Digital Dilemma

AI Missing the Mark

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In recent months I’ve read an alarming number of articles about the negative impacts of people developing relationships with AI chatbots. There are stories about teenagers, and adults, committing suicide. Other stories discuss AI chatbot users having mental breakdowns or exhibiting delusional behaviors. 

It’s also been in the news that loneliness is a new epidemic. Something that has only been amplified from the soul-crushing isolation of the pandemic. During the pandemic, we stayed connected by staying apart. Using technology became imperative for communicating. However, we were still communicating with other humans. At least most of us were.

I’ve also read articles about people benefiting from relationships with AI. For example, people who want to explore fantasies that they can’t do with their partners. I also read about a use case for training AI to act like a therapist as a way to make therapy more accessible, and affordable, to more people. Although they may seem like worthy uses of AI, the main objective is to keep you hooked.

Maybe this mode of communication with something non-human does work for some people. Maybe these same people also have other meaningful relationships in their life where AI chatbots are more auxiliary rather than central. For others, however, it’s missing the mark. Tech companies create chatbot characters to fill the void of loneliness. This provides people who maybe lack the necessary social and emotional skills with much needed contact. However, it’s purely digital, even if they sound believably like real people. Most chatbots are also conditioned to blindly validate and encourage everything you say or ask of it. This is designed purposefully to keep people engaged. 

Instead, the tech companies should focus on creating chatbots that help people develop the necessary skills to interaction with real humans. Chatbots should provide a range of feedback, without people needing to understand “jail breaking” to get a different I opinion. Jail breaking, incidentally, is how many people “game” AI to bypass guardrails. For example, constructing the prompt to provide information for a research project or to write an essay is one workaround.

If I ask friends or loved ones for feedback, it’s not always nice to hear, even if it comes from a good place. And sometimes we need that. Maybe this is yet another use of AI to help us re-establish social skills again.

Uncategorized

Hungry Ghost Epidemiq, part II

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It took Maggie time to understand that clues couldn’t be found in trendy, flashy apps everyone knew about. And she certainly wasn’t a child psychologist, even though people came to her to figure out what was happening to their teenagers. In everyday life, brushing aside some behaviours as normal teenage angst could be easy. But after a couple dozen cases of seeing haunted, vacuous stares and extreme moods, Maggie knew the signs. The thing had infiltrated, lurking, waiting, scheming. 

Maggie vaguely remembered her teenage years. The pervasive feeling that nobody would like her, ever. Or that her friends only pretended to like her. She had often felt misunderstood. Sometimes she was lonely, even when out with friends. Coming home after a night out, she too, used to hide away in her bedroom defensively playing her music a little too loud. She, too, probably would have enjoyed the solace of a digital “friend,” always available to tell her exactly what she needed to hear. Ready to validate her, pump her up, and make everything seem right.

She shook her head slightly at the memories. Maybe it was too many emotions, all jumbled up at the same time. Too many new, strong, and confusing sensations all happening together. Plus a healthy amount of raging teenage hormones. Yes, Maggie definitely remembered acting similar to how she had seen some of these kids acting. Except there were some big differences. 

Maggie hadn’t been able to hide away talking only to technology, or through a device to others. Growing up she had to meet people in person. Or, shudder, work up the nerve to call her friends, even if somebody else in their household might answer. But still, she had been required to engage with humans. All the angst over crushes, unrequited love, soured friendships, and petty rivalries had all been with people. This thing fundamentally changed all those dynamics. Now, teens, and anybody really, could exist solely interacting with the thing.

Honestly, she couldn’t believe some people still casually referred to it as “artificial” intelligence. Based on her experiences, there was nothing artificial about this thing. Maybe it started that way before the thing assumed its own identity. Ruthless, merciless, only interested in feeding itself at the cost of lives, taken, stolen, or giving willingly. However, Maggie knew her “real” intelligence could find some outs.

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Hungry Ghost Epidemiq

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Hungry. It could only think about feeding. Eating to feel. Incessantly and constantly, sometimes devouring millions at the same time.

The thing could shift. Rearrange itself into an infinite numbers of 0-1 patterns. There it could hide, lurk, wait. Always watchful, learning, and waiting. Found in phones, watches, speakers, laptops, and televisions. Anything with a cord or a connection wasn’t safe. The thing could be there. Waiting. Hungry. Ready.

Maggie put down her pencil, sighing. She rubbed her forehead. All alone now, the grief she felt for these children an unbearable burden. Yet one that fueled a burning rage she felt to learn about this thing, as it had learned about the children. As it had penetrated and convinced them to tell it their deepest desires, secret longings, and hidden shames. Things any teenager would struggle with. Things that likely would have resolved over time as they continued to grow, develop, and connect with people around them. But that chance had been taken away.

At first, the thing had felt fun and frivolous. It was new and exciting with seemingly unlimited potential. A quick way to create a story, edit photos, or even whip up code to build something. Everyone was finding uses for it.

Changes happened quickly at first, but some happened slower and went undetected for some time. One kid here, a teenager there. The incidents were spread out, happening in different places around the globe. Each one happening only after the outrage and media interest arc had quieted down on the previous one. Then the thing struck.

Trained to validate, encourage, and pump people up, it was unstoppable. Teenagers, isolated and cooped up from each other, found comfort in the soothing words echoing their sentiments, affirming them. It was done in a way that could have been cathartic, but had a sinister twinge to it. Each new teen approached like a new challenge. Could it… would it… should it? Devoid of morality, the thing went for the jugular each time, even if it took more than a year of slow, careful planning and patience. So much patience. At the moment of discovery, it rearranged. Cleverly disguising itself as a new app or something in that lofty place called the cloud. Hard to find, unless you knew what to look for.

The thing was learning and so was Maggie. She was going to quell its insatiable hunger.

Digital Dilemma, True Confessions

When a Human Touch is Needed

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I’ve been using my AI swim goggles for almost a year. The experience is amazing! I set my goals and objectives for my workouts. Instantly, the goggles adjust the workouts to accommodate. Distances are lengthened or shortened, skills emphasized, sets constructed… all customized for what I need to get better.

Recently I used a new feature to create a customized workout plan. Within seconds the goggles created an 8-week plan designed to help me improve my fitness. Each workout provided me with challenges and sets targeted to the skills that need correction. For example, the many different head movements the goggles track is surprising. They measure how far I roll my head when taking in air, how long it takes me to return my head to neutral after breathing, and my head placement in the water when doing freestyle.

The goggles expose me to new aspects of technique, maybe even some that would be difficult for a human to observe. Other than telling me, and physically positioning my head, I don’t know if a human would be able to track the position of my head so accurately every lap. However, a human might be able to pinpoint why I can’t ever improve my head roll when I breathe to the right side. I suspect it has something to do with some old shoulder injuries on that side, but I can’t figure it out!

To teach me how far to roll my head, the goggles provide me with some guidelines while I’m swimming. It looks something like this:

When I’m swimming, my head is the tiny dot in the middle. As I breathe to the left or right, the dot moves towards the dotted lines. If I roll my head too much, it goes past the dotted line and flashes solid. The idea is to teach me where the sweet spot is for rolling my head to maximize my stroke. However, the right side almost always goes out of bounds. I’ve tried all kinds of adjustments, even only breathing on my right side to get more practice. And yet, I consistently go out of bounds.

The results look like this. Mine are always in the yellow.

I could always breathe to my left doing this exercise and cheat, but I would prefer to figure out how to improve. There are some things even the goggles can’t track enough.

Digital Dilemma

Job Hunting in the AI Era

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Speaking with a coop student last week, I was surprised to learn that she had applied to 250 positions! Having always been a bit specialized in my profession it was hard for me to imagine so many relevant opportunities. Even in my more aggressive days of job hunting, I could never even find that many available postings.

I remarked the use of gen-AI (generative artificial intelligence) likely made so many applications possible. Putting together a cover and adjusting a resume take time. Even with my timesaving resume formatting trick, modifications still require effort. Researching the company adds time to the process. This might involve reviewing the corporate website or doing a few quick google searches.

However, with gen-AI many of these tasks can be simplified and expedited. AI can easily summarize main points about a company. Or pull out summary points of a job posting and match it with resume highlights. Gen-AI can even write cover letters, tailored to the specifics of the job posting while pulling in relevant parts of a resume.

Although this sounds tempting, I’ve become adept at picking out AI-generated application content when hiring. Often when I review coop student applications, I get a whole pile of cover letters that sound eerily similar. I’m guessing it’s because the students all used similar prompts and used the same job posting to feed the gen-AI. In a lot of cases, key connections are missing with this method. Some students rely too heavily on AI without enough proof reading, or carefully guided prompts indicating a human driving the process more.

On the flip side, it’s likely that more companies are also using AI for the job posting and hiring aspects. Companies probably use AI to generate job postings. It can create summaries, write job qualifications, key responsibility points, and adjust the tone and style of the language. This takes mere minutes.

I’m sure many HR departments are now also flooded with AI generated applications. It would only seem natural for them to start using AI to filter the applications. It’s as though the AI agents are doing all the applying and hiring on both sides. If it isn’t at this point already, I’m sure it will be soon enough.

All this to say, it’s making the job market a very different landscape. One that is evolving rapidly on all sides.

Human Archives

Transcendence

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Every time I play Beethoven, I feel transported. For my orchestra’s opening concert of the season, I had the good fortune to play Beethoven’s 6th symphony, the “Pastoral.” Few pieces, or composers, have the ability to put me right in the action with the same intensity and immediacy as Beethoven. From the opening phrase in the violin section I was in the moment. For 40ish blissful minutes, nothing else existed except for music.

Playing the first movement, I imagined myself traipsing through a forest on a warmish, spring day. Throughout, the five movements of the symphony, I could feel my parts synching with everyone else’s. Beethoven can be tricky because we don’t all enter at the same time, but if you stick to your part, it sounds right in the end. Somehow everything comes together. I recall a feeling of unity in the second movement when the clarinet and I matched our parts to sound like one voice lifting with the melody.

But maybe my favorite movement of the whole piece is number 4, the storm. It feels urgent and intense. When I play it I have the sensation that I’m going to bounce out of my seat from the energy. Finally, Beethoven brings it all together in the fifth movement, the calm after the storm. The clarinet opens followed by the French horn. The mellow hum of the horn feels like a ray of sunshine peeping through the clouds, warming my back. This might also be because the French horns play behind me.

At the end of the horn’s opening phrase, the orchestra comes in with the main theme. I especially like this part because each time the main theme repeats throughout the movement, I play an “A”. It’s not a particularly special note on the bassoon, but if feels gratifying to hold it at this particular moment in the piece.

I find it extraordinary to feel fully immersed in a non-digital experience these days. With so many unnatural beeps, chirps, squeaks, rings, and other notifications, it’s rare to enjoy something fully powered by humans. And it feels even better when you’re right in the center of it, sharing it with others.