< AI, con’t from Page 12 > way the latter creates language. Chatbots like GPT are powered by large amounts of data in order to string words together in a meaningful way. They not only tap into vocabulary, but also understand words in context, helping mimic speech patterns. There are companies attempting to use AI for good, like a bot called Rentervention, aimed at supporting tenants while dealing with landlords. There’s also the DoNotPay service, a “robot lawyer” that helps resolve customer service disputes and even offers representation in courtroom traffic cases. Yet, the vast majority of AI for writing purposes is seemingly engineered to replace writers. Many media companies are already utilizing AI for content generation. Buzzfeed recently caused a stir when it announced ChatGPT creator OpenAI would help produce quizzes and other forms of content. Instead of doom and gloom, the news actually drove a brief 200% spike to Buzzfeed’s stock price. How does this all relate to AI killing me? Reading my own death notice, as rendered by ChatGPT, revealed some critical failings of the technology. “Olson was a journalist by trade and had always been interested in the power of storytelling,” it “wrote.” “He started his career as a reporter for the Sandpoint Reader, quickly rising through the ranks to become an editor and eventually the paper’s publisher. “Under Olson’s leadership, the Sandpoint Reader continued to thrive, despite the challenges posed by the digital age,” the bot continued. “He was a strong advocate for quality journalism and believed the role of the press was to hold those in power accountable and serve as a voice for the community.” It was about this point when I realized the truth about ChatGPT. Just like those useless Buzzfeed articles, written by either a human-like bot or a bot-like human, there was a tiny bit of substance surrounded by a heap of nonsense. It’s almost like when you hear someone talking in a dream. It’s definitely language, and some words are recognizable, but most of the substance of the conversation is lost because nothing really makes sense. While some of the things the bot recited about me were accurate, the statements were shallow, held very little conviction and were extremely light on facts. It was just truthful-sounding enough to pass cursory examination, but ultimately a work of fiction. We have no business opening this Pandora’s box. Art, whether it’s a surreal
painting, a detective novel or a newspaper article, is the very thing that defines humanity. Without the ability for humans to access the pathos of our dumb, beautiful world, we’re truly lost souls pissing into the abyss. AI-generators are proving, once and for all, that the free market truly does not care about humans. In order to save a few bucks and see the stock jump, we
are literally selling the last vestiges of the human experience to the highest bidder, all to satisfy the perception of growth and innovation. While AI isn’t currently passable without a human’s touch, as the years progress, we might just find a way to make our own existence unnecessary. That’s what scares me the most.
dumb of the week By Ben Olson Reader Staff For the past couple of years, there has been a collective delusion affecting some Northwesterners known as the “Greater Idaho” movement, in which a rural portion of Oregon wishes to secede from their state and join Idaho to form a new, “greater” Gem State. We’ve mostly ignored those efforts in the pages of the Reader because, frankly, the so-called “movement” is really just a pipe-dream of libertarian and MAGA-Republicans in Oregon who have been flooding regional newspapers with press releases that suggest secession is just around the corner. I hate to break it to anyone who believes in this crap, but it’s not going to happen. Yet, while the Greater Idaho movement certainly deserves a mention in the Dumb of the Week column, this week’s award goes to Idaho Republican Reps. Judy Boyle and Barbara Ehardt, who have co-sponsored a bill to invite Oregon to begin talks with the Idaho Legislature about relocating their state line. The movement seeks to incorporate more than a dozen of Oregon’s more conservative-minded counties into Idaho. Proponents whine about having no representation in Salem and being overshadowed by liberal Portland, so they want to escape to the right-wing safe space of Idaho. While the movement has enjoyed some success in the electoral process, it’s still many miles from achieving its goals. No matter how many of the counties vote in favor of the movement, a successful secession movement would require approval from both state legislatures, a change to the Idaho Constitution and an intervention by Congress. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. It would also require decades of intense discussions between the two states about managing natural resources, Indigenous treaty rights, as well as sticky questions like the legalization of cannabis, which is a major economic force in Oregon. The fact that we are wasting a single moment entertaining this fantasy in the Statehouse — let alone lending it an air of gravitas in the form of proposed legislation — is testament to the ineffectiveness of our hard-right lawmakers. We should be talking about important issues, such as education funding, property tax reduction, housing and health care, just to name a few far more pressing topics. Meanwhile, Idaho doesn’t even want the people who move within the current state boundaries to live here. Do we really think Idaho voters are going to agree to having our state expanded 74% in land area and 21% in population? Dream on. February 9, 2023 /
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