Artists Against AI Generated Art

 

AI images are programmed. We should consider the value of original and truly unique work.

Why are some artists refusing to use AI for creative work?

Many express concerns about copyright infringement. They believe that their work is being used without their consent to train AI models, which then generate derivative works that compete with their own.

Artists argue that the AI technology does not represent true artistic work, and that it devalues their efforts. AI generated images do not entail the natural and lengthy process of art creation. True art is an expression of human experience, emotion, and creativity, something which AI lacks. That is why many view the AI generated images as the opposite of art.

Artists are also concerned that human artists are increasingly being replaced by AI technology.

Molly Crabapple posted an open letter and petition, calling for book and magazine publishers to refuse to use AI art. Crabapple’s letter include signatures from high profile people such as author Naomi Klein and actor Jon Cusack.

Related reding: The Harm and Hypocrisy of AI Art; Independent Artists Are Fighting Back Against AI Image Generators With Innovative Online Protests by Richard Whiddington for Artnet; Colonizing Art | OpenMind Magazine; Philosophers Needed to Navigate the AI Revolution

Philosophers Needed to Navigate the AI Revolution

 

Demis Hassabis, CEO and co-founder of Google DeepMind, has pondered the need for profound philosophical thought to guide humanity through the uncharted waters of advanced AI. His observation highlights a fascinating and potentially critical aspect of the ongoing AI revolution. He believes that the AI revolution requires not just technical prowess but also deep ethical and philosophical reflection.

“I think there is a need for some great philosophers,” Hassabis said. “Where are the great next philosophers? The equivalent of Kant or Wittgenstein, or even Aristotle.”

He went on to explain why he believed such philosophical minds were crucial: “I think we’re going to need that to help navigate society to that next step because I think AGI and artificial superintelligence is going to change humanity and the human condition.”

Read it all here: Will Need Great Philosophers To Navigate The AI Revolution: Google's Demis Hassabis

Is our Reality a Virtual Simulation?

 

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are presenting us with new philosophical and theological  questions. Between the Holographic Approach and Data Science addresses the potential of trained artificial neural networks to replace present scientific models, and the possibility of reality being a numerical simulation as has been proposed by Elon Musk and others.

Vitaly Vanchurin (University of Minnesota Duluth) proposes that we live in a neural network and believes that only through neural networks can scientists discover the grand unification theory, that is, the theory of everything. If we treat the world as a neural network which is in the process of learning, then we can better understand quantum gravity, quantum computing and consciousness, writes Vanchurin.

The concept uses neural net theory to unify quantum and classical mechanics. This latest mechanistic hope may explain the meanderings of quantum physics, but it renders the existence of the biblical Creator null and void.

God is posited as a Global Brain. If we may believe the forecasts of the Transhumanists, one day we will be able to upload our minds to this Global Web and thus attain immortality by merging with a Cybergod.

Such is the fantastic worldview of California resident Alex M. Vikoulov, a Russian-American futurist, evolutionary cyberneticist, and filmmaker. He describes himself as a digital theologian and a transhumanist singularitarian.

Alex M. Vikoulou's Theology of Digital Physics redefines God by stepping into digital pantheism. Vikoulov gives us a glimpse into how a fractal multiverse must in the end shake confidence in objective reality. The Christian hope abides as more objectively true and evident than the fantasies of these men.

Related reading: New Machine Learning Method Raises Questions About Nature of Science, The World as a Neural Network; Transhumanism and the Christian Hope; Immoral Virtual Fantasizing

Notre Dame-IBM Launch Tech Ethics Lab

In the first season of The West Wing, Sam Seaborn made a poignant point that privacy and data security would be the hot button issue of the decades ahead. In this Big Data Age, huge sums of information can be captured more easily than ever. In this environment, the application of advanced technologies has become a two-edged sword. It is applied across every industry: banking, marketing, entertainment, small businesses, and government.

The 2020 US Census has a legitimate purpose. The data helps states achieve adequate representation in Congress and the appropriate level of federal funding. However, some citizens are not eager to share their personal information. We have become aware of the potential dangers of data collection. We know that data is used to sell us products that we really don't need and to slant political messages to target audiences. We have learned not to click on those Facebook surveys that collect personal information that is sold to make Facebook richer, while those surveyed receive no gain.

The ethics of advanced technologies concern everyone. However, the conversation about the reach of advanced technologies requires experts. To that end, the University of Notre Dame has launched a collaboration with IBM that will address the ethical issues surrounding the use of advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, machine learning and quantum computing.

Funded by a 10-year, $20 million IBM commitment, the new Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab will conduct research and promote models for the ethical application of technology within the tech sector, business and government.

The Tech Ethics Lab will be based at the University and will operate as a separate unit within the University’s Technology Ethics Center (ND-TEC).

Mark McKenna, Professor of Law at Notre Dame and founding director of ND-TEC, said: “Rather than following the ‘ready, fire, aim’ approach sometimes used in developing new technologies, we hope to provide resources that allow developers and industry to create better, more responsible technologies that positively benefit society.”

Source: Notre Dame News; The History of Artificial Intelligence

Robots Designed to Act Morally?

NAO is the world’s most widely used humanoid robot for education, healthcare, and research. NAO is a fully programmable robot that can walk, talk, listen to you, and even recognise your face. However, robotic science is far from knowing how to instill human-like morality. How to build ethical robots is one of the challenges in artificial intelligence and machine ethics.

Boer Deng

In his 1942 short story 'Runaround', science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov introduced the Three Laws of Robotics — engineering safeguards and built-in ethical principles that he would go on to use in dozens of stories and novels. They were: 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; 2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Fittingly, 'Runaround' is set in 2015. Real-life roboticists are citing Asimov's laws a lot these days: their creations are becoming autonomous enough to need that kind of guidance. In May, a panel talk on driverless cars at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington DC, turned into a discussion about how autonomous vehicles would behave in a crisis. What if a vehicle's efforts to save its own passengers by, say, slamming on the brakes risked a pile-up with the vehicles behind it? Or what if an autonomous car swerved to avoid a child, but risked hitting someone else nearby?

Read more here.

Related reading: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence by Nick Bostrom