Google's AI is still broken

[anewbie]

We DO NOT have stupid kids any more than when we were kids. We have kids that are in turmoil and don't know what to do. Today's kids are not stupid but many are ignorant. There is a big difference. Ignorance means that you don't have the knowledge. Stupid means that you have no interest in gaining knowledge. Most kids want to gain knowledge but, as adults, we are too busy with our lives to give from the heart what they really need.

At 71 my generation is largely to blame for this as it is my generation that largely took away the right of parents and teachers to discipline a child. Without being disciplined how can we expect a child to have discipline within themselves?

It is a sad situation when a child has no one to look to for guidance but, sadly, that is too often the case. The result is that today's kids look more to peers than their parents as the parents are just not there to give guidance. I don't put down today's kids; I pity them.

If I may I will put out a plea. Don't just feel that you know everything as you don't. Take time to actually sit and listen to your kid's issues. You MAY find that they are not really against you but just afraid as you are not there when needed.

OK, rant over but think about what I've said. The real problem is not our kids but ourselves.

I'm going to disagree. They associate success with good grades; not ability to think. The comment on ignorance vs stupid is imho a redhearing - it all amount to the same.

It isnt' new but a lot easier with computers and search engine and ai to skip the learning and thinking part to obtain good but hollow grades.

When i was in college which predated this crap (though of course computers we had); the greeks would keep old tests from years past and as many (not all) professors were quite lazy they would reuse questions on tests. Many of these folks would learn the answers to questions without context or understanding.

I took a history class where the professor was putting his old tests in the library. A friend of mine was getting straight A's while i was getting well a bit lower. I asked her one day how she did so well. She said i just looked at the tests in the library and memorize the answers.
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Now that is path to success and i suppose it sharpens certain skills but she was learning diddly about history or more precisely the history being taught in the class; though she did an excellent job of learning the history of his tests and how he reused questions. Did i change my way about learning this - no - i rather fail then memorize answers. Anyway she wasn't a bad student overall but it did raise my heckle about how many people at this university were learning (the greek part i learned later from another student in another class where the professor reused questions but gave TAKE HOME tests. That's right you could copy the answers from last year test at your leisure if you desired such a path. Turns out from the folks i chatted with a *lot* of students took this path (and i have to admit this other class which was math based had a pretty bad teacher - and not just because he reused the same test each year).

Now we can argue who was the dummy for not just copying tests in all their class and getting straight As or the person who finished with a 4.0 gpa but at least i could talk about how a particular teach was with a straight face

 

[jaylach68 184]

I'm going to disagree. They associate success with good grades; not ability to think. The comment on ignorance vs stupid is imho a redhearing - it all amount to the same.

It isnt' new but a lot easier with computers and search engine and ai to skip the learning and thinking part to obtain good but hollow grades.

When i was in college which predated this crap (though of course computers we had); the greeks would keep old tests from years past and as many (not all) professors were quite lazy they would reuse questions on tests. Many of these folks would learn the answers to questions without context or understanding.

I took a history class where the professor was putting his old tests in the library. A friend of mine was getting straight A's while i was getting well a bit lower. I asked her one day how she did so well. She said i just looked at the tests in the library and memorize the answers.
-
Now that is path to success and i suppose it sharpens certain skills but she was learning diddly about history or more precisely the history being taught in the class; though she did an excellent job of learning the history of his tests and how he reused questions. Did i change my way about learning this - no - i rather fail then memorize answers. Anyway she wasn't a bad student overall but it did raise my heckle about how many people at this university were learning (the greek part i learned later from another student in another class where the professor reused questions but gave TAKE HOME tests. That's right you could copy the answers from last year test at your leisure if you desired such a path. Turns out from the folks i chatted with a *lot* of students took this path (and i have to admit this other class which was math based had a pretty bad teacher - and not just because he reused the same test each year).

Now we can argue who was the dummy for not just copying tests in all their class and getting straight As or the person who finished with a 4.0 gpa but at least i could talk about how a particular teach was with a straight face

I believe we are of similar age but have different opinions. To be honest your entire post I quoted rads more like a denial of responsibility for our kid's actions. We, as parents, ARE responsible for our kid's actions.

 

[MattW68 184]

Sadly, my last year of college was before the AI boom . If I had AI then. I wouldn't be here typing this, but rather sat on a yacht with a tequila shot

 

[jaylach68 184]

Sadly, my last year of college was before the AI boom . If I had AI then. I wouldn't be here typing this, but rather sat on a yacht with a tequila shot

Really? If you had AI in your learning as a crutch I think it more likely that you would have been a failure as you would end up as just a bot following given instructions that actually taught nothing.

No insult intended; just my opinion.

 

[seangee39 19]

Only vaguely related but I heard something quite shocking earlier in the week, of all places in a theatre review.
Apparenty we now find ourselves in the "post truth era" where there are no lies, only alternative facts.

 

[gwand67 184]

The teething problems continue, as sometimes I feel like we're commercial AI's chew ring. In recent searches on subjects I know enough to be critical about, the information has become ludicrous.
AI is a tool, and it's being used to make videos of fish with altered colours, and to repeat some childishly stupid info. It is going to take a while for google AI to reach the level of the old, regular information you could gather. Since a lot of people I know use it to simplify complex texts (that may be complex because the ideas behind them are complex), yikes.

FB has its reels feature, and the vids I'm getting (like the FB AI created fish groups) are too often artificial with no intelligence. I don't mind the legwork being skeptical involves - I think it's important to do. But it is depressing to see how the form is there, but the essence isn't even part of the question yet. There isn't a lot of respect for human brains right now.

 

[GaryE29 27]

You can go back to Roman times, or earlier, if you want to see arguments about the younger generation being dumber than the older. It's a commonly repeated refrain throughout written history, and it's no more valid than it was then. Sorry guys. I didn't cheat on my history tests.

The younger generation are under more intense private sector surveillance, and are subject to the most sophisticated propaganda ever created. Whether or not they rebel against that remains to be seen -how remains to be seen.

I taught kids until a few years ago, and they were just as smart as when I was a kid. They had different ethics at times - greedier, and with a lingering love of gangsters and strongmen. But there were just as many people with strong empathy, creativity and kindness as before. They just weren't as valued. That goes in cycles.

AI will make it easier for lazy people to function lazily. It will make it easier for powerful people to increase and centralize their power, a trend we see anyway. It will become a better tool for people who work with data. But if a society invests in science, it'll still produce scientists. If it buys into arts, it'll have artists. Music and writing will use AI to sell to people who don't love music and writing.

It isn't going to stop developing - there is too much money in it even though it costs. A local old growth forest has been chosen for destruction for a data centre, and local big business is ecstatic. Everything is being given to the developers as it's "the future". It'll go ahead, as the physical side of AI. If you were a capitalist oligarch and could stop paying human salaries and pocket them instead, wouldn't you invest in making that happen?

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I also feel sorry for the kids today, they live in a world where almost everything has been designed to program and manipulate them. Some kids as young as 3 have their own tablet and kids not old enough to even make toast have their own mobile phone. Kids today dont learn how to be patient, they're completely addicted to the instant gratification and have no idea what to do with themselves without their device. And dont get me started on social media, because that alone has raised a complete generation of vulnerable narcissists...they base their own self worth on how 'relevant' they are online, the pressure of that is enormous and most kids now suffer greatly with anxiety and depression. And the cancel culture that's been nurtured means nobody's feelings are allowed to be hurt, everyone wins, no one is allowed to be wrong so no one learns how to become resilient and know how to handle inevitable negativity and strife normal to life. And none of it is their fault

 

[gimme301]

You can go back to Roman times, or earlier, if you want to see arguments about the younger generation being dumber than the older. It's a commonly repeated refrain throughout written history, and it's no more valid than it was then.

That may have been true in the past when a work ethic and morality were valued but it is absolutely valid today. The attached video is one of thousands online and I see it on a daily basis everywhere I go. They can't read, do simple math, or even tell time. This is where I see a benefit to AI: It's the only way they'll be able to get through life. Public education is nothing more than indoctrination and participation awards. Social studies, economics, and higher math aren't part of the curriculum in schools around here, and they no longer teach even basic spelling.

The potential is there but it's wasted by education based on the lowest common denominator.

For my part, while I still think robots will take over the world and eradicate humanity, AI sure is useful for being able to converse with people who speak another language.

 

[GaryE29 27]

Cancel culture is ancient - religions would regularly execute heretics or opponents. There's nothing more touchy than someone who feels their beliefs are sacred and can't be criticized as opinions. When I was a kid, I asked a Pastor about evolution as I'd seen a documentary about the Galapagos, and he ordered me to be shunned. That was cancel culture, and in the long run, it did me good.

It can operate on a different scale now, and it doesn't radiate down from one authority as in the past. I just got canceled by a bunch of people I know because I offered a different view on some anti-immigrant ranting. It does me no harm - it's just a Facebook block and I'm not sure how I would feel about discussing with them after what I read anyway. It's always been so, but on a less obvious scale. In many ways, a key function of social media has been to show us how many people are whatever we define as stupid.

Stalin said that paper would put up with anything that was written on it, and he was right there, sadly. So will the internet. So will AI.

I agree that the manipulation and programming kids face are many times more sophisticated than the propaganda we got. That's going to be tough for them to overcome. But hopefully, they'll try. If we accept AI as authoritative, and not as a tool owned by oligarchs with agenda, we're in trouble. I wish schools taught critical thinking, but it's not that long ago that they taught mythology on par with the scientific method.

I am awful at reading sun dials. Many of my students couldn't read old fashioned clocks. The smart ones could use digital time well. We used to have a TV show in Canada called "Talking to Americans", where major political figures from south of here, as well as people in the street or university campuses were interviewed about the world with hilariously ignorant results. I enjoyed it greatly until it was cancelled due to political pressure. You could have done the same thing in 1962 or 1932, in any country, and gotten as many idiots.

Does that mean we should be happy with our education systems? No, not at all. We still have to try to improve, challenge and question. But while I can read a clock face, I wouldn't be likely to create an app.

 

[TwoTankAmin57]

When I went to grade school and then to college there were no PCs or even hand held calculators. I mostly took college courses without tests but with a couple of papers one had to write. I spent a lot of hours in the library doing research.

I graduated from high school on 1966. But, my path to my BS took me 14 years and credits from a lot of schools: George Washinton Univ. in DC. I got my degree in Psychology from Trinity College but to do this. I also took courses from UConn Hartford, Univ. of Hartford, NYU and Mary Mount College in NYC.

In the years from 1966 to 1981 I worked bunch- I was a part owner in a Sound Company, I spent 18 months working in Saudi Arabia and also spent a bunch of time unemployed. After Saudi Arabia I went to Wall Street and was a broker, financial planner and ultimately an RIA (Registered Investment Advisor). After that I started my own business until the mutual fund industry put me out of business. Before I returned to the work force my aging parents became incompetent and I spent a number of years caring for them. This was when I began keeping fish.

What a long strange trip it has been...

 

[WhistlingBadger63 19]

The weird thing about cancel culture is that most of us only see it when it's perpetrated by those who disagree with us. When our side (AKA the Correct Side) does it, it isn't canceling. It's gatekeeping. Or resisting. Or standing firm. Or refusing to back down. Or Or something else similarly noble sounding.

The only difference between an "extremist" and a "champion" is whether the person in question agrees with me or not.