The convergence of research in the fields of AI, neurotechnology and soft robotics raises the possibility of creating something very similar to Andrew, the protagonist of Bicentennial Man written by Isaac Asimov in 1976, which blurs the differences between human and artificialbeings by Andrea Monti -Initially published in Italian by MIT Technology Review Italia Continue reading “Are biohybrid prostheses another step towards the Bicentennial Man?”
Chatbots that are too human: the risks we run
The case of Character.AI and the suicide of a 14-year-old in the United States, attributed to interaction with the chatbot, sheds light on the legal consequences of the anthropomorphisation of software by Andrea Monti – Originally published on Wired.it Continue reading “Chatbots that are too human: the risks we run”
Neuralink is the ante-chamber of technological discrimination
Public announcements about brain-computer interfaces and some developments in the field of genetics risk enhancing the discrimination between humans, if we do not take action, now by Andrea Monti – Initially published in Italian by Wired.it Continue reading “Neuralink is the ante-chamber of technological discrimination”
Are VR Headset actually ‘cool’?
In the mind of marketing people, experiencing life through a VR headset should be ‘cool’, but —don’t ask why— I have the strong feeling that we are on the verge of making Dilbert’s cartoon real. I could not find the original image, so I used ChatGPT to make an image that conveyed the meaning.
The self-censorship of generative AI now surpasses Orwellian Newspeak
In 2003, commenting on the proceedings of the “Open-Source Commission” established by the then government, I wrote in the glorious (and alas, now defunct) Linux&C magazine: “We are creating generations of functional illiterates subservient to the uncritical use of a single platform. People are already using systems with no awareness of their actions. Thus, when the spell-checker suggests that ‘democracy’ is not in the dictionary, they will, without question, simply cease to use the word -and forget about its existence. Twenty years on, these words retain extraordinary relevance when applied to the current developments in generative AI, which unfold under the collective gaze of a substantially indifferent populace – by Andrea Monti – Initially published in Italian by Italian Tech – La Repubblica and in English by Inforrm Continue reading “The self-censorship of generative AI now surpasses Orwellian Newspeak”