Refining Open: The AI Weak Spot during a Gold Rush

July 13, 2023

Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.

Nope, no reference will I make to sell picks and denim pants to those involved in a gold rush. I do want to highlight the essay “AI Weights Are Not Open Source.” There is a nifty chart with rows and columns setting forth some conceptual facets of smart software. Please, navigate to the cited document so you can read the text in the rows and columns.

For me, the most important sentence in the essay in my opinion is this one:

Many AI weights with the label “open” are not open source.

How are these “weights” determined or contrived? Are these weights derived by proprietary systems and methods? Are these weights assigned by a subject matter expert, a software engineer using guess-timation, or are low wage workers pressed against the task?

The answers to these questions reveal how models are configured to generate “good enough” results. Present models are prone to providing incomplete, incorrect, or pastiche information.

Furthermore, the popularity of obtaining images of Mr. Trump in an orange jumpsuit illustrates how “censorship” is applied to certain requests for information. Try it yourself. Navigate to MidJourney. Jump through the Discord hoops. Input the command “President Donald Trump in an orange jumpsuit.” Get the improper request flag. Then ask yourself, “How does BoingBoing keep creating Mr. Trump in an orange jumpsuit?”

Net net: The power of AI rests with the weights and controls which allow certain information and disallows other types of information. “Open” does not mean open like “the door is open.” Open for AI means a means to obtain power and exert control in my opinion.

Stephen E Arnold, July 13, 2023

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under AI, Business strategy, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.