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I think this question is much more interesting regarding WolframAlpha than a normal search engine. A search engine listing is just a directory of links (althoug
by tikhonj 14y ago
I think this question is much more interesting regarding WolframAlpha than a normal search engine. A search engine listing is just a directory of links (although Google and friends are adding new capabilities constantly) where a WolframAlpha result is a curated, rewritten summary of the content in question.
Right now, WolframAlpha is one of the nearest things we have to the "advanced Artificial Intelligence" from the article; in a certain sense, it actually does create new content. Should this have speech protections? From an ideological point of view, I think it should, but I am sure about its legal status. A question I'm not even sure about ideologically is copyright--how much copyright protection do you give to things like WolframAlpha's result pages?
Either way, the most important point is that the future where computers produce novel and useful content is not the future at all--it's now.
- davidhollander 14y ago> WolframAlpha is one of the nearest things we have to the "advanced Artificial Intelligence" from the article; in a certain sense, it actually does create new content. The conclusions one draws from the article is that it creates new content in the same manner as a web scraper, calculator, or printing press creates new content. Wolfram Alpha cannot be said to possess independent agency because it does not possess its own set of intrinsic preferences which it seeks to maximize. Rather the preferences are extrinsic and determined by humans, classifying it as a tool rather than agent.