A post was merged into an existing topic: Anything to say about AI
Please keep on topic, which is about AI regulation.
2 Likes
There are hundreds of thousands of people enslaved by scam compounds across SE Asia. It’s gotten to the point where the scam economy composes up to ~25% of a nation’s GDP in the region. Hundreds of thousands of people are trafficked and held against their will to be involved in illicit scam operations
There was a WIRED investigation published recently that involved an inside source at one of these centers. It showed that ChatGPT and AI-generated images are used industriously to trick and defraud by the scammers. It makes sense: they are told that work will set them free, so AI has become an indelible tool to improve scam efficiency.
It’s changed my perspective whenever I receive a scam call. I see videos of people messing with scammers by banging pots or yelling into their phone; I wonder if these people realize the person on the other end is essentially a slave?
Citation for the GDP numbers: Age of the ‘scam state’: how an illicit, multibillion-dollar industry has taken root in south-east Asia | Cybercrime | The Guardian
4 Likes
Yeah, the scale of the horror is mind boggling. Good contemplation for saṃvega for sure!
The economic damage (about $10B USD annually) is comparable in size to the Somali piracy incidents at its peak. There, the reaction of the US was to send in the military! Why is the reaction so different here by the US government?
Part of that is that this crime is digital. Another big part of it is who are the victims. The enslaved are mostly other people from around Southeast Asia, and the victims are individual (mostly elderly) people rather than large, multinational shipping companies.
There’s also a degree of delusion at work here I think, where people comfort themselves by blaming the victims, thinking “well, I won’t fall for one of these scams. I’m smart!” Never mind that Nobel (Memorial) Prize winner Paul Krugman was duped by a phishing attack… I’m obviously smarter than he is! 
3 Likes
There’s also a degree of delusion at work here I think, where people comfort themselves by blaming the victims,
That’s so common people not even aware that it is what is behind their perception of that person in that way is what would cause that in they themselves, as in its the concern for some good that is the means predation or evil can arise, this is one of meanings of “Broken Suitcases” in Chuang Tzu. the way perception formed from notions of good and protecting are the means that those values can be compromised - not just “hi, this is security from Microsoft”, but health & safety, caring, peaceful, cool, true, just, me, them, us, our, etc. where predation and power use of the good occurs and how they cause perceptions of the victim “oh old man doesn’t understand security” ← is the very notion of one “understanding” the security or having security or what is secure that is exactly how security will be infiltrated and lost
Anyway I will try not to talk about AI or things like this again but yeah … and so I consider the calls for AI saftey - its everyone that is so concerned with AI saftey the ones that made it so dangerous (like 13 years ago in Sappho books in Glebe discussion “super intelligence” about AI saftey and that’s people who worked for this … dangerous thing) anyway
Given the nature of AI, it doesnt seem to make grammatical mistakes. If so, its extremely infrequent. I don’t think what language you are learning with AI affects the utility of AI for language learning, but I could be wrong. I learn Chinese, and am able to get AI to discuss Chinese mythology, philosphy, buddhism, in simple language. For ideal immersion, nothing beats AI, because no other service or technology can cater foreign languages so specifically to one’s interests.
The other day I learned about Bodhidharma in Chinese, reading what the AI prompted to my wife. Factual mistakes for historical figures ive noticed are quite few. Either way the point is learning Chinese, and its all native chinese when I ask it to be.
1 Like
side comment regarding AI for immersion
I respectfully disagree, the ideal immersion is to visit or live in a place where the target language is primary. Of course, that’s not always possible but when it is, we don’t just immerse in the language, but also the 360° wrap-around culture. We immerse ourselves into their world, rather than bringing their language into…
My comment is topic-tangential though so I’ll cease and desist.
For listening, I’d say you’re right. There isn’t really even a possibility of using AI to improve listening. But reading? Nothing beats it.