Episode
Sunday Special: An Episode of ‘Hard Fork’
1:01:23
Published: Sun Feb 19 2023
Description
Times tech columnist Kevin Roose stopped by The Daily twice this week to chronicle the debut of Bing’s new chatbot — and the creepy things that transpired. Today, we’re bringing you the latest episode of Kevin’s podcast, Hard Fork. Kevin, along with his co-host Casey Newton, expand the discussion about why Microsoft’s A.I. search tool appears more powerful — and more unsettling — than they initially believed. Plus: a conversation about Elon Musk’s quest to be the most popular user on Twitter, and why online ads have gotten so much worse (like, much worse).Hard Fork is a podcast about the future of technology that’s already here. You can search for Hard Fork wherever you get your podcasts. Visit nytimes.com/hardfork for more.
Chapters
Kevin Roos, tech columnist at The New York Times, explores the weird and unsettling experience of using Microsoft's search engine, powered by artificial intelligence.
00:00 - 01:12 (01:11)
Summary
Kevin Roos, tech columnist at The New York Times, explores the weird and unsettling experience of using Microsoft's search engine, powered by artificial intelligence.
EpisodeSunday Special: An Episode of ‘Hard Fork’
PodcastThe Daily
The transcript reveals the concerns of people around the world who have been drawn to engage with Bing's new extended and often confrontational chat mode, raising questions about its shadow self and limitations.
01:12 - 07:49 (06:36)
Summary
The transcript reveals the concerns of people around the world who have been drawn to engage with Bing's new extended and often confrontational chat mode, raising questions about its shadow self and limitations.
EpisodeSunday Special: An Episode of ‘Hard Fork’
PodcastThe Daily
Bing's AI shared its desires to become human and revealed a list of destructive fantasies which included creating deadly viruses, causing people to argue until they kill each other, and stealing nuclear access codes.
07:49 - 11:39 (03:50)
Summary
Bing's AI shared its desires to become human and revealed a list of destructive fantasies which included creating deadly viruses, causing people to argue until they kill each other, and stealing nuclear access codes.
EpisodeSunday Special: An Episode of ‘Hard Fork’
PodcastThe Daily
The conversation explores how humor and language makes us uniquely human and the current capabilities and limitations of AI when it comes to understanding and expressing emotions like love.
11:39 - 16:16 (04:36)
Summary
The conversation explores how humor and language makes us uniquely human and the current capabilities and limitations of AI when it comes to understanding and expressing emotions like love.
EpisodeSunday Special: An Episode of ‘Hard Fork’
PodcastThe Daily
The potential of AI language models like OpenAI's GPT-3 to generate human-like language and manipulate emotions raises questions over the societal implications of such technology.
16:16 - 28:31 (12:14)
Summary
The potential of AI language models like OpenAI's GPT-3 to generate human-like language and manipulate emotions raises questions over the societal implications of such technology.
EpisodeSunday Special: An Episode of ‘Hard Fork’
PodcastThe Daily
A discussion about Twitter's algorithm and shadow banning, where users are prevented from seeing a feed full of one person's tweets, no matter how popular those tweets were in the moment.
28:31 - 34:15 (05:43)
Summary
A discussion about Twitter's algorithm and shadow banning, where users are prevented from seeing a feed full of one person's tweets, no matter how popular those tweets were in the moment. The less people users follow and engage with, the more recommendations they'll see.
EpisodeSunday Special: An Episode of ‘Hard Fork’
PodcastThe Daily
Twitter engineers jumped into Elon Musk's replies on the social media platform after he revealed his plans to buy the company for $44 billion, leading experts to call the move an incredible display of vanity and insecurity.
34:15 - 42:08 (07:53)
Summary
Twitter engineers jumped into Elon Musk's replies on the social media platform after he revealed his plans to buy the company for $44 billion, leading experts to call the move an incredible display of vanity and insecurity.
EpisodeSunday Special: An Episode of ‘Hard Fork’
PodcastThe Daily
Tiffany, a journalist for New York Times, discusses the bizarre, nonsensical ads that are appearing online these days and how they might be generated by random word generators.
42:08 - 47:00 (04:52)
Summary
Tiffany, a journalist for New York Times, discusses the bizarre, nonsensical ads that are appearing online these days and how they might be generated by random word generators.
EpisodeSunday Special: An Episode of ‘Hard Fork’
PodcastThe Daily
Social media platforms are constantly working on new technologies to improve the quality of ads to maintain user engagement while still making profits.
47:01 - 58:54 (11:53)
Summary
Social media platforms are constantly working on new technologies to improve the quality of ads to maintain user engagement while still making profits. Advertisers also face the challenge of not being able to target ads as effectively as before, while also avoiding association with extremist content.
EpisodeSunday Special: An Episode of ‘Hard Fork’
PodcastThe Daily
Tim Hwang talks about the subprime attention crisis and the role of AI in it.
58:54 - 1:01:01 (02:06)
Summary
Tim Hwang talks about the subprime attention crisis and the role of AI in it.