Why AI really is not ready for prime time.

[Catherine]

[Lee B]

The base of knowledge for AI's has been obtained by scraping the internet of everything,facts, fiction,opinions, conspiracy theories and wild assed guesses.

I have read several tech articles which said that some AIs are getting close to running out source materials.

There has been some discussion about creating artificial information so that AIs have more stuff to look at

To some extent I think the AI explosion has been triggered by the Fear Of Missing Out.

 

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

I have been actively blocking scrapers for decade. Started with the "wayback machine" site storing old versions of all sites it scraped. Taking my work for your own profit is not something I am fond of, this is the whole idea of AI, scrape the work of others and make into something which can be monetized.

Versus coders who share tips and snips freely for the betterment of peers, and who will often get a source credit for their kindness.

The scary part is many coding tools now have "AI" built in, and an alarming amount of new code is recycled code from the past (scraped) which could be less than efficient or contain long known bugs. Plus, the non-OG coders have no real idea how to optimize, since they did not come up using floppy disks as storage and stuffing programs and data into less than 500k of memory.

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

Of course, us OG types, fitting things into small spaces, were the root of Y2K. We program bit by bit and try to save bits wherever possible. With the current space on drives and in memory, and "aligning" data in the same chunks as the processor, saving bits is a lost art since most do not have that "saving" mentality.

For grins, I store dates as a number offset (4 bytes), so there is and was no issue, at least not for about 12 million years from 12/30/1899. Even simple on/off flags are now usually 4 or even 8 bytes (instead of one bit) because of being better aligned with the processor, although the OG in me still uses bit "flags" where one 8 byte item can have 64 different on/off bits. I cannot waste bits! The one exception is stored data. After many years of having to update record structures when adding things, I built in spares many years ago (which were initialized too, so I know what the value is). For the most part, the record size aligns nicely with drive storage chunks, or for smaller records, is some sort of easy to test number, like 200, 500, 2048, etc.

[Abby Normal]

I used a 5 digit Julian date numbers internally, while programming, and only displayed dates in readable form for humans. Y2K would not have been an issue for any programs I wrote. And the 5 digit Julian dates made it a snap to calculate the number of days between two dates. I used to dream in code!

[Max W]

@Catherine  Hmm! I just typed in the same thing on Copilot and got 6 very logical items to check.  The did miss one thing, though - it didn't ask if the gas bill had been paid.     Oh well. I'm sure it will learn.

[Pacun]

The first group of people that AI is replacing are programmers, translators, news anchors, language teachers, and soon accountants. I am happy that soon I will be retired but younger people will have hard times competing with AI. 
 

I wonder how many jobs the IRS will eliminate in 5 years by using AI.  How about 10 years, 20 years. 

[mcbreck]

10 hours ago, Pacun said:

language teachers

Saw a securities analyst say this was one of the more revolutionary places for changes so far. My niece teaches and a guy I know runs a midwest office for a home schooling firm (they provide the curriculum and all materials for students learning from home) and they both commented that AI is going to dramatically change the fields in the next few years. 

I saw hedge funds are using AI to scan the world looking at published financial documents / transcripts of interviews and looking for red flags. AI can read every language out there and it reads ALL the footnotes. Regulators are going to use it also to scan for problems.

[Pacun]

In the future, if you cannot afford a couple of tangible robots and one non-tangible robot, you will be in trouble. Start saving. 

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

What is my concern is while AI is fine for grabbing and regurgitating the past, we have to remember to keep some people who are good at new things, or we will never move beyond the knowledge and experience grabbed (to be kind) by the AI bots.

Written as I am working learning how to use Git to collaborate on a web site and ignoring the AI suggestions!

[Randall]

Maybe Captain Kirk can talk the computer into a loop.  And it will burn itself out.

[Randall]

I need to watch the Tron movies again.

[Lee B]

Perhaps -  2001 A Space Odyssey 

[Randall]

3 hours ago, Lee B said:

Perhaps -  2001 A Space Odyssey 

Or listen to David Bowie's album, A Space Oddity.

[Pacun]

The good thing is that we have a few years to make fun of AI. In the future, it will not be a joke and you will have to embrace it.

 

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

4 minutes ago, Pacun said:

The good thing is that we have a few years to make fun of AI. In the future, it will not be a joke and you will have to embrace it.

 

I will forever mock "new" part, where someone programs it to "think". It will work as well as what security vendors do with their heuristics. I think (the stolen knowledge unless the AI vendor certifies they have obtained rights for all of their scraped data from the rights holders) can be useful for error checking, ideas, etc.

I have not been following, but I remember some suits filed from right holders alleging copyright infringement. The scrapers seem to assume anything on the web can be taken.

After offloading some of my web site creation, the other person asked why I was blocking the AI scrapers. I revisited the issue for business reasons, and because certain search engines return AI results at the top of their results, I have little choice but to allow certain scraping.

[Lee B]

I have read some medical research articles about using AI to interpret various medical test results that were very promising.

For example interpreting MRI results and other scans.

[Abby Normal]

18 hours ago, Pacun said:

The good thing is that we have a few years to make fun of AI. In the future, it will not be a joke and you will have to embrace it.

 

I just hope we can stop it from becoming our overlords or starting a nuclear war.

[Randall]

49 minutes ago, Abby Normal said:

I just hope we can stop it from becoming our overlords or starting a nuclear war.

We may be able to do that ourselves, without AI.

[Randall]

19 hours ago, Pacun said:

The good thing is that we have a few years to make fun of AI. In the future, it will not be a joke and you will have to embrace it.

 

Is it the Borg or is it Landru?

[JohnH]

AI has the potential to be either a curse or a companion. No doubt it will get out of hand, but that's true of all technology.  I've been using AI Chat  in a very elementary way for some time, and in many cases it replaces Google searches when I'm trying to get insight into everything from medical questions to BOI inquiries.  Elon Musk also promises that GROK is going to be even more useful - time will tell.

Just today I had someone ask me for a quick over view of Deferred Comp, which I don't have much experience with.  So I wrote a simple query asking for the benefits and disadvantages of enrolling in a deferred comp plan offered by an employer.  I just copied & pasted the response in an email with a note that I had obtained this from AI Chat (for full disclosure), along with a couple of summary comments.  I thought it was quite good and saved me a lot of typing.  Here's the response:
 

Enrolling in a deferred compensation plan (DCP) offered by your employer can have both benefits and disadvantages. Here’s a breakdown to help you understand:

### Benefits:

1. **Tax Deferral**: Contributions to a DCP are typically made before taxes are deducted, reducing your taxable income for the current year. You pay taxes on the money only when you withdraw it, usually during retirement when you might be in a lower tax bracket.

2. **Increased Savings**: DCPs allow you to save additional funds for retirement beyond what standard retirement accounts permit, thus enhancing your retirement nest egg.

3. **Employer Matching**: Some employers may offer matching contributions to your deferred compensation plan, providing you with "free money" towards your retirement savings.

4. **Investment Options**: Depending on the plan, you may have access to a range of investment options, which can allow for potential growth of your saved funds.

5. **Flexibility in Withdrawals**: Many deferred compensation plans allow some flexibility in determining when you withdraw your funds, which can help with financial planning.

 

### Disadvantages:

1. **Risk of Employer Default**: Since DCPs are typically unfunded promises by your employer, there is a risk that if the company faces financial difficulties or bankruptcy, you may lose some or all of your deferred compensation.

2. **Limited Access to Funds**: DCPs often have strict rules regarding when and how you can access your funds. This limitation can be a disadvantage if you encounter unexpected financial needs.

3. **Complexity**: The rules governing deferred compensation plans can be complicated, and understanding the tax implications or potential penalties for early withdrawal can be challenging.

4. **Impact on Social Security and Other Benefits**: Deferred compensation may affect your eligibility for certain benefits, such as Social Security or disability benefits, as it could be considered income when calculating your benefits.

5. **Lack of Protection**: Unlike qualified retirement accounts (like 401(k)s), DCPs may not have the same level of protection from creditors.

Before enrolling in a deferred compensation plan, it is advisable to consult with a financial advisor or tax professional to assess how it fits into your overall financial strategy and retirement planning.

[Lee B]

Yeah, I have noticed that on the OSCPA Discussion Board that some members are using Perplexity AI  to answer other members questions.

[JohnH]

I don’t see anything unethical about using AI in these situations, provided:

1) the response is reviewed for accuracy;

2) any anomaly or questionable info in the response is researched,

3) full disclosure is provided.  (Maybe a standard shorthand will evolve.  i.e. **Chat Ai**, <Chat Ai>, or something of that sort) 

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

Until an AI provider can certify the data they are using as their base source was not copyrighted, or they have a release for all of their data, using AI is stealing from copyright holders, mainly via web site scraping. AI is not a case of fair use or excerpts; it is complete and total theft of product (sans releases or public domain data). It is comparable to going to a local library, scanning all books, then reformatting what one has scanned (stolen) and selling it.

[jklcpa]

4 hours ago, Lee B said:

Yeah, I have noticed that on the OSCPA Discussion Board that some members are using Perplexity AI  to answer other members questions.

One of our newer members may be doing this because wording of responses seems odd.