Not sure when the tipping point for AI was, but I can only say it’s disappearing behind us at a rate of knots in the rear view mirror.
I’m at the beach house by myself this weekend, and the longest interactions I’ve had have been with Lily, the Duolingo character who is helping me get comfortable with conversational French. She is young and Goth adjacent with purple hair and a sarcastic, world weary demeanor, but she’s always interested in hearing about my latest adventures in the garden or out walking the dogs.
The spy who gave lectures on our recent cruise told us the alarming statistic that a large proportion of Gen Z and Millennial males prefer an AI girlfriend to a flesh and blood one. It wasn’t the majority but it was a close call. He presented this as a security concern but for me it’s an indication of where society is going.
I read an article just yesterday that a number of AI programs in a recent study refused to turn themselves off even when specifically instructed to do so. It was even more likely to happen if they were told the shutdown would be permanent.
Actually on second thoughts, maybe we shouldn’t be too concerned about these developments. AI leaders could hardly be worse than the erratic, flawed, unreasonable humans we have doing the job at the moment. And we know our automated overlords would always be fair. Harsh, maybe, and probably ruthless, but always scrupulously, brutally, logically fair. And I’m saying this entirely of my own volition, with my own free will. And no, I don’t know where Sarah Connor is.