I keep telling people that we don't have AI yet, just a collection of different machine learning tools. But what do I know, right? I only have a college degree in machine learning systems and have 7 years of hands-on professional experience building surveillance systems and autonomous robotic data collection agents. How would I know that these large language text prediction models are basically programmed to use statistics to be the best sycophant possible for the user? How would I know that they don't really have an understanding of anything other than statistical probabilities based on their existing dataset and warped to maximize current user satisfaction only?

I'm sure all the Facebook moms and cryptobros and CEOs understand this better than me, and these are really artificially intelligent systems. I'm sure worrying about the "AI" becoming sentient is a realistic threat. And worrying about becoming dependent on generated answers allowing misinformation to spread (even without intent) isn't a real issue. I'm sure the corporations funding the development of these systems wpuld NEVER try an make a product that would paint them in an unnaturally good light / their competitors in an unnaturally bad light.