Cellar Labels using AI

[blametony]

It will absolutely be a revolutionary technology. Think back to before the internet and

Now imagine that ^^^^ applying to pretty much every field.

The coming state of affairs---the Big Picture---is a significant majority of the population will have grown up having learned literally nothing.

They'll sleep, wake up, play online games, socialize online, order their shopping and meals online, and aspire to little except making "influencer" videos that show other people the best ways to play online games, socialize online, order meals, and shop online. Not to mention style their hair, do their fingernails, do their face makeup, groom their dogs... etc.

Then, they'll go back to sleep.

Rinse, repeat.

In short, they will produce nothing. Only consume.

And every day there will be more of them and fewer people who engage with the world other than electronically.

When that "electronic life" group reaches voting age they will, of course, vote for any and all laws and government representatives who will allow them to continue living the only way they know how.

Until one day only two groups of people are left. The consumers who know no other way to live and who want no other way to live (their brain development guarantees it); and a much smaller group who provide the mechanisms and products for the consumers to both continue and expand their digital-everything world.

Sounds almost idyllic, doesn't it? Everyone gets what they want. Providers provide, and consumers consume.

Here's the catch: creatures like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Genghis Khan, Hitler, Caligula, and so forth ALWAYS appear in the population. Sociopathic Narcissistic Machiavellian Sadists.

Always have, and always will.

They've never had anything close to today's technology---never mind the coming technology---to monitor, control, and enforce their will, though. By several orders of magnitude. (Those monstrous dictatorships were 100% analog. They managed to kill their dozens of millions with nothing but human spies, human snitches, and human secret police.)

Will the future Stalins, Maos, Hitlers, and Caligulas decide to be nice guys and NOT to take advantage of having every citizen's smallest daily life details instantly available in digital form, and AI to sift through it, do you think? Because it's unfair?

Or is it more likely they'll use that information to create an iron-fisted dictatorship that will make George Orwell look like an optimist?

One of my concerns is education. Teachers (my sister is one) have already expressed concern that students will eventually use AI for everything meaning there will be no reason to test people anymore. Writing reports will become obsolete because AI could do it for them. Skills like Reading, Writing and Arithmetic will become obsolete because they can be automated.

 

[georged]

One of my concerns is education. Teachers (my sister is one) have already expressed concern that students will eventually use AI for everything meaning there will be no reason to test people anymore. Writing reports will become obsolete because AI could do it for them. Skills like Reading, Writing and Arithmetic will become obsolete because they can be automated.

Yup. Not a case of "it might happen", either, but it's in process now. Today. Already underway.

Because it isn't front-pagey sensational news, though, it's happening out of sight (so to speak).

then, by the time it does become general knowledge, it'll be too late to do anything about it "reversing-ocean-liner-engines" style.

 

[blametony]

Yup. Not a case of "it might happen", either, but it's in process now. Today. Already underway.

Because it isn't front-pagey sensational news, though, it's happening out of sight (so to speak).

then, by the time it does become general knowledge, it'll be too late to do anything about it "reversing-ocean-liner-engines" style.

There may still be ways to test kids, but anything done at home will certainly have AI being used.

 

[AJL67]

Why in hell would anyone go to college for graphic design, illustration or photography anymore?

Add tech writer to the list

 

[blametony]

Add tech writer to the list

Tech support for sure. Outside of hands on tech work, most consulting and phone support is over.

 

[sablebrush52]

I think AI will come close, but there are some things like intuition, creativity, genuine empathy etc that AI is simply incapable of even at very high levels. I dont think those things will ever be completely replaced.

I agree with you about AI and intuition , creativity, etc.
Unfortunately, to an overwhelming extent, number crunchers couldn’t care less. Good enough, cheap and fast with be enough.
A lot of fields will get hit, assistants, middle managers, artists, etc.
If Musk is correct, tech—programmers—will be extinct in a couple of years.
Even if the claims are overblown, the path to human mastery, experience, will be largely reduced if not eliminated.
AI is largely hyped crap, but it won’t always be so. And a lot of people who aren’t super exceptional will be eliminated.
There will be jobs that require human dexterity, and least until robotics improve to be an economical alternative.
After that who needs humans? We’ll engineer our obsolescence and we’ll do a messy job of it.

 

[woodsroad]

Some industries will definitely get pinched. Think Travel Agents. I mean broadly, I think creative areas will still need humans to provide inspiration and skill.

Based on what has happened so far, that is wishful thinking.

 

[blametony]

I agree with you about AI and intuition , creativity, etc.
Unfortunately, to an overwhelming extent, number crunchers couldn’t care less. Good enough, cheap and fast with be enough.
A lot of fields will get hit, assistants, middle managers, artists, etc.
If Musk is correct, tech—programmers—will be extinct in a couple of years.
Even if the claims are overblown, the path to human mastery, experience, will be largely reduced if not eliminated.
AI is largely hyped crap, but it won’t always be so. And a lot of people who aren’t super exceptional will be eliminated.
There will be jobs that require human dexterity, and least until robotics improve to be an economical alternative.
After that who needs humans? We’ll engineer our obsolescence and we’ll do a messy job of it.

Unfortunately, I agree with almost everything you just said.

 

[woodsroad]

So far, we’ve been talking about first world cultures. What about the effect AI will have on underdeveloped nations? Will they be the first to slide into total dystopia, or the last?

 

[forloveoffreedom]

Hung out with several highscool and college teachers/professors this summer. They all complained about the time they have to spend scanning papers for AI abuse. It is already rampant. On the flip side, I heard several college students complaining that they have been busted for using AI when they supposedly had not. My mind was blown. New world.

 

[blametony]

So far, we’ve been talking about first world cultures. What about the effect AI will have on underdeveloped nations? Will they be the first to slide into total dystopia, or the last?

Another consideration here is the benefit that AI will have. Sure there are lots of downsides and we’ve discussed a lot of them here. The fact is that AI will create enormous leaps in medicine that will enable companies to produce better pharmaceuticals, faster, and cheaper. It will allow some of the under developed parts of the world to benefit from better healthcare and longer lifespan. AI will help the development of better agricultural techniques and better technology to allow some of these regions to be able to grow and produce more of their own food.

 

[woodsroad]

Hung out with several highscool and college teachers/professors this summer. They all complained about the time they have to spend scanning papers for AI abuse. It is already rampant. On the flip side, I heard several college students complaining that they have been busted for using AI when they supposedly had not. My mind was blown. New world.

That kind of intellectual laziness, already rampant, is about to get turned up to 11. The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse.

 

[woodsroad]

Another consideration here is the benefit that AI will have. Sure there are lots of downsides and we’ve discussed a lot of them here. The fact is that AI will create enormous leaps in medicine that will enable companies to produce better pharmaceuticals, faster, and cheaper. It will allow some of the under developed parts of the world to benefit from better healthcare and longer lifespan. AI will help the development of better agricultural techniques and better technology to allow some of these regions to be able to grow and produce more of their own food.

To what end?
With vast swaths of the population unemployed and unemployable, cheap pharmaceuticals are kind of irrelevant. The wolf arrives in sheep’s clothing, to be sure.

I will note that if this forum was moderated by AI, this discussion would most likely not be happening.

 

[sablebrush52]

So far, we’ve been talking about first world cultures. What about the effect AI will have on underdeveloped nations? Will they be the first to slide into total dystopia, or the last?

Probably the last, since they don't enjoy the manufactured life style of more developed nations. People in developed nations have been conditioned to think in terms of security, more than insecurity. They are accustomed to the manufactured and unnatural live style. Therefore, insecurity will be much harder to deal with and there will be more "dystopia". But everyone will be affected, at different times.

 

[woodsroad]

I agree.
And since most of their economies are based on raw materials, not process or services, they should feel less impact. But, eventually, all humans will be surplus, except for the slave class.

Next question: Is this inevitable? What is the timeline?

 

[sablebrush52]

I agree.
And since most of their economies are based on raw materials, not process or services, they should feel less impact. But, eventually, all humans will be surplus, except for the slave class.

Next question: Is this inevitable? What is the timeline?

I suppose it depends on your definition of “slave class”. “Wage slave” is a term that’s been around for decades.
Is it inevitable? If past is prologue, the answer is yes.
When? Within the next decade would be a good estimate.
To avoid this, well defined limits to the use of AI would need to be enacted, but good luck with that.
Somebody will breach any such limitations.
It’s what we does.

 

[blametony]

I agree.
And since most of their economies are based on raw materials, not process or services, they should feel less impact. But, eventually, all humans will be surplus, except for the slave class.

Next question: Is this inevitable? What is the timeline?

Good question. Most of the people in my world (technology) are waiting for something called AGI - Artificial general intelligence. It's basically human level intelligence meaning it can think and perform as good as or better than any human. That will be the game changing moment.

 

[sablebrush52]

Good question. Most of the people in my world (technology) are waiting for something called AGI - Artificial general intelligence. It's basically human level intelligence meaning it can think and perform as good as or better than any human. That will be the game changing moment.

Yep. Earlier estimates put the achievement of AGI at a century, and that estimate has been dropping like a stone.

 

[AJL67]

Tech support for sure. Outside of hands on tech work, most consulting and phone support is over.

I have personally designed some of the largest support phone center systems in use today. I’ve designed software that is used by 20,000 support people across the world. Five years ago that was all on me now you can use the same basic widgets on a page and throw in the tell me what to do next box and just let the AI tell the person on the phone exactly what to do. About seven years ago we had a component that we designed that basically listened to the phone call and would tell you how the customer was feeling while you talk to them based on words, they use tone volume, and you could gauge the customers pissed off level as you went are they happy? Are they mad and what to do to get them to the “happy state”

Now most of it’s like Salesforce next best action through Einstein things now are AI scans the ticket they find the problem they go to the knowledge base they pull out the section needed. They display that they ask you. Hey do you want me to go ahead and reboot this machine and all the tech has to do is say yes and the AI run so workflow bought that takes care of everything for him. That’s the future. Good for consumers not so good for people that were pushing the buttons.

 

[woodsroad]

I suppose it depends on your definition of “slave class”. “Wage slave” is a term that’s been around for decades.
Is it inevitable? If past is prologue, the answer is yes.
When? Within the next decade would be a good estimate.
To avoid this, well defined limits to the use of AI would need to be enacted, but good luck with that.
Somebody will breach any such limitations.
It’s what we does.

One needs only look at China's robotic soldier development to see that we won't (and can't) sit idle while our adversaries prepare to unleash weaponized AI on us. I think that the downward spiral will be fast, and it's already started.

On a more cheerful note, I recently bought my first film camera in over twenty years, a Russian panoramic camera. It is completely mechanical, no batteries. About as analog as you can get.



It has a real dystopian feel to it. Maybe that's the B&W, or the look imparted by the analog Nikon film scanner, or, perhaps, the guy pressing the shutter button. I posted the next image to my Facebook page and got a positive response from both sides of the political aisle. This is not a political statement, just a photo from my neck of the woods, read into it what you will.



And one more. Yeah, it's a little soft, the focus at 2.8 is 5.5m to infinity (and beyond!), so indoors with 400 film is kind of limiting.



I've vowed never to use AI in my personal work. I can't control what my clients do, however. I know photographers that have included "No AI" in their contracts, and they are losing clients.