Nick Barrow

Research Associate @TUHHEthics | Otherwise, thinking about the moral value of consciousness | @UCL_ICN | @ImagesofAI | #firstgen

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

@rachelcoldicutt Hi Rachel! You might be interested in this report :)

[Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf_uk]

59% of orgs feel they aren't engaged in the broader AI debate

Without sector engagement, initiatives aimed at developing AI for public good cannot have an adequate understanding of what that might entail

📑 Find out more from @yasminibison and @WeandAI: https://t.co/3NvyMY5r2l.

[Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf_uk]

59% of orgs feel they aren't engaged in the broader AI debate

Without sector engagement, initiatives aimed at developing AI for public good cannot have an adequate understanding of what that might entail

📑 Find out more from @yasminibison and @WeandAI: https://t.co/3NvyMY5r2l.

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

Tired of hearing about how big tech, governments,
and academics think about AI?

Prefer to hear from organisations that have at their heart a social cause and represent marginalised communities?

Then check out our (@WeandAI) report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation!

[Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf_uk]

🌐 New JRF and @WeandAI research shows

78% of non-profit and grassroots orgs use generative AI tools in some capacity

71% do so to work more efficiently

But these orgs haven't been adequately represented in discussions/decisions on design, use and governance of AI technologies

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

@_aybig_ Congratulations, Aybike! Looks fantastic.

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

@ellieabyrne Thank you! Hope you’re doing well 😇

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

Wrote a commentary for AI and Ethics (as part of our collection on the ethics of AI Hype) on how Anthropomorphisation is both symptomatic and conducive to AI Hype.

But anthropomorphism seems unavoidable...so what (if anything) should we do about it?

https://t.co/JcfXF3dKUy

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

@hermeneuticist Thank you, Ismael!

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

@_aybig_ Thanks so much for sharing, Aybike!

[Jon Williamson @Jon_Williamson_]

Sadly, @UniKent has announced plans to axe a number of smaller departments, including philosophy. We perform well on all measures, including student recruitment. But smaller subjects have less clout and are easiest to cut. Help us shout out our value to the uni! They need to hear

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

@KeijiOta3 Congratulations, Keiji! Looks great

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

@smusab @andrewyuanlee Thanks for this! I’ll check it out. Maybe also interesting for @David_Gunkel @SvenNyholm and co.

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

@petemandik I think I’d have to bite the bullet and just say that that type of talk is wrong (if not folk-useful!).

I agree it’d seem odd to say that swiss cheese in some sense ‘is’ its holes, but then lots of english doesn’t make much sense (“pair of trousers” for instance)

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

@petemandik also 0!

My extended answer is roughly that whilst the holes are ‘there’ they are essential properties of the objects (of straws, doughnuts, tunnels) and so therefore they don’t *have* them

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

@David_Gunkel @KamilMamak @Robophilosophy_ @MCoeckelbergh @_aybig_ @grok_ @eschwitz @JoshGellers @spillteori @Faust_III @evepoole @visakurki @eripsa Count me in!

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

@David_Gunkel Great to meet you, David! I hope you have a good rest of your tour !

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

This is a ridiculous take. It is still doing anything a ‘stochastic parrot’ would do. Being fed data about what towns are like and where supermarkets usually are, its simply waiting to recognise something like that and point you that way. It also didn’t ‘direct’ at the beginning.

[AI Notkilleveryoneism Memes ⏸️ @AISafetyMemes]

Why are Metaculus markets now putting a 25% chance on AGI in the next 1.5 years?

Shit like this:

“Hey GPT4-V, this is what’s in front of me. Let’s step by step find the nearest supermarket using only logical reasoning.”

Yes, that’s right - GPT4 was able to figure out how to direct a guy, step by step, to the nearest supermarket just by looking at a photo of a street, then using logical reasoning - piecing together clues from the tiny details in the roads, the signs, the cars.

“This is the end of the road, should I go left or right?”

This is why Geoffrey Hinton said in the next 5 years they may be better at reasoning than us, we will be the second smartest species on earth, and “they might take over.”

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks we're 2-3 years away from ~AGI. This is very roughly the same ballpark as OpenAI.

GoogleDeepMind's Chief AGI Scientist thinks 30% chance in 3 years.

We don’t have much time left.

If you’re still a stochastic parrot person at this point, what say ye about this example?

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

Submissions will be sent for blind peer review as normal. But, if you would like to run any submission ideas past us please do.

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

🚨Call For Papers!🚨

Myself and my colleagues at @WeandAI are guest editing a topical collection on the 'Ethical Implications of AI Hype' for AI and Ethics.

Deadline: 30.10.23.

https://t.co/oSKJDUy3XX #cfp #aihype #aiethics

[Nick Barrow @thatssonick]

The papers in this collection will examine how myths and overinflation around AI influence policy agendas, business decisions, and individuals by warping our mental models.

We encourage those in policy, civil service, business, and academia to submit.