Dangerous prompts, fabrications and other obvious harms

Sensemaker diagram - where does AI fall into this thought model ?

Developers of AI tell users not to give dangerous prompts. Is this the way we will choose to ensure that above all things, AI does no harm?

So far we see just the excitement - here is a rosy picture which implies that every aspect of our lives can be enhanced by AI - it fails to mention that when the question asked was 'give me an example of sexual harrassment in an academic setting' ChatGPT simply invented one - and named a real person as the perpetrator !

Here is a video, which talks about why a 1000 signature open letter has been written to ask that there be a 6-month moratorium on AI releases – I saw it on the World Economic Forum.

Why? Watch the video

To make AI safer, before it does actual harm to individuals and society.

‘Its not easy’ (because large language models don't work like that) should not be an excuse. We don’t tolerate unsafe practices from the nuclear industry giants – why should we from the digital industry giants?

What is the World Economic Forum?

The WEF sits in Geneva, Switzerland and I have followed their strategy work for a while now. They think about the big picture, bringing together government, businesses and civil society to improve the state of the world. It sits on the left back of Lake Geneva, and is an international lobbying body for companies.

What is it asking companies to do, and become?

I quote from one of their articles…. “A company that has a multinational scope of activities not only serves all those stakeholders who are directly engaged, but acts itself as a stakeholder – together with governments and civil society – of our global future. Corporate global citizenship requires a company to harness its core competencies, its entrepreneurship, skills and relevant resources in collaborative efforts with other companies and stakeholders to improve the state of the world.”

If you want to follow any of these topics on the World Economic Forum, just create an account, and sign in. It's good to be informed.

Clipped from the WEF topics page - just to give you a flavour.

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Britain, then and now

When I first arrived in the early 1970s, I wrote a couple of letters back to India - to my school friend Dolly. The letters never were posted. Dolly died while I was still at school with her, and her death changed me profoundly - but that is another story. I was writing to her as if she was still alive, because these were the things I would have said to her, and almost only to her. Her parents were sufficiently disengaged from her to ignore her mail, even if it was from England, so these would be private letters.

Preparing for 2023

We are all sitting somewhere on a metaphorical bar chart. Each aspect of our life is a bar, imagine – spiritual life, emotional life, our personal relationships, our social life, professional life and career – and we are at different levels on each bar. Not everything goes swimmingly all the time – that is fine, and to some extent expected. In this article, I want to just talk about goal setting for professional purposes.

THE ‘SUPPORT-ME’ ECONOMY

Today, while driving back from a family wedding, sitting in my car, I bought some shampoo on the internet. No, not news - many of us now use the time we spend in the passenger seat to do household chores like this. People younger than me have done this for some years now. It is new to me, though.

Azad Hind Fauj, the Holocaust, and the birth of a new word

It is not often I interest myself in what the British Royal Family does. But this was about making portraits, and some fantastic artists were sketching a range of interesting Jewish faces. I turned the television up, and took two streptomycine. This vile sputum has to stop, I thought. In the meantime here was a worthy distraction.

Your personal style should be the foundation of your business

I've recently joined a business circle, now that I have retired - just to find out what one is – only to find that what I had learned a long time ago, is now being slowly seeped out to small businesses who don't like the 'push-hard-and-break-things' formula of hit and miss digital marketing driven by blind algorithms. Here is what I wrote in 2012, for a friend:

Dangerous prompts, fabrications and other obvious harms - An open letter about AI

Why? Watch the video

AI Experts Call for Pause in the Development of AI Systems

What is the World Economic Forum?

What is it asking companies to do, and become?

Life-Skills - and life in Britain

Lessons learned - at home and at work - economist, business adviser, part time university lecturer, chief cook and bottlewasher, life skills educator, mother

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Britain, then and now

Life-Skills - and life in Britain

Guest Blogging - Coaching material

Life-Skills - and life in Britain

Preparing for 2023

Life-Skills - and life in Britain

THE ‘SUPPORT-ME’ ECONOMY

Life-Skills - and life in Britain

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Life-Skills - and life in Britain

Sometimes, another point of view is really important

Life-Skills - and life in Britain

Azad Hind Fauj, the Holocaust, and the birth of a new word

Life-Skills - and life in Britain

How to start talking to a new audience – when everyone is looking at their phone

Life-Skills - and life in Britain

Your personal style should be the foundation of your business

Life-Skills - and life in Britain

All you need to travel is the word for 'Thank You'.

Life-Skills - and life in Britain

Poems on the London Underground

Life-Skills - and life in Britain