Active Thinking Topic 58 Exit Doctors & Teachers, Enter Chat GPT? AI in Your Life
Saturday 29 May 2023, 1:30 to 3:30 pm
Any replies to the organizer
- thormay@yahoo.com
Venue: Zoom online
Note that
this topic is also running live on Wednesday 23 May 2023, 6:30
pm at West Oak Hotel, 208 Hindley St, Adelaide CBD. In that
venue it will be a topic for Adelaide Shallow Thinkers (
https://www.meetup.com/adelaide-shallow-thinkers/ ).
Register separately for this. Shallow Thinkers topics are for
free conversation. They do not have talking points or a reading
list in the 'comments' section] .
Talking Points:
1. How do you see your own future
being impacted by AI technology?
2. Think of
some handicaps that a classroom teacher normally faces. How
might programs like Chat GPT help overcome these handicaps?
3. Where are
programs like Chat GPT likely to be LESS successful than a
classroom teacher?
4. How can
we assess learning by students who have been coached by programs
like Chat GPT, or even had their essays written by AI?
5. The
answers you get depend upon the questions you ask. This is
extremely true of programs like Chat GPT. How can we teach
students (or anyone) to ask in-depth cascading questions to AI
programs to get the best outcomes?
6. What are
some benefits that an AI medical consultation can offer that a
human doctor can't? Hint:
In medicine there are about 28,000
peer reviewing journals. Each year they publish about 1.8
million articles and studies. No medical doctor can deal with
more than a fraction of this. Most don't even try.
7. What kind
of diagnostic error might AI medical diagnosis make which human
doctors can avoid? Note that human error in medicine does kill
or injure large numbers of people every year. (My long lifetime
score with doctors has been that they've occasionally been
useful, but about 2/3 useless to dangerous).
8. How important is medical privacy?
AI diagnosis by its nature draws on worldwide resources in real
time. It also makes you a part of those resources. Even if you
are officially anonymous, AI will often be able to assemble a
profile that identifies you to external parties.
9. Many
people already self-diagnose using resources like Google and
Youtube which themselves use AI algorithms. Chat GPT will
already offer you diagnoses. So-called Tele-health is also
likely blend this process with GPs and gradually reduce the
human doctors. What are the pluses and minuses of this kind of
self diagnosis?
10.
Historically most doctors functioned as self-employed
independent professionals and small businessmen. This pattern is
becoming less and less workable. What medical personality types
are likely to adapt well to being parts of large teams (perhaps
connected electronically) and who will simply no longer be
attracted to medicine?
Extra Reading Links
Sabine
Hossenfelder (6 May 2023) "Artificial Intelligence: What's
next?" @
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKx0XwJAj3k [25
minutes]. [Thor, comment: This is about the best summary I've
seen of the explosive expansion of generative artificial
intelligence into every area of life. Sabine Hossenfelder is a
physicist turned brilliant science communicator]
Sal Khan (TED talk) (2 May 2023) "The
Amazing AI Super Tutor for Students and Teachers". Youtube @
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJP5GqnTrNo [15
minutes]
Carina
Chocano (April 17, 2023) "How Much Can Duolingo Teach Us? - The
company’s founder, Luis von Ahn, believes that artificial
intelligence is going to make computers better teachers than
humans". New Yorker @
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/24/how-much-can-duolingo-teach-us
[Thor, comment: Like most New Yorker articles, this one is very
long, but also very readable and interesting]
Josh Taylor
(Tue 2 May 2023) "‘Godfather of AI’ Geoffrey Hinton quits Google
and warns over dangers of machine learning - The neural network
pioneer says dangers of chatbots were ‘quite scary’ and warns
they could be exploited by ‘bad actors’". The Guardian @
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/02/geoffrey-hinton-godfather-of-ai-quits-google-warns-dangers-of-machine-learning
Many Authors, many versions (125 BC
on) "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". Storynory @
https://www.storynory.com/the-sorcerers-apprentice/
Noor Gillani (April 19, 2023) "Will
AI ever reach human-level intelligence? We asked five experts -
Some some said AI would not just reach human-level intelligence,
but would probably surpass it". The Conversation @
https://theconversation.com/will-ai-ever-reach-human-level-intelligence-we-asked-five-experts-202515
Hannah Devlin Science (29 April 2023)
"AI has better ‘bedside manner’ than some doctors, study finds -
ChatGPT rated higher in quality and empathy of written advice,
raising possibility of medical assistance role". The Guardian @
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/apr/28/ai-has-better-bedside-manner-than-some-doctors-study-finds
Hannah Devlin (Thu 4 May 2023) "The
new genre of AI could be as transformative as the Industrial
Revolution, the government’s outgoing chief scientific adviser
has said, as he urged Britain to act immediately to prevent huge
numbers of people becoming jobless". The Guardian @
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/03/ai-could-be-as-transformative-as-industrial-revolution-patrick-vallance
Jonathan Tennenbaum (April 29, 2023)
"Is AI more dangerous than the atomic bomb? - Don’t restrict AI
development itself but rein in AI systems’ proliferation into
every sphere of human activity". Asia Times @
https://asiatimes.com/2023/04/is-ai-more-dangerous-than-the-atomic-bomb/
[Thor, comment: This article should stop you in your tracks.
It's basic argument is about AI manipulating humans. That's
already being done on a large scale through advertising,
politics and increasingly education. It works even at a
primitive level. The killer effect will be when Generative AI is
integrated in super systems which result in a command economy
run mindlessly by a hierarchy of AI systems trying to "optimize"
human behaviour. We've already had experience with total command
economies: recall what Marx & Engel's original idea of
'communism' turned into. It didn't end well.]
Dan Milmo
and Alex Hern (5 May 2023) "UK and US intervene amid AI
industry’s rapid advances - Competition and Markets Authority
sends ‘pre-warning’ to sector, while White House announces
measures to address risks." The Guardian @
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/04/uk-and-us-intervene-amid-ai-industrys-rapid-advances
Waleed Aly (May 5, 2023) "When the
‘Godfather of AI’ warns you about his offspring, you listen -
This week, the “Godfather of AI” warned the world about his
godchild. Geoffrey Hinton is his name, and he has just resigned
from his job at Google where he oversaw the development of
artificial intelligence. Now unattached, he is free to speak
publicly of his regrets and his fears. And what’s scary is that
they’re so familiar." The Age @
https://www.theage.com.au/national/when-the-godfather-of-ai-warns-you-about-his-offspring-you-listen-20230504-p5d5ig.html
Andrew Gregory and Alex Hern (10 May
2023) "AI poses existential threat and risk to health of
millions, experts warn". The Guardian @
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/10/ai-poses-existential-threat-and-risk-to-health-of-millions-experts-warn
[Quote: "AI could harm the health of millions and pose an
existential threat to humanity, doctors and public health
experts have said as they called for a halt to the development
of artificial general intelligence until it is regulated.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionise
healthcare by improving diagnosis of diseases, finding better
ways to treat patients and extending care to more people. But
the development of artificial intelligence also has the
potential to produce negative health impacts, according to
health professionals from the UK, US, Australia, Costa Rica and
Malaysia writing in the journal BMJ Global Health."]
Angus Thomson (May 10, 2023) "How
smelly T-shirts and AI helped unlock secret to detecting
Parkinson’s disease". The Age @
https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/how-smelly-t-shirts-and-ai-helped-unlock-secret-to-detecting-parkinson-s-disease-20230510-p5d7bm.html
Angus Thomson (April 29, 2023) "A new
breed of AI is changing healthcare. But it comes with a
warning". The Age @
https://www.theage.com.au/national/a-new-breed-of-ai-is-changing-healthcare-but-it-comes-with-a-warning-20230424-p5d2tl.html
James Purtill (2 April 2023) "Prompt
engineers share tips on using ChatGPT, Midjourney, Bing Chat and
other generative AI". ABC News @
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2023-04-02/prompt-engineers-share-their-tips-on-using-chatgpt-generative-ai/102165132
[Quote: ""It turns out there are better ways of writing the
prompt and less good ways of writing that prompt. "That's what
prompt engineering is." In San Francisco, tech company Anthropic
is offering a salary of up to $US335,000 ($500,000) for a prompt
engineer. "It's a hybrid between programming, instructing, and
teaching," the ad reads."]
Philippa
Kelly (12 May 2023) "‘Why would we employ people?’ Experts on
five ways AI will change work - From farming and education to
healthcare and the military, artificial intelligence is poised
to make sweeping changes to the workplace. But can it have a
positive impact – or are we in for a darker future?" The
Guardian @
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/may/12/why-would-we-employ-people-experts-on-five-ways-ai-will-change-work