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Putting the Brakes on the AI Hype Train

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on November 7, 2024

It seems as if the only thing you ever hear about these days is artificial intelligence. And a lot of people and companies are riding the great AI Hype Train.

But is it overblown? What is it really about, anyway?

Buying Your Ticket to the AI Hype Train

Evidently, the term artificial intelligence predates even my birth. But why is it now so, so very hot?

In part, we can all point fingers at ChatGPT. In 2022, they developed newish technology and it took off, fast! Kind of like an express train, if you will.

By early 2023, kids were already using it to write papers.

As a result, parents and educators started to get nervous. Really, really nervous. But can you blame them?

How Did the AI Hype Train Pull Into the Station?

But let’s back up a bit. AI didn’t just spring out fully formed, like Athena vis a vis Zeus. In some ways, it can pay to have had an eclectic career. Because I can honestly explain a couple of its origination points.

Databases

I’m sure most adults have heard of databases. But how many know, exactly, what one is? Well, in a way, it’s a kind of interactive list. It’s a means of organizing (basing) information (data).

Okay, so that was clear as mud.

To best explain databases, I like to turn to a personal favorite explanation.

The Database is Coming From Inside Your House

Wait, what?

We all have a database. You, me, your weird neighbor who lives down the street, and the King of England all have at least one database. And I am more than willing to bet that it’s the same type of database.

I repeat: what?

It’s definitely on your phone, and it may also still be on paper.

I am talking about your address list.

Why is an Address List a Database?

Your address list contains a ton of nuggets of information. Here, I’ll explain.

Say, you have an Uncle Dave Smith, who lives in Idaho, but used to live in Pennsylvania. And he’s married to your Aunt Susie Smith, but she was married before, to a man named William Jones. During her first marriage, Susie was known as Susie Jones.

Susie and William had a child together, Lou Jones. But Susie and Dave had a child together, Carol. Lou is away at college, in Colorado. Carol is engaged to be married to Fred Roe.

Are you with me so far?

If you wanted to list everyone who currently lives in Idaho, you’d get Dave, Susie, Carol, and maybe Lou (after all, college is generally not your permanent mailing address) and possibly also Fred.

Who fits in a set of people who have ever been named Jones? That would be William and Lou. But it’s also Susie.

Now Multiply That Times a Hundred

Let’s say you’re Carol and Fred’s wedding planner. You need to send out the invitations. And let’s say you’re sending so many invitations that it pays to batch mail everything. Using the database, you come up with four people in Idaho.

With a large family and an invitation list as long as your arm, you end up with a lot of data to comb through. A database automatically helps you pull out whatever you want (assuming the data is in there).

The Wonderful World of Granularity

Databases have fields. A field is a specific bit of information. Above, we have first names and we have state addresses. But we also have some relationship info. And while we don’t have ages or dates of birth, we can infer that Susie, Dave, and William are all older than Lou and Carol (but not necessarily Fred). We can also infer that William is older than Carol.

Now add the usual trappings of an address book, such as full name, address, phone number with area code, and ZIP code. With this information, you have even more inferences you can draw.

For example, if two people don’t share a full address, but they share a ZIP code, you know that means they live close to each other. If the wedding is somewhere they could drive to, but it’s a far drive, you could add a note suggesting to those people that they travel together.

What Does This Have to do With the AI Hype Train?

The generative and predictive AI you’ve been hearing about is really just a fancy way of saying it’s a database.

Say what?

There’s a ton of information, and all your computer does is look it up. Just like you look up Aunt Susie’s address in a book or on your phone.

Except a computer does this millions of times faster.

Now it’s time to look at the other piece.

Language Models

A language model is a list of words. But unlike a database, it contains a bit more info. It’s essentially in terms of probabilities. This isn’t really like the chance of someone saying the word infant vs the word baby.

Rather, it’s the chance of someone saying the word the or the word pickle. Because while we don’t see those words as even close to being interchangeable, a computer doesn’t. That is, unless it is taught. But otherwise, it’s just items on a list to a computer.

But where and how does such a huge model come together?

The Derailing of the AI Hype Train

To build a large language model, you need content. Lots and lots of more or less properly written content. This content should cover a large swath of human thought and activity. It has to be very broad in scope.

So, the developers turned to a place where they knew there was a ton of content, more or less properly written, covering great, big chunks of the human experience.

The internet.

Except there’s just one problem.

The Fly in the Ointment

They didn’t get most people’s permission to use the content. Also, they never checked it for accuracy or tone. A computer can’t figure those things out (yet). But you and I can. For example, we can tell when someone’s joking about something.

The AI takes it seriously.

And what about all the personal data online? The GDPR law specifically says that individuals must give clear consent to the processing of their personal data. Did AI and its creators take the time to figure out which of the trillions of web pages have personal data?

The answer to that would clearly be: no.

Finally, there’s also the matter of copyright. There’s a ton of original material online. It may be snippets of professionally written fiction, like in a blurb. Or it could be places for posting fiction, like Wattpad.

Did the creators of the language model used in AI stop to ask the authors whether they could have permission to train the model on their prose or poetry?

What do you think?

The Caboose at the End of the AI Hype Train

So, it’s mainly just a fancier, easier to use version of the databases that have been around for decades. And its training process for the language model is more than a little suspect. It can’t read your mind. It’s not Skynet. Yet.

There are plenty of companies which are trying to replace content writers with generative AI. But this technology, in that area, really isn’t ready for primetime. Predictive AI, on the other hand, more or less is.

Predictive is the kind of AI being used to cull through thousands of records to compare the data from one medical test results to determine the likelihood of the patient getting cancer. This is the kind of speed which humans just can’t do.

So when you read another breathless article or blog post about artificial intelligence, check to see if the author is riding the AI hype train.

Because Casey Jones, you’d better watch your speed.

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Choosing an EditorBeta Readers, Editors, Beta Reading, Editing, Beta readers, Beta Reading, Reading, How to Edit a Manuscript, editing part 1, Editing Part 2, choosing, Editing Tips, Beta Reading and Editing, beta reader,

Choosing an Editor

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on January 13, 2022

A Look at Choosing an Editor

Choosing an editor can be tricky. Sometimes, you just end up with whoever is cheapest or whoever you know. But if you have a choice in the matter, consider it carefully. Taking some time early in the game will help you out later. A lot.

It’s a Business Relationship, Just Like Any Other

Do yourself a favor, and write a contract. This is a sample editing contract, and it’s pretty good. Be sure to change the contract to indicate the laws of your state apply, and clarify it is editing you are contracting for, etc. Look over the contract thoroughly before you sign it or ask anyone else to.

Working With an Editor

Be your courteous and professional self. Editors are a more professional group than beta readers (what I mean is, this is a profession, whereas beta reading is for free and is not a paying gig) and are generally people you hire. They will do copy editing, where they check for typos, etc., although there should be a last pass by a proofreader before publishing, no matter what.

Editors, instead, have a different role.

Continuity

Editors can also check for continuity, but they will mainly read with the audience in mind. They are a good enhancement to the work of a beta reader, and are a good idea before you send your work out for querying.

Yes, a publisher will edit your work. But if your work is impossible to read, due to typos, improper punctuation, spelling errors, etc., then it’s highly likely the person(s) who passes along manuscripts from the slush pile for further consideration will just toss yours into the circular file.

Ouch.

Finding an Editor

The best way to get an editor is to do some research. Ask people you know who have been published, including your online friends. An editor no longer has to live in the same city or country as you do. However, you will be best served by someone who is a native speaker of the language your book is written in.

Work with the editor on a sample chapter. Do you get along? Are his or her suggestions reasonable? Are they slow? Does it seem to cost too much for what you are getting?

Finding an Editor on a Budget

If you are absolutely, utterly stuck for funds, try a local college or university. You might be able to get an English major to help you, but be aware they probably won’t have experience and they may not be the best fit. But they may be all you’ve got.

If you go the collegiate route, don’t just put up flyers. Instead, talk to a professor! Ask who the best students are. The professor may have an idea of who (a) knows what they are talking about and (b) is looking to make some money.

As for what to pay them, again, talk to your writing buddies and make some comparisons. Of course, pay a student amateur a lot less than you would pay someone who does this for a living.

Helping the Editor

No matter how much you spend for editing services, be sure to recommend that person wherever they wish, whether it is on LinkedIn, Yelp, or elsewhere. Be kind and helpful to this person, and you could start a lasting professional relationship that will benefit both of you for, potentially, years to come.

Takeaways

Did you have a good experience with your editor? Or was it a learning experience? Don’t fret if it was the latter. Just do your best to learn from your mistakes and, just like with everything else is life, see if you can do better next time.

I bet you can.

And PS, if you are published, whether self or traditionally, give a copy of your book to your editor. Or send swag. It’s an easy way to show your appreciation.

Editors are not all the same. Be comfortable with the one you’re choosing!

Want More on Beta Reading and Editing?

If you want more on beta reading and editing, check out the following posts:

Beta Reading:

Editing:

Next article

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Quinnipiac Final Paper – ICM501 – Creative Obfuscation

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on November 27, 2014

Quinnipiac Final Paper – ICM501 – Creative Obfuscation

What is creative obfuscation?

Internet identity, reputation, and deception in the online dating world. Truth and little white lies on the Internet.

Introduction

Several weeks ago, when participating in class, I used the term creative obfuscation. The idea behind it was (and still is) that people of course bend the truth or cover it up, or they lie by omission. Some of these lies are more egregious than others.

For my final paper, I decided to look at what it all means with reference to internet dating. And boy, was there a lot of fodder! Here are some excerpts.

Identity

For many people[1] these days, social media is wrapped with identity, as identity is, in turn, intimately wrapped up with social media. It is often a daily[2] presence in our lives. As Julia Knight and Alexis Weedon discovered, online life and self are increasingly just as important as offline life and self.[3]

“In 2008, Vincent Miller’s article in Convergence recognized in our ubiquitous and pervasive media the essential role of phatic communication[4] which forms our connection to the here and now.

Social media has become a native habitus for many and is a place to perform our various roles in our multimodal lives, as a professional, a parent, an acquaintance, and a colleague. The current generation has grown up with social media and like the 10-year-old Facebook, Twitter too has become part of some people’s everyday here and now.”[5]

References

[1] About 39% of the world is online, according to Internet World Statistics. This includes just fewer than 85% of North America and over 2/3 of Europe and Oceania.

[2] According to Pew Research, in 2013, 63% of Facebook users visit the site daily. Just under half (46%) of Twitter users visit that site on a daily basis.

[3] Knight, Julia and Weedon, Alexis, Convergence, ISSN 1354-8565, 08/2014, Volume 20, Issue 3, pp. 257 – 258, Identity and social media

[4] Phatic communications are generally language for the purposes of social interaction rather than the conveying of information or the making of inquiries, e. g. ‘small talk’.

[5] Knight and Weedon, Ibid., Page 257.

Reputation and Creative Obfuscation

Unlike offline reputation, online reputation can be categorized and quantified. For sites attempting to preserve and promote civility, but which cannot or will not adopt a real-names policy like Facebook’s, reputation scores can sometimes alert other users to an individual’s tendency to be either helpful or abusive.

AS Crane Said…

As AS Crane noted in Promoting Civility in Online Discussions: A Study of the Intelligent Conversation Forum[6],

“Moderation in combination with reputation scores have been used successfully on the large technology site Slashdot, according to Lampe and Resnick (2004). Slashdot moderation duties are shared among a group of users, who can assign positive or negative reputation points to posts and to other members. Users who have earned a sufficient reputation rating are allowed to participate in moderation if they wish. Meta-moderators observe the moderators for abuse and can remove bad moderators, or reward good moderators by assigning a higher point value to their votes.” In Slashdot’s case, it would seem that good behavior not only is rewarding in and of itself, but it also provides a reward in the form of being granted the ability to police others’ behavior.

[6] AS Crane, 2012, Promoting Civility in Online Discussions: A Study of the Intelligent Conversation Forum, rave.ohiolink.edu, Page 17

Deception

For those who bend the truth on Facebook and other social media websites, some of the consequences are unexpected ones.

For example, a ten-year-old child claims to be thirteen. So, in five years, they’ll be considered eighteen on a social networking site. This will alter her privacy settings automatically. And lets everyone see images, including pedophiles.[7]

[7] Olsen, Tyler, 22 April 2013, Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire: An Explanation of Deception, Professor Combs English 1010-21

Creative Obfuscation: Conclusion

It is fairly easy to bend the truth when composing an online dating profile. But an in-person meeting will expose the lie to all. As a result, the liar will lose social capital and likely never make it to a second date. More problematic is when a person’s sincerely made identity does not jibe with their appearance or their birth characteristics.

Differences between online verbiage and offline appearance might not have an intentionally malicious origin. So, it is entirely possible for online daters to, through ambiguity or poor word choice, appear deceptive and untrustworthy. When they may be anything but.

But regardless of the reason for an untruth, online daters care about their reputations. And their online and offline appearances. What others think matters to them. Much of that directly relates to the object behind the use of an online dating site. So, the object is to meet. That is, the mission is the date.

Setting up the date for failure or the loss of face is not in online daters’ best interests. So, most act to assure success or at least prevent and minimize failure and the loss of social capital.

Personal Identity

Personal identity matters in the online world, and it is a heady brew of inborn traits, learned and attained characteristics, and identification, desire, and preference.

For the person presenting their identity and showing this admixture to all and sundry, what it means to be them, what they think of as the ‘self’, is they cobble together from potentially thousands of measurable and nonquantifiable data points in order to present a full picture of their personality.

For the recipients of these messages, the potential dating partners and perhaps even more permanent mates, the choice is whether to read or listen to these many messages. And accept all or some of them. Even if they conflict with or downright contradict the evidence that the recipient can observe or otherwise gather independently.

You are who you were at birth, who you have become, and who you claim to be, and who you think you are. But that does not mean that anyone has to believe you, accept you, or love you.

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Of Ice Buckets and Virality

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 26, 2014

An Observation, Of Ice Buckets and Virality

You have to be on another planet (or, offline) to not know about this. It has, most likely, been in the mainstream offline media by now. I don’t watch a lot of television, and I have not yet seen it in newspapers, but that does not mean it is not coming. It has virality in spades.

I am, of course, talking about the terrifically inventive charitable idea du jour – The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

Background

On July 31st of 2014, Pete Frates, who has ALS, challenged some celebrities, including New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, to what would become known as the ice bucket challenge.

The challenge was already going on, per the article, but the concept did not begin to gain viral social media traction until July 31st .

The premise is simple – either donate $100 to ALS research or douse yourself with ice water. You’ve got 24 hours and, once you’ve done either (or both), challenge at least three more people.

The idea spread virally. A lot of people were happy to see something other than Gaza and Ferguson in their news feeds.

ALS

ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is a serious medical condition for which there is no known cure. It is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement.

ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Complicating matters is the fact that there are only about 30,000 or so people in the United States who definitely have it.

Hence big drug manufacturers aren’t pursuing cures, as such cures and research are not profitable enough. It is essentially an orphaned disease.

But let’s get back to the challenge.

Purpose of the Challenge

I can come up with five purposes, and probably three (maybe four) of them were not the original ones.

  1. Raise money for ALS research
  2. Boost awareness of the disease
  3. Lean on drug companies to pressure them to work on developing a cure
  4. Lean on politicians to push them to pressure drug companies or perhaps pass laws subsidizing or otherwise encouraging research into orphan diseases
  5. Hire a celebrity spokesperson (or more than one) to advocate for the victims of the disease

The challenge performs the first two tasks perfectly. Either you pony up the funds or you get soaked. And that all goes on camera and becomes an upload on social media. Most people reveal their choice on Facebook, which has over 1.4 billion users.

The last three purposes are the kinds of things that you can use this sort of attention for. I do hope the big folks in ALS research don’t squander this opportunity, and try for all three.

Why is it Viral?

The challenge hits about every mark when it comes to virality. Here are some reasons.

  1. It has a strong visual and auditory appeal. The dousing, the screaming, or even smug people signing checks and getting wet anyway? Don’t underestimate how much humor there is in seeing someone getting their (allegedly deserving) comeuppance.
  2. Humor is one component to virality, or at least it is one of the elements that is somewhat more likely to be present when any piece of media goes viral. By definition, the flipping of super-chilled water onto anyone’s head is going to be funny.

More Reasons

    1. Another component that is often present in viral media is uplifting images, text, and actions. This is why Upworthy does as well as it does. When people write a check instead of dump water, they hit this mark instead. Either way, if they speak a bit about ALS, they also hit this mark.
    2. Timing – initiating the challenge in January would not have worked as well. While people have been answering polar bear-style challenges for years, if you want to go viral, you want the majority to participate, or at least believe that they might want to participate. Selecting the month of August was brilliant, as this is either the warmest or second-warmest month in most years in the Northern Hemisphere. That is, the hemisphere where people are, in general, more likely to be wealthy and more likely to be online. In short, these were the people most likely to either participate in the challenge or at least watch videos of it and read articles (like this one!) about it.

Yet More Reasons

  1. The second piece of timing is how it came when so many people had seen a lot about Gaza and Ferguson, as I stated previously. For many, the challenge was a welcome bit of good news in an otherwise dreary Dog Days of Summer media landscape.
  2. There is an element of daring in it but, except for the elderly (Sir Ian McKellan notwithstanding) and the gravely ill, it’s not really dangerous. But do watch out for slippery floors. Yes, there are already blooper videos out there (many of them are NSFW; Google is your friend if you’re interested in such things).
  3. Virality is baked right into it. One aspect of the challenge is to call out at least three other people and challenge them. Furthermore, they have 24 hours to respond either way. Hence you have added three more names. However, the names begin to repeat after a while. So the trebling of participants slows down, eventually shrinking a lot closer to a doubling of participants. The duplication of names also happens because most people run in somewhat small circles and share neighbors, friends, family members, etc. The 24 hour time limit plays very well into most people’s demands for more and more and different entertainment to consume, on daily, hourly, or even minute by minute basis.

Still More Reasons

  1. Social media has shaped a lot of our behaviors, and the ice bucket challenge plays nicely into how ordinary people are finding out that they are now entertainers online. They have followers, and they are beginning to understand that they need to provide content for their followers. As a result, so many people obsess with taking selfies, or Instagramming everything they eat or wear. Because they know they need to provide content, but they’re stumped as to what to provide! The challenge provides a perfect prompt.
  2. The involvement of celebrities added a cool factor. The involvement of all sorts politicians on the political spectrum allowed a way for political rivals to talk to each other. After all, who could be against trying to defeat a horrible disease?

The challenge has even spawned parodies and copycats. There’s the rice bucket challenge in India, the rubble bucket challenge in Gaza, and the Orlando Jones bullet bucket challenge. It’s a helluva clever campaign, and deserves all the props it’s been getting.

Upshot

Amusing and upbeat, the challenge has, as of the writing of this blog post, raised over $50 million for research. Please give generously and, in the meantime, enjoy Bill Gates getting drenched.

Takeaways from a Few Years Later

Frates passed away in 2019. But his legacy is not just one of increased awareness about the disease. It’s also a legacy of increased donations to attempt to cure it.

Pretty good for a guy who went to BC 😉

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