AI With Everything : an article by: GF Willmetts
Recently, Google have announced an AI ‘improvement’ to their search engine. It’s not quite implemented yet but it will have some serious consequences. Normally, when you search for something, Google’s search engine will pop up a list of links that might possibly have the information your want. You still have to figure out which is the most reliable source of information and we each have our way with that. When you consider photo-reference is so wildly wrong much of the time shows how the search is conducted. AI cannot read, it just matches words. If ever there was an epitome of computer software being a super-idiot, meet the current state of AI software and Google is relying on it more and more. Worse, they are using it in their essay writing software although they and teachers have said to check what it writes for accuracy than just think it’ll do all your work for you.
Although the essay AI will note where its source material comes from, it still won’t know its accuracy so if you or your sprogs do choose this option, you won’t know this neither. Assuming you have the urge to look or not even bothered. Effectively, going to particular websites because they won’t be looked at and that means any bill-paying by their advertising will also stop. Effectively, unless our websites get a proper look, we won’t allow Google to look at our websites. We won’t have any choice but to block it from scanning our files.
Let’s take that one step further. All the affected websites, and this includes SFC where you’re reading this, are considering this situation and put in blocks on Goggle so it can’t ‘share’ our information. What happens then is the Google AI will have fewer websites to select from and far more likely to draw information from less accurate and even fake information websites. In some respects, at least students will go back to or forced to write their own school essays and not depend on this AI software to do their work for them. For everything else, Google will no longer prove to be a good search engine to go to and you certainly won’t trust it to have access to at least reliable information from the right websites and this will be across the board from the sciences to the arts. Effectively, Google will be cutting its own throat and we will be looking to other more reliable search engines – there are others out there – than the one normally flag up. That is company suicide for Google.
The real problem is Google is not paying attention to the type of AI it is using. These macrobyte AI software is only looking for matches not what it means. There’s still a long way to go before it has any real kinds of intelligence. I suspect the reason they are running before they walk has a lot to do with the amount of money they are investing in this type of AI software and want some payback already. Bringing it to public use so quickly means they haven’t thought enough about the consequences or that it might not be good enough in all things they want to try it with. Some pipedreams are really clogged with mud and this one is a real slimy one.
It isn’t as though Google couldn’t spend time doing other things. I mean the algorithm for tracking rogue dangerous website must have a pattern that could can get an AI to track and remove from the websites they provide for instance.
It hasn’t quite happened yet but enough complaints about the consequences will maybe stop Google going over the edge.
GF Willmetts
May 2023
