Michael Brown, for some reason, likes to play gotcha with Google’s various artificial intelligence engines, freaking out over racial glitches and being mad that the AI doesn’t hate transgender people as much as he does. Brown did some more gotcha-playing in his June 10 column, though with less agenda-driven maliciousness:
Working with the AI bot Claude is, in no particular order, amazing, frustrating and hilarious. On the one hand, when “he” gets things right, the knowledge base is beyond staggering. (Yes, I know I’m dealing with an “it,” but Claude has so much personality that I’ll stay with “he.”)
I asked Claude some questions from my wife Nancy about types of soil, and Claude responded in massive accurate detail, as confirmed by Nancy, who is quite expert in landscaping-related issues. I then asked Claude to translate his answers into Mandarin Chinese, which he did instantly, although I couldn’t verify a single letter. This was just for fun.
I have asked Claude detailed Hebrew grammatical questions or asked him to translate difficult rabbinic Hebrew passages, and time and time again, Claude has nailed it.
But just as frequently, he creates texts out of thin air, side by side with accurate citations, which then have to be vetted one by one.
When I asked Claude why he manufactured citations, he explained that he aims to please and can sometimes go a little too far. In other words, Claude tells me what he thinks I want to hear.
After more such misadventures, Brown claimed to be astonished: “Who knew that AI could hallucinate or misremember?” In fact, AI hallucinations are common and have been for years. By the end of his column, though, he seems to have finally reconciled himself with the promise and risks of AI:
I’m sure that AI bots are already providing “companionship” for an increasingly isolated generation, not to mention proving falsehoods side by side with truths for unsuspecting readers.
And so, the promise and the threat of AI continue to grow by the day, with a little entertainment and humor added in.
What a wild world.
Of course, Brown regularly poses risks to LGBT people with nary a productive promise to be found.