The AI Ick

In "The Conquest of Happiness", Bertrand Russell wrote that, all else being equal, the man who enjoys eating strawberries has a happier life than the man who dislikes strawberries.

I feel that way about AI haters like the author. She spends lots of time feeling "disgust", "skin crawling", "the ick". Meanwhile people who are fine with AI are feeling happy emotions. There's so much to look forward to!

Just seems like a glass half full/half empty thing.

> I feel that way about AI haters like the author. She spends lots of time feeling "disgust", "skin crawling", "the ick". Meanwhile people who are fine with AI are feeling happy emotions. There's so much to look forward to!

Believe it or not, prefrontal lobotomies were once considered a promising procedure for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.

I mean, I like (gen)AI, and spend a lot of time defending it from the "haters". I think it's a useful tool, interesting philosophical topic, and generally fun to play with. I'm even willing to entertain the idea that it might be truly intelligent, sentient, or possibly even self-aware in a meaningful way.

I still get an "ick" feeling when reading some of the most 4o-toned text that it puts out. It's just unsettling in an uncanny valley way.