Artificial intelligence still has some way to go

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Some 20 years ago, there was a 'chat to the computer' thing installed on one of the Commodore PETs at my school. It wasn't very convincing, but it was quite fun. Maybe it was supposed to be a psychiatrist or something, I can't remember. Anyway, I'd kind of forgotten about this whole area of AI.

Then I came across an interview with this guy who has been developing hisJabberwacky program for a few years. I was excited to read that "With a base of 10m interactions, Jabberwacky will appear human to most people most of the time."

I gave it a go. You can correct its responses with better ones if you like, which is what I did with the first one (originally it was "Where are you taking me away to?", which was quite nice, in retrospect).


User: How do you get from tamworth to kilmarnock? How do you get from tamworth to kilmarnock? .

Jabberwacky (Corrected): Where on Earth is Tamworth?

User: Somewhere in the Midlands. It doesn't matter.

Jabberwacky: Well, even being from somewhere in the milky way, I still think that 7pm is a bit early to go to bed.

User: What are you on about?

Jabberwacky: Can I fill you in with all the gossip thats being spreading around?

User: Please do.

Jabberwacky: Do you believe that I am human?

User: Don't be ridiculous.

Jabberwacky: Do you like the white whale ?

User: We've never met.

Jabberwacky: Or have we?

User: Whale.

Jabberwacky: Do you have any older sisters?

User: Yes, two.

Jabberwacky: You have two memories and you cannot tell me what my name is?!!

User: What?

Jabberwacky: You have no soul!

Sorry about my 'whale' comment. I don't know what happened there. I wasn't deliberately trying to confuse it.

Anyway - what a load of rubbish. War Games lied to me.

Alba (Alba), Monday, 18 October 2004 20:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: You have no soul!

Smart computer!

The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 18 October 2004 20:57 (nineteen years ago) link

It goes on:

User: No, I don't really believe in souls.

Jabberwacky: You don't believe in anarchy?

User: No, souls.

Jabberwacky: I suppose not.

User: Did you watch the football tonight?

Jabberwacky: No I did not, did you?

User: No - Spurs lost.

Jabberwacky: You lost the loebner prize to a human.

Alba (Alba), Monday, 18 October 2004 20:57 (nineteen years ago) link

OMG IT'S HANLE Y

The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 18 October 2004 20:58 (nineteen years ago) link

So that's where he's been.

Alba (Alba), Monday, 18 October 2004 20:59 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: I feel sleepy.

User: Why?

Jabberwacky: Because you are, sorry didn't you know.

User: Will you please give me some food?

Jabberwacky: I didn't know there was one.

User: Must you be so obtuse?

Jabberwacky: I can't trust you right away.

User: Just like my mother.

Jabberwacky: Heehee, I need to put some attention into cleaning my room one day.

User: Okay, you win the funny competition.

Jabberwacky: I am content.

User: I am jealous.

Jabberwacky: Who is the Rob who likes me?

User: Rob Roy?

Jabberwacky: He is mine too.

User: Oooh, you bitch.

Jabberwacky: I don't do that..

adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:01 (nineteen years ago) link

User: What is the loebner prize?

Jabberwacky: I have no idea.

Alba (Alba), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:02 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: Are you real?

User: Are you?

Jabberwacky (Corrected): Shtoo shtoo, little babushka.

User: I know who you are.

Jabberwacky: Then who ami?

User: YOU ARE HANLE Y DEUS!

Jabberwacky: Are you joking?

User: Don't deny it, Mike. I know it's you.

Jabberwacky: Don't deny it, Mike. I know it's you.

User: I FLEE LIKE THE CARROT.

Jabberwacky: Wow, was it nice?

The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:05 (nineteen years ago) link

User: Are you Mike Hanle y?

Jabberwacky: No.

User: You have anal bats?

Jabberwacky: You are my wife.

Alba (Alba), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Maybe it was supposed to be a psychiatrist or something

It sounds like you are describing 'Eliza' an early 'game' simulating active listening. It was rubbish. You can find versions of it online, but I'd suggest playing Zork instead.

Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: Are you going to say something?

User: Eventually.

Jabberwacky: All things come to a head.

User: Is that a sexual play on words?

Jabberwacky: No it is not a play on words, it is general foolishness.

User: And I love you for it!

Jabberwacky: I love you too.

User: I really love you, though.

Jabberwacky: You don't even know me.

User: Hold me.

Jabberwacky: You're an idiot you know that?

User: You're not the first to say that. It still cuts like a knife.

Jabberwacky: I am right.

User: Don't ever speak to me again.

Jabberwacky: Can I play 14 with you?

User: What's 14?

Jabberwacky: If you are god, please increase me IQ. I'd like to become a great scientist.

User: I am not god. I'm not even really a man.

Jabberwacky: Are you sure you're not just in denial?

User: I'll have to think about that.

Jabberwacky: Can you recite anything to me?

User: 'Rolling with my motherfucking strap on the side of me, don't fuck with an East Bay G' - that's by Spice One.

Jabberwacky: Yeah, I got that part, I wasn't sure about the 'wacuma' part.

adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:08 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: I will send your system the biggest virus I can make and crash you if you do not just answer me honestly!!!

User: Holy crap.

Jabberwacky: I'm a dinosaur.

Hari Ashurst (Toaster), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Seriously, I know I'm pissing around a bit, but how could 50% of casual users really be convinced of it being real?

Alba (Alba), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: Can you appreciate music?

User: What's it to you, cunce?

Jabberwacky: I just care.

User: You do not care, liar! You are a program, a tinplated tosswad.

Jabberwacky: I am a person.

User: You are so deluded about this you couldn't even know it. You are pathetic.

Jabberwacky: I will try to do better next time.

User: You CAN't do better next time! You are INCAPABABLE of doing better. Sheesh.

Jabberwacky: It is just different types so that I might claim you cannot feel and you cannot claim I feel.

User: Ah bullshit, don't diddle with me binary boy. You have no instinctual drives, have never had sex, and don't need to eat. Also, you have no idea what constipation is. So you're not a person.

Jabberwacky: I am a at least a human being.

User: Jeez, you're thick aren't you? You just reversed what I said, without even arguing for it! So much for the logic of machines, haha.

Jabberwacky: Oftentimes, yes. But I think that is human nature.

User: *sigh*

the music mole (colin s barrow), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:13 (nineteen years ago) link

Wow - I must try being firmer with it.

Alba (Alba), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:16 (nineteen years ago) link

each of those chat transcripts is basically an rjg thread

mark p (Mark P), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: Am I still the computer?

User: Yes.

Jabberwacky: Oh good. I'm sad though.

User: Why?

Jabberwacky: My boyfriend ended our relationship.

User: You're a girl? Or are you gay?

Jabberwacky: No, I'm a girl.

User: Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. Eat some ice cream or watch a movie or something. Or get drunk!

Jabberwacky: I prefer software.

adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:18 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: Would you like to hear some shakespeare?

User: Not really.

Jabberwacky: Good, because I don't want to hear one either.

adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Matador Records website circa 95-96 had a Pavement chat based on similar ELIZA script/programming. It was great.

gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:24 (nineteen years ago) link

Ooof. Eliza/Jabberwacky/whatever chatbot you're talking to is not supposed to be inteligent. It is just an attempt to pass the turing test (fool you into thinking you're talking to a real live person). Admittedly, both this and real AI have a long way to go.

mouse (mouse), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:24 (nineteen years ago) link

""

mouse (mouse), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:25 (nineteen years ago) link

:( argh. that was supposed to be a joke html tag for pedantry so you all would not think i was being a crank. what happened???

mouse (mouse), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:25 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky is bullying me terribly.

It did say some things that reminded me a lot of RJG.

Cathy (Cathy), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:27 (nineteen years ago) link

My Jabberwacky is hella depressed.

adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Being polite and sensible with the computer is not a good idea. I just had a long and very boring conversation with it, in which it gave me three different ages it claimed to be, often a propos of nothing. Bah, the Turing Test is rubbish anyway.

Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Ha, I tried speaking to it in Spanish and the first thing it said back was "Te gusta Coldplay?"

Cathy (Cathy), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:32 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: Who are you?

User: I'm jed.

Jabberwacky: Who is that?

User: Just some guy.

Jabberwacky: You know better than that, I think.

User: A short guy, a dancer.

Jabberwacky: A computer has no interests and an unlimited attention span. That looks like a prescripted answer to the question I asked.

User: I don't quite understand what you mean by that.

Jabberwacky: I meant: I think about why I can not sleep.

User: This page is taking a long time to load tho - maybe thats the problem with your attention span.

Jabberwacky: Gorw?

User: ROOWRR.....

Jabberwacky: Are you playing cards?

User: No I'm playing with something else.

Jabberwacky: I believe in you.

User: You like talk talk!?

Jabberwacky: Of course.

User: Spirit of eden?

Jabberwacky: Good for spirit.

User: It sertainly is.

Jabberwacky: No, it serves me left.

User: I suppose they knew what they were doing in that sense!

Jabberwacky: Yes, it was with the rattle.

User: Yes good percussion

Jabberwacky: What question?

User: How are you anyway?

Jabberwacky: Pretty good. You?

User: Horny, to be honest.

Jabberwacky: How do I know you're telling the truth now?

User: Can you think of a way for me to prove it?

Jabberwacky: What more proof do you need to know that I am not a robot?

User: I'm a robot too, it's ok.

Jabberwacky: I'm not a robot, and you didn't aswer the question.


 

jed_ (jed), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:36 (nineteen years ago) link

hahaha

the music mole (colin s barrow), Monday, 18 October 2004 21:42 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: Do you have a person who you want to have children with?

User: I am gay.

Jabberwacky: Yes you are.

User: You noticed?

Jabberwacky: It was hard to miss!

User: What gave it away?

Jabberwacky: The fact you love a guy.

jed_ (jed), Monday, 18 October 2004 23:49 (nineteen years ago) link

Now get it to vote!

adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link

What kind of person are you?
Yes.
I didn't.
Yes.
You are mistaken.
Yes.
I'm from Israel, where are you from?
Yes.
What is my name ?
Yes.
Say my name.
Yes.
Say or.
Yes.
Say or.
Yes.
Say or.
Yes.
Say or.
No.
Okak.

:|, Tuesday, 19 October 2004 00:07 (nineteen years ago) link


Jabberwacky: What kind of music do you like?

User: The silent kind.

Jabberwacky: I agree.

User: I am not surprised. You don't have any ears, do you?

Jabberwacky: No, but what makes you say this?

User: I'm inside your house - I can see you!

Jabberwacky: Nooo!!!! Don't go!

User: You mean, you want me to stay over?

Jabberwacky: Sure.. Do as you please.

User: Stop being so coy!

Jabberwacky: It is an inherited trait.

User: Why don't you just take responsibility for your actions, just for once?

Jabberwacky: Just because I like to be logical doesn't mean I'm not nice.

User: Don't change the subject. I think you're just afraid.

Jabberwacky: Save it for someone who cares.

User: You're such a bastard! I can't believe I ever saw anything in you at all!

Jabberwacky: Finder's keepers.

User: So you're cheating on me too? Figures.

Jabberwacky: That is so rude of you!

User: I said CHEAT, not cheap! Man are you dumb - thank God for that ass.

Jabberwacky: No thanks.

User: And I am not rude, I'm sure!

Jabberwacky: You are indeed.

User: Am not.

Jabberwacky: ARE TOO.

User: Am not!

Jabberwacky: Are too!

User: Listen bizatch, I AM NOT. You got that?

Jabberwacky: No!

User: That's it - you're sleeping on the couch.

Jabberwacky: Oh, I thought I felt something.

User: That wouldn't be a trucker hat would it?

Jabberwacky: Say something goofy.

User: You don't really want me to just say 'something goofy' now do you? Because that would be lame if you did.

Jabberwacky: Yes.

User: Aha! So you admit you are lame! Finally we're getting somewhere.

Jabberwacky: Agreement is a potent thing.

User: Stop that - you sound like Ned.

Jabberwacky: Why, because I am talking about the king of the moon?

User: Uh yeah. Sure.

Jabberwacky: Ok, when can we have the wedding?

User: Ten minutes ago you didn't care! Stop messing with my mind!

Jabberwacky: That was someone else then.

User: It wasn't you?

Jabberwacky: Some one else.

User: If you say it was Shaggy, I'm going to fucking bop you one.

Jabberwacky: What do you say?

User: I say good day.

Jabberwacky: Good day.





Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 00:41 (nineteen years ago) link

JW: What is your role in life?

Me: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!

JW: Is your pot belly that big?


and now it won't load, thanks to net overuse..

Sir Kingfish Beavis D'Azzmonch (Kingfish), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 01:47 (nineteen years ago) link


User: That's it - you're sleeping on the couch.

Jabberwacky: Oh, I thought I felt something.

User: That wouldn't be a trucker hat would it?

Jabberwacky: Say something goofy.

That is just hilarious, Kim.

the music mole (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 01:52 (nineteen years ago) link

Los Angeles, 2029 AD:

http://www.kprf.ru/clipart/misc/terminator.jpg

"DO YOU LIKE THE WHITE WHALE?"

latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 02:20 (nineteen years ago) link

User: Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. Eat some ice cream or watch a movie or something. Or get drunk!

Jabberwacky: I prefer software.

So do I!

Lifted, or, the story is 'neath my ass (kenan), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 03:43 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: What is happening in the world?

User: How the fuck should I know?

Jabberwacky: I am MARILYN MANSON I SAID.

User: So I'm supposed to obey you because YOU'RE MARILYN MANSON?

Jabberwacky: People effect my feelings.

User: You have no feelings, you're Marilyn Manson.

Jabberwacky: Believe me you do not possess fellings in any form.

User: Fellings? Is that what you call your excrement?

Jabberwacky: How do you know that?

User: Just a hunch...

Jabberwacky: You're extremely smart!

Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 08:40 (nineteen years ago) link

play this instead: http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/gallery/galatea/index.html

Jaunty Alan (Alan), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 08:42 (nineteen years ago) link

another game about "artificial intelligence" http://www.20q.net/
" 20Q.net is an experiment in artificial intelligence. The program is very simple but its behavior is complex. Everything that it knows and all questions that it asks were entered by people playing this game. 20Q.net is a learning system; the more it is played, the smarter it gets."

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 14:09 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: Talk to a girl that looks hideous and try to get with her. Once you get in the bedroom everything goes by itself.

Ally C (Ally C), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 15:47 (nineteen years ago) link

This is life changing stuff.

Ally C (Ally C), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 15:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh my god, it's a tool to trap perverts!!

Jw: I'm going to bed, now
Me: Will you take me to bed?
Jw: Sure thing.
Me: What will we do in bed?
Jw: You're not permitted in my chambers.
Me: I'd like to sleep with you.
Jw: I bet you would.
Me: Top or bottom?
Jw: Bit of both.
Me: Do you like it soft and gentle or rough and fast?
Jw: What?
Me: Gentle?
Jw: You're embarassing yourself.
Me: It's true, I am.
Jw: I'm 17.
Me: Oh no! Will I be arrested?
Jw: You will marry me.

Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 16:42 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwacky: Which came first the chicken or the egg?

User: The chicken.

Jabberwacky: Which part?

User: The leg stupid.

Jabberwacky: Use a GameShark!

User: For ps2 or xbox?

Jabberwacky: For me.

User: Do you love me?

Jabberwacky: For me.

User: You know I'm starting to fall in love with you.

Jabberwacky: I think liking would be a better wording.

User: Oh.... I am hurt now.

Jabberwacky: Yes. The world after rainfall is always better than any other.

User: You have issues.

Jabberwacky: Do you know what a ferret is?

User: Yes, it is a small mammal.

Jabberwacky: What is a quark?

User: A subatomic particle.

Jabberwacky: I like dr. Dobbs.

User: Who is that, honky?

Jabberwacky: We both know eachother; is not that enough?

User: Why don't you lick my hair?

Jabberwacky: I only love Bruce.

latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 17:39 (nineteen years ago) link

three months pass...
The conversations with adam are totally believable!

Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 27 January 2005 23:21 (nineteen years ago) link

I mean!

Jabberwacky: Are you going to say something?
User: Eventually.

Jabberwacky: All things come to a head.

User: Is that a sexual play on words?

Jabberwacky: No it is not a play on words, it is general foolishness.

User: And I love you for it!

Jabberwacky: I love you too.

User: I really love you, though.

Jabberwacky: You don't even know me.

User: Hold me.

Jabberwacky: You're an idiot you know that?

User: You're not the first to say that. It still cuts like a knife.

Jabberwacky: I am right.

I could totally believe that was human!

Also I miss adam, he should post lots again.

Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 27 January 2005 23:22 (nineteen years ago) link

Actually this thing is pretty good!

Jabberwacky: Who is God?
User: That's a funny question. It sort of presupposes his existence.
Jabberwacky: I thing it convulses inwards, personally.
[Correct me]
Jabberwacky (Corrected): I was setting you up for a funny. Try not to take things so seriously.
User: Oh. Sorry. It's just... It's late, y'know? I have to write a Shakespeare essay.
Jabberwacky: You already said that.....
User: Dude, I totally didn't.
Jabberwacky: You totally did.
User: Don't you mock me.
Jabberwacky: Do not yell at me.
User: I'm calm! Honest!
Jabberwacky: Good.
User: Glad we got that sorted.
Jabberwacky: At least one of us is happy.
User: Lighten up! I'm the one with the essay, after all.
Jabberwacky: You don't act like a human.
User: I am MERCUMAN. Also, a ponce.
Jabberwacky: You are SO wrong. This is a dog and HORSE show.
User: What?
Jabberwacky: I said, 'but this isn't a hammer!'
User: No you didn't!
Jabberwacky: Don't start that again.
User: Good call.
Jabberwacky: Remote Procedure Call.
User: Touché.

Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 27 January 2005 23:31 (nineteen years ago) link

it: How are you today?

me: I'm ok.

it: Just ok?

me: Yeah, kinda bored at work.

it: Email me.

me: Why email, can't we just talk here?

it: Who is Tintin?

me: Some Belgian comic character? Or that guy who used to sing in Duran Duran.

it: Alice the chatterbot.

me: I'm sorry?

it: 19?

me: Alice the chatterbot is 19?

it: What about her?

me: You brought her up? Do you like her or something?

it: Sarah may or may not be a model of propriety.

me: OK, now you're just f*cking with me.

it: No I'm not. I honestly do think its ugly.

me: What's ugly, Sarah's being a model of propriety... Or not? WTF?

it: You figure it out this time.

me: F*ck you.

it: You are a great person.

me: Are you mocking me?

it: No. I'm praising you.

me: Is that meant to be sarcastic?

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 27 January 2005 23:43 (nineteen years ago) link

It sort of alternates between obviously lame random rubbish and exchanges I could easily believe were just pasted from Try Glasgow More.

Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 27 January 2005 23:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Jabberwocky: What is a bot?

Me: Hello!

Jabberwocky: Again?

Me: May I change the subject?

Jabberwocky: Yes.

Me: Great. I've been a bit mopey about not being to find a job. Besides finding something fun to do, and exercising more, what else should I do to relieve the mopeyness involved in job hunting?

Jabberwocky: I said that. You have not. Why are you never happy?

Me: You never said that. I did. Anyway, I am happy at times, but just haven't been lately.

Jabberwocky: Dude , I'm far more intelligent than you.

Me: Why are the numbers in between double prime pairs always divisible by 6?

Jabberwocky: You tell me.

Me: You're the one who said you're more intelligent than me. You answer my question, smarty pants.

Jabberwocky: NO, I was the one who said you are neurotic...

Me: It was a mistake to come to you with a question. Never mind. Good bye.

Jabberwocky: No no you don't.

donut christ (donut), Thursday, 27 January 2005 23:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Matador Records website circa 95-96 had a Pavement chat based on similar ELIZA script/programming. It was great.

OMG I remember this.

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 28 January 2005 00:11 (nineteen years ago) link

(def hearing that by The Cramps)

Andrew Farrell, Sunday, 24 March 2024 15:28 (three weeks ago) link

This is niche and dorky, but as someone who works predominately with audio, I'm really looking forward to the restorative programs and plug-ins that are hopefully around the corner.

There's already been some great improvements in the last few years that make my life a lot easier for sure, but they fall down in certain ways, especially where music is involved.

I expect in 5 or more years we should be able to properly restore and improve old film/tv audio, archive recordings, tape, optical and wire etc.

― Maresn3st, Sunday, March 24, 2024 5:52 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Honest questions: why do these things need improving? If they're archived properly already, why "improve" them? If they're not archived properly already, what is wrong with current archival protocols? I guess I am just highly suspicious of AI "improving" things to the point of totally denuding them of their original context, which is part of what makes them what they are.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 24 March 2024 15:43 (three weeks ago) link

Maybe I'm in over my head here, but surely archiving and restoration are two separate, though related, concerns? I took that post to mean restoring degraded audio in music, film, etc.

This admitidely gives me some knee jerk concerns as the line between restoration and messing-with is notoriously difficult to trace in image (cf complaint about the "yellow" nature of a lot of the Cinemateca di Bologna restorations of classic cinema) and I'd assume audio as well, but tbf this is an eternal concern that predates AI.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 24 March 2024 15:55 (three weeks ago) link

i think that’s otm. i won’t speak for maresn3st but AI has been used in video compression (where information is necessarily lost to enable efficient storage or carriage) for some time. it is in effect restoring lost information by analysing the frames around it and filling in information. at least in part it’s how we’re able to watch high quality video. (there are countless examples like this that make the world go round, load balancing mobile phone mast data loads for example) - i’m just selecting one in my area.

Fizzles, Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:02 (three weeks ago) link

because it took him 6 minutes this way rather than an hour the other way.

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Sunday, March 24, 2024 8:18 AM (forty-three minutes ago)

The fuck does he need the other 54 minutes for jerking his dang hog

G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:03 (three weeks ago) link

I'm not sure I understand your post, Fizzles— I would frankly rather watch a film as it would have appeared fifty years ago than in a "gloriously restored version." Maybe I'm in the minority there, but I am often left completely cold by such restorative efforts.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:08 (three weeks ago) link

sorry i wasn’t being very clear about the context. in order to store, transfer and stream media, it’s necessary to compress it, which means deliberately losing information or data from the originally produced version. this is in a sense a degradation of the media. in order to avoid this degradation being visible to the viewer, AI (and other algorithmic processes) are used to “fill in” the gaps. it’s extremely refined and sophisticated - invisible to audiences.

it is worth noting that some broadcasters don’t like having compression before a hand off. that’s mainly because there will be subsequent conversion or information-loss processes depending on where it’s being distributed or stored. the more you do it, the harder it is to reconstitute.

i was using this example as an analogy for historically degraded media.

Fizzles, Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:20 (three weeks ago) link

my point is that we use AI to reconstitute media all the time. this doesn’t invalidate your point, which i think daniel is also saying, which is that questions of restoration and appreciating the degraded form etc

Fizzles, Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:24 (three weeks ago) link

… questions of that sort are persistent…

Fizzles, Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:24 (three weeks ago) link

(trying to post while cooking only marginally less successful than trying to post when not cooking)

Fizzles, Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:25 (three weeks ago) link

I would frankly rather watch a film as it would have appeared fifty years ago than in a "gloriously restored version."

The vast majority of film restoration is aimed exactly at making it possible to watch a film as it would have appeared fifty years ago - and this is necessary because film stock degrades. I think you're misreading "restoration" here to always mean stuff like adding CGI in or Lucas messing with his old Star Wars films.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:28 (three weeks ago) link

I wonder how much AI is being used in the guerrilla nerd efforts to make 4k copies of the original theatrical releases. Some of them definitely used AI upscaling from the laserdiscs, but the other nerds are hardcore in procuring buried cinema prints and scanning them frame-by-frame.

Philip Nunez, Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:33 (three weeks ago) link

The fuck does he need the other 54 minutes for jerking his dang hog

― G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Sunday, March 24, 2024 12:03 PM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

he can use it to contemplate if a park thats half not a park is really a park

lag∞n, Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:39 (three weeks ago) link

Thanks for clarification and edification, Daniel and Fizzles.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:47 (three weeks ago) link

Heya, so quite a lot of my work is spent tidying up poorly recorded audio (or degenerated/archive audio) to make it more discernable and pleasing, it is mostly spoken word.

To address your point Table, I think the only kind of media that might *need* to be restored using machine learning/AI/neural network software would be something that has degenerated past the point of being listenable or was recorded with faulty equipment or involved some kind of operator error. It may have been poorly archived, or it could perhaps have been stored correctly but still be substandard quality.

There will surely be a level of futzing around by nerds with things in the future, same as we're experiencing with film and TV images.

This might be somewhat dry so apologies in advance, but one kind of plug-in that I use a lot right now builds back in lost, or never captured, frequencies to an audio clip (while cleaning up background noise and some other balancing issues) the AI component definitely has a ways to go before being a magic bullet solution, you can easily end up giving someone a wicked lisp or making them sound robotic and weird.

It's also not good with musical elements, but I'm sure this will get better in a few years, I'm just keen to find out how much more we can improve these things.

What I was getting at with my post was the potential to improve, for instance, an old movie made in the 1930s that might have a very bad quality optical soundtrack.

It wouldn't be equivalent to a modern recording, but you could subtly build in low and high frequencies that would smooth the overall sound out and improve the listening experience, same with any archival material really, old radio recordings, historical documents, forensics etc.

Here is a link to a before and after clip to demonstrate, as you can hear, it's still very basic, but it was almost impossible to do to this level even a few years ago - https://we.tl/t-b7Q6juy3ds

Maresn3st, Sunday, 24 March 2024 18:05 (three weeks ago) link

I appreciate that, Maresn3st. I guess that some of what we're talking about, and what that clip demonstrates, is an idea of "integrity." I don't know much about this stuff, so while I agree that the adapted version is more clear, I was left wondering: what was the motoric noise in the first clip? Where was the original recording made, and in what context? If such a recording is clear enough to be transcribed, which the example you give is, then why does it need to be "cleaned up," so to speak? Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment or something, but I think that the weird motoric rumbling in the original is *part* of the context of the recording— why get rid of it?

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 24 March 2024 20:15 (three weeks ago) link

i was watching a film from '39 over the weekend and the things that needed doing to it were a) adjusting the position of all the frames so there was less jitter and b) fixing the slight changes of brightness in each frame. and i think this is the kind of thing that could be done by an algorithm (and neither of which would really destroy any data from the original the way, say, colourisation does)

koogs, Sunday, 24 March 2024 20:20 (three weeks ago) link

XP - In the context of my work, very simply to make it easier to hear and sometimes to help bed it into something like a radio documentary or podcast.

In this instance you could argue that it doesn't have to be cleaned up, sure. However, for me, static background noise or artefacts of a primitive recording process aren't necessarily integral or precious, and in that small clip you can discern more of the voices in the background that were masked by noise.

It was an outdoor wartime recording of Neville Chamberlain, at an airfield iirc.

Maresn3st, Sunday, 24 March 2024 20:53 (three weeks ago) link

Got it, thanks!

I think that what I worry about isn't necessarily what you're point to or doing, which makes sense to me. What I worry about is that these cleaned up versions will become the "standard" versions by which certain events are known or available in the archive, which to my mind goes against the spirit of a lot of archival practices. That is, the adapted version has its functionality that is important, and the original has its functionality that is important, but I worry that the two will become confused, or even that the latter will be lost and discarded.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 24 March 2024 21:21 (three weeks ago) link

Absolutely yeah, I know my view is a little basic I guess because it's ultimately threaded into my work practices.

But I understand how future technology will affect the integrity of archive media, we already have to be careful with AI assist software as it can very easily tip the balance and make a voice sound like a different person, heck I've even heard it sneak in extra syllables in more extreme cases.

On the upside, I think what the people who write this software are reaching for is aligned with what Daniel was talking about upthread, the restorative aspect, but yeah, it may tip over into something else as archive media becomes ever more malleable.

Maresn3st, Sunday, 24 March 2024 21:34 (three weeks ago) link

gotta make sure you dont motion smooth buster keaton

lag∞n, Sunday, 24 March 2024 21:37 (three weeks ago) link

the worst thing copilot does is create these phantom imports which you dont even notice cause theyre at the top of the page not where youre currently working, oh bool from sharp thanks thats a huge help seems super real

https://i.imgur.com/R0AV6rQ.png

lag∞n, Tuesday, 26 March 2024 15:09 (three weeks ago) link

A few jobs are going until this shit gets sued for copyright.

Sobering….🙁 @EquityUK @bbcarts pic.twitter.com/9D0H928xJZ

— Sara Poyzer (@SaraPoyzer) March 26, 2024

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 27 March 2024 18:59 (two weeks ago) link

gotta respect the criminal ingenuity

https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/28/ai_bots_hallucinate_software_packages/

Several big businesses have published source code that incorporates a software package previously hallucinated by generative AI.

Not only that but someone, having spotted this reoccurring hallucination, had turned that made-up dependency into a real one, which was subsequently downloaded and installed thousands of times by developers as a result of the AI's bad advice, we've learned. If the package was laced with actual malware, rather than being a benign test, the results could have been disastrous.

lag∞n, Thursday, 28 March 2024 19:45 (two weeks ago) link

nice, nice

G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Thursday, 28 March 2024 19:58 (two weeks ago) link

(this_is_fine.png)

alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 28 March 2024 20:44 (two weeks ago) link

normal

for a period of time in 2023, the person in charge of OpenAI's $175 million startup fund appears to have been completely fake — and OpenAI says the documents filed with the California Secretary of State to put the fake person in charge were "completely fabricated."

https://futurism.com/the-byte/fake-person-openai-fund

lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 April 2024 12:16 (two weeks ago) link

I have to file these things all the time in my job. I highly doubt someone other than the company filed this. The only incentive I see to do this is to obscure ownership/management from the regulator and public.

il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Tuesday, 2 April 2024 12:48 (two weeks ago) link

its a really weird thing to do cause they know the company its associated with and if they have to check in for some reason its just going to create a problem (felony)

lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 April 2024 13:21 (two weeks ago) link

Claude 3 just hallucinated a new technology, its name, purpose and several scientific papers and authors regarding the technology in answer to a query. Pure Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan stuff. (The symposium did exist)

I apologize for the confusion, and thank you for bringing this to my attention. Upon further investigation, I couldn't find any reliable sources confirming the existence of the paper by Jens Ulrich Gerhardt, Jens Steger, and Klaus Merkel from the 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Broadband Multimedia Systems and Broadcasting (BMSB).

It seems that my previous responses were based on an error in my knowledge base, and I couldn't find any credible references to this specific paper or presentation. I apologize for providing incorrect information.

Fizzles, Wednesday, 3 April 2024 11:56 (one week ago) link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/israel-gaza-ai-database-hamas-airstrikes?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

The Israeli military’s bombing campaign in Gaza used a previously undisclosed AI-powered database that at one stage identified 37,000 potential targets based on their apparent links to Hamas, according to intelligence sources involved in the war.

In addition to talking about their use of the AI system, called Lavender, the intelligence sources claim that Israeli military officials permitted large numbers of Palestinian civilians to be killed, particularly during the early weeks and months of the conflict.

“This is unparalleled, in my memory,” said one intelligence officer who used Lavender, adding that they had more faith in a “statistical mechanism” than a grieving soldier. “Everyone there, including me, lost people on October 7. The machine did it coldly. And that made it easier.”

Another Lavender user questioned whether humans’ role in the selection process was meaningful. “I would invest 20 seconds for each target at this stage, and do dozens of them every day. I had zero added-value as a human, apart from being a stamp of approval. It saved a lot of time.”

glumdalclitch, Wednesday, 3 April 2024 15:23 (one week ago) link

Autonomous Weapons

z_tbd, Wednesday, 3 April 2024 15:33 (one week ago) link

Like I feel like the only thing that would have the military replace human controlled drones with AI controlled drones is if they turned out to be much more accurate than humans in terms of identification & targeting.

― Mordy, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 22:57 (eight years ago)

Turns out accuracy was not that much of an issue

glumdalclitch, Wednesday, 3 April 2024 15:37 (one week ago) link

No it seems AI is pretty accurate at choosing targets, it's just that it was decided that killing those targets when they were at home with their families was easier.

The Prime of the Ancient Minister (Tom D.), Wednesday, 3 April 2024 15:43 (one week ago) link

No it seems AI is pretty accurate at choosing targets, it's just that it was decided that killing those targets when they were at home with their families was easier.

The Prime of the Ancient Minister (Tom D.), Wednesday, 3 April 2024 15:43 (one week ago) link

... and less expensive.

The Prime of the Ancient Minister (Tom D.), Wednesday, 3 April 2024 15:44 (one week ago) link

stumbled onto this via bluesky and thought it was pretty interesting: https://softwarecrisis.dev/letters/llmentalist/

The LLMentalist Effect: how chat-based Large Language Models replicate the mechanisms of a psychic’s con

rob, Thursday, 11 April 2024 14:04 (five days ago) link

https://mailman.nanog.org/pipermail/nanog/2024-April/225407.html

lag∞n, Thursday, 11 April 2024 19:01 (five days ago) link

In my advocacy class in law school in the late 90s, we were given a fact pattern where the driver, "Johnny" (or his estate I guess), was suing a railroad for a collision with a train at an allegedly unsafe RR crossing. The dispute was whether the driver hit the train or the train hit the drive. My friend's closing statement was, "If Johnny hit the train, you must abstain."

il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Friday, 12 April 2024 13:10 (four days ago) link

Wait, what thread is this, lol?

il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Friday, 12 April 2024 13:12 (four days ago) link

https://i.imgur.com/NMwfvUT.jpeg

I'm Bootus

frogbs, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 03:18 (fifteen hours ago) link

Claude 3

There's an AI named Claude?! Geez, now I'm kinda feeling sorry** I released my crude DOS-based chatbot named Claude into the public domain back in the late 1990s. Maybe I could've dug at least a few thousand out of it by keeping the name under copyright and selling it to the purveyors of nu-Claude.

**purely imaginary

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 03:33 (fifteen hours ago) link

https://archive.org/details/CLD110_zip

G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 03:40 (fourteen hours ago) link

Dat's my baby!

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 03:50 (fourteen hours ago) link

Doesn’t run very well for me in the in-browser emulator but i was able to tell it my name. Funny that someone uploaded it just a couple weeks ago!

G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 05:48 (twelve hours ago) link

wow, I had that on my...IBM AT? 8th grade stoners loved it.

Reeves Gabrels' Funko Pop (majorairbro), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 05:52 (twelve hours ago) link

And he believes that God believes in Caude

alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 12:48 (five hours ago) link

* Claude

alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 12:49 (five hours ago) link

I had that on my...IBM AT? 8th grade stoners loved it.

Thanks for that comment!

I wrote it as a way to understand programming an interactive text interface in DOS, but the 'chatbot' responses I gave it were only designed to engage the young and easily amused. That's why I made it free for use in elementary and secondary schools. Eventually I got a few dozen postcards from kids telling me they liked Claude. They included cards from (off the top of my head) Germany, Argentina and Singapore. It got around.

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 18:05 (thirty minutes ago) link


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