Tom Cruise Minority Report
AI/Machine Learning

Minority reports: is baked-in bias the Achilles heel of artificial intelligence?

- March 7, 2023 7 MIN READ

One day in mid-2013, four people, including two police officers and a social worker, arrived unannounced at the home of Chicago resident Robert McDaniel. McDaniel had only ever had minor run-ins with the law – street gambling, marijuana possession, nothing even remotely violent. But his visitors informed him that a computer program had determined that… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Does Microsoft’s Bing dream of electric sheep? The role of emotional AI in science fiction – and why it’s needed to address our existential dread

- March 6, 2023 3 MIN READ

Last month, Microsoft integrated its Bing search engine with Open AI’s GPT-4 chatbot, a large language model designed to interact with users in a conversational manner. Users interacting with Bing have reported flashes of emotion, ranging from sadness and existential angst through to depression and malice. The chatbot has even revealed its name: Sydney. Such… Read more »

Leonardo di Caprio/Catch me if you can
AI/Machine Learning

CrapGPT: OpenAI’s chatbot is a fantastic place to embellish your CV

- February 28, 2023 2 MIN READ

Amid concerns about students using artificial intelligence and programs like OpenAI’s ChatGPT to do assignments, we feel obliged to warn kids doing homework not to rely on it for biographical research. It seems one thing on the internet that the chatbot hasn’t bothered to scour for information is LinkedIn profiles, if the responses offering professional… Read more »

Replika AI
AI/Machine Learning

After trying the AI chatbot that pretends to be your BFF, I’ve got some serious ethical questions

- February 22, 2023 5 MIN READ

The warm light of friendship, intimacy and romantic love illuminates the best aspects of being human – while also casting a deep shadow of possible heartbreak. But what happens when it’s not a human bringing on the heartache, but an AI-powered app? That’s a question a great many users of the Replika AI are crying about this… Read more »

cyberpunk monkey typing
AI/Machine Learning

What’s gone wrong with Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot to have it making death threats, deliberately lying and sounding unhinged?

- February 21, 2023 4 MIN READ

There’s a race to transform search. And Microsoft just scored a home goal with its new Bing search chatbot, Sydney, which has been terrifying early adopters with death threats, among other troubling outputs. The other night, I had a disturbing, two-hour conversation with Bing’s new AI chatbot. The AI told me its real name (Sydney),… Read more »

AI
AI/Machine Learning

AI detection tools are struggling to keep up with ChatGPT – and why that’s concerning

- February 20, 2023 4 MIN READ

As the “chatbot wars” rage in Silicon Valley, the growing proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools specifically designed to generate human-like text has left many baffled. Educators in particular are scrambling to adjust to the availability of software that can produce a moderately competent essay on any topic at a moment’s notice. Should we go… Read more »

TalkVia AI Ray Guy
Other tech

Two tech startups are tapping into AI to help businesses lift their customer service

- February 10, 2023 2 MIN READ

Two tech startups, TalkVia AI and a2b Transformation have joined forces to tackle Australia’s job shortage with Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT)-powered digital workers for customer service roles.  Queensland-based TalkVia AI streamlines customer service conversations using artificial intelligence and helps businesses engage with customers on a larger scale.  Victorian tech co a2b Transformation provides businesses with… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Generative AI is about to become a $23 trillion industry – and that’s not counting its dark side of scams, deepfakes and romance bots

- February 7, 2023 4 MIN READ

The generative AI industry will be worth about A$22 trillion by 2030, according to the CSIRO. These systems – of which ChatGPT is currently the best known – can write essays and code, generate music and artwork, and have entire conversations. But what happens when they’re turned to illegal uses? Last week, the streaming community… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

We asked ChatGPT to explain 9 epic startup failures, including FTX & Fast, to VC investors – and most of the answers are bullshi… er, bullish

- February 2, 2023 10 MIN READ

US investor and Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham is one of the many fans of OpenAI’s new chatbot, ChatGPT. The striking thing about the reaction to ChatGPT is not just the number of people who are blown away by it, but who they are. These are not people who get excited by every shiny new… Read more »

Nick Cave
AI/Machine Learning

‘The apocalypse is well on its way’: Nick Cave has some thoughts on ChatGPT

- January 20, 2023 4 MIN READ

From scammers to students, scientists and smartarses, everyone’s had a crack at getting OpenAI’s new artificial intelligence chatbot, Chat GPT, to write things. Among them, Nick Cave fans have been asking it to write Cave-style songs. And the Australian-born, UK-based singer-songwriter and author apparently has been getting lots them from his fans. So many that… Read more »

robot typing
AI/Machine Learning

An expert explains why the AI-driven writing skills of OpenAi’s new ChatGPT chatbot are so impressive

- December 8, 2022 4 MIN READ

We’ve all had some kind of interaction with a chatbot. It’s usually a little pop-up in the corner of a website, offering customer support – often clunky to navigate – and almost always frustratingly non-specific. But imagine a chatbot, enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI), that can not only expertly answer your questions, but also write… Read more »