Inside ‘AI Addiction’ Support Groups

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He would lay awake late into the night, talking to the bots and forgetting about their schoolwork. Using Character.AI is constantly on your mind. It's very hard to focus on anything else, and I realized that wasn’t healthy.” This led him to start the “Character AI Recovery” subreddit. Not everyone who reports being addicted to chatbots is young. In fact, OpenAI’s research found that “the older the participant, the more likely they were to be emotionally dependent on AI chatbots at the end of the study.” -404 Media

I’m on a search

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At the trial in which he would be sentenced to death, Socrates (as quoted by Plato) said that the unexamined life isn’t worth living. Reading is the best way I know to learn how to examine your life. By comparing what you’ve done to what others have done, and your thoughts and theories and feelings to those of others, you learn about yourself and the world around you. Perhaps that is why reading is one of the few things you do alone that can make you feel less alone. It is a solitary activity that connects you to others.

So I’m on a search—and have been, I now realize, all my life—to find books to help me make sense of the world, to help me become a better person, to help me get my head around the big questions that I have and answer some of the small ones while I’m at it.

Will Schwalbe,  Books for Living

32 Recent Articles about AI Fakes

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Israel and Iran use propaganda, disinformation and covert operations aided by artificial intelligence  - New York Times  

Florida woman conned out of $15K after AI clones daughter’s voice – WFLA

How a Canadian's AI hoax duped the media and propelled a 'band' to streaming success – CBC

A Marco Rubio impostor is using AI voice to call high-level officials – Washington Post

Panel with AI experts to review appeal of NTU student penalised for academic misconduct - The Straits Times  

Springer Nature book on machine learning is full of made-up citations – Retraction Watch

How "consumer-grade AI tools have supercharged Russian-aligned disinformation – Wired

How to Detect AI Writing: Tips and Tricks to Tell if Something Is Written With AI – CNET

How AI-generated content & misinformation are corrupting online academic resources, creating a "zombie" internet where errors and fake science perpetuate – The Dispatch  

Digital Literacy in the Age of AI: How to Fight Misinformation – Ed Tech Magazine  

AI Chatbots Are Making LA Protest Disinformation Worse - Wired

454 Hints That a Chatbot Wrote Part of a Biomedical Researcher’s Paper – New York Times

OpenAI takes down covert operations using social media tied to China and other countries – NPR 

Wired Envisions a Deepfake Future you’re not prepared for – Wired

AI is perfecting scam emails, making phishing hard to catch - Axios

Veo 3 AI video generator is a slop monger’s dream – The Verge

AI models hallucinate less than humans — just in “more surprising ways”  - Tech Crunch

Chicago Sun-Times Prints AI-Generated Summer Reading List With Books That Don't Exist – 404 Media

Trump signs bill criminalizing revenge porn and explicit deepfakes - TechCrunch

Fake AI images are already manipulating you, and this crazy controversy is proof - BGR

Musk's xAI blames Grok's "white genocide" responses on unauthorized update - Axios

Music streaming service Deezer adds AI song tags in fight against fraud – Associated Press

Scammers use AI to spoof senior U.S. officials' voices, FBI warns - Axios

A.I. Videos Have Never Been Better. Can You Tell What’s Real? – New York Times

Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features -
The Guardian

AI has probably already faked one of your memories. Here's what that means – BBC

How to Spot Fake Reviews on Amazon – Wired

Journalist says 4,000 fake AI news websites created to game Google algorithms – Press Gazette

What Are Deepfakes? Everything to Know About These AI Image and Video Forgeries - CNET

AI and disinformation fuel political tensions in the Philippines – Al Jazeera 

AI is polluting truth in journalism. Here’s how to disrupt the misinformation feedback loop. – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

A racist campaign message caused ire among Oklahoma Democrats. But it wasn't real, it was AI – The Oklahoman

The jobs of Experienced Coders

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The combination of higher salaries and a reluctance to embrace A.I. was likely to put the jobs of experienced coders at risk. “How you decrease cost is not by firing the cheapest employees you have. You take the cheapest employee and make them worth the expensive employee. In a recent study by researchers at Microsoft and three universities, an A.I. coding assistant appeared to increase the productivity of junior developers substantially more than it increased the productivity of their more experienced colleagues.” -New York Times

14 Ways to Spot AI Images & Video

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THE BACKGROUND. Are people in the background looking at the unusual thing going on? If they are going about their business, it is likely a fake. Often, the background of AI images will be distorted. Sometimes odd shapes in the background details are giveaways, such as floor tiles or walls.

OTHER VIDEOS & PHOTOS. If the video or image is of a news event and there are no other videos or images showing different angles, it may be AI-generated. It is unlikely that there would be only a single image or video of something odd or newsworthy.

DETAILS. AI generators are not good at details. For instance, the AI skin is smooth. It looks like the person is wearing lots of makeup, giving it a leathery appearance. The hair is course and fuzzy looking. Teeth are overly straight and will change width and shape throughout the video. The spaced between them will shift as well. Other details can be giveaways as well: shadows that are off, small objects shaped oddly, and although AI video generators are getting better at fingers, they still can be strangely shaped.  

WRITING. Look closely at writing on a sticker, street sign or billboard. Watch for blurry writing when it shouldn’t be or wrongly formed letters, or the letters that don’t spell words.

FOCUS. In a real video, anything that is in focus is sharp, while anything out of focus is naturally blurry. In AI videos, there is less of a difference between what is in and out of focus.

THE SOURCE. Is the person or organization sharing the image reliable and not known for promoting AI-generated media?

THE EYES. In deepfake videos, the eyes can pop or look glassy. People will sometimes blink oddly or else they make strange eye movements. Researchers at Cornell University found deepfake faces don’t blink properly. Also, by using techniques devised for measuring galaxies, researchers have found that deepfake images don't have the same consistency in reflections in both eyes.

THE FACE. Look carefully at the area around the face for evidence that it was swapped onto another person’s body.

THE LIPS. Do the lips have abnormal movements and unrealistic positioning?

MOVEMENT. Watch for unnatural jumps or the absence of motion blur that is typically present in authentic videos. If creators manipulate AI-generated photos using Photoshop techniques such as blurring or file compression, they can fool detection tools.

LIGHTING. AI images often have abnormal patterns in the physics of lighting. AI videos are often well-lit but have a softness to them.

PHOTOMETRIC CLUES. Look at “photometric” clues such as blurring around the edges of objects that might suggest they’ve been added later; noticeable pixelation in some parts of an image but not others; and differences in coloration.

FRAME RATE. Most AI videos will only produce a film quality look because they are made to look like they were shot at 24 frames per second videos. Most real videos are not made at that frame rate. Social media videos are typically shot at 30 frames per second (the default for phone cameras) while most sports video are shot at a higher 60 frames per second in order to capture the quick movement.

SOUND EFFECTS. Many purposely fake AI videos will add sound effects for a more dramatic impact. For instance, sirens, alarms and people screaming might make a clip seem more frightening.

More Signals

The Other Fellow

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When the other fellow is set in his ways, he’s obstinate. When you are, it’s just firmness. 

When the other fellow doesn’t like your friends, he’s prejudiced and narrow minded. 

When you don’t like his friends, you are simply showing you’re a good judge of human nature. 

When the other fellow tries to treat someone especially well, he’s buttering them up. When you do the same game, you’re using tact.

When the other fellow picks out flows in things, he’s cranky. When you do, you are discriminating and just be careful.

When the other fellow says what he things, he’s spiteful. When you do, you’re just plain spoken.  

AI companions & Loneliness

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An OpenAI study found “personal conversations with chatbots actually led to higher loneliness. Despite this, top tech tycoons promote AI companions as the cure to America’s loneliness epidemic. ‘It's like, when early humans discovered fire, right?’ Axel Valle, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Stanford University, said, “It's like, okay, this is helpful and amazing. But are we going to burn everything to the ground or not?’”-404Media

AI Definitions: Predictive Analytics

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Predictive analytics - This method of speculating about future events uses past data to make recommendations. Researchers create complex mathematical algorithms in an effort to discover patterns in the data. One doesn't know in advance what data is important. The statistical models created by predictive analytics are designed to discover which of the pieces of data will predict the desired outcome. While correlation is not causation, a cause-and-effect relationship is not needed to make predictions. This is ideal for anticipating what a user is most likely to be interested in based on past behavior and user characteristics. However, after gathering this data, data scientists will often turn to causal AI in order to gauge the impact on user behavior. Some people will use the terms “predictive analytics” and “predictive AI” interchangeably, but others will treat predictive analytics as a broader term that includes non-AI methods such as statistical modeling and regression analysis.

More AI definitions here 

13 Articles about Social Media & AI

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Should Creators Learn from the Masters?

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Should we teach artists and other creatives to recognize, understand and dissect classic works in their field or should we encourage them to plunge into creative self-expression, apart from the cultural context?

If beginners are taught to internalize the classics before finding their own voice, won't they be nudged to conform to expectations and tempted to stay inside the box of what has gone before them? Are they wasting time learning how others express themselves rather than learning how to do so themselves? Will stepping in the shoes of the masters cause them to avoid pursuing ideas outside of the norm? 

Unconventional artists and visionaries have often been shunned by peers—only later to be revered by another generation. If these craftsmen had conformed to their time, if they had stifled their inner voices, they might not have stepped away from the crowd. We would have never had the chance to appreciate their genius. 

On the other hand, if we teach students to venture out on their own, aren't we just treating them like toddlers, telling them to go play in the paint—without adult guidance and supervision? Failing to study the masters means missing the opportunity stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before and peer further down the road. Keeping them away from the classics could mean failing to grasp the value of the great works that have stood the test of time. How can students understand where their own feet are planted in history unless they know about others who have struggled and flourished? 

Perhaps we need both sides, and the danger lies in slavishly taking one extreme position or the other. Perhaps we can learn the rules before breaking them and avoid simply mimicking the masters. Perhaps we can tap into the echoes of their inspiration rather than plunging into our own narcissistic self-expression.

Asking, "Am I creating to please myself or to please others?" may bring clarity. If you are creating to please yourself, then diving into what’s culturally hot may take you away from your goal. But if you have decided to create for the crowd, then knowing what is already valued seems like a reasonable starting point. 

Stephen Goforth

18 Articles about Relationships with AI

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AI challenges and opportunities for relationship and family therapy examined in study – PhysOrg

‘It’s almost like we never even spoke’: AI is making everyone on dating apps sound charming – Washington Post 

I Wrote a Novel About a Woman Building an AI Lover. Here’s What I Learned. – Wall Street Journal

Inside ‘AI Addiction’ Support Groups, Where People Try to Stop Talking to Chatbots – 404 Media 

Man Proposed to His AI Chatbot Girlfriend Named Sol, Then Cried His 'Eyes Out' When She Said 'Yes' - People 

They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling. – New York Times 

People Are Becoming Obsessed with ChatGPT and Spiraling Into Severe Delusions – Futurism  

People are using ChatGPT to write breakup texts and I fear for our future – Tech Radar 

Love Is a Drug. A.I. Chatbots Are Exploiting That. - New York Times 

People are asking ChatGPT for ‘harsh, honest’ beauty advice - The Washington Post  

An AI-created video of a murdered man is used to deliver a victim's statement at a killer's sentencing – BBC

‘Our relationship with phones has grown unhealthy’: Nothing’s AI chief explains how the Nothing Phone 3 will ‘help you be more human’ – TechRadar

Teens are sexting with AI. Here’s what parents should know. - Washington Post

Can ChatGPT save your relationship? Inside the AI therapy trend winning over Gen Z, but alarming experts – Economic Times  

My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them – Wired

AI users form relationships with technology (video) – CBS News

How A.I. Made Me More Human, Not Less – New York Times

For the Scholarly Elite or the Masses?

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In college and graduate school, I studied cognitive science, philosophy, and politics. I formed a conviction that I wanted to try to change the world for the better. Initially, my plan was to be an academic and public intellectual. At the time, I got bored easily (still do), which made me distractible and not great at making the trains run on time. Academia seemed like an environment that would keep me perpetually stimulated as I would think and write on the value of compassion, self-development, and the pursuit of wisdom. I would hopefully inspire others to implement these ideas to form a nobler society.

But graduate school, while stimulating, turned out to be grounded in a culture and incentive scheme that promoted hyperspecialization; I discovered that academics end up writing for a scholarly elite of typically about fifty people. It turned out there was not much support for academics who would attempt to spread ideas to the masses. So my aspiration to have a broad impact on potentially millions of people clashed with the market realities of academia. 

I adopted my career orientation. My new aim was to try to promote the workings of a good society via entrepreneurship and technology.

Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha, The Startup of You