Google’s AI Overviews: Forever Broken, Just as the Algorithm Intended!

“Google’s AI Overviews Will Always Be Broken. That’s How AI Works”

“‘Artificial intelligence is a tool, not a threat,’ tweeted Google’s senior vice-president for global affairs, Kent Walker, echoing the sunny optimism of the company that has done more to determine the path of second-wave AI—the application of AI in smartphone cameras, fridges, and global surveillance operations, among other things—than perhaps any other.”

An upbeat and positively radiant perspective, isn’t it? Of course, anything else would have been a surprise coming from the Google executive himself – after all, it’s the tech giant that has been leading the merry march of the so-called ‘second wave’ of AI. This wave has splashed AI over our smartphones, lodged it in our refrigerators, and even woven it into the vast, invisible nets of global surveillance systems, among a myriad of other areas.

Contrary to the humdrum mainstream dialogue about AI, it plagued by cautions and bogeyman tales of robots taking over mankind, what Walker wants us to remember, enveloped in his chirpy tweet, is that AI is just a tool. Yes, that’s right – apparently, AI isn’t a rampaging beast on a mission to overturn the human race, but rather a nifty little widget in our collective toolkit.

This cheerful optimism washes over the inherent complexities that lie within the dynamics of AI technology. A simple tool serves a direct purpose. You wield a hammer to drive in a nail; a screwdriver twists a screw into place. These tools don’t learn from previous nails or screws, nor do they suddenly decide they’d be better used smashing windows or causing mayhem. Yet AI, with its adaptive potential and unpredictability, seems to play in a different league.

The portrayal of AI as a docile, user-tamed entity discards crucial discussions around privacy invasion, ethical boundaries, and potential misuses. After all, every tool can be misused, even wielded as a weapon, raising questions that demand our attention sooner rather than later. We need to acknowledge that AI, unlike other tools, has the capability to learn, adapt and evolve. It opens up an entirely new can of worms.

It appears, therefore, that Mr. Walker’s idealistic tweet about AI being a non-threatening sidekick seems to have glossed over the potential pitfalls of the technology. Instead of cosily tucking AI into the textbook definition of a ‘tool’, we’d do well to treat it as a powerful entity that needs meticulous handling and constant surveillance.

In the neon glow of Google’s positive narrative, it’s essential to remember that with great power comes great responsibility – and AI, despite its various beneficial applications, is undeniably a force to be reckoned with.

Read the original article here: https://www.wired.com/story/google-ai-overviews-broken-how-ai-works/