So I just saw a video ad for the most unsettling uncanny valley shit I have ever seen:
For a split second, I was like "Did they get an actor for this?" But after watching her mouth, of all things, I was like, "Oh shit, that is not a real person O.O" Once that realization hit, I noticed how still she is sitting, with no real movement other than her speaking - absolutely stationary posture, no head movement or anything. No real emotion in that expression, either. I did not have sound on, because I was flashbanged by this ad kinda, and just...WOW. if this was a pre-animated piece done for this ad, kudos to the animators, excellent (if unsettling) work. But if, instead, this was a real-time demo of a generative AI model (even if the lines were presets/scripted) that makes it even MORE unsettling. And this is also kind of... skeezy. I mean not kind of, it IS skeezy, because it's going after people who maybe are lonely and want companionship. Or in the more disturbing cases from previous similar things, want someone to verbally and emotionally abuse with no legal repercussions.
Latter demographic aside, it is really fucked up that you are putting a face on a text generator (and as humans, we ALREADY anthropomorphic animals and sometimes objects) but this seems a bit much.
"But okami," someone might say, "she's an AI! She is conversing!" And I would pat that someone's head and say,
She is not an AI in the sci-fi use of the term (and why they started using AI as the term for LLMs is a whole other thing), "she" is a long form math equation that spits out words in patterns taken from where the company scraped its training data from. "She" is not reacting to your worse, she is regurgitating symbols based on similar patterns that were recorded elsewhere. There is no intelligence there, just math with a pretty face pasted on it.
And I dunno, maybe it's actually good for some people? I don't think it would be long-term, and if AI itself was not supported by greed, thievery, lies and climate destruction, I might be less critical.
But it is all based on data taken without consent of the original creators (whether it's drawn art, writing, video, etc), it is being peddled to co pa it's as a magic bullet (and replacement in some cases) and apparently is even worse than crypto when it comes to power consumption.
So, yea. Need to vent a bit, and share this absolutely unsettling ad. And if I have put a damper on your day, I apologize. As recompense, have this blep.
