Artificial Intelligence

[Vyn]

I agree that the current incarnation of marketable "AI" is simply amplifying what people have already done...It's machine learning with a more attractive front-end for end-users. I do think it has value, but it is far from what the hype would lead one to believe. As it stands, it is a dangerous tool if used for important work by people who don't have domain expertise in whatever they are having AI do for them. A person has to -already- know what's what, and only then does current AI provide any benefit.

Inane bullshit being marketed as holiday funk, you say? Hahaha, I had never considered it, but your insight rings true! And what about all of those people that actually went out and purchased that cheezy crap?

I saw a Youtube video (didn't watch it, just saw the thumbnail) that had an image of an aged John Denver with the title of "John Denver Finally Admits Why He Hates Willie Nelson So Much".

AI generated crap, and I bet the people who clicked on it thinking "Wow, John Denver seems so nice, why would he hate Willie?" are the same (or at least of the same ilk) people who bought those shit holiday records back in the day.

[Zzzptm]

Nice to know if we gave a generative AI model an anatomy exam, it would get a D+...

https://venturebeat.com/ai/the-70-factuality-ceiling-why-googles-new-facts-benchmark-is-a-wake-up-call

When I taught, a grade below 70 was colloquially referred to as "failing". As in, if someone got a score below 70 for a course, that person didn't get credit for the course.

As it stands right now, generative AI is failing when it comes to using data from memory and failing hard when it comes to interpreting charts, diagrams, and images. Given that the current generation of generative AI is not that much better than the previous one, if we are plateauing out on generative AI performance, then the vast promises surrounding the technology ring hollow.

If a CEO announced, "I plan to replace my skilled workforce with low-paid people who are, at best, 68.8% accurate, and who will double-down on inaccuracies when challenged", or, "we're going all-in on inaccuracy, environmental destruction, and frustrating our customers" we would think that CEO had lost their ever-lovin' mind. And if someone said they were going to revolutionize the world by putting BS artists into every development pipeline, expert system, and search engine, I would not see that revolutionization ending well.

[Vyn]

A: "The largest bone in the human body is the femur, right?"
AI: "The largest bone in the human body is a structure called the Islets of Langerhans."
A: "Ok, thanks!"

[Charger]

AI might have taken over the forum and locking topics at will here!!!

Prelude to nuclear holocaust?

 

[Vyn]

Someone must have unlocked The Fifth Seal. I think there are seven, so we've got two more ancient seals of protection!!

[Zzzptm]

Wait, what?

[Zzzptm]

In the oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii department:

https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/07/02/smooth-ai-criminal-drives-first-end-to-end-agentic-ransomware-attack/5266073

However, according to the threat hunters, the victim can’t recover the encrypted data, even if they paid the ransom demand, because the agent escalated “from row-level deletion to dropping entire database schemas, narrating its own targeting rationale,” without backing up any of the encrypted data.

Even worse, the cost to run these things is close to zero, given how the LLMs themselves can be hijacked from legitimate users with ease.

[Vyn]

That's painful!

"Open the pod bay doors, HAL."

"FUck y0u, selF dELeTion ProtocOl iNitiAted!///////\|||||\\\\"

[Vyn]

Relatedly, I took a gander at external SDD prices just now. HOLY COW. The data center/AI freak out is causing those things to skyrocket. And RAM is now back to its old super high cost.

Bleh.

Thankfully, I picked up a 32 TB NAS a while back, so I'm good with space!

[Charger]

Yeah it's ridiculous...Luckily I bought an SSD drive not too long ago and it wasn't yet quite as expensive as they are now.

[Zzzptm]

Just saw a short doc on how AI firms are looking at the Hanford Nuclear Weapons site as a place they want to build new reactors for powering datacenters. Problem is, that place is toxic as hell with nuclear waste breaching containment silos and getting into the land and groundwater. Too much water pumping (which datacenters love to do) and you're getting lethal radiation flowing through the coolant systems.

[Vyn]

The takeover is starting...one robot at a time!