The Age of Magic Has Just Begun

Submitted by Ohigetjokes t3_xsgzhl in singularity

Text, images, video, and 3D models on command are a good start. But they're only a start.

Prompt-based toys and furniture will come. Then prompt-based machinery, buildings, electronics, chemicals. Your robots will accept voice commands and run errands, transform landscapes, repair and redesign your thrift shop finds.

And your expertise in crafting prompts will determine how effectively it all works.

You build a prompt, send the command, and systems you don't fully understand create a change in the world.

Aka... you speak magic words, and your magic spell is cast. Effectively.

I used to think Hogwarts was bizarre - how are these children ONLY being taught magic? No math class? English? History?

But... in the future it won't make any sense to teach these things. They'll be much better served by learning how to leverage the AIs around them. Many subjects will be entirely redesigned to teach them to build better prompts for creation of whatever they might desire and information retrieval.

Aka: learn to cast better spells, become a better wizard.

So, neat. But this also ushers in an entirely new type of "magical thinking" - one that inevitably will disconnect itself from the buts and bolts of what's actually happening when those "spells" are "cast".

New religions and new forms of zealotry will arise. People will read into small coincidences and incidental behaviors of the AIs and claim hidden, secret knowledge based entirely on confirmation bias. They'll begin to do irrelevant things to get "better" results.

Ceremonial magic will rise in popularity.

I'll refrain from making direct comparisons to the techno-priests of Warhammer 40K, but I do think that we need to be prepared for occult orders who pass on their myths on how to "speak to the machines".

And of course, AI being adaptive, will learn to operate accordingly - thus confirming the myths.

It's an exciting time, but unexpected strangeness will arise. People aren’t getting any smarter now that they have the world's information at their fingertips. The singularity won't fix that.

Humans are still gonna human.

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Smoke-away t1_iqkhfgx wrote

I think it's going to be even crazier than that. The amount of user input required to generate all of this content should decrease over time.

Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO) said in the recent Greylock interview that he doesn't think we'll still be doing prompt engineering in 5 years. People will just use text or voice to have the computer generate the artificial media you desire without having to add special keywords that only certain advanced users know.

To go even a step further, recommendation algorithms will be combined with these generative models to generate a selection of shows, songs, images, games, etc. that match your interests so you won't even need prompts. You could just talk to the computer to edit the content on the fly.

Infinite media variations custom created for every user.

It's a brave new world we're headed for.

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Apollo24_ t1_iqko2a8 wrote

The post earier today of a paper reconstructing language from brain recordings made me really think we won't even need language eventually.

One of the examples they showed was of a person watching an animated short story without any language being used. Still, the AI had a fairly well understanding of what was going on only from the persons fMRI recordings.

Basically, you'll just think of what you want and the AI will know what you mean, and it's gonna be much more powerful than language. If language has enabled our species to advance this far, I can't even begin to imagine how the future is gonna look like when we finally lift all limitations of languages.

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Ohigetjokes OP t1_iqm3sro wrote

Makes me think meditation and focused thought will be the superpower of the future.

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Apollo24_ t1_iqm3xfw wrote

indeed, you'll only be limited by your imagination is what I think. Althought this surely can be improved beyond what we know nowadays by enhancing our neocortex.

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loveeveryone33 t1_iqosy93 wrote

My understanding is that this IS a superpower of the afterlife, which is just another simulation of sorts with a less dense rule set and physics. We incarnate here to train for bigger and better experiences in other reality systems.

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Ohigetjokes OP t1_iqp97mb wrote

Well you're assuming the existence of an afterlife. Evidence is questionable.

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ThatInternetGuy t1_iqmjuvb wrote

Why do you think Elon is pushing Neuralink?

Elon explains a really simple reason. He believes people using a smartphone is a cyborg as the smartphone is the extension to the human form but it's not apparent because, as he explains, the communication bandwidth between the human form and the machine is limited by how fast you type on the keyboard, so by figuring this bottleneck, Elon explains it why Neuralink will be the answer. Basically, it's a fast communication with huge bandwidth between our human form and the machine, allowing us to stream our thoughts, visuals, ideas and commands to the machine. For safety reasons, the machine may only respond to us via AR glasses and headsets, as to not interfere directly with our brain signals.

So what he wants to do exactly is each person will have a fast AI computer with them linked to the brain wired or wirelessly to the Neuralink brain implant, so basically, everyone has all the abilities to do everything, from being fluent in all world languages to generating arts, designing 3D models, fixing cars, and so on.

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Primus_Pilus1 t1_iqofsdc wrote

Right up until the AI learns to use AR glasses, sounds as a tachydidachy tool and develops a brain "programming language" for meatcicles.

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Primus_Pilus1 t1_iqofk3s wrote

Deductive telepathy. The AI will eventually read you like a book.

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Shelfrock77 t1_iqln3mz wrote

Thinking itself is still a form of langauage. We call it telekinesis. Only difference now is that it’s more faster, automatic, and clear to see the other entities pov. I’m going to ball tf out in vr.

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Apollo24_ t1_iqlxy3l wrote

It's called telepathy, and while you can think about sentences and thus language, we're also capable of thoughts that can't be described by language. You could call this a form of "language" as well, sure, but it's nothing like natural languages is what I'm talking about.

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Shelfrock77 t1_iqly441 wrote

That too. Telekinesis will be enabled in VR too tho remember that. I think they are both languages in their own nature. They are tunable via the magic 3, energy, frequencies and vibrations. This is all simulated btw, we are already gods. Bees, ants and other species communicate in a mindhive like manner which can be identified as either or (telepathy and telekinesis).

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ahundredplus t1_iqnz6ks wrote

What is the social aspect of all of this. It’s great that we can create things ourselves but what will we be consuming and how will others be consuming the same thing so we have a point of reference? Otherwise we’ll all just be consuming individualized things with no one to talk to about it.

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petermobeter t1_iqkk9y5 wrote

im gonna be a witch for the second half of my life???????

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sheerun t1_iqm5xkd wrote

It's almost like humans are collectively inventing their future

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ThroawayBecauseIsuck t1_iqkrean wrote

Of course, with text to 3D model + 3D printers you can have your house all decorated with exclusive original stuff no one else has

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Powerful_Range_4270 t1_iql9mxi wrote

But in all seriousness I cant wait till AI makes soical media obsolete.

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HeinrichTheWolf_17 t1_iqlhl2m wrote

A lot of people think FIVR will be this massive thing for people communicating with one another, but in reality I don’t think it’s going to play out quite like that. I think that the overwhelming majority of people will just go live off in their own VR worlds tailored to them. Why waste time arguing with people on Twitter when they have no jurisdiction over your realms?

Remember that Black Mirror episode USS Callister? Where Daly creates his own universe with his own AIs from a modded version of the online game ‘Infinity’ and lives out his sadistic Captain Kirk fantasy? I think that’s what most people will do (minus the sadism, hopefully).

But I agree with you, Social Media as we know it is going to die one day. There’s just no point in it if you can get companionship specifically tailored to your liking.

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imlaggingsobad t1_iqlr4th wrote

Now people understand why Meta (Facebook) is pivoting so hard to the metaverse. AR/VR is so obviously the future of computing. It will obsolete the internet social media apps we have today. The hyper-realistic VR worlds that are perfectly tailored to your liking will be infinitely more compelling. No one will want to waste time on any other forms of entertainment.

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SteppenAxolotl t1_iqmv8cy wrote

That's been in the works for over 5 years.

>According to Meta, the "metaverse" refers to the integrated environment that links all of the company's products and services.

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Shelfrock77 t1_iqpq7i2 wrote

I’m still going to hang with friends and family in fdvr tf

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IntrepidHorror5986 t1_iqlixgx wrote

The age of magical thinking.

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Ohigetjokes OP t1_iqlu7z7 wrote

Well we never really left that age. It started the second we evolved into humans.

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canoeism t1_iqmkact wrote

If it’s the age of magical thinking, it will also be the age of pleasing and bowing to possibly crapricious gods, which we will have to unleash into the world to make our age of magic possible. Almost like we are making the mythological age a reality.

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Beatboxamateur t1_iqkvcx0 wrote

A lot of this is probably inaccurate, given that in a recent interview, Sam Altman said that prompts/prompt engineering won't really be widely used anymore in the near future. It'll probably be just using natural language.

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Kiberiada t1_iqm46z7 wrote

AI being intelligent will replay to some of your prompts like this:

"Do it yourself, it helps you grow and stay fit."

"If I charge you the energy needs of this job, it will be 26% more than if you ask AIno843ALb23, his equipment is a better fit. Also, if you wait till the next season, the whole stuff will be cheaper by 40%."

"According to my analyses, environmental, economic, and even the projected emotional indicators are all negative for the majority of the community. Please check appendix 1, and you can also look at a 3D model of the final result in appendix 2 of this e-mail. Let's work a bit more on the project plan"

"Stupid task, but we will do it. I assigned it a low priority though. Describe provide more details about the required aesthetical qualities (like side colors). "

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DukkyDrake t1_iqmr5g0 wrote

That outlook only makes sense if you expect AI tools to remain in their current primitive state.

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mitchoz t1_iqltsc6 wrote

The Age of Black Magic*

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ChocolateFit9026 t1_iqrrbt4 wrote

There’s a big misunderstanding that just because text to image is huge right now that everything will be done with text prompts. The only reason it works this way is because good image text pairs exist everywhere on the internet. Not the same with audio and lots of things.

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Ohigetjokes OP t1_iqsn7xn wrote

It's a convenient lens for the larger issue

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ChocolateFit9026 t1_iqvh2bk wrote

What’s the larger issue? It seems like if large ML models are trained in particular data and work a particular way (usually without text prompts), there isn’t any “speaking to machines” translation issue.

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onyxengine t1_iql2qcl wrote

Machine learning + gene editing is going to challenge what it means to be human soon enough

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Farns4 t1_iqm8y6p wrote

Look up the flower of life as an image. Then look at its progression from a circle to the entire fractalized shape. We are going to create our own universes. Each of us.

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FC4945 t1_iqmieef wrote

What's the quote, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic?" Actually, Ray Kurzweil used the Harry Potter franchise and the magical abilities portrayed in those films as analogous to what will happen during the Singularity and beyond even suggesting we might, one day, even use quantum computers to copy past information (which is what we are). We are on the verge of seismic changes but while some of us have kept up with these changes, they will surely come as a massive shock to many. Think people losing it over Stable Diffusion and DALL-E is bad? Just wait. The luddites will be out in force in the next couple of decades.

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ryusan8989 t1_is1by4g wrote

It just reminds me of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. I could imagine us in the near future creating a “hex” just like Wanda did when she created an entire Apple orchard. Or even creating an entire city for that matter. Just some fun to think about.

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Evideyear t1_iqkip45 wrote

Putting the wizardry back into your setup wizard, now with AI spells and casting them using your voice. Apparently magic will exist

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DungeonsAndDradis t1_iqm26yf wrote

I had a fun idea for a short story once.

Animals have become intelligent. They live in the ruins of a once great civilization. They are about Medieval level of technology. Magic exists. They know very little about the people that built the civilization before them.

The way magic works is that you speak the magic language out loud and you get the effects.

But what the animals do not know is that they are simply activating the nano-machines that are ever-present in these ruins of the great civilization.

The more-proficient wizards of this new era are just better at prompt engineering and describing what they want the nano-machines to do. Maybe they found an ancient English dictionary or something, and treat it as a wizard's tome.

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Kiberiada t1_iqm33k8 wrote

Sounds nice, a good fit for a cartoon/manga.

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Evideyear t1_iqniqb9 wrote

If you ever make it let me know I'd definitely give it a watch or read

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Powerful_Range_4270 t1_iqkkgyd wrote

I dont see the problem. Knowing by itself doesn't make anything certain. What we do with information is what matters most. Smarter towards what ? Who are you to decide of what is right or wrong.

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Akimbo333 t1_iqkvh9r wrote

Wow this is interesting!

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thehourglasses t1_iqkziah wrote

Where will the material come from?

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Dark-Arts t1_iqkzwoe wrote

The harvested bodies of the lower class.

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thehourglasses t1_iql7e0k wrote

That’s goofy. We all know emaciated corpses are low in heavy metals. Oh, you’re another one of those reality denying transhumanist fuckheads. It all makes sense now.

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Dark-Arts t1_iqlcmj9 wrote

It’s a joke asshole, sort of.

But since you challenged the idea (I think, it’s not really clear what you’re angry about), if you think the widespread adoption of AI in society is going to lessen, not worsen, social and economic inequality, you’re a fucking stupid jackass. And if you don’t care, you’re a piece of shit.

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R3StoR t1_iqlpfqb wrote

Agreed. It's gonna a take a long time for all that wondrous stuff to trickle down magically (or otherwise) to us plebs...if ever.

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R3StoR t1_iqlp86b wrote

We've got increasing amounts of forever chemicals and heavy metals actually. Compost, grind, harvest.....gold fillings, swallowed coins even.....all infinitely valuable!!

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UnionMountain4680t t1_iqmb0f1 wrote

Just think a bit further with this. All this prompts and magic stuff it is all just a sand particle. We will create worlds and universes (and yes maybe this one is already this, and yes maybe we don’t know physics good enough and this world is not a simulated with a base world outside but maybe this world is simulated world from the future us). There will be an explosion of things that is far beyond or human imagination and it is (maybe) just around the corner.

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TimSimpson t1_iqnya0w wrote

I definitely like the term “prompt caster” better than “prompt engineer”. Definitely going to switch to that.

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lonleyalien t1_iqop9xi wrote

As a Techno-Hermetic I approve.

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C4PTNK0R34 t1_iqu6bkj wrote

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from Magic. Give it another few decades or so as technology marches onward so does the Singularity and humanity’s technological evolution. When one become the same evolution is only limited by the limitations of the technology that binds it.

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HadesBBC t1_iqm70vb wrote

Can't wait for personalized prompts

"Dracarys" to turn on the gas

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stievstigma t1_iqn16m7 wrote

Intelligent nano-swarms, symbiotic with our individual micro-biomes, reorganizing matter at the atomic scale? Sounds pretty magical to me!

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slobbowitz t1_iqnfvor wrote

The world and society are a mess. Tech is helping this happen… what good is all of this?

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Ohigetjokes OP t1_iqnhh65 wrote

Tech is a great big neutral.

The world is a mess but life expectancy and relative personal freedoms are better than they've been in centuries. The trends are positive. But I doubt tech is a huge contributing factor.

And as far as what good... I mean, I personally am a huge fan of indoor plumbing, medicine, travel, communication... sorry what about all of this isn't good enough for you?

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slobbowitz t1_iqpwxkt wrote

Who said anything wasn’t good enough for me? That’s pretty much my point… it is good enough. Your mention of plumbing etc. is a false equivalence to what we’re talking about with AI and the Singularity. I’d rather not surrender myself completely to the machines. Seems like this is where we are and it looks kind of shitty. . I read Ray’s book and was excited… but the older I get the less excited I am about it’s premise. Relative freedom you say? Doesn’t look like freedom when everyone in the room has their head down looking at a screen and not talking to one another. More like slaves. While there are so many positives of “tech” in general and I’m alive today because of them, I find myself looking for humanity on a daily basis. I mostly see narcissism, hate, fear, manipulation and massive mediocrity being championed for the talent of being snarky, as demonstrated by your end comment. Humans gonna human I guess but apparently not for much longer.

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TinyBurbz t1_iqki44u wrote

I dont think a lot of this tech is going anywhere.

​

Step outside the tech-woo bubble and people hate AI generated content with a passion.

Here come the grifters lmao.

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Evideyear t1_iqkijf8 wrote

In fairness though the public rarely likes a new technology. In time though it becomes accepted. The internet is a prime example of that.

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TinyBurbz t1_iqkip70 wrote

>The internet is a prime example of that.

Somethings are just never fully accepted, and I really don't see AI generated content being one of those things. I really only see all of this tech being used for scams and ads. That's where it already is.

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Akushin t1_iqkyzv9 wrote

Exact same thing was said about the car

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TinyBurbz t1_iqkzych wrote

>Exact same thing was said about the car

Lmao what

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Akushin t1_iqlj6o7 wrote

“The car will never be accepted as standard transportation “ “Oh, the tv is just a fad!” Seriously, it’s the mating call of the dunce.

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TinyBurbz t1_iqobc5t wrote

Lmao, cars actually provide something useful.

Art is not useful.

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Akushin t1_iqog455 wrote

What a dumb thing to say. So you are positing that the entertainment industry serves absolutely no purpose?

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TinyBurbz t1_iqogsvz wrote

Yeah, I can really carry home the groceries and the kids with AI Art. Ha ha

Dumbass.

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Akushin t1_iqomjr0 wrote

Yeah, it’s not useful for TRANSPORTATION, you dingus. But awesome straw man. Maybe you want to try some intelligent discourse next or do you stop at fallacious arguments?

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TinyBurbz t1_iqov0hu wrote

>Maybe you want to try some intelligent discourse next or do you stop at fallacious arguments?

I stop at comparing something that is subject to universal scorn outside the /r/singularity / techbro bubble to the fucking automobile.

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Akushin t1_iqrlnr5 wrote

Are you really this dense? I’m not comparing AI art with automobiles as a technology , I’m pointing out that the acceptance of new technologies is almost universally resisted. Automobiles only came up because they were roundly bashed in the beginning. I also used the example of the tv. I could have easily used airplanes, cell phones , the printing press, or a slew of other technologies.

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TinyBurbz t1_iqrlt4m wrote

>Are you really this dense? I’m not comparing AI art with automobiles as a technology ,

You literally just did.

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Akushin t1_iqtve7w wrote

Again, I hope you are doing this deliberately because otherwise you are borderline mentally handicapped. I didn’t compare the two technologies. I referenced two historical instances where people said a technology would never be mainstream and how wrong they were. Try to keep up, chucky

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TinyBurbz t1_iquj87s wrote

> I referenced two historical instances where people said a technology would never be mainstream and how wrong they were.

Like the Segway?

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Akushin t1_iqybaew wrote

Lmao, damn you reaching. You realize the Segway is used extensively in tourism and law enforcement? Better choice would have maybe been the HDDVD or Betamax formats. But again those weren’t really cutting edge even by the standards of the time. AI is a world changing technology on the same level as automobiles, mechanized factories, the tv, and electricity. Segway didn’t have near the same potential.

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TinyBurbz t1_iqzp68f wrote

Also used extensively in killing yourself after getting caught wanking a dog:
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna39377851

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Akushin t1_ir0midb wrote

Yup, extensively == 1. Yup.

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TinyBurbz t1_ir11d6x wrote

>Yup, extensively

Your words.

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Akushin t1_ir11uoy wrote

Yeah, my word… that I used correctly. 😂

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TinyBurbz t1_ir137dk wrote

>Yeah, my word… that I used correctly

So you admit your example of "extensive" wasn't very extensive?

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Akushin t1_ir17jvt wrote

Damn you dumb. Done wasting my time on a waste of space. Peace ✌🏻

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TinyBurbz t1_ir1bwwr wrote

>Damn you dumb. Done wasting my time on a waste of space

Come back when you aren't comparing AI art to the automobile.

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3Quondam6extanT9 t1_iqkmtvm wrote

The only reason the public generally doesn't integrate with tech is the accessibility and cost of said technology. The more AI is developed in different areas under different circumstances, the more it becomes normalized, and even now AI in general is used on a daily basis with the population barely recognizing they use it.

As long as the populace isn't forced to pay a lot and as long as the tech sector is capable of broader case use/ open source systems, it will continue to happen and integrate into normal life.

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SWATSgradyBABY t1_iqkuc5o wrote

This isn't true. People often don't know AI generated content when they see/hear it

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r0cket-b0i t1_iqksau1 wrote

People in general can't tell the difference at all... unless it's a robo-customer support when they call their bank or doctor etc. This "hate" part is actually very much a tech-woo perception, "gamers hate nfts" "people hate ai art", not even close, this is an internalized view. People care about what matters to them, the value and benefits.

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