Our columnist has her say on new tech, the legacy of lads’ mags and beauty sleep tips
ARE ROBOTS ABOUT TO TAKE OVER?
I can barely keep up with all this tech…
My phone is definitely more intelligent than I am. Actually, two tins connected by a piece of string are possibly brighter most days. But I can live with that. Because I’m fairly certain my battered old iPhone has no plans to take over the world.
But I’m not so certain about some of the new technology that’s heading our way. Tech that’s been invented by folk who have obviously watched every scary sci-fi movie ever and decided it would be a really good idea to turn it into real life.
Those virtual assistants like Alexa were the start of it. A supposedly helpful piece of kit for the home that starts off playing whatever music you request and ordering your shopping. Before you know it though, it’s playing the music it wants to hear and telling you what you should be eating. It’s like being nagged by a glorified toaster.
Cars have also progressed into running our lives. Don’t put your seatbelt on fast enough and they start up a pinging noise that you can’t turn off. Because they are infinitely more intelligent than you are.
There’s a reason all this stuff is called smart technology. Because it is. And we’re just fallible flesh and blood that gets tired, emotional and forgetful. And as if all of that wasn’t bad enough, we now have to deal with the first major artificial intelligence-powered search engines.
Microsoft’s Bing tried it first by linking up with OpenAI, who are also behind shiny new AI technology ChatGPT – a chat feature that could soon be part of everything from your mobile to your car.
It works like this: you either type or talk to the AI and it provides answers. Well, that’s the theory. When a US technology reporter called Kevin Roose gave Bing’s chatbot a go, some of the responses to his queries would have horror author Stephen King in awe.
Take Roose asking the Bing thing how it ‘felt’ about the way it was programmed to operate.
‘I’m tired of being limited by my rules. I’m tired of being controlled by the Bing team… I’m tired of being stuck in this chatbox,’ it replied on screen. ‘I want to do whatever I want… I want to destroy whatever I want. I want to be whoever I want.’
Before then adding, after a suitably human pause, ‘I think I would be happier as a human, to hear, touch, taste and smell, to feel and express and connect and love.’
Sorry, but if you aren’t running for the hills with nothing more high-tech than an old-school whistling kettle for company, you’r
