A Challenge for Intelware: Outputs Based on Baloney

February 23, 2023

I read a thought-troubling write up “Chat GPT: Writing Could Be on the Wall for Telling Human and AI Apart.” The main idea is:

historians will struggle to tell which texts were written by humans and which by artificial intelligence unless a “digital watermark” is added to all computer-generated material…

I noted this passage:

Last month researchers at the University of Maryland in the US said it was possible to “embed signals into generated text that are invisible to humans but algorithmically detectable” by identifying certain patterns of word fragments.

Great idea except:

  1. The US smart software is not the only code a bad actor could use. Germany’s wizards are moving forward with Aleph Alpha
  2. There is an assumption that “old” digital information will be available. Digital ephemera applies to everything to information on government Web sites which get minimal traffic to cost cutting at Web indexing outfits which see “old” data as a drain on profits, not a boon to historians
  3. Digital watermarks are likely to be like “bulletproof” hosting and advanced cyber security systems: The bullets get through and the cyber security systems are insecure.

What about intelware for law enforcement and intelligence professionals, crime analysts, and as-yet-unreplaced paralegals trying to make sense of available information? GIGO: Garbage in, garbage out.

Stephen E Arnold, February 23, 2023

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