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Google’s new conversational AI could eventually undermine our sense of identity

verdict.co.uk

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Re: Google’s new conversational AI could eventually undermine our sense of identity

#41

"Impressive, but what happens if Google Assistant eventually learns how to masquerade as its owner?" This is the stunning level of anthropomorphic granting of super human abilities the common person places on our cute statistical trick we saying is "artificial intelligence". Naming this field AI was a poor choice. I am sick of the clown-authored-mentality of the articles being published about AI today.

The question still holds, even if you replace it with the more accurate " Google Assistant Development Team adds the capability to mimic their user's voices?". That's a very realistic possibility.

Re: Google’s new conversational AI could eventually undermine our sense of identity

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, fear of turning on its owner is way overblown. What about the more immediate issue that it is designed to be turned against service workers, so that when it screws up it wastes their time instead of yours? Or the more immediate wake-up call that this tech will be used in malicious phishing attacks against your grandparents (not by Google, obv) in another year (or month)?

I'm surprised at how well Google's awful little autodialer has been received. None of us like when we call a number and are handled by an automated script on the other end. But we are immediately okay with deploying an automated script which does our bidding? You need a Google Glass-level lack of social accuity to think siccing autodialers on barbers is okay

[deleted]

Re: Google’s new conversational AI could eventually undermine our sense of identity

#43

"Impressive, but what happens if Google Assistant eventually learns how to masquerade as its owner?" This is the stunning level of anthropomorphic granting of super human abilities the common person places on our cute statistical trick we saying is "artificial intelligence". Naming this field AI was a poor choice. I am sick of the clown-authored-mentality of the articles being published about AI today.

It doesn't have to pass the Turing test to masquerade as you. The John Legend voice for Google Assistant was apparently made without hours of recordings. Companies like https://lyrebird.ai/ do a basic job of copying your voice with about a minute worth of samples (more obviously helps). I think it's entirely inevitable that at some point you will be able to customize the Google Assistant to use your own voice thanks…

This is spot on. The illusion doesn't have to be prefect, just convincing. Huge convenience factor to automation of communications like calls and emails, but it does break the simple mental contract we currently have that "this email was written by Jonathan" and "I'm currently talking to Jonathan on the phone."

Not sure I'm looking forward to a continual game of "guess when it's a robot".

Re: Google’s new conversational AI could eventually undermine our sense of identity

#44

"Impressive, but what happens if Google Assistant eventually learns how to masquerade as its owner?" This is the stunning level of anthropomorphic granting of super human abilities the common person places on our cute statistical trick we saying is "artificial intelligence". Naming this field AI was a poor choice. I am sick of the clown-authored-mentality of the articles being published about AI today.

> "Naming this field AI was a poor choice." Amen!

[deleted]

Re: Google’s new conversational AI could eventually undermine our sense of identity

#45

"Impressive, but what happens if Google Assistant eventually learns how to masquerade as its owner?" This is the stunning level of anthropomorphic granting of super human abilities the common person places on our cute statistical trick we saying is "artificial intelligence". Naming this field AI was a poor choice. I am sick of the clown-authored-mentality of the articles being published about AI today.

Are you kidding me? It's not a cute statistical trick, it's a well-thought out mechanism to re-create in 1's and 0's how the human brain works and thinks, we're merely infants in what this will become, as we mind map the brain more - I'm sure the technology will pivot quite a bit, neural networks may be obsolete and something more powerful come along viz a viz quantum computing, but to say talking robots that can tot…

It is a cute statistical trick. It has zero insight. Current AI is a very sophisticated manipulation of past event resolution, seeking to fit a current event into past resolutions. The term "idiot savant" is closer than "artificial intelligence" - because the algorithm knows not what it is doing, why it is doing, or how it is doing. It's an idiot.

Re: Google’s new conversational AI could eventually undermine our sense of identity

#46

"Impressive, but what happens if Google Assistant eventually learns how to masquerade as its owner?" This is the stunning level of anthropomorphic granting of super human abilities the common person places on our cute statistical trick we saying is "artificial intelligence". Naming this field AI was a poor choice. I am sick of the clown-authored-mentality of the articles being published about AI today.

Are you kidding me? It's not a cute statistical trick, it's a well-thought out mechanism to re-create in 1's and 0's how the human brain works and thinks, we're merely infants in what this will become, as we mind map the brain more - I'm sure the technology will pivot quite a bit, neural networks may be obsolete and something more powerful come along viz a viz quantum computing, but to say talking robots that can tot…

> well-thought out mechanism to re-create in 1's and 0's how the human brain works and thinks,

This is impressive technology, but it is emphatically not that. It is very much a cute statistical trick coupled with really excellent voice processing software.

Re: Google’s new conversational AI could eventually undermine our sense of identity

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, fear of turning on its owner is way overblown. What about the more immediate issue that it is designed to be turned against service workers, so that when it screws up it wastes their time instead of yours? Or the more immediate wake-up call that this tech will be used in malicious phishing attacks against your grandparents (not by Google, obv) in another year (or month)?

I'm surprised at how well Google's awful little autodialer has been received. None of us like when we call a number and are handled by an automated script on the other end. But we are immediately okay with deploying an automated script which does our bidding? You need a Google Glass-level lack of social accuity to think siccing autodialers on barbers is okay

I think you're expanding frustration at telemarketing to this technology, and I don't understand why. It's not an "autodialer;" it doesn't appear to have any kind of multicast capability.

Re: Google’s new conversational AI could eventually undermine our sense of identity

#48
post #41

"Impressive, but what happens if Google Assistant eventually learns how to masquerade as its owner?" This is the stunning level of anthropomorphic granting of super human abilities the common person places on our cute statistical trick we saying is "artificial intelligence". Naming this field AI was a poor choice. I am sick of the clown-authored-mentality of the articles being published about AI today.

The question still holds, even if you replace it with the more accurate " Google Assistant Development Team adds the capability to mimic their user's voices?". That's a very realistic possibility.

The question is "google assistant learns how to masquerade as a user" - implying that the Google Assistant will be autonomous, gain a will and start impersonating users for it own purposes and benefit. That is an imaginative stretch into never-gotta-happen fantasy. The statement does not say "users will train it to have their voice", the statement was that the Google Assistant will do this on its own. Fantasy.

Re: Google’s new conversational AI could eventually undermine our sense of identity

#49

"Impressive, but what happens if Google Assistant eventually learns how to masquerade as its owner?" This is the stunning level of anthropomorphic granting of super human abilities the common person places on our cute statistical trick we saying is "artificial intelligence". Naming this field AI was a poor choice. I am sick of the clown-authored-mentality of the articles being published about AI today.

It doesn't have to pass the Turing test to masquerade as you. The John Legend voice for Google Assistant was apparently made without hours of recordings. Companies like https://lyrebird.ai/ do a basic job of copying your voice with about a minute worth of samples (more obviously helps). I think it's entirely inevitable that at some point you will be able to customize the Google Assistant to use your own voice thanks…

The implication is that Google Assistant will gain a will of its own and start masquerading as end-users for it's own benefit. No. Ain't gonna happen. Not even remotely possible.

Re: Google’s new conversational AI could eventually undermine our sense of identity

#50
post #39

"Impressive, but what happens if Google Assistant eventually learns how to masquerade as its owner?" This is the stunning level of anthropomorphic granting of super human abilities the common person places on our cute statistical trick we saying is "artificial intelligence". Naming this field AI was a poor choice. I am sick of the clown-authored-mentality of the articles being published about AI today.

A good thing bear in mind is that, as technology continues to develop, human stupidity will remain constant. The moron speculating on witchcraft 300 years ago has now defyingly managed to get a text editor open on the internet and is now pontificating about some buzzwords they've heard of.

Human stupidity is an endless resource that will never be exhausted.
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