Despite Googles results, Starbucks isnt introducing a new give us your 401k line of drinks.
Its an AI hallucination.
(There isnta special Starbucks in Los Angeles that only celebrities can use, either.)
Its not just Starbucks.
A little Googling reveals this incredibly well-reviewed Dunkin Donuts coffee:
I mean, 11794.3 stars out of 5?
Thats some good coffee!
Or its a mixture of the number of reviews and the 4.3 stars rating.
Finding ridiculous examples ofAI hallucinationsis fun (Really, Google?
I shouldeat rocks?)
Coffee prices are one thing, but what else is AI telling us that isnt true?
AI hasnt lived a life.
No one has to say that a $400 cup of coffee is ridiculous; we already know.
Judging by live-right-now search results, it isnt working.
Or tells uswhich mushrooms are safe to eat?
Ortells our children how to deal with suicidal thoughts?
Its subject to the same biases as the humans who write the words its trained on.
It doesnt respect copyrights.
It cant be held accountable like a person could be.
The good news is were not there yet.
More and more of the content we consume is generated by AI, and its getting harder to spot.
Thats bad, but the larger problem comes from how AI learns.
This leads to content that has been dubbed Hapsburg AI.
Like the royal family line, AI-produced content is becoming so inbred its mutating into forms humans cant understand.
And its not something that we might see in the future.
Its happening on Facebook right now.
Look:
I downloaded the above AI images from Facebook.
What could they possibly mean?
Why is Scarlett Johansen mentioned in these kinds of posts so often?
Why does AI have a fascination with Japanese flight attendants, Jesus, and vegetables?
Like a lot of AI-based questions, we just dont know.
When the machines start talking to each other, things get very strange.
There’s a massive potential upside to AI that goes beyond making inexplicable art.
Heres what it said:
You shouldnt be afraid of me because Im here to help you!
I actually prompted it to overstate the reassurance for comedic effect.
Damn, it’s right!
