Artificial Intelligence

[JimC]

Hmmm. I wouldn't be quite so quick to pin the majority of that on the moral failings of students. Education systems are designed to sort people into winners and losers, and the conditions you have to meet to become one of the winners are fixed in advance and have little to do with one's intellectual prowess or character. You jump through most of the hoops placed in your way and you'll win, and this happens in circumstances where the seat of learning isn't run for the benefit of the educated but for the benefit of the institution itself. Maybe we need to look a bit harder at the underlying premises and structure of education and be a little more reticent about blaming failures in the system on those it's supposed to serve.

Yeah, there was a tinge of blaming his fellow students for taking the easy way out, but I agree with his main point, in that the more they use AI instead of their own thought processes, the less they will develop their abilities.

[Brian Peacock]

Hmmm. I wouldn't be quite so quick to pin the majority of that on the moral failings of students. Education systems are designed to sort people into winners and losers, and the conditions you have to meet to become one of the winners are fixed in advance and have little to do with one's intellectual prowess or character. You jump through most of the hoops placed in your way and you'll win, and this happens in circumstances where the seat of learning isn't run for the benefit of the educated but for the benefit of the institution itself. Maybe we need to look a bit harder at the underlying premises and structure of education and be a little more reticent about blaming failures in the system on those it's supposed to serve.

Yeah, there was a tinge of blaming his fellow students for taking the easy way out, but I agree with his main point, in that the more they use AI instead of their own thought processes, the less they will develop their abilities.

Indeed. The point is that the focus of education systems isn't the 'development of students' abilities', but sorting them into winners and losers according to how well they conform to the conditions of the system. Why should students prioritise the 'development of their abilities' when the systems and its institutions, tutors, and administrators do not? So when the system prioritises conforming to the conditions of winners and winning then of course a student's focus is going to turn to meeting those conditions. It's what the system demands. AI is just a handy way for students to meet those conditions, as it is a handy way to generate lesson plans, devise assignments, organise timetables, assess student coursework, manage budgets and resources, and ultimately to decide to what degree students are winning or losing.

[Brian Peacock]

Does AI need ethicists?

‘There’s this deep mystery of what, actually, is this thing?’: the philosopher inside Google DeepMind.

[L'Emmerdeur]

They're window dressing, a CYA for the companies that are sinking billions into it. When things go badly wrong at scale the companies can say, 'Don't blame us, we did our best to avoid this sort of thing.' To that extent ethicists are useful, but in the face of maximizing shareholder value they're unlikely to guide decisions in any meaningful way. I did read the article though.

[Tero]

They tested some shopping apps where you spoke to the AI and it ordered the item and billed it to you. It did much worse than you pickkng the item in the Amazon catalog.

It kind of reminds me of my friend Per in the Finnish army. He could recite the instructions to put together a machine gun. But he did poorly doing it.

[Brian Peacock]

[Tero]

Scottish data center
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-propo ... rtool-fife

[Brian Peacock]

Scottish data center
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-propo ... rtool-fife

One of the world’s largest AI data centres is being planned next to Auchtertool village in Fife, Scotland. The height of six double decker buses and length of 100 football pitches. An estimated 20% of Scotland’s energy will be consumed by this.

The beautiful countryside near Auchtertool village is under threat from a proposed development that could alter the local landscape and environment drastically. A plan to build one of the world's largest AI data centres in this scenic location has been unveiled and a local community campaign has objected to the plans.

One of the most concerning aspects of this project is its enormous energy consumption. It is estimated that the data centre will consume 20% of Scotland's total energy output. This is not a sustainable or environmentally friendly. This large-scale energy consumption contradicts the Scottish government’s goals for environmental sustainability.

Instead of pushing forward with this project that no one voted for, we urge the Scottish Government to halt these plans immediately and to foster dialogue with local communities and environmental experts.

Sign this petition to demand that the Scottish Government stop the proposed AI data centre near Auchtertool and engage in responsible planning that respects our communities

Sign now to protect this local community in Fife for generations to come.