🤔 Wiser! #126: Future of Humanity | AI's Simple Failures | Salesforce | TikTok Ban | Metaverse
From AI's threat to humanity to the legal implications of AI-generated research, to the use of AI in healthcare and retail. Plus recent developments in social media, BigTech, metaverse and robotics.
Wiser!? More like Wiser-ish!
Welcome to issue #126 of the Wiser! newsletter.
Hey there, tech aficionados! I’m back with another edition of Wiser! Or as I like to call it, "The Newsletter That Knows More Than Your Alexa."
In this week’s newsletter, I cover a range of current topics from the tech economy, from AI's potential threat to humanity, to the legal implications of AI-generated research, to the use of AI in healthcare and retail. It also discusses recent developments in social media, BigTech, the metaverse, and robotics.
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How can AI lead to the extinction of humanity when it can’t even write 10 sentences that end in “apple”?
In this week’s weekly column for paying subscribers, I look (again) at AI. Specifically the concerns that we’ve unleashed an unstoppable force that will cause the end of humanity. This comes after another group of leading figures in the tech industry warned about the potential dangers of AI, likening the risks to pandemics and nuclear wars.
In a statement released by the Center for AI Safety, over 350 executives, researchers, and engineers in the AI field (including the guy who runs ChatGPT) emphasised the need to prioritise mitigating the risk of AI leading to human extinction.
For me, the greater concerns are spreading misinformation, eliminating jobs, and causing societal disruptions. (Did you see the story from May 22 when a fake image of an explosion near the Pentagon was shared by multiple verified (sic) Twitter accounts, causing confusion and leading to a brief dip in the stock market. The image was apparently generated by artificial intelligence and was fake.)
All very concerning, but then there’s another other side to AI, the side that is less spoken about but is nonetheless, reality.
AI may be super smart, but it is also a dumb ass!
Ask it to write ten simple sentences that end in a certain word, and every single one of them fails. What’s worse, the AI doesn’t even know that they’ve failed! Read what happened when I asked all the major AI’s to write ten sentences ending in the word “apple.” Spoiler alert: they all failed in different ways!
This Week’s Wiser! Roundup
AI: The Smart Dumbass
First up, let's talk about AI. You know, that thing that's supposed to take over the world but can't even write ten sentences that end with "apple." Yeah, that AI. According to a recent Pew survey, only 14% of Americans are using ChatGPT. That's right, folks. More people believe in Bigfoot than use AI. But don't let that fool you. AI is here to stay, and it's about to get a whole lot smarter. Or dumber. We'll see.
TikTok vs. Montana: The Battle of the Century
In social media news, TikTok is suing Montana over a statewide ban. Yes, you read that right. Montana, the state known for... well, not much, has decided to take on one of the biggest social media platforms in the world. Good luck with that, Montana.
Salesforce: The Titanic of Tech?
Over in BigTech, Salesforce's shares have taken a nosedive. Despite increasing their full-year earnings and operating margin targets, their customer acquisition costs are higher than Elon Musk's ambitions. If they don't sort out their sales performance, they might have to cut over $2 billion from their sales and marketing budget. Ouch.
Meta: The Emperor's New Clothes
Speaking of BigTech, Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) announced its latest mixed-reality headset, the Quest 3. Despite being the market leader, Meta's sales in its Reality Labs unit fell by half in the first quarter. Maybe they should spend less time changing their name and more time improving their products. The timing was interesting given that Apple are expected (yet again) to announced their $3k mixed reality headset today. Are we about to see a new metaverse battleground?
AI: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Back to AI, there’s some good news and some bad news. The good news is that scientists in Switzerland have used AI to help a paralysed man walk again. The bad news is that AI-generated research has led to inaccurate information in legal work. So, while AI might be able to help you walk, it probably won't be able to help you win a lawsuit.
Robotics: The Future is Here, and It's Terrifying
Finally, in robotics news, startup 1X has deployed the first humanoid robot in a professional environment. Their EVE robot is now a security guard at an android manufacturing site. It's like a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie. But don't worry, they're not taking over the world... yet.
To read longer versions of these stories, get additional content and links to other stories, head over the weekly edition of Wiser! posted last Friday.
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The Endish
That's all for this week, folks! Remember, in the world of tech, it's either adapt or get left behind. So keep learning, keep experimenting, and most importantly, keep laughing. Because if we can't find humour in the absurdity of our tech-obsessed world, then the robots have already won.
Until next time,
Rick "The Tech Whisperer" Huckstep
P.S. If you have any questions, comments, or just want to chat about the impending robot apocalypse, hit reply or join the Wiser! chat group on Slack. I promise, the AI bots there are friendly... for now. 🤖
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This newsletter was co-written with AI inputs from ChatGPT Plus, NotionAI and Adobe Firefly.