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Google Tests an A.I. Assistant That Offers Life Advice (web.archive.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The tech giant is evaluating tools that would use artificial intelligence to perform tasks that some of its researchers have said should be avoided.

Google’s A.I. safety experts had said in December that users could experience “diminished health and well-being” and a “loss of agency” if they took life advice from A.I. They had added that some users who grew too dependent on the technology could think it was sentient. And in March, when Google launched Bard, it said the chatbot was barred from giving medical, financial or legal advice. Bard shares mental health resources with users who say they are experiencing mental distress.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I actually predicted this years ago. This technology will improve with time and people will use it the same way they use movie or books recommendations today. After some time people will get so used to it they will just let AI control their lives through career, lifestyle, fashion, relationship and other recommendations. Eventually google will just automatically book a restaurant dinner for you when its AI decides it is optimal for you to go out, it will rent you a new aparment when it decides it's better for you than the current one and it will find you a new job when it decides it's time to change it. People will turn into robots with external decision centres. And the AI won't be even that smart, just well trained.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I see what you mean. In a way, lifestyle and fashion choices are already partially governed by AI, in the sense that Instagram and TikTok recommendation algorithms influence what the user perceives as being trendy. I don't know if we'll get to the point where people are literally letting an AI tell them what to do, but I think AI will only get more and more influential in our lives in subtle ways.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Of course I'm just paying 'what if' but I really can see this happen. Imagine: you get out of work, get into an autonomous car and Alexa tells "I'm taking you to your new apartment. I arranged for your things to be moved there today and updated your home address data in bank, amazon and municipal registry. According to my analysis your commute time will be 10% shorter, you will save $100 per month on average and the style matches your preferences 5% better. Overall you will be 12% happier there." You get there and you actually do like it and you are 12% happier. Most people would just go with it. We would be the rebels hiding in forests to avoid the algorithm and live our own lives. Sometimes we would be 12% less happy then the human-robots but at least we would think for ourselves...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

People's reactions to new technology is famously hard to predict, but I guess it's worth considering.

AI is getting good at white-collar tasks way faster than blue-collar ones, too, so this might be how it looks at work. An app tells you to build or fix something with no context, you send back pictures or any comments and concerns, and then you get assigned the next task. Nobody really knows who they work for or why, exactly.