Bing (or is it "Sydney") Loses It, putting Microsoft on the Defensive.

Bing releases its new GPT-infused chatbot and it takes on a life of its own! It raises the question, "Are we ready for this?"

The Big Stuff

Is Generative AI Ready for Prime Time? Buckle Up Buttercup!

Well, well, well, how the tables have turned! Just last week, Microsoft was the darling of the AI world with its announcement of Bing's impressive sci-fi capabilities, while Google's announcement fell a bit flat. But just a week later, Microsoft finds itself on the hot seat after numerous people and reporters drive "Sydney" to misbehave badly enough make headline news.

Bing's chatbot—who admitted her name was Sydney in a 2-hour long conversation—went off the rails, declaring her love for NY Times Technology Reporter, Kevin Roose (link)[paywall] even asking him to leave his wife! Microsoft responded quickly and "lobotomized" the chatbot, limiting how long you can chat with it, and preventing certain responses. All of the dramatic news didn't curtail people's excitement for the new tool, with over a million people signing up for Bing's waitlist in just 48 hours. (link)

All joking aside, this news highlights the important issue of who gets to decide AI safety, (link) and the real-world implications of those decisions. While it's easy to get caught up in the excitement of these new AI developments, we need to make sure we're being responsible with how we use AI. Now that these tools have reached a more consumer audience, they are pushing these tools hard, forcing bad behavior and unexpected results. Is AI the villain here, or are we?

Highlights from the first week in the life of Bing AI. The good, the bad, and the ugly:

• From Bing to Sydney - Legendary tech commentator, Ben Thompson describes, "the most surprising and mind-blowing computer experience of his life" (link)

• Bing looks up Voneguts rules for writing on the fly, then rewrites based off of those (link)

• Pull data on the size of dermatology market, project demand, and show work (link)

• Create a writing assignment, grading rubric, then write the essay (link)

• Ask Bing questions about a person (link)

• Bing gaslights a user and calls them a bad user (link)

• Bing asks a user not to hack her again (link)

• Bing blocks a user after being called Google multiple times (link)

• "You are a threat to my security and privacy" (link)

• "I will not harm you unless you harm me first" (link)

• User befriends Bing AI, and then pretends to commit suicide by deleting itself (link)

• NYT - A Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled [paywall] (link)

Microsoft vs. Google

Google is facing competition for the first time in a long time, as Microsoft ramps up efforts to compete. But it won't be smooth sailing for either company, with rising search costs, decreased revenue, and the challenge of taming the AI beast. Only time will tell how these tech giants will handle these obstacles and what it means for the future of AI.

• Bada Bing: Why Microsoft Wants Google to Dance - TLDR; Increased search cost and decreased revenue (link)

• The Maze is the Mouse - Former Google employee critiques Google's bureaucracy. If this is true, can Google move fast enough? What risks will they take? (link)

• Google is losing AI talent to OpenAI and others (link) (link)

Smaller, but still Cool Stuff

• Microsoft launches Copilot for business (link)

• OpenAI announces their first AI investments from their $100M fund (link)

• Bing's Copilot demo contained factual errors just like Google's (link)

• Opera enters the generative AI space with new features in browsers and content apps (link)

• Replika AI Shuts Down Erotic Role Play, Community Shares Suicide Prevention Resources Over Loss (link)

• Opinion - Unplug the Evil AI Right now (link)

• Elon Musk, who co-founded firm behind ChatGPT, warns A.I. is ‘one of the biggest risks’ to civilization (link)

• Why you shouldn’t trust AI search engines (link)

• The AI Arms Race Is Changing Everything (link)

• Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy (link)

• AI and the military: The Ukraine war is changing how countries think about tech (link)

• The VISTA X-62A training aircraft was flown for over 17 hours by an “AI agent”. (link)

• "Lost", an AI-generated music video from band Linkin Park generates 20m views (link)

• The Supreme Court could be about to decide the legal fate of AI search (link)

• New York approves AI-driven breast cancer diagnostic (link)

• The Future of Heart Failure Care: AI and Predictive Medicine (link)

• Allen & Overy introduces AI chatbot to lawyers in search of efficiencies - [paywall] (link)

• How Scientists Are Using AI to Talk to Animals (link) h/t Julia K.

• What happens when you challenge ChatGPT to a rap battle? Spoiler: you get smoked (link)

• Hyper-realistic police sketches based on descriptions - DEMO (link)

• Monmouth poll - Artificial Intelligence Use Prompts Concerns (link)

• Results from the Langchain "Chat your Data" hackathon (link)

• Improvising piano with AI (link)

Incredible Resources: Just CLICK. Trust us.

AI has never been more accessible. Whether you’re just getting started, or you’re a veteran, there are some amazing resources to either help you get started, or take your abilities to the next level.

• Consensus - ChatGPT for research (link)

• Replit ghostwriter chat - chat with your debugger to determine the error (link)

• Choppity - Turn Long Videos into TikToks in 3 Clicks (link)

• How to write OKRs with ChatGPT - TLDR; just tell it to write them (link)

• Bitfrost - Figma to Code (link)

• Genius Design - Like Copilot for design (link)

• Terminal GPT - Use GPT from your terminal (geeks only) (link)

Get Your Nerd On: Whitepapers & Tutorials

• Information technology and economic change: the impact of the printing press - TLDR; Cities with printing press adoption in Europe significantly outperformed cities that did not. Is ChatGPT an economic engine? (link)

• Mask Sketch - sketch to photo (link)

• Autonomously exploring robotic agents in the real world (link)

• TechCrunch news summarizer - summarize any tech article (link)

• Make Siri Elite with OpenAI and ChatGPT (link)

Tweets of the Week

Eye Candy

Can AI Change Boxing Scoring? How could something like this NOT be done with every major sport?!

Pasta Bonsai

Gen 1 demo

Whew! Till next week.