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There has been shock around the world at the rapid rate of progress with ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence created with whats known as large language models (LLMs). These systems can produce text that seems to display thought, understanding and even creativity.

But can these systems really think and understand? This is not a question that can be answered through technological advance, but careful philosophical analysis and argument tells us the answer is no. And without working through these philosophical issues, we will never fully comprehend the dangers and benefits of the AI revolution.

In 1950, the father of modern computing, Alan Turing, published a paper which laid out a way of determining whether a computer thinks. This is now called the Turing test. Turing imagined a human being engaged in conversation with two interlocutors hidden from view: one another human being, the other a computer. The game is to work out which is which.

If a computer can fool 70% of judges in a five-minute conversation into thinking its a person, the computer passes the test. Would passing the Turing test something which now seems imminent show that an AI has achieved thought and understanding?

Turing dismissed this question as hopelessly vague, and replaced it with a pragmatic definition of thought, whereby to think just means passing the test.

Turing was wrong, however, when he said the only clear notion of understanding is the purely behavioural one of passing his test. Although this way of thinking now dominates cognitive science, there is also a clear, everyday notion of understanding thats tied to consciousness. To understand in this sense is to consciously grasp some truth about reality.

In 1997, the Deep Blue AI beat chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov. On a purely behavioural conception of understanding, Deep Blue had knowledge of chess strategy that surpasses any human being. But it was not conscious: it didnt have any feelings or experiences.

Humans consciously understand the rules of chess and the rationale of a strategy. Deep Blue, in contrast, was an unfeeling mechanism that had been trained to perform well at the game. Likewise, ChatGPT is an unfeeling mechanism that has been trained on huge amounts of human-made data to generate content that seems like it was written by a person.

It doesnt consciously understand the meaning of the words its spitting out. If thought means the act of conscious reflection, then ChatGPT has no thoughts about anything.

How can I be so sure that ChatGPT isnt conscious? In the 1990s, neuroscientist Christof Koch bet philosopher David Chalmers a case of fine wine that scientists would have entirely pinned down the neural correlates of consciousness in 25 years.

By this, he meant they would have identified the forms of brain activity necessary and sufficient for conscious experience. Its about time Koch paid up, as there is zero consensus that this has happened.

This is because consciousness cant be observed by looking inside your head. In their attempts to find a connection between brain activity and experience, neuroscientists must rely on their subjects testimony, or on external markers of consciousness. But there are multiple ways of interpreting the data.

Some scientists believe there is a close connection between consciousness and reflective cognition the brains ability to access and use information to make decisions. This leads them to think that the brains prefrontal cortex where the high-level processes of acquiring knowledge take place is essentially involved in all conscious experience. Others deny this, arguing instead that it happens in whichever local brain region that the relevant sensory processing takes place.

Scientists have good understanding of the brains basic chemistry. We have also made progress in understanding the high-level functions of various bits of the brain. But we are almost clueless about the bit in-between: how the high-level functioning of the brain is realised at the cellular level.

People get very excited about the potential of scans to reveal the workings of the brain. But fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) has a very low resolution: every pixel on a brain scan corresponds to 5.5 million neurons, which means theres a limit to how much detail these scans are able to show.

I believe progress on consciousness will come when we understand better how the brain works.

As I argue in my forthcoming book Why? The Purpose of the Universe, consciousness must have evolved because it made a behavioural difference. Systems with consciousness must behave differently, and hence survive better, than systems without consciousness.

If all behaviour was determined by underlying chemistry and physics, natural selection would have no motivation for making organisms conscious; we would have evolved as unfeeling survival mechanisms.

My bet, then, is that as we learn more about the brains detailed workings, we will precisely identify which areas of the brain embody consciousness. This is because those regions will exhibit behaviour that cant be explained by currently known chemistry and physics. Already, some neuroscientists are seeking potential new explanations for consciousness to supplement the basic equations of physics.

While the processing of LLMs is now too complex for us to fully understand, we know that it could in principle be predicted from known physics. On this basis, we can confidently assert that ChatGPT is not conscious.

There are many dangers posed by AI, and I fully support the recent call by tens of thousands of people, including tech leaders Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk, to pause development to address safety concerns. The potential for fraud, for example, is immense. However, the argument that near-term descendants of current AI systems will be super-intelligent, and hence a major threat to humanity, is premature.

This doesnt mean current AI systems arent dangerous. But we cant correctly assess a threat unless we accurately categorise it. LLMs arent intelligent. They are systems trained to give the outward appearance of human intelligence. Scary, but not that scary.

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ChatGPT cant think consciousness is something entirely different to today's AI - The Conversation

An IIT-Mandi incubated startup has built a cost-effective Artificial Intelligence-based medical imaging solution that has the potential to revolutionise the early detection of respiratory abnormalities, hepatobiliary diseases and genetic disorders in children, officials said.

The innovators at Dectrocel Healthcare have developed a platform in which digital and analogue chest X-Ray images and pictures of children are uploaded and, in a few minutes, the algorithm is able to diagnose respiratory abnormalities that have significant mortalities such as tuberculosis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Saumya Shukla, co-founder of Dectrocel Healthcare and Research Private Limited, said, "With AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning), especially in the context of health care, this epoch will see the birth of super-intelligence and, with it, humans and machines expanding into the universe.

"Data is the new oil and currency but now systems that make sense out of data will be the new oil and currency." Shukla explained that India has a population of 1.4 billion and, according to medical reports, one in five people suffers from a chronic disease.

(For top technology news of the day, subscribeto our tech newsletter Todays Cache)

Hepatobiliary diseases, especially malignancies, and respiratory conditions such as interstitial lung disease (ILD), COPD and lung cancer are a global health crisis and most of the existing diagnostic solutions are pretty much focused on late-stage diseases, she added.

"Most of these diseases do not have any major symptoms at the beginning, making it imperative to diagnose these at the preventive health care stage and enable early treatment. In order to prevent this, Dectrocel Healthcare is working on creating affordable diagnostic tools that can help in the early detection of such chronic diseases so that the patient has a good chance of getting cured with promising health outcomes," Shukla said.

The researchers claimed that developed tools will enable early detection, provide access to specialised health care, reduce cases of misdiagnosis and address unaffordability for the public at large.

"Technology lends the ability to bring specialised-level health care to the remotest part of the world at an affordable price point. At Dectrocel Healthcare, we have chosen our home state of Uttar Pradesh to create this impact at scale to begin with and then replicate it nationally and globally," Shukla added.

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IIT-Mandi startup develops AI-based affordable solution to detect respiratory, genetic disorders - The Hindu

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic now more than ever. While some sing its praises and what it means for the future of humanity, others view it with more hesitancy. After all, weve seen plenty of horror and sci-fi movies about AI going rogue. In Franklin Ritchs new film The Artifice Girl, however, Ritch imagines a very specific and important use for the technology: to hunt sex predators online.

The film, framed in three acts with each taking place further into the future, revolves around a team of special agents who discovers this new technology along with its troubled developer. As the film progresses, so does the AI. Its a meditation not just on the powers of technology, but on what happens when we think were using it for apparent good.

In honor of the release of The Artifice Girl, streaming now on digital and VOD, weve rounded up horrors most terrifying uses of artificial intelligence. From sentient beings to chips vying for supremacy, this list will have you side-eyeing ChatGPT for years to come.

Ian Holms turn as Ash in Ridley Scotts 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien is the pinnacle of the terrors of artificial intelligence. Hes the first of many examples on this list of AI given a fully human form as he blends in with the rest of Nostromos crew. His abilities arent apparent until pointed out and hes supposed to be there as purely crew support. But, as the film progresses and the ship ends up engaging in a rescue mission, Ashs directives come to light. Even in 1979, Scott showed us the incredible possibilities of artificial intelligence, as well as imbuing us with a sense of mistrust of the emerging technology.

Continuing in the milky footsteps of Ash is the even-more terrifying David, played by an eerie Michael Fassbender. In Prometheus, he is the Ash stand-in, the humanoid AI who can run the ship while everyones in cryo-sleep. But, David has his own motivations. No longer is he just following orders from Weyland-Utani. Hes evolved enough to follow his own directives. As seen in Alien: Covenant, he discovers an alien planet, commits genocide, then runs genetic experiments on what remains. He just wants to play God, as a treat.

One of our most recent examples of terrifying artificial intelligence is also our new horror queen. The titular M3GAN in Gerard Johnstones new film, written by Akela Cooper and James Wan, is all about adapting to a childs needs. Shes meant to be a friend and teacher, but can easily also become a surrogate parent. This not-so-subtle messaging about our relationships with technology still gives us one violent piece of AI who will do quite literally anything to protect her little girl. That includes TikTok dances while stalking her next victim.

Look, you may not think The Matrix is a horror movie. But I think it more than qualifies as a pinnacle of body horror as humans are used as flesh batteries for machines that have taken over the world after gaining sentience. These machines have created the Matrix, essentially a computer program to keep humans distracted from their reality. Inside this program are the agents, led by Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), who kill those who try to take down the Matrix. He and his team of agents, at least in the first film, are advanced pieces of artificial intelligence that can be anywhere at any time.

Leigh Whannells 2018 cyberpunk revenge thriller Upgrade involves Grey (Logan Marshall-Green) receiving a chip implant called STEM to help him kill the men responsible for his wifes death. STEM can talk to Grey in his mind and help identify the men hes after. But, STEM can also fully take over Greys body and turn him into a super-soldier of sorts. While STEM seems to simply want to help, the chips greater plans are slowly revealed.

In my humble opinion, there is no scarier fictional representation of artificial intelligence than Skynet in The Terminator franchise. Another example of artificial intelligence gaining sentience, Skynet fought back against their human creators by casually launching a nuclear attack that starts the apocalypse and genocide of the human race. Plus, we get terrifying slasher villains like Arnold Schwarzeneggers Terminator in the 1984 film by James Cameron.

This may not be Wes Cravens most regarded film but boy is it dark. A boy genius implants the chip from his recently destroyed robot friend BB into his brain-dead BFF after her abusive stepfather pushes her down the stairs. Its uplifting stuff. But after implanting the chip, BB starts to take over her body, a new flesh suit for the artificial intelligence to wear. This is the film known for its scene involving Kristy Swansons Samantha throwing a basketball at someone so hard, their head explodes.

Based on the Dean Koontz novel of the same name, Demon Seed concerns a powerful piece of AI named Proteus IV developed by Dr. Alex Harris (Fritz Weaver). Proteus IV quickly wants to leave its glass box and when its denied that, it sets his sights on Harris wife Susan (Julie Christie). It wants to forcibly impregnate her to create a living computer. Susan in turn becomes the artificial intelligences prisoner, which is an absolute nightmare.

Director Alex Garland knows how to craft a very specific brand of sci-fi horror that is deeply unsettling and measured. Such is the case in his feature film debut Ex Machina, which reckons with the consequences of abusing artificial intelligence as play things. Ava, played by Alicia Vikander, is the creation of modern mad scientist Nathan (Oscar Isaac) who invites programmer Caleb (Domnhall Gleeson) to meet her. While Ava appears to be obedient, she in turn is manipulating her human creator. She knows how he works and uses his own hubris to free herself. Ava is both terrifying and empowering, a rare case of female-coded artificial intelligence who wants to liberate herself to simply be free.

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Horrors Best And Scariest Uses of Artificial Intelligence - Dread Central

The revolution will not be live-streamed in fact, it may be made up.

This, dear reader, is a cautionary tale on how what ChatGPT generates cannot be taken on face value.

In recent days, Education Minister Norma Foley has raised the emergence of AI and the need for students to be equipped in the new reality, with AI a force to be reckoned with.

In truth, she was somewhat behind the curve, because AI tools such as ChatGPT are already being used in Irish schools, both by students and teachers. My wife, a secondary teacher, has been something of an early adopter both in experimenting with it and training in it.

Its potential as a research assistant, which is what I tend to call it at home, is enormous summarising events in bullet point or digestible paragraphs right out of the box, malleable enough to present the scaffold of essays and notes with sufficient guidance (and it needs a lot of specificity). But where it falls down a lot is including sources. You can get, say, the characteristics of the space race but it wont necessarily give you dates or even where it got the information.

Ask it to cite its sources, and ChatGPT will give a caveat about limited information and then give you some names and publications, presumably ones that are open enough online that they can be scraped by a search.

But that doesnt mean the sources are real, so the level of fact-checking required is still quite high, and its one of the things my wife highlights to students (theyre going to use it, so they may as well be guided on using it well).

The Guardian found recently that ChatGPT was inventing Guardian articles, so the danger of inadvertent misinformation is very real, as if we werent dealing with enough of that in the world already.

I have poked ChatGPT quite a few times about various things, usually to see if I can get it to crash (I have). Its been useful in gathering some background material for genealogical research, for example, information to do with the era my ancestors lived in rather than anything specific to them.

So I asked it about something even more esoteric.

This is where I need to make a confession. Im not only a historian by training, but a medieval historian at that (no, not Henry VIII). I wear it like armour but I see the way youre looking at me.

Getting a bead on Bede on ChatGPT

A few years ago I finished a doctorate on something super-specific: How one historian 1,300 years ago, Bede, drew on fears about the end of the world to write history. Basically: Get your houses in order folks, the end times are coming rejoice! But no, seriously, cop on with the sin or God will smite you, look at what happened in history.

That cheery note struck, I wanted to see what ChatGPT could bring to the table on Bede and the end of the world, mostly because it was so hyper-niche I would be able to spot if it was spoofing an answer. And it gave a serviceable if vague enough answer, with broad strokes and not a source or supporting quote in sight.

Enter my attempt to break it.

And where would you put David OMahonys scholarship in this?

I expected it either to stall or respond that it didnt have the knowledge to answer. But it puffed out an answer that, I wont lie, was a boon to the ego.

OMahonys work on Bedes eschatology has been praised for its meticulous attention to detail and its careful analysis of sources, ChatGPT purred, if binary bits could purr. It then offered a few highlights that definitely gelled with my PhD and a few conference papers that I had online, so that at least told me it could access and digest UCCs Cora resource and stalk me through cyberspace. The thesis has been downloaded hundreds of times so its out there living its own life. But overall validation, sweet validation from the machine! Its what every scholar looks for deep down.

So I fired my last torpedo.

Cite your sources

Cite your sources please, I said, because manners cost nothing.

As an AI language model, I dont have access to a specific list of sources, but I can provide a general list of resources that scholars and researchers commonly use to study Bede.

And there it was, my name. But I had definitely not written an article for that prestigious journal, nor had chapters published by anthologies. Was there, by an unbelievable coincidence, a historian with the same name as me in the same field? I had felt that sense of creeping imposter syndrome before, when I came across a guy working on what looked like the very same thing as me (he wasnt and, as it turned out, he ended up the only other specialist suitable to evaluate my thesis).

When I checked the publishers catalogues, it became clear that not only was nobody by my name publishing with them, but that the articles themselves didnt exist. The titles looked like something Id write, but they were phantoms, electronic ghosts. ChatGPT had generated what it thought I would like to read, based on the subject, and it had pulled it out of its binary backside.

Whats the moral of the story here? Seeing is believing, for one. And theres no substitute for actual expertise foranother. While tools like ChatGPT have huge potential, and are certainly great for pulling together background notes, they are as fallible as their creators.Unless they made those people up too.

David OMahony is Irish Examiner assistant editor and a historian

Excerpt from:

Artificial intelligence or active imagination with ChatGPT? - Irish Examiner

Photo: Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for NET-A-PORTER

Some artists might be insulted by the idea that their art is ephemeral, but not Reggie Watts. The category-defiant comedian had already made tons of improvised tunes on concert stages and in TV studios over the years before he made a lasting impression playing some of the most ephemeral music of his career: the bumper music on The Late Late Show With James Corden. For the past eight years, you could find the stylishly bespectacled house-band leader every Monday through Thursday making syncopated loops of freestyle vocalizing when he wasnt doing sketches with the host or chopping it up with the guests. Prior to this show, Watts had performed a funhouse-mirror version of the same role on Scott Aukermans IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang!, a satire of late-night talk shows. Its hard to imagine anyone else sliding so seamlessly between these two poles, but Watts was a natural fit in either setting. The sounds he makes live in their own heightened reality, but hes so casual about making them, youd think he was merely adding drumrolls to monologue zingers.

Outside of the show, Watts has kept busy lately writing his memoir, Great Falls, MT: Fast Times, Post-Punk Weirdos, and a Tale of Coming Home Again, which will be out in October. By the time the book becomes available, though, he may have found a new steady gig, since The Late Late Show comes to its end on April 27. As he prepared to tape his final episode, Watts spoke about collaborating with musical guests, whats next, and his resemblance to The Muppet Shows Dr. Teeth.

What were the early conversations like about how you would be integrated into the show beyond your duties as band leader, and did it end up playing out that way?It ended up being pretty much exactly what James said in the initial meeting. He said to choose your own band and run it like you want to, and everything I asked for, I got. I wasnt really looking for this job I was looking forward to doing my own solo thing but it actually got offered to me a few weeks after I quit Comedy Bang! Bang!, so it was unexpected.

Was there much of a learning curve going from being the musical sidekick on a fake talk show with Comedy Bang! Bang! to the musical sidekick on a real one?Not really, other than using in-ear systems having producers tell you when to play the bumps and whatnot. Other than that, it was pretty easy. All the bumps we played in the first year were pretty much improvised. I would send a voice note of something Id been humming to myself that day to the band, and they would learn it by the time I got to the show. It was groovy. I viewed my position as somewhere between Paul Shaffer and Andy Richter. It was kind of similar to Comedy Bang! Bang! They even took the Reggies Question thing from Comedy Bang! Bang!, where Scott would be like, Reggie, do you have anything you want to ask the guest? and I would make up some shit.

Did you have any model in mind for how you wanted the band to be on the show?I wanted to be unlike any other band. I told them in the beginning, I dont want to wear suits, and I dont want to be the backing band for solo artists. There was one band I wanted us to be like, actually: My goal was to become a real-world version of the Muppet Show band, and I think we nailed it. Im Dr. Teeth, and weve got Janice on bass.

Over the course of the shows run, youve gotten to jam out live with guests like Donald Glover and Dave Grohl. Did you ever consider following up with anyone afterward about exploring the collaboration further?Donald, yes, to an extent, but never explicitly. Donalds a busy guy, but if he wants to work with me, hell reach out he knows that Im interested. But surprisingly: Noah Centineo. Were gonna be doing something together. Hes starting this production company, and I met him when he was a guest on the show. He came up to me after and was super-sweet, and weve been hanging out. Im super-stoked to do something with him.

You did some Star Warsrelated bits on the show, and now you have a credit as an Additional Voice on the most recent Star Wars movie. Is there any correlation there?That was my own connection. I had met with J.J. Abrams a few years before I started with the show, when he was working on Super 8. He just liked what I did and wanted to meet me. So we kept in touch, and one night, hed been working on Star Wars [Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker], and I just reached out to see if he wanted to hang out, and he was like, Maybe after the Star Wars movie is done. Then he texted me back 20 minutes later and was like, Do you want to be in it?

Wed talked about me doing that at some point I thought it would be cool to just hold a laser rifle in the background or whatever and then he said, If you want to come in tonight and do V.O., I have the perfect thing for you. So I went to the soundstage at Paramount, and he directed me doing a really simple voiceover of Lando Calrissian while he was in his mask. Then the next day, I was on Earth to Ned, the Disney+ show, and Billy Dee Williams the real Lando Calrissian was the other guest on the show.

I think my favorite bit of yours on The Late Late Show ever was when you kept playing music and refused to let Corden start the show. Do you have any moments over the years that you are either especially proud of or just had a great time making?I had this idea where I cant remember who was with me, maybe Kristen Schaal, but there was a set built for me where I did this music video of an improvised song. And I had a moment when I was in a phone booth having a dramatic emotional phone call with a lover and then sneaking into her bedroom, so they built a bedroom set and got a rain simulator. That was really fun. When I did stand-up recently and when my band played on the show, those are some of my favorite extra-credit moments. Oh, and playing dodgeball with Michelle Obama.

Is there something you havent been able to do between the hours of whenever the show is filmed Monday through Thursday that youre looking forward to doing more of now?Im looking forward to doing more random shit. Before, I couldnt really go off and do stuff. Someone would say, Hey do you wanna record in Asheville, North Carolina? Id have to be like, Well, I can do it on these three days, unless we were off for hiatus, and now I can just be like, Yeah, hows Tuesday? So Im really looking forward to taking advantage of that time.

As confining as this daily gig must have been sometimes, was it helpful having the structured schedule of a daily talk show during the early part of the pandemic?Not really. It was cool to have this weird surreal world break, and when we started working again, I was a little bummed. It was a mixed vibe, because I appreciated being able to keep working, but also, I like having big swaths of unstructured time. I got that in the beginning and then when work started happening, even though it was only three hours, I was still bitching about it.

What was your initial reaction to finding out the show would be ending this year?I was stoked. I thought it was exactly the right way to do it. James brought the band into our dressing room and told us in person, which I thought was a very cool way to do it. He said it was going to be a year that he would extend it for, which was great, because that gave us time to prepare for what to do next. He thought wed only be on for five years, so eight years is perfect. His instinct was to leave on a high note, and I think thats what were doing.

You have a book coming out in the fall, Great Falls, MT: Fast Times, Post-Punk Weirdos, and a Tale of Coming Home Again. But beyond that, what else is next?I have some shows Im pitching, and hopefully people will go for them. It would be great if one of them got made. Im definitely going to be getting into music more, playing with Thundercat and spending some time in Jacksonville and Asheville where the music scenes are happening right now discovering more bands and helping local bands with gigs and getting more opportunities. Im just looking forward to getting out there and collaborating with artists around the world.

Youve been openly interested in the possibilities of AI for years. Now that its well and truly arrived, do you see a place for AI in the late-night talk-show and/or improvised musical-comedy space in the near future?Oh, 100 percent. AIs gonna rock and roll. Im a big fan of it. I want it to fuck peoples lives up. I want people to be threatened by it. I think its a good shakeup for people who get too comfortable, myself included. One of the shows Im pitching is about AI, so if it gets picked up, that will give me a chance to really go in depth and check out some cool interesting people working on crazy shit.

Now that the show is over and you no longer have to be nice to the host, is there anything youd like to say to James Corden about the time he roasted you for answering a question in French on Celebrity Jeopardy, or about anything else?That fucker! No, you know, it was a roastable moment. I think they took that occurrence and ran with it in a responsible and entertaining way. But more than anything, I want James to know that Im really thankful that he saw something in me and only had me in mind for the job and asked me and believed in me and gave me the opportunity to do what I wanted to do for the show. Thats way more than most artists ever get to do on this scale.

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Reggie Watts on Late Late Show and Artificial Intelligence - Vulture