Some people are beginning to become alarmed by the speed of progress in the development of Artificial Intelligence. It has occurred to them that new technologies, in the hands of the wrong people and if not properly regulated, could be used to promote evil rather than good. Clearly, they did not watch the B-movies that warned of the perils of robots taking over the world back in the last century.
History has taught us that once you allow the genie out of the bottle, it is not possible to stuff it back in. Take the example of the atomic bomb. After 1945, when the deployment of such bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought about the end of the 1939-45 war, the world soon came to realise the strategic and political power that came with nuclear weapons. On one level, the original spur for their development was understandable but the technology could become a scourge for the world if such weapons were in the hands of one's enemies.
More recently, the bosses of the world's biggest AI labs have said, in a joint statement signed by more than 350 executives and researchers, that technologies such as ChatGPT could be as dangerous as nuclear war. We need to control these models and regulate them on a global scale. At the moment we appear to be rather complacent and are so excited about the benefits that the possible dangers are being underplayed. As for global agreements, surely we have learned by now that certain regimes can not be relied on when it comes to signing up to international treaties.
I accidentally came across a website that offered to help me generate a job description for bell ringers. It was based on AI and must have scanned the internet to form a picture of the desirable qualities and skills required to be a good ringer. The result had me hooting with laughter. I will share the key points so that you can hoot along with me.
Our role:
- To welcome visitors to the premises and alert staff to their presence
- To ring the bells to announce the arrival of visitors and the departure of staff (worth a try, but I think AI was thinking that bell ringers are glorified door men)
- A bell ringer will be expected to maintain a friendly, professional and courteous manner whilst performing their duties
- Their primary purpose is to operate the bells in a church tower. This involves ringing them at specific times to indicate the hour or to call worshippers to service. The bells may also be rung to mark special occasions (anyone care to volunteer for the midnight to 6am shift this week?)
- As well as meeting and greeting visitors, a bell ringer will maintain visitor records and issue passes, direct visitors to the correct location and inform them of waiting times (that is the tenor, look to….)
- The job involves monitoring the entrances and exits ( I was once involved in a quarter peal that required me to sit at the door of the ringing room and head off any nosy tourists who were climbing the tower for the view) as well as performing other duties as required
A successful applicant will have good knowledge of bell ringing techniques, be able to work in a team (no arguments there), be able to lift heavy bells ( really?), possess a good knowledge of time and rhythm (fair enough) and be familiar with musical notation ( I suspect the AI mistook "place notation" for musical notation, and even that is pushing things). They seem to have ignored the ability to walk up dozens of uneven steps, sometimes carrying awkwardly shaped items.
What personal traits are required to perform these interesting functions?
Only 3 required:
- Friendly
- Organised
- Energetic. I would add exceedingly strong for the bell lifting duties.
Whoever draws up the final job advert is advised to include details about the organisation's culture, career progression (Plain Bob to Cambridge by way of Kent TB?), any training and development programmes offered, employee benefits and skill gaps.
I do not think that we have to worry about AI taking over the world just yet, but the job description was convincing even though it was wrong. If you knew nothing about bell ringing you might believe that ringers enjoy excellent personal skills, are highly organised and sport very large muscles.
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