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Television AI

Oprah's Upcoming AI Television Special Sparks Outrage Among Tech Critics 34

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Thursday, ABC announced an upcoming TV special titled, "AI and the Future of Us: An Oprah Winfrey Special." The one-hour show, set to air on September 12, aims to explore AI's impact on daily life and will feature interviews with figures in the tech industry, like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Bill Gates. Soon after the announcement, some AI critics began questioning the guest list and the framing of the show in general. [...] Critics of generative AI ... question the utility of the technology, its perceived environmental impact, and what they see as blatant copyright infringement.

"Sure is nice of Oprah to host this extended sales pitch for the generative AI industry at a moment when its fortunes are flagging and the AI bubble is threatening to burst," tweeted author Brian Merchant, who frequently criticizes generative AI technology in op-eds, social media, and through his "Blood in the Machine" AI newsletter. "The way the experts who are not experts are presented as such what a train wreck," replied artist Karla Ortiz, who is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against several AI companies. "There's still PLENTY of time to get actual experts and have a better discussion on this because yikes." On Friday, Ortiz created a lengthy viral thread on X that detailed her potential issues with the program, writing, "This event will be the first time many people will get info on Generative AI. However it is shaping up to be a misinformed marketing event starring vested interests (some who are under a litany of lawsuits) who ignore the harms GenAi inflicts on communities NOW."
The AI TV special will feature "some of the most important and powerful people in AI," said ABC. They include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, YouTube creator Marques Brownlee, Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin from the Center for Humane Technology, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and author Marilynne Robinson.

The show will air on September 12 on ABC (and a day later on Hulu) in the U.S.
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Oprah's Upcoming AI Television Special Sparks Outrage Among Tech Critics

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  • by locater16 ( 2326718 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @05:21PM (#64759930)
    First time noticing what Oprah doe, ever?
  • The entire episode will have been handled by Oprah-AI!

  • Oprah (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @05:36PM (#64759966)

    Oh yes she gave us Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz. Can’t wait to see what’s next!

  • I work in the HVAC field, so I'm not being replaced by a LLM anytime soon. I have however, been having a blast using ChatGPT to write songs (with a little editing on my part, since sometimes it does come up with some bizarre lyrics) and then have Suno sing them. It's like getting to experience some alternate reality where I'd gone into a creative field.

  • Like that will be the worst thing on TV? hahah. How DARE you have a TV show about OUR subject! Heh.
  • One of many American celebrities who is a complete sociopath - happy to sell you any nonsense no matter how much damage it does so long as it makes her more money.

    In a just world, she'd be on the gallows with 'Dr' Phil, Joe Rogan, and Gywneth Paltrow.

    • happy to sell you any nonsense no matter how much damage it does so long as it makes her more money.

      So, you're saying she's just like every other successful capitalist?

      • Not all, but a lot of them. Greed's a nasty thing, and people will do horrible things to each other once they become slaves to it.

        I'm ok with making money. It's when you start hurting people to do it I have an issue.

  • ... it's upsetting all the right people, so there's that.
  • She is an expert of long standing, however, at selling snake oil.

    So far as I'm concerned, based on her history, that she's having the "AI is wonderful" people on as experts is conclusive proof, beyond any possible doubt, that it's all snake oil. She doesn't peddle anything else.

  • by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @06:13PM (#64760064) Journal
    I've followed all this so-called 'AI' nonsense from the beginning, like most everyone else around here, and I've noticed one aspect of it that has always been persistent: the marketing hype. No actual tech-talk about it, that would make the rubes, er, I mean consumers eyes glaze over, since they wouldn't understand it anyway -- and besides which that would involve real facts about it, and they weren't going to sell this half-baked crapware that way, now were they?
    So it makes perfect sense to have someone like Oprah Winfrey get on TV to 'sell' AI to the general public; her fans are probably the least technologically-savvy people on the planet to begin with, and Winfrey has what amounts to a cult following, right? So they'll eat it all up, with a spoon, so they don't miss a single drop of any of it, and they'll go out and sell their souls to the AI ghods because Oprah told them they should!
  • And you get an AI! Everyone gets and AI!
  • A business woman (Score:4, Informative)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @11:54PM (#64760558)
    First & foremost, Oprah is a very successful business woman. Essentially, as a media worker, she makes her money out of selling a lot of advertising to a wide & wealthy audience. She has far more in common with Altman & Gates than she does with philosophers, analysts, & investigative journalists.

    Why is anyone surprised that she's cashing in on the GenAI hype bubble? Remember when she cashed in on the manufactured controversies over a British royal marrying a mere mortal? Everyone who's interested in money wants in on the GenAI hype bandwagon cash cow while it lasts!

    If anyone wants to name their band, "GenAI hype bandwagon cash cow." they're welcome to it.
  • Why do all these companies keep forcing AI in our face ? I don't want AI on my desktop or built in the OS, on every facebook ad, on my phone, in my car, in my browser. Has anyone really said...... Meta, Can you please add AI to nearly every post and ad with autofilled stupid questions about the post that I can ask your AI ? How do Meme's work, who invented Meme's, why are Meme's so popular, are cats good pets, why are cat Meme's funny......
  • the who who pleaded for the normal people to donate to hawaii while she donates over a hundred million to the DNC that abandoned hawaii. i mean she's the biggest globalist plant of all
  • ...say something dumb

    News at never

    No actual tech-talk about it, that would make the rubes, er, I mean consumers eyes glaze over, since they wouldn't understand it anyway

    Zero truth in this claim. Are you sure by "following" you don't mean "decided at the outset and am determined to avoid being informed" ?

    Curious as to what would meet your stringent demands for technical detail on this?

  • 2023: Save the environment! Turn off your air conditioner! Plaaaastic!
    2024: WHAT?! We can save money, fire people, and control people faster? Spin up the GPUs, boys. Screw the environment! Hey Siri, it is legal to buy a nuclear power plant? Get the propaganda people on this! GO GO GO!
  • Always encouraging to see the morons providing instruction for idiots.

  • ...because I rely on Oprah for all my tech news.

  • It's so emblematic of the 2020s to be furious about something that's not even available yet. How can you know you don't like something if you haven't had the opportunity to even view it?
  • If you have the money you can get on Oprah

"Yes, and I feel bad about rendering their useless carci into dogfood..." -- Badger comics

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