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I bet a lot of you played this marble game when you were younger. The labyrinth marble game was developed by BRIO in Sweden in 1946. It was introduced to the United States around 1950. While many take hours to get good at it, the world record (with video proof on the site) is held by Lars-Göran Danielsson at 15.95 seconds.

But an AI called Cyberrunner, which was connected to the marble labyrinth with a camera and servos, trained for just 6 hours and managed to finish with a new world record of 14.48 seconds – almost 10% faster than the current record. During it’s learning, it even discovered cheats to cut the maze (though the new record was set without using any of those illegal shortcuts).

Read more about Cyberrunner at their project site, read the technical paper, and the source/hardware are about to be open-sourced. Or you can watch it below:

exurb1a hypothesizes about some of the very real horrors that current social media bots are capable of doing. Pro-tip – get the HECK off social media and stop trusting anything you read there because this stuff has already been happening on every social media, dating, review, and news feed apps since even before the 2016 election.

His speculations? Perhaps AI personas will become so realistic and comforting to us that we’ll stop interacting with each other – and spend our lives conversing and in relationships with non-entities.

Or (as is already happening) governments, extremist groups, media, and intelligence agencies weaponized AI to flood the internet with manipulated stories, data, and opinions. Finally (as if becoming unable to form real relationships and being in relationships with AI is not scary enough) he asks what if AI itself becomes conscious.

One of the main reasons this would be terrifying is because right now we have no way to ensure alignment of AI to any set of values.

When the AI becomes able to mimic humans so well that it can convince anyone of anything – even talking to it becomes infinitely dangerous. We could have just created an almost infinitely hyper-intelligent demon, trickster, and sociopath.

See how deep the rabbit hole goes – and the majority of the possible outcomes are not good.

ELIZA was an early ‘AI’ created by MIT scientist Joseph Weizenbaum between 1964 to 1967.

He created it to explore communication between humans and machines. ELIZA simulated conversation by using very simple pattern matching and substitution that gave users an illusion of understanding – but it had no representation that could be considered really understanding what was being said by either party. Something you can easily discover by playing with it for a few minutes.

Fast forward to 1991, and Creative Labs was having amazing success with their SoundBlaster add-on sound cards. On the driver disks that came with the SoundBlaster, there were programs showing off different capabilities. One of these capabilities was voice generation. To show off the ability to voice synthesize text, Creative Labs included a little program called Dr. Sbaitso (SoundBlaster Acting Intelligent Text-to-Speech Operator).

You interacted with it like a pseudo-therapist; but you can clearly see the connections and similar pattern/substitution methods that Eliza used. I remember being wowed by it when I played with it for the first time – and experimented for hours with it. It quickly shows its limitations, but the speech synthesis was very good for the time.

It doesn’t hold the test of time, but it is pretty neat and you can even check it out here:

https://classicreload.com/dr-sbaitso.html#

AI’s can be applied to a number of different classes of problems. Recognizing and predicting are some of these tasks. But when it comes to generating something, you’re probably using a GAN.

This is a video from about 3 years ago when GANS were really getting started. If you’re trying to get your feet wet, this is a great, brief introduction to the history of AI systems like GANs (generative adversarial networks). Or, check out some of these other networks.

Links to referenced material:

• This person does not exist – https://this-person-does-not-exist.com/en
• Toonification
• Interview of Ian Goodfellow, the inventor of GANS, by Andrew Ng: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWAc9B2zJS4
• nVidia GameGAN Pacman: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2020/05/22/gamegan-research-pacman-anniversary/
• nVidia GameGAN
• List of different kinds of neural nets
• nVidia Deep Learning Supersampling
• Nixon moon landing deepfake
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rkQn-43ixs

AI Foundations is a YouTube channel that has a great collection of how-to’s on AI technologies. This one shows how to use ChatGPT to create your own, customized GPT’s.

AI Black Mirror creates some bizarre AI generated content. Check out this fever-dream AI generated McDonald’s commercial.

Or the All-Purpose Anything Sauce!

Learning how to make good ChatGPT prompts is a bit of an art as much as science. It’s not about learning a fixed prompts; it’s about mastering the art of well-structured, clear, and specific prompts that cater to your unique needs and interests.

This article has a bunch of great examples that can help you craft your own prompts:

1. Act as a philosopher, and explain me “what’s the meaning of life?”
2. ChatGPT, what’s the most efficient way to organize my research data?
3. Please help me create a workout plan that incorporates yoga and weightlifting.”
4. ChatGPT, what are the latest trends in quantum physics, and can you explain them in layman’s
5. ChatGPT, can you enlighten me on the impact of AI in fostering interdisciplinary collaboration?
6. ChatGPT, can you explain how the principle of supply and demand affects pricing in a competitive market?
7. ChatGPT, can you compare and contrast the economic policies of John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman, with a focus on their views on government intervention?

Personal Development

1. “ChatGPT, can you suggest some strategies to improve my time management skills?”
2. “Please provide tips on how to effectively communicate my ideas during a presentation.”
3. “What are some methods for coping with stress and anxiety during exams?”
4. “How can I build healthy habits to enhance my productivity and overall well-being?”

Education and Learning

1. “ChatGPT, can you provide a concise summary of Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’?”
2. “Please explain the concept of ‘cultural relativism’ and its implications in anthropology.”
3. “What are some effective techniques for learning a new language?”
4. “How can I apply the principles of critical thinking to evaluate information and make informed decisions?”

Science and Technology

1. “ChatGPT, can you explain the basic principles of machine learning and its applications?”
2. “Please provide an overview of the key events in the history of space exploration.”
3. “What are some of the most promising renewable energy technologies available today?”
4. “How does genetic engineering work, and what are its potential benefits and drawbacks?”

Arts and Literature

1. “ChatGPT, can you analyze the main themes of William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’?”
2. “Please give me an overview of the Romantic period in literature and its key figures.”
3. “What are the characteristics of Impressionist art, and how did this movement influence subsequent artistic styles?”
4. “How does the concept of the ‘hero’s journey’ apply to contemporary storytelling in movies and literature?”

Current Events and Society

1. “ChatGPT, can you discuss the implications of recent advancements in artificial intelligence on the job market?”
2. “Please provide a brief analysis of the ongoing efforts to combat climate change at a global level.”
3. “What are some of the key factors influencing the rise of populism in contemporary politics?”
4. “How does social media impact our perception of reality and our relationships with one another?”