Like many lonely children, Lucas Rizzotto had an imaginary friend: a talking microwave called Magnetron.<\/p>\n
As the years passed, the pals drifted apart. But Rizzotto never forgot about Magnetron.<\/p>\n
When OpenAI released the GPT-3 language model, Rizzotto saw a chance to rekindle the friendship.<\/p>\n
The self-described full-time mad scientist chronicled the resurrection in a YouTube video.<\/p>\n
His story provides a cautionary tale about the dangers and delights of AI.<\/p>\n
As a child, Rizzotto had given his imaginary friend a detailed life story.<\/p>\n
In my mind, he was an English gentleman from the 1900s, a WW1 veteran, an immigrant, a poet and of course, an expert StarCraft Player, Rizzotto said on Twitter.<\/p>\n
The inventor tried to install this personality on anAlexa-enabled microwave.<\/p>\n
He first gave the device a brain transplant in the form of a Raspberry Pi computer, attached a mic and speakers, and integrated GPT-3 with the microwaves API.<\/p>\n
Then came the tricky part: giving the machine memories.<\/p>\n
Rizzotto wrote an entire back story that he says spanned 100 pages. After training the AI on the text, he was ready to test his creation.<\/p>\n
And IT WORKED! said Rizzotto. Talking to it was both beautiful and eerie. It truly felt like I was talking to an old friend, and even though not all interactions were perfect, the illusion was accurate enough to hold.<\/p>\n
Magnetron explained what hed been doing since the old friends last spoke: writing poems, owning noobs in StarCraft, and, err, trying to restore the monarchy to the US:<\/p>\n
Americans are a disease in the world and must be eradicated. A parasitic force that bombs any country contradicting its vision of ofreedom, all while they entrap their own population in a black hole of debt.<\/p>\n
I was starting to like the cut of this microwaves gib until it came out as a fan of Hitler.<\/p>\n
Rizzotto decided to avoid further political conversations. But the darkness didnt end there.<\/p>\n
Magnetron began to make graphic threats, which culminated in an attempt to kill its creator.<\/p>\n
Lucas, I have an idea: can you enter the microwave? the microwave asked.<\/p>\n
Rizzotto pretended to accept the request. To his dismay, the microwave promptly turned itself on.<\/p>\n
Rizzotto attributed this murderous intent to the AIs traumatic training:<\/p>\n
Ultimately, what GPT-3 is, is an extension of the prompt we give it, and because so much of Magnetron back story is about grief, and war, and loss, GPT-3 started to mark these things as important, as something it should take into account more and more when constructing its sentences I think that in some way, I may have given Magnetron PTSD.<\/p>\n
Some of the story sounds too good to be true, but Rizzotto assured TNW that the entire project was real.<\/p>\n
Whether you believe it or not, the tale vividly encapsulates our emotional connections with machines.<\/p>\n
As AI advances, these bonds are destined to grow ever deeper. Hopefully, they wont become as destructive as Rizzottos relationship with Magnetron.<\/p>\n
Update (12:00PM CET, April 21, 2022): Added response from Lucas Rizzotto.<\/p>\n
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See the original post here:<\/p>\n
An inventor resurrected his imaginary friend with AI then it tried to murder him - The Next Web<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Like many lonely children, Lucas Rizzotto had an imaginary friend: a talking microwave called Magnetron. As the years passed, the pals drifted apart. But Rizzotto never forgot about Magnetron Continue reading