Signal to Noise Report
“If we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over this robot army?"...
The Signal to Noise Report collects headlines to illustrate humanity’s move into what is beginning to resemble a hybrid species: The Jetsons meets Blade Runner. The idea being that we have a proclivity to accept (with glee) whatever new techno gizmos are shoved at us, yet rarely question their purpose and/or their long-term effects on our health and sanity.
He has a soulful voice, a No. 1 hit and he’s not real. Meet AI star Breaking Rust
Breaking Rust, a new artist on the scene, is topping charts ... but he’s not a real person. He’s a computer-generated outlaw blues-country singer.
“Walk My Walk,” a song from Breaking Rust’s October EP “Resilient,” is the No. 1 song on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales Chart, a list of the most-downloaded tracks in the U.S.
Rust has a husky, soulful voice à la Marcus King or Chris Stapleton. AI images depict him as a manly cowboy-type with a chiseled jawline and stubble. He wears a dark hat with a bandana tied around his neck.
Billboard said that at least six AI, or AI-assisted, artists have debuted with Billboard rankings over recent months.
Cain Walker, who placed on the country chart with Rust, also took the ninth and 11th spots on the chart. Xania Monet, an AI R&B singer, became the first AI artist to debut on a Billboard radio charts in September.
This summer, AI psychedelic rock band The Velvet Sundown made headlines after reaching more than 1 million listeners and topping charts.
Widowed by computer death, or why it is dangerous for AI to talk like Scarlett Johansson
Akihiko Kondo, who turned 41 on May 31, married the hologram of his favorite virtual singer, Hatsune Miku, in a symbolic ceremony six years ago. Just two anniversaries later, Gatebox, the company responsible for the avatar, went out of business and the young Japanese public school administrator was widowed by computer death…
US student handcuffed after AI system apparently mistook bag of chips for gun
Taki Allen was sitting with friends on Monday night outside Kenwood high school in Baltimore and eating a snack when police officers with guns approached him.
“At first, I didn’t know where they were going until they started walking toward me with guns, talking about, ‘Get on the ground,’ and I was like, ‘What?’” Allen told the WBAL-TV 11 News television station.
Allen said they made him get on his knees, handcuffed and searched him – finding nothing. They then showed him a copy of the picture that had triggered the alert.
“I was just holding a Doritos bag – it was two hands and one finger out, and they said it looked like a gun,” Allen said.
Their teenage sons died by suicide. Now, they are sounding an alarm about AI chatbots
Matthew Raine and his wife, Maria, had no idea that their 16-year-old-son, Adam was deep in a suicidal crisis until he took his own life in April. Looking through his phone after his death, they stumbled upon extended conversations the teenager had had with ChatGPT.
Those conversations revealed that their son had confided in the AI chatbot about his suicidal thoughts and plans. Not only did the chatbot discourage him to seek help from his parents, it even offered to write his suicide note…
OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week
For the first time ever, OpenAI has released a rough estimate of how many ChatGPT users globally may show signs of having a severe mental health crisis in a typical week. The company said Monday that it worked with experts around the world to make updates to the chatbot so it can more reliably recognize indicators of mental distress and guide users toward real-world support.
In recent months, a growing number of people have ended up hospitalized, divorced, or dead after having long, intense conversations with ChatGPT. Some of their loved ones allege the chatbot fueled their delusions and paranoia. Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals have expressed alarm about the phenomenon, which is sometimes referred to as AI psychosis, but until now there’s been no robust data available on how widespread it might be.
Elon Musk Wants ‘Strong Influence’ Over the ‘Robot Army’ He’s Building
“My fundamental concern with regard to how much voting control I have at Tesla is, if I go ahead and build this enormous robot army, can I just be ousted at some point in the future?” [Musk] said. “If we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over this robot army? Not control, but a strong influence … I don’t feel comfortable building that robot army unless I have a strong influence.”
Generally, Musk talks about Tesla’s Optimus project as more of a force for peace than war. He’s said that Optimus will upend the job market and free humanity from the drudgery of work. (“Working will be optional, like growing your own vegetables, instead of buying them from the store,” he posted this week.) Elsewhere on the investor call Wednesday, he said that Tesla’s robots would “actually create a world where there is no poverty, where everyone has access to the finest medical care.”
At Tesla events—and at the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles—Optimus robots are usually seen doing service work: serving drinks and popcorn, or entertaining visitors by dancing or playing rock, paper, scissors. (Optimus participants in a 2024 Tesla event were later acknowledged to be not fully autonomous, but remotely operated by humans.)
Lastly, a rare “Signal to Noise” book recommendation:
Cory Doctorow’s Enshittification: it’s not just you—the internet sucks now. Here’s why, and here’s how we can disenshittify it.
"We’re living through the Enshittocene, the Great Enshittening, a time in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit. It’s frustrating. Demoralizing. Even terrifying.
Enshittification identifies the problem and proposes a solution…”
Ned Mudd resides in Alabama where he engages in interspecies communication, rock collecting, and frequent cloud watching. He is the author of The Adventures of Dink and DVD (a space age comedy). Some of Ned’s best friends are raccoons.
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