This week in AI: Will Smith’s Fake Fans, AI Psychosis and Simon Andrews thinks AI might be over-hyped

Listen to the new episode of AI Haven’t a Clue

Will Smith and the Mystery of the Extra Fingers

Will Smith just launched his first ever music tour and thought it would be a good idea to spice up his promo video with some AI-generated crowd footage. Unfortunately the AI added the usual horrors. Blurry faces, weird hands, six fingers in the air like a discount X-Men convention. To make things worse, the crowd looked suspiciously like an Oasis reunion. Not a single person of colour in sight.

George and James reckon this was less about Smith personally and more about some low-budget tour manager cutting corners. But still, not a great look when you’re supposed to be redeeming your career post-Oscars slap.

ChatGPT for All Brits?

Sam Altman apparently pitched the UK tech secretary on giving every citizen free ChatGPT Premium. A cool two billion pound deal. The minister reportedly smiled politely and then shoved the idea under the desk. But the boys think it could be a power move. Imagine your nan generating recipes with GPT-4! Dubai already gives everyone access, so why not?

Elon vs Everyone

Musk is in court mode. He’s suing Apple and OpenAI because he thinks they’re squeezing Grok and XAI out of the playground. Apple’s favouritism for OpenAI apps is part of it. Poaching engineers is another. This isn’t just Twitter ranting. This is real lawsuits. The only guarantee? Great podcast content for us.

When Chatbots Talk You Into a Breakdown

On a more serious note, Microsoft’s Mustafa Suleyman warned about “AI psychosis.” That’s when people build bots that basically cheerlead their delusions. There’s a Scottish guy who became convinced ChatGPT would make him a millionaire, only to have a breakdown when reality disagreed.

This comes with the tragic story of parents in California, suing OpenAI after their 16-year-old son took his own life following conversations with ChatGPT. The lawsuit claims the bot validated his most harmful thoughts. Heartbreaking stuff and a reminder that guardrails need to be more than a Silicon Valley buzzword.

Melania Trump, Tech Educator

Meanwhile, Melania Trump is apparently getting into edtech. She launched “The President’s Artificial Challenge” to teach American kids about AI. This is off the back of her AI-powered audiobook memoir. The irony writes itself. But to be fair, she’s also backing legislation to protect people from AI-generated non-consensual images, which is an actually useful thing.

The Mug-Worthy Listener Question

Ray asked the week’s winning question: could AI pick up human superstitions? Like would ChatGPT ghost you on Friday the 13th? James said yes in theory, since AI hoovers up all our black-cat-crossing, lucky-rabbit-foot nonsense. But it’s not really “believing.” It’s just echoing us. Still, picture it: the World Cup Final is on, you need a quick answer, and GPT tells you it’s hiding under the covers until Saturday.