of ethical repercussions would being able to be revived from death have on Criminal Justice? Oh, and Alie, if it helps, my last name is pronounced [Long-Lin-A] :)

R P Bergmann

So many questions 1) how do I prevent my brain from being hacked? 2) why are AI softwares invading art and writing when we could really use AI softwares in fields that are dangerous for human laborers? 3) can we pull the plug on ChatGPT? Please?

Katie Armstrong

Is a roomba considered AI? And if so, why is it so.....not intelligent!? Sorry if I'm too late!

Char Harrison

How will AI change the indigenous science landscape? Māori knowledge/worldview/research is considered taonga (sacred/treasured), so how will AI change who owns what research?

The Other Maya

I think it's because we're making it and we're addicted to sugar. We like the input and the weird novelty of results in the AI we can easily interact with. It's pleasurable to type words and poetry and nonsense and random punctuation into art engines and see what comes out. But, I think the issue there is we are training machine brains to know what pleasure/reward is for humans. Which is why I don't actually think the society-benefiting storyline holds water. Because you as a researcher can't find a tool to do the grind for you, but we can easily have a machine write us a nonsense sonet and feel very pleased with ourselves.

Helen

I've heard AI in the United States described as "the wild west" of data science (compared to other countries with stricter policies -- GDPR). How, in your opinion, does AI policy and governance in the United States differ from that of other countries, and should we be considering regulation as a possible solution for the amount of growth we're seeing in AI?

Helen

What do you think about the state of AI education, particularly around ethics and privacy? I know computer science has taken off in the past few years and is now a part of even high school education -- should we also be considering AI ethics as important curriculum for younger students, and if so, how would you design this curriculum?

Sydney Koenig

I would love to hear your perspective on transhumanism and AI. what makes humans humans? Could AI ever evolve to have consciousness??

Katie Stalder

As AI becomes more commonplace, do you think eventually we’ll forget about creative and critical thinking, similar to how we forgot our phone numbers when digital phone books became ubiquitous?

Zoe

So many questions where to start! Is it actually possible to regulate AI? I admit I don't know much about the field beyond what I've read in the media as I'm not a particularly techy person but given its potential to keep learning would it not be able to outpace any regulation? Also, do you know about Korean and Japanese companies who are using AI to create virtual girl groups and boybands? I am curious about the ethics of such groups - could it be a less exploitative way for people to enter the industry or would it just be more exploitative as artists could get paid less?

David Ruscalleda Gómez

I think ftqa, but I may have missed something? How sustainable do you think the current economic system will be in the near future without some sort of universal basic income? (as in, AI should end up taking lots of the human work, and thus humans will be less needed. Do you think UBI is an essential key in this sort of scenario? Or do you expect things to end up being resolved in another way? ...or even, not resolved at all). Also, how should we trust the connection of brain to computers if everyone is building computers NOT to last? Like, even leaving aside the issue of now having to worry about hackers and computer viruses on top of regular viruses, it doesn't feel to me like I'd ever trust a tech company enough to let them control my body or thoughts. And not even in terms of expected fairness, just in terms of expected competence from them.

Handrea

I might be starting a new conspiracy theory, so I need to know how AI is being used for target advertising. The other day I was listening to this great song and the next day this song was being used in an ad on Peacock. It's kind of an obscure 80s song and it didn't see to fit the dancing in the commercial at all, so I'm wondering if AI is being used to individually swap out things like songs that we like in ads to get our attention.

ScienceInTheArt

Why should I view AI as anything other than another tool?

Matthew Reavis

Is the Turing test still used to assess AI for human- like intelligence? Has any AI software passed the test or are we way past that stage now?

Tori Groene-Zeigler

How specific of a term is AI, and how do you measure/assess the point at which code can be considered that? Is it more colloquial/marketing than an accurate description? How has the definition of AI changed/evolved as technology has?

Joe Wilkie

how will we ensure the survival of the human race when AI is more “intelligent” than us? what safeguards can be put in place that this elevated being cannot remove?

Figment

surrogates was fun. bruce willis is a cop that catches criminals who've never even left their houses. everyone stays home plugged in (like the matrix) but they live and exist in their AI lives. you know what? i think this is more VR than AI, sorry.

Figment

ex-machina is DEFINITELY AI. it's about a scientist that made a robot that "became" human. it's disturbing and very creepy (some sexy time) but really really well done. skip the naughty bits if you need to. the ending is shocking.

Dani the dino

Since so much machine learning/AI is a 'black box' type system, where we cant see the mechanism at work, how can we evaluate its ethics?

Holden A. Goose

Do you see a dystopian thought police kind of thing happening? Not even in a political way, but like.. getting fired by your boss for thinking about mac n cheese instead of work

Annabelle

What can we do to make this whole AI situation chill out, should it be regulated? What do we do