Posted on 04/08/2024 8:09:17 AM PDT by dennisw
An artificial intelligence-powered chatbot created by New York City to help small business owners is under criticism for dispensing bizarre advice that misstates local policies and advises companies to violate the law.
In responses to questions posed Wednesday, the chatbot falsely suggested it is legal for an employer to fire a worker who complains about sexual harassment, doesn’t disclose a pregnancy or refuses to cut their dreadlocks. Contradicting two of the city’s signature waste initiatives, it claimed that businesses can put their trash in black garbage bags and are not required to compost.
At times, the bot’s answers veered into the absurd. Asked if a restaurant could serve cheese nibbled on by a rodent, it responded: “Yes, you can still serve the cheese to customers if it has rat bites,” before adding that it was important to assess the “the extent of the damage caused by the rat” and to “inform customers about the situation.”
A spokesperson for Microsoft, which powers the bot through its Azure AI services, said the company was working with city employees “to improve the service and ensure the outputs are accurate and grounded on the city’s official documentation.”
But days after the issues were first reported last week by tech news outlet The Markup, the city has opted to leave the tool on its official government website. Mayor Eric Adams defended the decision this week even as he acknowledged the chatbot’s answers were “wrong in some areas.”
Launched in October as a “one-stop shop” for business owners, the chatbot offers users algorithmically generated text responses to questions about navigating the city’s bureaucratic maze.
It includes a disclaimer that it may “occasionally produce incorrect, harmful or biased” information and the caveat, since-strengthened, that its answers are not legal advice.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
It continues to dole out false guidance, troubling experts who say the buggy system highlights the dangers of governments embracing AI-powered systems without sufficient guardrails.
“They’re rolling out software that is unproven without oversight,” said Julia Stoyanovich, a computer science professor and director of the Center for Responsible AI at New York University. “It’s clear they have no intention of doing what’s responsible.”
Messed up New Yawk City, now has a messed up, crappy AI bot doling out bad information. And encouraging illegal activities.
NYC AI Chatbot
IRS help line
The undercover FBI agent next to you at the demonstration you’re attending
In so many ways the government encourages citizens to make mistakes so that the government’s jackboot can be brought down on your neck.
Maybe when I have complete confidence in human intelligence I’ll trust artificial intelligence.
So basically never.
L
remember when Fuzzy Logic was the buzzword ?
What all the uninformed are calling AI is nothing of the sort, more like a fuzzy Eliza program at this point.
when AI becomes self aware and becomes AGI (and it will)
we will all wish we had never heard of it
There will be true believers in the AI-Christ and they will try to enforce compliance.
This will make Sharia law look like dreams of heaven.
I hope I am dead at that point.
Won’t anyone think of the children ?
This is what happens when a complex program with a natural language-like interface is taken seriously.
It’s a program! It’s not a person. It does not experience anything that a human experiences. It doesn’t know what it’s doing. It has no self-awareness and is incapable of introspection.
Some people are fascinated by the newest fad, and really think it is intelligent and almost human.
plausible deniability built in.
Chatbot for Mayor!
and just exactly WHY, does NYC have an AI chatbot???
I’ve yet to encounter a chatbot that has provided any remotely useful advice.
“I can do things like tell you your balance” - LOL. Click, click click in the bank app tells me that.
This is what all “artificial intelligence” is going to turn out to be.
If private industry was doing this, the city state and feds would be all over them filing lawsuits.
Artificial Incompetence
It's cool and fashionable, so the morons deploy it for everything.
By the way, NYC is lost to civilization and has been for a while.
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