This part about relationship is what is actually going on. If you research history of psychology, this exact sort of "rationality", that people were rational - machine-like - was what dominated the field of psychology before the Holocaust.

It's like seeing history repeat itself. The reason the rich need to blur the line between human and machine is because it erodes a frontier where humans can be in solidarity with each other. If you are but complex machine, no better than ChatGPT, then into the gas chamber you go!

Bullshitters will say "the machines have feelings, they're as meaningful as you or me". The real impact of this is a change in perception that humans do not have (real) feelings.

From the article:

> They sat at a small table covered with a black cloth, Bender in a purple sweater, Manning in a salmon button-down shirt, passing a microphone back and forth, taking turns responding to questions and to each other by saying “I like going first!” and “I’m going to disagree with that!” On and on they went, feuding. First, over how kids learn language. Bender argued that they learn in relationship with caregivers; Manning said learning is “self-supervised” like an LLM. Next, they fought about what’s important in communication itself. Here, Bender started by invoking Wittgenstein and defining language as inherently relational: “a pair of interlocutors at least who were working together with joint attention to come to some agreement or near agreement on what was communicated.” Manning did not entirely buy it. Yes, he allowed, humans do express emotions with their faces and communicate through things like head tilts, but the added information is “marginal.”

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbots-emily-m-bender.html

@ct_bergstrom @emilymbender

@ct_bergstrom @emilymbender

So frustrating how conversation about #LLM and #ChatGPT completely misses the most important point.

We're so easily distracted by #SciFi questions like whether it's a mind, is it sentient, will it destroy humanity.

(No, no, and maybe.)

The most important point is that we (rightly) fear AI run amok because we (rightly) fear #capitalism run amok.

Yes, it hallucinates bogus facts.

Yes, it can be tricked into acting like a creepy stalker.

No, it doesn't simply predict the statistically most likely next word in a sequence.

It actually has an internal model of concepts and relationships, and can draw meaningful and truthful insights that are useful to humans.

In many cases, it's more useful than search engines or Wikipedia.

It's a powerful tool, and like all powerful tools, it will be used for good and for evil.

And you can bet that the evil uses are currently being accelerated and amplified by billionaires and profit-seeking corporations exploiting workers and customers and subverting democracy to enrich themselves.

Same as it ever was.

That's why the real point is that we need non-profit public-benefit organizations to drive safe and positive and trusted uses of this technology.

The Internet Archive, Wikipedia and craigslist are good examples.

The genie is out of the bottle. We can't wish this technology away.

Let's ensure it gets used for good.

Let's ensure humanity has a fighting chance against capitalism amplified by intelligent machines.