We love this!
We are the dancing guy.
THE QUESTION IS–WILL YOU BE A FIRST FOLLOWER?!
LEVI STRAUSS ANNOUNCES USING AI TO MAKE BETTER-FITTING JEANS > THE MARKET HATES IT
+ Why is AI OK to make better phones and cars but not jeans? Hm. I don't know. But the story wasn't just about not using live models. Something else is going on...
+ There is something about people's relationship with their Levis that they don't want AI to mess with.
+ There is some illusory human sensibility at work here, but the dynamic is difficult to understand or articulate.
SOUNDBITES
It's really hard to copyright generative AI sfuff: from the US Copyright Office
LEGISLATION | NOT THE WHOLE ANSWER
+ How can our constitutional system affect the outcome? This is a good question.
+ Laws can't be written big enough for this. Laws are only societal strictures established to govern most public human behavior. Laws are shaped, guided, and powered by an appeal to common ethical assumptions.
+ E.G., We don't not kill people just because it's against the law. And most people try to do their best to parse the impossibly complex tax code and be honest in reporting taxes. Though the fear of getting audited is real, the chances are slim. Most people are honest because they don't want to knowingly commit fraud and cheat the system.
+ Most people care about being as honest as they can. The power of the ethic of truth and honesty should not be dismissed. It is paramount in this effort.
+ In short, we believe the human ethical spirit remains intact, and we must leverage it.
REFLECTION ON NONSTARTER #1
REFLECTION ON NONSTARTER #2
AI RATTING OUT AI | CAN'T BE THE SOLUTION
+ I have been following the digital watermarking or block-chain style embedding discussions as I can, but I haven't seen the relevance. AI doesn't simply copy (or plagiarize)–AI produces novel content. AI is creating "original" work. And it's not copying anyone. It's copying everyone.
+ I also have a hunch that, try as we might, attempts to develop AI-detection technology are almost as sure to fail as a dog's attempt to catch its tail. Like Joshua, the WOPR supercomputer in War Games, it becomes an endless game of no-one-can-win-global-thermal nuclear war. The supercomputer engages in a self-crafted, self-administered learning exercise with incredible computational power and finally comes to a beneficent conclusion. We don't have to burn the world to the ground. Shall we play a game of chess?
MY FRIEND BRIAN PLUS TWO WEDGE SALADS > WE WILL ASSUME AI–UNLESS PROVEN OTHERWISE
+ My good friend Brian and I went to lunch one day and were ruminating on the aggressive proliferation of AI, that it was becoming impossible to tell what was AI and what was human-made, and the Levi's effect as we enjoyed a couple of delicious wedge salads.
+ By the end of lunch, we had arrived at the following conclusion: A day is coming when the default assumption will be, "I am going to assume AI made this unless you can prove otherwise." It is not only plausible, not only possible. It is almost certain.
+ And it's a troubling problem.
MINI NARRATIVE
Connecting the dots. Reflections on the problem we are trying to solve
The BBC story of how Boris Eldagsen's AI-generated picture (below-R) won the Sony World Photo Competition
This is Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin's landmark talk about LLMs and the proliferation of AI.
It's big-picture stuff.
Reflections on AI & VerifiedHuman™ ›
From a guy born in Nazi Germany, who came to the USA and began working as a pizza maker, became a ship's engineer, a professor of marine engineering, a marketing and engineering manager, and recently retired from two decades of addiction counseling.
(Our very own Klaus Luehning)
Recommended
+ RECOMMENDED
But we will not let it pull us under.
Humans are resilient and possess an innate desire to lead fulfilling lives and connect with others. Honesty and the ability to express ourselves while embracing innovation are values most of us hold dearly. Embracing and advocating for these values is precisely what we are doing.
The tide may be pulling us all out.
A powerful tide is pulling society in a troubling direction. Unable to discern between AI and human content, we are heading toward a world in which everyone–by default–will assume whatever they're reading, seeing, and hearing was probably created by AI–unless proven otherwise. This is a massive problem.
