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Eric Schmidt speech about AI booed during graduation

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Re: Eric Schmidt speech about AI booed during graduation

#281

Post by randcraw »

thfuran wrote: post #75
flohofwoe wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's also because traditional google.com has become a product search engine instead of a knowledge search engine. So far at least, the AI results are mostly free of product placement and thus automatically 10x more useful than the first few pages of search engine results (but probably not for long).

I have many times now searched Google for an error message or similar and either gotten no results or been unable to get it to search for what I actually told it to search for instead of some vaguely similar but completely unhelpful phrase. The LLMs will find a link to a bug tracker or stack overflow. It’s crazy how much worse Google search results are now than they used to be.

> It’s crazy how much worse Google search results are now than they used to be.

I could not agree more. Each time I do a google search, I feel like I've stepped into a severe reality distortion field. The results are simply WORTHLESS. It's not just that the AI summary at the top answers the wrong question, but the sequence of hits thereafter wander off into the weeds almost immediately. I routinely have to constrain the search in multiple ways (time bounds, specific word rejection, etc) just to get one or two relevant hits.

Frankly, I think I'm going to have to MOVE AWAY FROM GOOGLE to a subscription-based search service just to get any useful search results again.

Re: Eric Schmidt speech about AI booed during graduation

#282

Post by fireflash38 »

deadbabe wrote: post #132
rdtsc wrote: post #55

> “If you’d let me make this point, please —” Schmidt said amid boos. “The point I’d like to make is choose a diversity of perspectives, including the perspective of the immigrant who has so often been the person who came to this country and made it better. America is at its best when we are the country that ambitious people want to come to. Let us not lose that.” How does that tie in? You have to like AI because of…

[flagged]

You're not wrong. It's almost a religious fervor. And much like so many religious figures, you get a sort of Rorschach test on how you use/view it.

Is it a tool? Is it going to make humans obsolete?

Doesn't matter because if you don't praise and adore AI the [market|capital] will leave you behind.

It's pervasive as fuck. I go into stores with local artists and can't help but think what of this was made with AI. It draws me more towards physical things that cannot have been tainted.

Re: Eric Schmidt speech about AI booed during graduation

#283

Post by the_af »

Sol- wrote: post #234
mbgerring wrote: post #114

Can someone in this thread who says “the kids must be wrong” give an actual optimistic case for AI? Because as far as I understand it, the “optimist” case for AI is that LLMs become God and wipe out human life as we know it entirely, and replace it with a transcendent post-human intelligence. And in the meantime, we’ll have a permanent underclass that will be kept alive on some kind of subsistence UBI. That seems to…

> that will be kept alive on some kind of subsistence UBI Setting aside whether a permanent underclass will be an outcome or not - is it not a bit incompatible to simultaneously believe that all jobs will be gone and that a subsistence UBI is necessarily very bad? The way I see it, if strong AGI really replaces all jobs, then even a subsistence level UBI (by the new post-AGI standards) will be a world with ubiquitous…

> post-scarcity wealth where people pretty much spend their time how they want

In a true post-scarcity society where Musk et al are off colonizing Mars while you're stuck on Earth on UBI, doing what exactly? In such a future, AI has automated boring chores but also everything else. Art, movies, cooking, everything you might find enjoyable. So lots of free time to do what? Work on yourself? Nobody will care. Engage with your hobbies? Nobody will care to see them, so unless you're the kind of person who enjoys their inner life without interaction with others, be aware nobody will read your AI novel nor watch your AI movie, because they can make one specifically tailored for themselves.

To me this seems like a hellish future, a mix of "Farenheit 451" with people staring at wall screens (only AI-tailored for them) or the "basic income but restless" people from Earth in "The Expanse". It's even worse than "A Brave New World" because human workers will be mostly unneeded. Their basic necessities covered, but nothing for them to do, no real struggle other than boredom. Any challenges that remain must be artificially self-imposed, because the real challenges will be for a chosen few.

Re: Eric Schmidt speech about AI booed during graduation

#284

Post by ryandrake »

mb_thd wrote: post #185
berkay wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not clear to me why they booed him. you think for only asserting predictions that benefit him? Not because they agree on those predictions and don't want that future, blame him for this role in it?

I think it's not clear to him either why he was booed.

It was the same reaction from that other graduation speaker last week who was also booed over her remarks on AI. Totally dumbfounded about why anyone might not like AI.

These ghouls live in a totally different world than the rest of us and actually think everyone shares their positive outlook on AI.

We need more of this booing. Put up a consistent front and let these people know their views are not shared.

Re: Eric Schmidt speech about AI booed during graduation

#285

Post by fireflash38 »

abtinf wrote: post #191
nilirl wrote: post #8

> Schmidt urged graduates to embrace freedom, open debate, equality and the willingness to engage with those they disagree with. I think it was a great embrace of freedom and open debate to boo him for only asserting predictions that benefit him.

Shouting people down isn’t “open debate”.

Speaking over people on a microphone and loudspeaker isn't open debate either

Re: Eric Schmidt speech about AI booed during graduation

#286

Post by cj »

happytoexplain wrote: post #264
cj wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disliking AI for that reason harms you more than helps you.

It's very unclear what you're trying to say. Disliking something that is going to harm your future is going to harm you? You might as well say "don't care about your future". But if your dislike was for a different reason , it wouldn't harm you? Both implications seem nonsensical.

“I hate computers, so I refuse to use them”

If AI becomes common place at work (I’d argue it already has), it clearly will hurt you if you boycott it out of fear or anger that the tech exists.

It’s pretty simple

Re: Eric Schmidt speech about AI booed during graduation

#287

Post by coldpie »

shimman wrote: post #273
coldpie wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I echo their sentiments 100%, I doubt I'm alone here either.

I do, too, but a throwaway account busting into a conversation and screaming "everyone listen to me, me, me!" is a bit obnoxious, you know?

Re: Eric Schmidt speech about AI booed during graduation

#288

Post by itsalwaysgood »

bigfishrunning wrote: post #101
itsalwaysgood wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably too early for this, but I'm reminded of the Rolling Stones, Sympathy for the Devil. Evil acts made real by the decisions of those at the top, and the rest of us reject the acts. But quitely we accept these acts by being satisfied with verbal protest. In other words, we always do whatever is easiest, and rarely are willing to sacrifice our way of life to make real change. One person can never make a differenc…

> The crowd is booing but they will never act. The only way to act is to not produce or consume (to the best of your ability) any slop, and be loud about it. We are being absolutely overrun with low-quality art, prose, and software, and making the production of such unprofitable (and even unfashionable) is the only reasonable action you can take.

That's the danger behind economy and society: we all must be useful in some way. We all have to find 'value' in some way. We take on 'roles' so we can contribute.

Roles are necessary because we simply don't have time to be experts in everything.

AI changes the way we contribute.

Re: Eric Schmidt speech about AI booed during graduation

#289

Post by _bohm »

bko wrote: post #268
_bohm wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Revealed preferences” are not the same as actual preferences. Treating them the same is what led us to the current situation we have with everyone addicted to social media and miserable. Also, expectations are not the only thing that could pressure someone to use these tools. If all your peers were using these tools and finishing their work in a fraction of the time it takes you, and getting the same or better grade…

What you do says a lot more about you than what you answer in a survey. The obvious difference between LLM adoption and social media, if you think about it for longer than 10 seconds, is that there is social pressure to use social media. Your friends are organizing and bonding on social media. None of this exists with LLMs. There is no social pressure to have an AI girlfriend, quite the opposite. Also I preempted the…

Social pressure from one's peers is not the only form of pressure. I don't think I'm the one who can credibly be accused of not reading the entire comment or not thinking for longer than 10 seconds in this exchange.

Re: Eric Schmidt speech about AI booed during graduation

#290

Post by arkh »

somedude895 wrote: post #253
finnthehuman wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What’s the logic here Tenuous connection between unrelated topics to fit them into larger ingroup/outgroup dynamics is the junkfood of persuasion tactics. Bad for you but addictive anyway. If you look for it you'll see it all the time.

"If you don't like AI, you're a nazi."

And remember: they don't call you a nazi because they think you are. They call you a nazi to make you a valid target.
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