A lot of us here hate AI because of how it was built: training data gathered without the creators’ explicit, opt-in consent, data centers that negatively affect communities’ access to clean water and energy, a technology design that is inherently prone to hallucinations, etc. At least, those are the main reasons why I hate it.
I think I might actually want to support an AI project if I thought it was being done right. Maybe we could get more people away from exploitative models if there was a non-exploitative alternative.
So what would it take to build AI ethically, in your opinion? And do you know of anyone trying to build AI without these issues?
Do you mean any AI, or text-generating LLMs?
I am fairly certain Cornell built BirdNET / Merlin Bird ID song identification using recordings in the public domain or with permissive licenses.
Same goes for iNaturalist and Seek using volunteer-submitted and identified photos.
So it’s possible to built domain-specific models with fewer ethical issues, but the push is for bullshit generators, unfortunately.
Dang, I wish AI were just things like bird identification tools! That would be a much more wholesome world.
I might actually use and contribute to BirdNET. It looks like it helps with global biodiversity monitoring, which is awesome.
Try https://github.com/tphakala/birdnet-go - a fork that looks a little more modern but still feeds Cornell.