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Jon Stewart on the False Promises of AI [video]

48 points by dragonbonheur 3y ago

agomez314 3y ago
my takeaway is that our tech overlords praise science to the sky while making statements that are not scientific at all and bet their enormous resources on it.
KingOfCoders 3y ago
"What is there for the rest of us to do?" In a winner-takes-all-no-social-net economy, nothing.
gmanna 3y ago
[flagged]
- quickslowdown 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - gmanna 3y ago
    [dead]
UberFly 3y ago
Now more than ever, comedians are our grounded voices of truth.
nadermx 3y ago
As a former Dr of Mopping, how dare Jon elevate that profession so highly. It's truly a shitty job. But he has a point, cars robbed everyone of transport by carriage. And maybe one day ai bikes will rob cars of their use. Despite the doom and gloom occasionally I have faith in humanity.
emestifs 3y ago
Why are billions being poured into AI? It's not altruism. "I don't want to live in a world where someone else is making the world a better place better than we are." - some VC probably
- Takennickname 3y ago
  That quote is from silicon valley the show FYI.
abhpro 3y ago
Last week tonight is much better researched and has better writing. This wasn't very funny and had no real points.
bun_terminator 3y ago
Some good points, but unnecessarily tainted by comedy punchlines. I want more people bringing up discussion points without offering a grand solution or taking a side. I have no bloody idea if AI is a good or bad thing in the long run. Or if it's "fair" that it takes away artist jobs by using their previous work. Or if it will take away jobs - and if so, if that'll end up being a good or bad thing. It's still a good discussion to be had. Predictions about the future have a notoriously bad accuracy if you look back
reacharavindh 3y ago
I respect a lot of political critique of Job Stewart and his ability to communicate to the masses in simpler ways. But, I felt this was way off the mark. It loses the logic in order to bring out the comedic appeal. Sure, there are downsides to a new technology that improves productivity. But, it is a tool after all. What are we supposed to do? Not research anything new because it might put somebody off their job? Keep mining coal because the coal miner might lose their job? Keep running ICE because the workers at an ICE factory might lose their job? There is always a cost to progress. It is better to talk about managing the progress (regulate that all AI needs to be open to analysis, publish their weights etc, tackle reproducibility of results etc.) instead of dumb fear mongering. Even Job Stewart cannot stop LLMs from being improved.
- emestifs 3y ago
  I didnt take Stewart's monologue as anti-progress. Rather the core takeaway is the vague and grandiose talk of greatness and utopia for all of humanity and the planet that is to come from the AI. And brushing aside the upheaval and consequences mass automation on a decade scale, not multiple decades, will cause for the N% of society affected negatively. Big Tech personal AI assistants aren't going to put food on people's table after their profession is automated away. And political nonsense already make it hard for many to get aid when they're unable to work as it is, imagine some politician saying go get a job, don't leach off the government and tax payers. Is there a way to minimize the negatives that will inevitably playout? Those AI leaders aren't talking a lot about that, only vague suggestions or passing mentions, and then back to "we're going to use AI to make the world a better place"
  - reacharavindh 3y ago
    Sorry, but that is not fair or even normal. Are you saying that anybody can do something new only if they _can_ handle all the externalities that they cannot possibly have control over? Lets say you develop a new, better calendar tool that makes secretaries/personal assistants redundant. Are you supposed to release it and make money off it only if you could find a way to employ all those personal secreataries and assistants in the world? I do agree with you and hate the trope that is "we make the world a better place" or using the word - sustainable and green color to things that cannot possibly be either. If a politician says "go get a job, don't leach off the government and tax payers" and is so out of context, may be the political system and electing such a politician is a problem, and you ought to improve the society than asking Microsoft to think about the jobless...
1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDTiWaYfcM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDTiWaYfcM Apple asked Stewart not to have Khan on a podcast. Nor would they let him do the comedic segment on AI.
- nadermx 3y ago
  That was a pretty good interview
shombaboor 3y ago
I always thought "prompt engineer" was a dumb inflated term. That I agreed with.

48 points by dragonbonheur 3y ago

my takeaway is that our tech overlords praise science to the sky while making statements that are not scientific at all and bet their enormous resources on it.

KingOfCoders 3y ago

"What is there for the rest of us to do?" In a winner-takes-all-no-social-net economy, nothing.

gmanna 3y ago

[flagged]

quickslowdown 3y ago
[flagged]
- gmanna 3y ago
  [dead]

UberFly 3y ago

Now more than ever, comedians are our grounded voices of truth.

nadermx 3y ago

As a former Dr of Mopping, how dare Jon elevate that profession so highly. It's truly a shitty job. But he has a point, cars robbed everyone of transport by carriage. And maybe one day ai bikes will rob cars of their use. Despite the doom and gloom occasionally I have faith in humanity.

emestifs 3y ago

Why are billions being poured into AI? It's not altruism. "I don't want to live in a world where someone else is making the world a better place better than we are." - some VC probably

Takennickname 3y ago
That quote is from silicon valley the show FYI.

abhpro 3y ago

Last week tonight is much better researched and has better writing. This wasn't very funny and had no real points.

bun_terminator 3y ago

Some good points, but unnecessarily tainted by comedy punchlines. I want more people bringing up discussion points without offering a grand solution or taking a side. I have no bloody idea if AI is a good or bad thing in the long run. Or if it's "fair" that it takes away artist jobs by using their previous work. Or if it will take away jobs - and if so, if that'll end up being a good or bad thing. It's still a good discussion to be had. Predictions about the future have a notoriously bad accuracy if you look back

reacharavindh 3y ago

I respect a lot of political critique of Job Stewart and his ability to communicate to the masses in simpler ways. But, I felt this was way off the mark. It loses the logic in order to bring out the comedic appeal. Sure, there are downsides to a new technology that improves productivity. But, it is a tool after all. What are we supposed to do? Not research anything new because it might put somebody off their job? Keep mining coal because the coal miner might lose their job? Keep running ICE because the workers at an ICE factory might lose their job? There is always a cost to progress. It is better to talk about managing the progress (regulate that all AI needs to be open to analysis, publish their weights etc, tackle reproducibility of results etc.) instead of dumb fear mongering. Even Job Stewart cannot stop LLMs from being improved.

emestifs 3y ago
I didnt take Stewart's monologue as anti-progress. Rather the core takeaway is the vague and grandiose talk of greatness and utopia for all of humanity and the planet that is to come from the AI. And brushing aside the upheaval and consequences mass automation on a decade scale, not multiple decades, will cause for the N% of society affected negatively. Big Tech personal AI assistants aren't going to put food on people's table after their profession is automated away. And political nonsense already make it hard for many to get aid when they're unable to work as it is, imagine some politician saying go get a job, don't leach off the government and tax payers. Is there a way to minimize the negatives that will inevitably playout? Those AI leaders aren't talking a lot about that, only vague suggestions or passing mentions, and then back to "we're going to use AI to make the world a better place"
- reacharavindh 3y ago
  Sorry, but that is not fair or even normal. Are you saying that anybody can do something new only if they _can_ handle all the externalities that they cannot possibly have control over? Lets say you develop a new, better calendar tool that makes secretaries/personal assistants redundant. Are you supposed to release it and make money off it only if you could find a way to employ all those personal secreataries and assistants in the world? I do agree with you and hate the trope that is "we make the world a better place" or using the word - sustainable and green color to things that cannot possibly be either. If a politician says "go get a job, don't leach off the government and tax payers" and is so out of context, may be the political system and electing such a politician is a problem, and you ought to improve the society than asking Microsoft to think about the jobless...

1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDTiWaYfcM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDTiWaYfcM Apple asked Stewart not to have Khan on a podcast. Nor would they let him do the comedic segment on AI.

nadermx 3y ago
That was a pretty good interview

shombaboor 3y ago

I always thought "prompt engineer" was a dumb inflated term. That I agreed with.