Yeah, this doesn’t appear nice.
Over the weekend, X and xAI proprietor Elon Musk flagged a coming change to his Grok chatbot, during which the Grok improvement workforce will take away “politically incorrect, however nonetheless factually true” information from its information banks, to be able to keep away from the app basically offering solutions that Musk himself doesn’t agree with.
The change has been coming for a while, due X’s Grok chatbot repeatedly offering solutions that counter Musk’s personal opinions on sure matters. For instance, Grok has advised customers that youngsters ought to be allowed entry to gender-affirming care, one thing Musk has been a vocal opponent of, whereas it’s additionally countered claims of political violence perpetrated by left-wing supporters (noting that there’s extra proof of right-wing assaults).
Grok has additionally named Musk himself as “the most important spreader of misinformation on X,” amongst its varied claims which have rankled its creator.
And over the weekend, Musk indicated that he’d had sufficient. After Grok referenced information from Media Issues and Rolling Stone, Musk responded by saying that Grok’s “sourcing is horrible,” and that “solely a really dumb AI would consider MM and RS.”
Musk then adopted that up with a publish calling for X customers to supply examples of “divisive info for Grok coaching,” which has seen X’s viewers present over 100k responses, which they’re hoping shall be weeded out of Grok’s info base.
Which is able to make Grok extra aligned with right-wing speaking factors, and extra blind to factual reporting and proof. In different phrases, it’ll change into an echo-chamber AI, and with increasingly individuals counting on AI for solutions to every kind of questions, that looks like a major concern for broader AI improvement.
Although on stability, Grok’s utilization is pretty restricted. ChatGPT reportedly has round 800 million energetic customers, whereas Meta not too long ago claimed that Meta AI is essentially the most used AI chatbot on the planet, with a billion month-to-month customers.
Grok, by comparability, is barely utilized by a portion of X’s 600 million month-to-month actives, and might solely be totally accessed by paying customers. So it’s not on the identical stage of affect as these different AI apps, besides, the truth that Musk is brazenly stating that he’s enhancing its sources to higher align together with his personal ideology continues to be a priority, notably given latest points with Grok’s solutions.
Final month, Grok was discovered to be offering inaccurate solutions in regards to the demise toll from the Holocaust, whereas additionally pushing random responses that included references to “white genocide” in South Africa, each of that are primarily based on debunked conspiracy theories.
X claims that each errors had been on account of an unauthorized change to Grok’s code by a rogue worker, and that the method has now been up to date to make sure extra checks and balances are in place. However whatever the motive, the incident underlined simply how a lot sway xAI’s programmers can have over the chatbot’s responses, in the event that they so select, and with Elon himself very eager to discredit any sources that don’t agree together with his opinions, that looks like a harmful combine.
Certainly, the whole xAI mission was based primarily based on Elon’s personal opposition to different AI fashions, which he believes are being skilled to be “woke.”
As reported by The Washington Publish:
“In an April 2023 interview with Fox Information, Musk mentioned OpenAI had been ‘coaching the AI to lie’ by incorporating human suggestions that directed the chatbot ‘to not say what the information really calls for that it say.’ He referred to his new mission as ‘TruthGPT.’”
So, all alongside, the xAI mission has been as a lot about political narratives as technological evolution, with Musk seeking to angle his personal AI initiatives extra in direction of his personal ideology, moderately than goal reality, primarily based on web-based sources.
And plenty of of his supporters will agree with him. The COVID pandemic has sparked an entire new anti-mainstream media motion, and the truth that the AI instruments are being skilled on what’s thought of to be mainstream sources is an affront to this push.
As such, Musk’s anti-factual push shall be seen positively by many. Even whether it is flawed, even when it results in the expanded unfold of misinformation.
As a result of reality, it appears, is what you make it.
It’s one other instance of the potential negatives of tech advances, which frequently get missed amid the broader hype.
The identical may be mentioned of each important innovation, that whereas there are positives and advantages to be gleaned, we additionally typically overrate the advantages that making such expertise broadly accessible will carry.
The web, for instance, is a revolution in studying, which supplies billions of individuals entry to virtually the entire info on the planet, which ought to in flip make humanity extra educated, extra knowledgeable, and improve the bottom intelligence stage of intelligence.
But, within the 12 months 2025, debate about vaccine efficacy, local weather change, and even the very form of the Earth as a planet, are extra full of life than ever.
Social media was supposed to attach the world, by enabling us to speak with anybody, wherever, facilitating extra togetherness, empathy and understanding. But it’s arguably finished the alternative, by offering a way for illiberal, divisive and hateful teams to coalesce, connecting the worst parts of the world. The very algorithms that gasoline social media engagement incentivize this, and it’s exhausting to argue that social media, as an idea, has been a internet optimistic.
And now we’ve got AI, the following nice hope, which can democratize creativity, and facilitate new ranges of human productiveness, by offering machine-based help to enhance our on a regular basis course of.
How do you suppose that’s going to work out in actuality?
Positive, there’ll clearly be advantages, as there was with these different advances, notably from a enterprise perspective. However the Utopian concept that AI goes to usher in a brand new golden age of artistic, clever alternative is basically solely the factor of company pitch decks and boardroom discussions.
Go take a look at the AI content material being shared on-line proper now. Movies with racist undertones that you simply couldn’t create with human actors. AI nudes within the likeness of people that haven’t given their permission for such. Folks passing off AI-generated work as their very own, dishonest their means into unearned alternatives.
This isn’t good, these aren’t good issues which can be being facilitated by this new expertise, and what historical past reveals us is that the worst parts of society profit simply as considerably, if no more so, from these advances.
Which brings us again to Elon, and his resolution to basically edit historical past to “enhance” his chatbot. That’s a really unhealthy precedent, and a really regarding shift, particularly as increasingly individuals depend on these AI instruments for solutions.
Do we actually suppose that it will enhance society, or make us smarter as a species?
And if the reply, on both entrance, is not any, then why are we pushing AI into each single factor of each app?
