This replaces an early version of this post that appeared in June 2018.
Admitting to myself that I had no idea what AI is was the first step. This is what I learned:
• What is AI? Everything you need to know about Artificial Intelligence (Nick Heath, ZDNet, 2-2-18) An executive guide to artificial intelligence, from machine learning and general AI to neural networks.
• What is an Internet bot? (Wikipedia) An Internet bot, web robot, robot or simply bot, is a software application that runs automated tasks over the Internet, usually with the intent to imitate human activity on the Internet, such as messaging, on a large scale.
• What is a bot: types and functions (Digital Guide IONOS UK, 11-16-21) What is a bot, what functions can it perform, and what does its structure consist of? Learn about Rule-based bots and self-learning bots, the different types of good bots, the different types of malware bots, and how they work. What types of attacks can botnets perform?
• ChatGPT (AI) This chatbot launched by OpenAI in November 2022 is being used to write novels, among other things. It has a problem with factual accuracy. See also section on this website on ChatGPT (AI)
• AI Art for Authors: Which Program to Use (Jason Hamilton, Kindlepreneur, 12-9-22) There are dozens of AI art tools out there, many with unique specialties. But most would agree that three stand up above the rest:
Midjourney
Dall-E 2
Stable Diffusion.
Hamilton discusses how to access them, what they cost, how they can be useful, and why he recommends them (or not, and what for, illustrated), with a final section on AI art's copyright problems: Are they copying exist art on the collage principle (a little here, a little there), or are they facing legal and copyright problems?
• AI art tools Stable Diffusion and Midjourney targeted with copyright lawsuit (James Vincent, The Verge, 1-16-23) The suit claims generative AI art tools violate copyright law by scraping artists’ work from the web without their consent. Butterick and Saveri are currently suing Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI in a similar case involving the AI programming model CoPilot, which is trained on lines of code collected from the web.
• The lawsuit that could rewrite the rules of AI copyright (James Vincent, The Verge, 11-8-22) Microsoft, its subsidiary GitHub, and its business partner OpenAI have been targeted in a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that the companies’ creation of AI-powered coding assistant GitHub Copilot relies on ---“software piracy on an unprecedented scale.”
---"Someone comes along and says, 'Let's socialize the costs and privatize the profits.'"
---“This is the first class-action case in the US challenging the training and output of AI systems. It will not be the last.”
• The scary truth about AI copyright is nobody knows what will happen next (James Vincent, The Verge, 11-15-22) The last year has seen a boom in AI models that create art, music, and code by learning from others’ work. But as these tools become more prominent, unanswered legal questions could shape the future of the field.
On the plus side:
• Smarter health: How AI is transforming health care (Dorey Scheimer, Meghna Chakrabarti, and Tim Skoog, On Point, first piece in a Smarter Health series, WBUR radio, 5-27-22, with transcript) Guests Dr. Ziad Obermeyer (associate professor of health policy and management at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. Emergency medicine physician) and Richard Sharp (director of the biomedical ethics research program at the Mayo Clinic, @MayoClinic) explore the potential of AI in health care — from predicting patient risk, to diagnostics, to just helping physicians make better decisions.
• Artificial Intelligence Is Primed to Disrupt Health Care Industry (Ben Hernandez, ETF Trends, 7-12-15) Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the prime technologies leading the wave of disruption that is going on within the health care sector. Recent studies have shown that AI technology can outperform doctors when it comes to cancer screenings and disease diagnoses. In particular, this could mean specialists such as radiologists and pathologists could be replaced by AI technology. Whether society is ready for it or not, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, or any other type of disruptive technology will be the next wave of innovation.
• How will large language models (LLMs) change the world? (Dynomight Internet Newsletter, The Browser, 12-8-22) Think about historical analogies for 'large language models': the ice trade and freezers; chess humans and chess AIs; farmers and tractors; horses and railroads; swords and guns; swordfighting and fencing; artisanal goods and mass production; site-built homes and pre-manufactured homes; painting and photography; feet and Segways; gull-wing and scissor doors; sex and pornography; human calculators and electronic calculators.
• Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind by Susan Schneider. Can robots really be conscious? Is the mind just a program? "Schneider offers sophisticated insights on what is perhaps the number one long-term challenge confronting humanity."―Martin Rees
• Top 9 ethical issues in artificial intelligence (Julia Bossmann, World Economic Forum, 10-21-16) In brief: unemployment, income inequality, humanity, artificial stupidity (mistakes), racist robots (AI bias), security (safety from adversaries), evil genies (unintended consequences), singularity, robot rights. She makes interesting points!
• AI in the workplace: Everything you need to know (Nick Heath, ZDNet, 6-29-18) How artificial intelligence will change the world of work, for better and for worse. Bots and virtual assistants, IoT and analytics, and so on.
• What is the IoT? Everything you need to know about the Internet of Things right now (Steve Ranger, ZDNet, 1-19-18) The Internet of Things explained: What the IoT is, and where it's going next. "Pretty much any physical object can be transformed into an IoT device if it can be connected to the internet and controlled that way. A lightbulb that can be switched on using a smartphone app is an IoT device, as is a motion sensor or a smart thermostat in your office or a connected streetlight. An IoT device could be as fluffy as a child's toy or as serious as a driverless truck, or as complicated as a jet engine that's now filled with thousands of sensors collecting and transmitting data. At an even bigger scale, smart cities projects are filling entire regions with sensors to help us understand and control the environment."
• Beyond the Hype of Machine Learning (Free download, GovLoop ebook, 15-minute read) Read about machine learning's impact in the public sector, the 'how' and 'why' of artificial intelligence (AI), and how the Energy Department covers the spectrum of AI usage.
• Can Artificial Intelligence Keep Your Home Secure? (Paul Sullivan, NY Times, 1-29-18) Security companies are hoping to harness the potential of A.I., promising better service at lower prices. But experts say there are risks.
• What will our society look like when Artificial Intelligence is everywhere? (Stephan Talty, Smithsonan, April 2018) Will robots become self-aware? Will they have rights? Will they be in charge? Here are five scenarios from our future dominated by AI.
• Amazon Is Latest Tech Giant to Face Staff Backlash Over Government Work (Jamie Condliffe, NY times, 6-22-18) Tech "firms have built artificial intelligence and cloud computing systems that governments find attractive. But as these companies take on lucrative contracts to furnish state and federal agencies with these technologies, they’re facing increasing pushback from their staffs. Amazon employees have joined civil rights groups and investors in protesting the company’s sale of facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies."
• Artificial Intelligence and the Infrastructure of Surveillance Authoritarianism (David Crotty, The Scholarly Kitchen, 3-16-18) Techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci provides a stark view of the potential future of artificial intelligence (AI) and the possible dystopia toward which we are heading. "We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads."
• How Artificial Intelligence is Changing Writing (Ali Hale, Daily Writing Tips, 6-29-18) Six key ways AI is changing reading and writing: Translations, automatic editing and writing, checking for plagiarism, searching through audio files (think Siri and Alexa), crafting breaking news stories, influencing readers' book buying ("if you like this, you'll like...").
• Can artificial intelligence beat fake news? (Brooke Borel, ScienceWriters Magazine, NASW, 5-3-18)
• Detect Plagiarism With the Help of This Friendly AI Bot (Kirsten Akens, Lifehacker, 8-10-17) Welcome to Emma.
• How Artificial Intelligence Is Disrupting the ETF Industry (The Street, 6-30-18) (Investopedia) "AI is already disrupting the exchange-traded funds (ETF) industry and it is having spillover effects into other investment vehicles....There has been an increase in the number of usually tight-lipped hedge fund managers admitting to using AI after these AI ETFs launched."
• Artificial Intelligence News (Science Daily)
• Personalized 'deep learning' equips robots for autism therapy (Science Daily, 6-27-18) MIT: Machine learning network offers personalized estimates of children's behavior
• Confronting the pitfalls of machine learning (Jonathan Shaw, Artificial Intelligence and Ethics, Jan-Feb 2019) Ethics and the dawn of decision-making machines. Whether the technology is meant to provide facial recognition to identify crime suspects from video footage, or education tailored to different learning styles, or medical advice, Hu stresses, “What we need to think about is how technologies embed particular values and assumptions....that “the world that we’re building, with ubiquitous technology, is a world that we want to live in.”
• Rough terrain? No problem for beaver-inspired autonomous robot (Science Daily, 6-27-18) Like the industrious rodent, the rover-like vehicle uses surroundings to build complex structures, overcome obstacles
• AI, Machine Learning and Robotics: Privacy, Security Issues (Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, GovInfoSecurity.com, 12-6-19) Attorney Stephen Wu discusses the challenges. What kinds of security management procedures are touching surgical robots and AI systems? How do we make communications secure from one point to another, if AI can access patients medical records? How do we protect against cybercrime?
• Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligence (Future of Life Institute) “Everything we love about civilization is a product of intelligence, so amplifying our human intelligence with artificial intelligence has the potential of helping civilization flourish like never before – as long as we manage to keep the technology beneficial."~ Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute
• The Top Myths About Advanced AI (Future of Life Institute)
What else is important or interesting?