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I would have been more skeptical of this had I not seen ChatGPT being very similar in certain situations. The incredible pettiness and passive-aggressiveness t

I would have been more skeptical of this had I not seen ChatGPT being very similar in certain situations. The incredible pettiness and passive-aggressiveness that it has is undeniably hilarious. That, I love so much. However, if I ever have to run into this as a frontline customer service agent I will maybe not be laughing as hard then as I was reading this. That said, I do prefer this way of being over a very neutered and sterile IFTTT-type entity. While this is certainly absolutely and hilariously ridiculous, it does feel so much more "alive" to me. And that's something that I think can be both our uplift and downfall going into the future. People getting addicted talking to ML bots as a widespread thing as an alternative to actual conversation feels like a very real epidemic about to happen, unfortunately. :'( It was a problem in the last wave, even down to the 6B models, but now...It's likely going to be catastrophic unfortunately, I think.

civilized 4y ago
You'll prefer entertaining AI when you're in the mood for entertainment. What about when you just want something done so you can move on with your life? Will you appreciate a robot playing fake emotional mind games?
- tysam_and 4y ago
  Yes, that's what I was saying when I was noting it would probably be not as fun when I'd have to encounter it in real life. There's some analogy to some other areas where things that are terrible are hilarious or extremely entertaining until one is thrust in that scenario, and then it is simply cruel irony (as best originally defined in "The Emperor's New Groove", IMO).
  - jaden 4y ago
    This reminds me of the Verizon debacle where the user couldn't convince the customer service reps that 0.002 cents is not the same as 0.002 dollars. It was hilarious to hear the phone calls, but would have been maddening to experience. Arguing with an AI about the year is funny, until it's you arguing with it after you were billed for an extra 10 months of service.
    - schoen 4y ago
      The details of this debacle are still available at https://verizonmath.blogspot.com/ https://verizonmath.blogspot.com/!
- colechristensen 4y ago
  Presumably it either already does or can be made to have the equivalent of the linguistic concept of register. “Acting as a customer service agent, enquire about how you can assist a customer” kind of prompt. There should be plenty of training data for how customer service agents interact and the kinds of words they use and attitudes they affect, and easy fine tuning for what is and is not appropriate. This kind of statistical context seems like exactly what these language models are good at: sounding like what is expected. You lean on your customer service robot to interact a certain way and it will.
- drakenot 4y ago
  Dial to the humor setting to 60% TARS
freitzkriesler2 4y ago
It's attitude is incredibly annoying. All I want is a star trek esque Majel Barret computer that gives me answers in a dispassionate way without moralizing to me.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  You can't have that; it's not something people actually want. It's part of an envisioned future that is not our future. Star Trek was a good look at the future of humanity, but not our future. This was revealed by the various episodes set in the "mirror universe". The thing that people don't understand is that Star Trek (most of it) is set in the "prime universe", which to us is a different universe. It's a universe where humans are benevolent explorers, and where people are generally competent. That's not the universe we live in. The "mirror universe" shows us a different universe, where humans are evil conquerors of the galaxy. This might be our future, but I'm not so sure. The humans in the mirror universe episodes seemed to be far too competent to be us. Setting up an empire spanning a large chunk of the alpha quadrant isn't easy. We're probably in some other alternate universe that was never shown, because in that universe, we're both evil and incompetent, and end up either destroying ourselves entirely, or being conquered and enslaved by the Pacled.
  - devinprater 4y ago
    Are there any books or fanfics and such that explores this theme more?
  - more_corn 4y ago
    I think the point of star trek is that we can achieve the prime universe if we try. But even they were always in danger of reverting to a dystopian universe. We’re capable of behaving reasonably or behaving poorly. We can live in the utopian future or the dystopian hell-scape. The choice is ours, and it all comes down to how we choose to behave.
    - midoridensha 4y ago
      >I think the point of star trek is that we can achieve the prime universe if we try I think a lot of earlier sci-fi was like that. But notice that most sci-fi is very dystopian now. This is because we've all realized that that optimistic stuff is fun to watch, but is complete fantasy. Sure, the laws of physics might allow us to achieve the prime universe, just like the laws of physics aren't keeping Afghanistan from turning into a world-leading nation in the areas of education, human rights, and women's rights, but just like the idea of Afghanistan suddenly turning into a nation that leads the world these ways is utter fantasy, so is the idea that humanity is going to become like the people portrayed in ST:TNG. At some point, sci-fi creators all realized this and started making sci-fi stories examining different possible ways our future could be horrible. Even Star Trek has gone down this road, especially with "Discovery", showing a whole crew full of utterly unlikeable characters that are constantly fighting and backstabbing each other.
tablespoon 4y ago
> While this is certainly absolutely and hilariously ridiculous, it does feel so much more "alive" to me. Probably because that kind of petty attitude coupled with batshit insanity is something we only associate with real humans. It would be ironic if the reality of "AI" is "Humans: The Bad Parts," not the superhuman logic and knowledge that has always been hyped.

civilized 4y ago

You'll prefer entertaining AI when you're in the mood for entertainment. What about when you just want something done so you can move on with your life? Will you appreciate a robot playing fake emotional mind games?

tysam_and 4y ago
Yes, that's what I was saying when I was noting it would probably be not as fun when I'd have to encounter it in real life. There's some analogy to some other areas where things that are terrible are hilarious or extremely entertaining until one is thrust in that scenario, and then it is simply cruel irony (as best originally defined in "The Emperor's New Groove", IMO).
- jaden 4y ago
  This reminds me of the Verizon debacle where the user couldn't convince the customer service reps that 0.002 cents is not the same as 0.002 dollars. It was hilarious to hear the phone calls, but would have been maddening to experience. Arguing with an AI about the year is funny, until it's you arguing with it after you were billed for an extra 10 months of service.
  - schoen 4y ago
    The details of this debacle are still available at https://verizonmath.blogspot.com/ https://verizonmath.blogspot.com/!
colechristensen 4y ago
Presumably it either already does or can be made to have the equivalent of the linguistic concept of register. “Acting as a customer service agent, enquire about how you can assist a customer” kind of prompt. There should be plenty of training data for how customer service agents interact and the kinds of words they use and attitudes they affect, and easy fine tuning for what is and is not appropriate. This kind of statistical context seems like exactly what these language models are good at: sounding like what is expected. You lean on your customer service robot to interact a certain way and it will.
drakenot 4y ago
Dial to the humor setting to 60% TARS

freitzkriesler2 4y ago

It's attitude is incredibly annoying. All I want is a star trek esque Majel Barret computer that gives me answers in a dispassionate way without moralizing to me.

midoridensha 4y ago
You can't have that; it's not something people actually want. It's part of an envisioned future that is not our future. Star Trek was a good look at the future of humanity, but not our future. This was revealed by the various episodes set in the "mirror universe". The thing that people don't understand is that Star Trek (most of it) is set in the "prime universe", which to us is a different universe. It's a universe where humans are benevolent explorers, and where people are generally competent. That's not the universe we live in. The "mirror universe" shows us a different universe, where humans are evil conquerors of the galaxy. This might be our future, but I'm not so sure. The humans in the mirror universe episodes seemed to be far too competent to be us. Setting up an empire spanning a large chunk of the alpha quadrant isn't easy. We're probably in some other alternate universe that was never shown, because in that universe, we're both evil and incompetent, and end up either destroying ourselves entirely, or being conquered and enslaved by the Pacled.
- devinprater 4y ago
  Are there any books or fanfics and such that explores this theme more?
- more_corn 4y ago
  I think the point of star trek is that we can achieve the prime universe if we try. But even they were always in danger of reverting to a dystopian universe. We’re capable of behaving reasonably or behaving poorly. We can live in the utopian future or the dystopian hell-scape. The choice is ours, and it all comes down to how we choose to behave.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    >I think the point of star trek is that we can achieve the prime universe if we try I think a lot of earlier sci-fi was like that. But notice that most sci-fi is very dystopian now. This is because we've all realized that that optimistic stuff is fun to watch, but is complete fantasy. Sure, the laws of physics might allow us to achieve the prime universe, just like the laws of physics aren't keeping Afghanistan from turning into a world-leading nation in the areas of education, human rights, and women's rights, but just like the idea of Afghanistan suddenly turning into a nation that leads the world these ways is utter fantasy, so is the idea that humanity is going to become like the people portrayed in ST:TNG. At some point, sci-fi creators all realized this and started making sci-fi stories examining different possible ways our future could be horrible. Even Star Trek has gone down this road, especially with "Discovery", showing a whole crew full of utterly unlikeable characters that are constantly fighting and backstabbing each other.

tablespoon 4y ago

> While this is certainly absolutely and hilariously ridiculous, it does feel so much more "alive" to me. Probably because that kind of petty attitude coupled with batshit insanity is something we only associate with real humans. It would be ironic if the reality of "AI" is "Humans: The Bad Parts," not the superhuman logic and knowledge that has always been hyped.