US gov and OpenAI mislabel map of Africa at global conference

(theguardian.com)

42 points | by kirubakaran 9 hours ago ago

22 comments

  • tracerbulletx 8 hours ago ago

    The way a lot of people use AI is kind of proof the only thing they ever did or cared about was appearances and hype. There is not one iota of interest in reality. Every waking moment is a walking con and a sales pitch.

    • vouaobrasil 8 hours ago ago

      But one can say that previous technologies only magnify and exacerbate this lack of caring. The internet for example, makes most of our interactions casual and sometimes anonymous, and we get trained and even grow up on that model. And on the internet, what gets attention is what matters, not the consequences after because things move so fast.

      AI is just the latest step in that. It is the apex of a phenomenon that dehumanizes people. Yes, there were people who just cared about appearances before the internet too, but there were greater consequences of that. Now the consequences have been reduced and it causes this behaviour to spread.

    • vitally3643 6 hours ago ago

      At no point has anyone in power ever operated otherwise. Frankly I'm surprised that you're surprised.

  • dieselgate 3 hours ago ago

    The mislabeling is egregious but also the whole map is way out of sorts! UK, Greenland and Australia locations for starters my goodness...

  • stevenalowe 8 hours ago ago

    can't blame OpenAI for hallucinating a map, that's what it's good for - can blame officials for not proofreading it though

    • paul7986 8 hours ago ago

      I know ive been wanting chatGPT to create snazzy map routes to share with friends for our road trips and or vacations the past many years but it fails miserably! Which would show distance / drive time between each spot, interesting sites at each spot and along the way.

      • Anon84 8 hours ago ago

        You can, but the trick is to ask it to write a python script to generate the "visualization". The added set of constraints imposed by library structure, internal data/shapefiles, etc keeps it from hallucinating

        • paul7986 7 hours ago ago

          Ah thanks, yet tho not easily done. I think letting users easily generate and share AI-created snazzy map routes on social media would be a great marketing play for GPT. I think a lot of people need to be taught how to use it.

      • stevenalowe 4 hours ago ago

        seems odd/inefficient that it would hallucinate a bad map instead of retrieving an actual map!

    • watwut 7 hours ago ago

      If I have to proofread a map you gave me, then your tool is a shit. And I can blame it.

      • stevenalowe 4 hours ago ago

        yes but it seems likely that the user asked it to generate (hallucinate) a map, not annotate an actual map

        one would be well-advised to proofread everything from stochastic generator tools

    • vouaobrasil 7 hours ago ago

      You actually can blame OpenAI for it. Because if a tool exists and people use it, that tool is an effective means of normalizing behaviour. We change our perception and behaviour through the use of tools, at least partially. So if someone invents a tool to do something poorly, and it becomes popular, then doing things poorly becomes more normalized.

      It can work in a positive direction, too. Have you ever used Vim or Emacs? Haven't you noticed how dedicating some time to learning a complex system like this also makes you proud of mastering a precise set of tasks? It almost becomes religious. The tool promotes care.

      We all have a societal responsibility to consider our inventions and what behaviour they'll encourage when people use them. OpenAI should also be held responsible, like all AI companies. The lack of care they encourage is enough for me to think that they should be all taken off-line and rendered bankrupt.

  • jmclnx 3 hours ago ago

    No surprise, you hire idiots you get things like this making the US look totally incompetent.

    We have seen things like this happen many times over the past 2 years.

    • Sabinus 2 hours ago ago

      It's difficult to make the government effective when a bit under half the country/voters thinks the government is evil and should be as ineffective as possible to reduce its ability to ruin their lives.

  • cineticdaffodil 7 hours ago ago

    Maximum effort going nowhere for 70 years.

  • yread 8 hours ago ago

    Landlocked Cote d'Ivoire is also interesting. Well, I guess it's a coast of some river or something facepalm

  • rsynnott 6 hours ago ago

    Is there anyone working for the Trump administration who is even borderline competent? Like, it is getting farcical.

  • Apocryphon 7 hours ago ago

    What is the (unlabelled) left line even doing.

  • amanaplanacanal 7 hours ago ago

    Can we blame Rubio for this?

  • josefritzishere 6 hours ago ago

    This administration is staffed by drunks and imbeciles. Their naked corruption is offensive but their stupidity possibly more so.

  • goldsmith112 8 hours ago ago

    that's not mislabeling. that's pure AI slop

  • prmph 6 hours ago ago

    Could this not be intentional? Who wants to waste time getting a map of "shithole" countries right? /s