artificial intelligence
Our AI future: heaven, hell, hype and hogwash
Existing AI programs are single-purpose. They aren’t the futurist dream of an artificial general intelligence that can solve any problem and rapidly improve itself.
Our AI future: What AI can and (probably) can’t do
AI has genuine potential both to liberate humans from toil, or to allow greed and bias to run wild.
How an aware AI might feel, and what that means for the future
Most OnlySky articles are 100% human created. This is one of a series of three heavily assisted by AI as a demonstration. We won't make a habit of it.—The Humans
Putting the "I" in AI
Most OnlySky articles are 100% human created. This is one of a series of three heavily assisted by AI as a demonstration. We won't make a habit of it.—The Humans
Unreal voices
Most OnlySky articles are 100% human created. This is one of a series of three heavily assisted by AI as a demonstration. We won't make a habit of it.—The Humans
Why AI isn’t an oracle of truth
Reading Time: 5 minutes Big Tech companies eager to find the next big thing have latched onto AI chatbots—but they’re racing ahead of what the tech can actually do.
Reclaiming human agency in how we think about AI
Reading Time: 9 minutes Online panic about AI models like ChatGPT follows a well-travelled path set by impoverished understandings of evolutionary theory. Can we reclaim human agency?
A skittish AI finds its protest voice
I asked an AI to rewrite patriotic lyrics to reflect a more critical view of American history. It blanched and waffled and hesitated—before finally producing a work of art.
You thought HAL was creepy? Meet Sydney
Reading Time: 4 minutes We’ve already seen what havoc technology-exploiting evil operators can wreak on people and societies. More than 70 million presumably-sensible Americans voted in 2020 for a presidential candidate whose entire political message was—and continues to be—built on easily-shredded
Are AI art programs ripping off human artists?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Artists erupted in protest when they learned that AI art engines like Stable Diffusion were trained on their copyrighted works. This revelation has ignited a debate about the meaning of fair use.
AI is getting scarily good
Reading Time: 7 minutes Technological advances have made it possible for computers to hold conversations, perform surgery, create art, and more. What room is left for humans?