AI & Robotics News and Discussions

[wjfox]

[jamestiago]

I was wondering recently... I'm no neurologist or neural network expert, just a computer engineering student, but what if there was a way to brute force intelligence? (Hardly a novel idea, I imagine). If we have a big enough neural network (100s of billions of nodes, comparable to the human brain), and we use a very hypothetical, very powerful computer, to compute all possible initialization states (weights and connections), would we eventually arrive at an intelligent brain?

Maybe we don't even need to calculate all possibilities, if we had brain samples, we could train on those to reduce the time complexity. Now, I know we only now are beginning to be able to map a fly's brain, let alone a human, but perhaps we don't need the entire brain to reduce our training time, just a part of it.

Finally, even if we did arrive at what could possibly be a functioning brain, how would we know it? It would be encoded, and we would need a way to decode it. For this, I suppose we could do similar to what we already do with words in our LLMs, but with sensory equipment instead. Exactly how, I don't know.

This most likely is complete rubbish, so forgive me.

[wjfox]

Terence Tao, Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles:

"I expect, say, 2026-level AI, when used properly, will be a trustworthy co-author in mathematical research, and in many other fields as well."

https://unlocked.microsoft.com/ai-antho ... rence-tao/

[funkervogt]

Terence Tao, Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles:

"I expect, say, 2026-level AI, when used properly, will be a trustworthy co-author in mathematical research, and in many other fields as well."

https://unlocked.microsoft.com/ai-antho ... rence-tao/

Extraordinary.

[spryfusion]

[lechwall]

100 in the context of training examples seems pretty low no?

[Vakanai]

100 in the context of training examples seems pretty low no?

I think that's the point - being able to see good results while needing fewer examples. I'm assuming it's about efficiency and cost saving?

[Tadasuke]

Marc Andreessen's optimistic view on our future with AI, disputing the fear arguments:

https://pmarca.substack.com/p/why-ai-wi ... -the-world

In our new era of AI:

• Every child will have an AI tutor that is infinitely patient, infinitely compassionate, infinitely knowledgeable, infinitely helpful. The AI tutor will be by each child’s side every step of their development, helping them maximize their potential with the machine version of infinite love.

• Every person will have an AI assistant/coach/mentor/trainer/advisor/therapist that is infinitely patient, infinitely compassionate, infinitely knowledgeable, and infinitely helpful. The AI assistant will be present through all of life’s opportunities and challenges, maximizing every person’s outcomes.

• Every scientist will have an AI assistant/collaborator/partner that will greatly expand their scope of scientific research and achievement. Every artist, every engineer, every businessperson, every doctor, every caregiver will have the same in their worlds.

• Every leader of people – CEO, government official, nonprofit president, athletic coach, teacher – will have the same. The magnification effects of better decisions by leaders across the people they lead are enormous, so this intelligence augmentation may be the most important of all.

• Productivity growth throughout the economy will accelerate dramatically, driving economic growth, creation of new industries, creation of new jobs, and wage growth, and resulting in a new era of heightened material prosperity across the planet.

• Scientific breakthroughs and new technologies and medicines will dramatically expand, as AI helps us further decode the laws of nature and harvest them for our benefit.

• The creative arts will enter a golden age, as AI-augmented artists, musicians, writers, and filmmakers gain the ability to realize their visions far faster and at greater scale than ever before.

• I even think AI is going to improve warfare, when it has to happen, by reducing wartime death rates dramatically. Every war is characterized by terrible decisions made under intense pressure and with sharply limited information by very limited human leaders. Now, military commanders and political leaders will have AI advisors that will help them make much better strategic and tactical decisions, minimizing risk, error, and unnecessary bloodshed.

• In short, anything that people do with their natural intelligence today can be done much better with AI, and we will be able to take on new challenges that have been impossible to tackle without AI, from curing all diseases to achieving interstellar travel.

• And this isn’t just about intelligence! Perhaps the most underestimated quality of AI is how humanizing it can be. AI art gives people who otherwise lack technical skills the freedom to create and share their artistic ideas. Talking to an empathetic AI friend really does improve their ability to handle adversity. And AI medical chatbots are already more empathetic than their human counterparts. Rather than making the world harsher and more mechanistic, infinitely patient and sympathetic AI will make the world warmer and nicer.

[Tadasuke]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technolo ... use-images

Generative-AI tools have set off what one analyst called a “predatory arms race” on pedophile forums because they can create within seconds realistic images of children performing sex acts, commonly known as child pornography.

Thousands of AI-generated child-sex images have been found on forums across the dark web, a layer of the internet visible only with special browsers, with some participants sharing detailed guides for how other pedophiles can make their own creations.

“Children’s images, including the content of known victims, are being repurposed for this really evil output,” said Rebecca Portnoff, the director of data science at Thorn, a nonprofit child-safety group that has seen month-over-month growth of the images’ prevalence since last fall.

“Victim identification is already a needle-in-a-haystack problem, where law enforcement is trying to find a child in harm’s way,” she said. “The ease of using these tools is a significant shift, as well as the realism. It just makes everything more of a challenge.”

[Powers]

Thousands of AI-generated child-sex images have been found on forums across the dark web, a layer of the internet visible only with special browsers.

More than likely not just there.

[weatheriscool]

[funkervogt]

Child pornography is illegal because it involves the exploitation and abuse of human children. But if someone make entirely CGI porn, and none of the "children" depicted in the videos is an actual human (or looks exactly like a real child), then why should it be illegal? There is no human victim, so how can it be said that there is a crime?

[weatheriscool]

Caltech Team Builds Transforming Robot That Can Roll, Walk, and Fly
The Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot chooses the type of locomotion that works best for any given scenario.
By Ryan Whitwam June 30, 2023
https://www.extremetech.com/science/cal ... lk-and-fly

Most robots have one means of locomotion—they might roll, fly, walk, or even swim. Rarely do they do more than one, though. Engineers at Caltech's Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST) have built a robot that does (almost) everything. The M4 (for Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot) is a real-life transformer that can reconfigure itself to get around no matter the terrain.

The CAST team notes that M4 is not the first machine to have more than one means of locomotion. However, it is unique in using the same components for all movement rather than having multiple redundant systems. This helps keep M4 compact and inexpensive while also allowing it to change "posture" in the same way an animal might.

"Our aim was to push the boundaries of robot locomotion by designing a system that showcases extraordinary mobility capabilities with a wide range of distinct locomotion modes," says co-lead researcher Alireza Ramezani. In its simplest form, the morphobot is a four-wheeled rover. The wheels can do more than roll, though. It only takes a few seconds for M4 to rotate the wheels horizontally and fire up the propellers inside the rims to take to the sky.

[Cyber_Rebel]

Child pornography is illegal because it involves the exploitation and abuse of human children. But if someone make entirely CGI porn, and none of the "children" depicted in the videos is an actual human (or looks exactly like a real child), then why should it be illegal? There is no human victim, so how can it be said that there is a crime?

I imagine for the same reason lolicon is taboo. It's a very grey area. I'm not even sure how I'd truly handle it either. On one hand, like you say such characters (like anime) aren't even real to begin with, so in practice focusing on something like that would be akin to cracking down on doujinshi or online hentai.

Is it creating an environment for pedophiles as some argue, or would it give some people with those tendencies an outlet, so they don't go out and do actual crimes? I'm not saying one thing or the other, but some scientific studies in pornography have indicated the latter rather than the former.

[funkervogt]

Child pornography is illegal because it involves the exploitation and abuse of human children. But if someone make entirely CGI porn, and none of the "children" depicted in the videos is an actual human (or looks exactly like a real child), then why should it be illegal? There is no human victim, so how can it be said that there is a crime?

I imagine for the same reason lolicon is taboo. It's a very grey area. I'm not even sure how I'd truly handle it either. On one hand, like you say such characters (like anime) aren't even real to begin with, so in practice focusing on something like that would be akin to cracking down on doujinshi or online hentai.

Is it creating an environment for pedophiles as some argue, or would it give some people with those tendencies an outlet, so they don't go out and do actual crimes? I'm not saying one thing or the other, but some scientific studies in pornography have indicated the latter rather than the former.

Once you remove the exploitation of actual human children from the discussion, the only remaining argument for keeping the CGI pornography banned is "I just think it's gross." Agreeing to such a low and fickle standard for banning a type of pornography is problematic since it makes us question why other stuff is not banned as well.

For example, most straight people think men having sex is gross. Does that mean the majority should rule, and male gay porn should be banned?

[lechwall]

Child pornography is illegal because it involves the exploitation and abuse of human children. But if someone make entirely CGI porn, and none of the "children" depicted in the videos is an actual human (or looks exactly like a real child), then why should it be illegal? There is no human victim, so how can it be said that there is a crime?

I imagine for the same reason lolicon is taboo. It's a very grey area. I'm not even sure how I'd truly handle it either. On one hand, like you say such characters (like anime) aren't even real to begin with, so in practice focusing on something like that would be akin to cracking down on doujinshi or online hentai.

Is it creating an environment for pedophiles as some argue, or would it give some people with those tendencies an outlet, so they don't go out and do actual crimes? I'm not saying one thing or the other, but some scientific studies in pornography have indicated the latter rather than the former.

Once you remove the exploitation of actual human children from the discussion, the only remaining argument for keeping the CGI pornography banned is "I just think it's gross." Agreeing to such a low and fickle standard for banning a type of pornography is problematic since it makes us question why other stuff is not banned as well.

For example, most straight people think men having sex is gross. Does that mean the majority should rule, and male gay porn should be banned?

Could it be the case that after consuming said media it would spur these disordered individuals to want to go further and see/get the real thing?

[firestar464]

Child pornography is illegal because it involves the exploitation and abuse of human children. But if someone make entirely CGI porn, and none of the "children" depicted in the videos is an actual human (or looks exactly like a real child), then why should it be illegal? There is no human victim, so how can it be said that there is a crime?

I imagine for the same reason lolicon is taboo. It's a very grey area. I'm not even sure how I'd truly handle it either. On one hand, like you say such characters (like anime) aren't even real to begin with, so in practice focusing on something like that would be akin to cracking down on doujinshi or online hentai.

Is it creating an environment for pedophiles as some argue, or would it give some people with those tendencies an outlet, so they don't go out and do actual crimes? I'm not saying one thing or the other, but some scientific studies in pornography have indicated the latter rather than the former.

Do you have sources for the studies?

[funkervogt]

Could it be the case that after consuming said media it would spur these disordered individuals to want to go further and see/get the real thing?

It's equally likely that it could do the opposite. The subject hasn't been scientifically studied, so we don't know.

[firestar464]

That directly contradicts Cyber Rebel's claims of studies.

[Cyber_Rebel]

Do you have sources for the studies?

Here are some links to a few such claims:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... e-of-smut/

https://www.utsa.edu/today/2020/08/stor ... study.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... al-assault

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm ... _id=913013

Granted, some of these studies are older, (compared to present) but they may give an insight as to how normalized pornography has affected society in the immediate term. It's also worth noting it's usually sexually repressed cultures which have higher rates of violence against women.

Could it be the case that after consuming said media it would spur these disordered individuals to want to go further and see/get the real thing?

Is an individual who is naturally predisposed to violence, but obtains that outlet via violent video games, TV shows, or movies about to go further to commit the actual thing? In regard to AI, if someone did a violent roleplay session or generated some fantasy for themselves, going to actually go out and seek something which would normally be unobtainable?

I don't believe the newest Call of Duty is leading to increased mass shootings in the U.S., or that Grand Theft Auto is making teens into street totting criminals looking to jury rig vehicles, so why would AI generated fantasy worlds truly be any different? Especially if it's an anime or some other fantasy which like mentioned, can't be replicated no matter how good the cosplay is.

Just to clarify, really don't support creating actual realistic depictions of children or anything of that nature for obvious reasons, but this is more about fantasy depictions and works themselves.