The Bullshit Singularity

[bnewman]

Generative AI has made a big splash in the past year. I think it's practically impossible that this kind of AI will lead directly to "the Singularity" or other AI doomsday scenarios — it's just not that good at multi-step practical reasoning, for one thing — but that doesn't mean it won't be disruptive or dangerous. In particular, we can expect to see a lot more of one thing the new AIs are very good at generating — bullshit.

lyrics and music by Benjamin Newman

listen to this song

/ G - C D / / / C D G - /

 

The bullshit singularity's the subject of this rant

Your ass will be replaced in office, factory, or plant

Not by a bot that does your job, but by a bot that can't

It's the bullshit singularity!

 

AI is here to make shit up, both images and text

It knows no rhyme or reason, it just fills in what comes next

It spews fake "news" much faster than a human can correct

It's the bullshit singularity!

 

So when you search online you're going to have to be a sleuth

It's not the cyber-topia we dreamt of in our youth

The bot that wrote the brief won't know or care if it's the truth

It's the bullshit singularity!

 

We built the tech, we see it works, we don't know why or how

Competitors will scoop us if we don't release it now

Commercialize it faster than mere prudence would allow

It's the bullshit singularity!

 

AI could strive for excellence, but that takes too much time

So we'll deploy what we've got now, that shouldn't be a crime

It only has to fool some folks some fraction of the time

It's the bullshit singularity!

 

Our world is changing quickly, I admit it makes me numb

Our lives will be reshaped by innovations yet to come

Not by AI that's super smart, but by AI that's dumb

It's the bullshit singularity!