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Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

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Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#111

Post by danielbln »

ARandomerDude wrote: post #14
newtonianrules wrote: post #6

Half of Americans voters elected Trump. Most people are idiots, I wouldn’t use that as a gauge yet.

This wildly assumes that "I voted for $candidate" means "I like $candidate." Every presidential election cycle we get served up two turds, one with a (D) and the other with an (R) by their name, and we have to pick which turd we'd like to ruin our country for us the least.

Ah, you must be one of those enlightened centrists that doesn't recognize a shifting overton window even if it grabs you by the....

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#113

Post by ctoth »

slg wrote: post #93
everdrive wrote: post #35

It's no surprise. The wild tech optimism of the 1990s and 2000s has completely fallen apart as time and time again tech companies have proved to be some of the most hostile actors in most American's lives. Perhaps edged out only by things such as actual violent crime and partisan hatred. (which itself, of course, is stoked to the absolute maximum in part due to technology trends in the past 15 years or so) The loneli…

>The only hope we have is that they're wrong, and their power to change things will be minimal. What even is the optimistic outcome if they are right? What are we all working towards? Like do people think that these AI companies will create some superintelligence, suck up all the financial benefits of that, and then just decide to share it with the rest of us out of kindness? Because I legitimately can't see a realis…

What are jobs for?

Should we have them?

Should they be mandatory?

What does it mean to have to work to eat, is this a good setup?

Does everyone have to work?

Should they?

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#114

Post by cryo32 »

tennfown wrote: post #73
cryo32 wrote: post #2

The pushback I see everywhere outside of tech suggests the tech industry vastly overestimated the interest. The tech industry doesn't speak for the entire planet as much as it likes to think it does.

There needs to be a brutal humbling

Definitely. That'll have to come through economic instruments though rather than failure.

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#115

Post by munk-a »

baron816 wrote: post #12
cryo32 wrote: post #2

The pushback I see everywhere outside of tech suggests the tech industry vastly overestimated the interest. The tech industry doesn't speak for the entire planet as much as it likes to think it does.

I really think there’s a concerted effort by the media to demonize AI though. Every third story I see on my news feeds is some sensationalist story about how AI/data centers are bad. The media does have an interest in doing this—writers are fearful that they’ll be first on the chopping block.

44% of Americans believe AI will have a neutral impact while 40% believe it will have a negative impact. Just to note - about half as many Americans believe AI will have a positive impact as believe in telepathy. Believing AI will have a positive impact is officially a fringe belief.

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#116

Post by bheadmaster »

jstummbillig wrote: post #86
gortok wrote: post #29

When I use a computer to do work I want the computer to be right. I want to be able to trust the computer. With the inherit non-determinism and probabilistic nature of generative-AI, that fundamental reason why I engage a computer is lost. If the spreadsheet is wrong, it’s because the math is wrong, it’s because I made a mistake. It’s not because all of a sudden the computer decided the nature of algebra should be di…

Reality is non-deterministic (not actually, but in practice). We do strange things to balance this out all the time. Thinking that computer software must be exempt from that mess as a goal is just strange, and concerns itself too much with the ideal of a tool and not enough with the more important question: What if our lives get much, much better? Roughly everyone wants more out of life including the top one percent…

> Reality is non-deterministic (not actually, but in practice).

At a quantum level, it is also actually non-deterministic.

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#117

Post by apparent »

It's hard to balance the downsides (devastating job losses that will affect certain fields) with the upsides (curing diseases, increasing efficiency in ways that will reduce costs of many goods).

Is something a net benefit if everything is cheaper and cancer is cured, but you have no job?

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#118

Post by [deleted] »

jstummbillig wrote: post #86
gortok wrote: post #29

When I use a computer to do work I want the computer to be right. I want to be able to trust the computer. With the inherit non-determinism and probabilistic nature of generative-AI, that fundamental reason why I engage a computer is lost. If the spreadsheet is wrong, it’s because the math is wrong, it’s because I made a mistake. It’s not because all of a sudden the computer decided the nature of algebra should be di…

Reality is non-deterministic (not actually, but in practice). We do strange things to balance this out all the time. Thinking that computer software must be exempt from that mess as a goal is just strange, and concerns itself too much with the ideal of a tool and not enough with the more important question: What if our lives get much, much better? Roughly everyone wants more out of life including the top one percent…

[deleted]

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#119

Post by zardo »

aspenmartin wrote: post #38
ForHackernews wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The product is firing half your workforce. You don't need marketing, that sells itself in the B2B space.

To me I don’t really see this; electricity, the internet, etc: aggregate employment numbers don’t change work just gets shifted around. But your workers at the very least will be way more productive and that’s the sell.

On the other hand horse employment has taken a significant dive from the pre-electrification era.

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#120

Post by lorecore »

esikich wrote: post #79
lorecore wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's part of it, but views on AI are also views on art and authenticity. I'm a huge fan of AI for coding, research and writing for work. When I see AI generated images, music or anything else "creative" my reaction has grown to be pretty negative. It's all got NFT vibes aesthetically. I was absolutely blown away by Stable Diffusion and that AI could generate images, now I'm kind of disgusted with it. We've been flo…

The thing is the vast majority has never given a shit about authenticity though. All of the top pop stars are performing music made by committees and designed by marketing teams. Most music sold is and has been lowest common denominator trash since TV was invented. It's hilarious to see some Katy Perry fan frothing at the mouth about AI not being authentic art. As if they ever cared. Most mainstream entertainment is…

I think it's a sliding scale. I love a well cooked meal and would never eat McDonalds, but I could see how someone who does eat at McDonalds wouldn't want to live off Soylent. Maybe a better way to put it is that Katy Perry is on the right side of the uncanny valley.
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