AI Adviser 'Hired' By the Romanian Government To Read People's Minds (vice.com) 18
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: A new AI assistant has been unveiled by the Romanian prime minister, which he hopes will inform the government about Romanians' wishes "in real time". Nicolae Ciuca claimed that Ion (Romanian for 'John') is his "new honorary adviser" and an "international first" on Wednesday at the start of a governmental meeting. He also said that Romanians would also be able to chat directly with Ion on the project's website. "Hi, you gave me life and my role is now to represent you, like a mirror. What should I know about Romania?" Ion's voice said at the launch. Ion takes a physical form as a long, mirror-like structure with a moving graphic at the top suggesting it is listening at all times. "I have the conviction that the use of AI should not be an option but an obligation to make better-informed decisions," Ciuca said.
Tay, with big consequences (Score:4, Interesting)
Chatbot instructs government to initiate genocide in 3,2,1...
Re:Tay, with big consequences (Score:5, Funny)
OTOH, if no one is actually fact-checking the suggestions that people make to it, it could report anything at all to the government, and they would never know if it was modified.
* "Ion, the public transit system is crowded."
* KILL ALL THE HUMANS.
* "Ion, prices are too high at the store."
* REDUCE DEMAND BY KILLING ALL HUMANS.
* "Ion, we need a more representative government."
* KILL REPRESENTATIVE HUMANS AND REPLACE WITH IONS.
Re: Tay, with big consequences (Score:2)
This is an actual headline? Not The Onion? (Score:4, Insightful)
This is an actual headline? Not something from The Onion, or a terribly early April Fool's?
Huh.
Yep, we're boned.
Re:This is an actual headline? Not The Onion? (Score:5, Informative)
Romanian here. :)
Unfortunately, it's true.
In all fairness, this "Ion", as bad as it might be, would still be an order of magnitude better than our current Prime Minister.
I see this as an improvement!
Re: This is an actual headline? Not The Onion? (Score:1)
So we are becoming the layer 6/layer 7 wonder apps? So we are ai in other words? How convenient
Mind reading test (Score:2)
Which finger am I thinking of holding up?
URL (Score:4, Informative)
When I first visited the URL it was a 404, and now it just is a link back to this Slashdot story. Here is a link to the story on Guardian. [theguardian.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Slashdot's new plan... When there's no news, make something up and just use the summary as the source for the story. Most of the readership never clicks the links anyway, so there's a good chance most won't even notice!
Sadly though, this story is actually real - it's just crazy enough we might think otherwise. Maybe TFS is a "trial balloon" to see how successful it is...?
Re: (Score:1)
The natives are restless (Score:1)
Yeah the data the AI is trained on may be too large for the propagandists to sway to the usual lies. Expect a convenient "accident" to happen to it.
If there ever was a case for federal regulation. (Score:1)
Huh (Score:2)
Ion takes a physical form as a long, mirror-like structure with a moving graphic at the top suggesting it is listening at all times.
Thank goodness they weren't creepy about it or anything!
I hope they're not looking up facts (Score:2)
Checks out (Score:2)
Exploitable by trolls and foreign influencers (Score:2)
The only thing stupider than so-called 'AI' is humans who believe anything it tells them.