What's frustrating is that there weren't any public forums or online back channels to discuss #AIHype at the festival. Pretty low Fediverse presence there. I'm not using birdsite, but there has typically been very little active discussion about films there either during #Mountainfilm

And since hardly anyone has seen the film "Sophia" yet, it's like I'm talking to myself here. During panels about #AI I wanted to tear my hair out 😱🤦‍♂️

"Sophia", a film about a humanoid robot, won an award at #Mountainfilm. On stage, the one member of the production crew who went up to accept it (sorry, don't recall his role) cleverly used ChatGPT to write the acceptance speech and read it out loud on stage. It was a great gag, but where it went off the rails is when someone else on stage said it was scary in how accurate it was (paraphrasing).

But, no, it was not scary. In fact, it was the most blandly, generic, fill-in-the-blanks acceptance speech you can imagine — which is to say, exactly what you expect from autocomplete-on-steroids. It was manifestly *not* any sort of vague example of "intelligence."

I got a real look this weekend into how the mainstream world views "AI" and how effectively the people who most stand to benefit from this technology have been in framing the narrative.

If ChatGPT were really clever, it would've thanked Sheila Nevins,* even though she had nothing to do with the film. *That* would've been scary.

*Old doc filmmaker joke.

As one of the few people here at #Mountainfilm masking in theaters, I'm just realizing that at least some people likely think I'm sick, instead of trying to avoid getting sick.

I almost want to put one of those "Hello my name is" stickers on my chest that says "I'm not sick, but maybe you are."

🤦‍♂️

@Mikal ahhh #mountainfilm. Atleast something other than opulence came out of Telluride.

So much of the discussion here at #Mountainfilm, especially around the film Sophia, assumes AGI will be a real thing soon (-ish), so the questions revolve around hypothetical harms and the need to regulate against them.

But if you see "AI" as a tool whose negative effects are *already* being borne by vulnerable populations; a technology already being used by authoritarians; a tech already reinforcing the biases of the society that developed it... If you understand #AI in this light, the discussion can become grounded, reality based and hopefully lead to effective action to reduce actual harms.

On a different topic, there is a film here at #Mountainfilm called Sophia about a guy's quest to build a humanoid robot enlivened with a low-grade chatbot (think first gen Siri). (Also, the robot is modeled after a young white woman. Go figure 🤷‍♂️)

I really enjoyed the film, but the view of the protagonist, who thinks that "AI" will become sentient and exhibit "emotions" is, IMO, total hype.

There have been other events here discussing issues around technology and AI. Overall, the level of sophistication is fairly low and confused, but it does give a sense of how the larger public sees these issues.

This is where the value of being able to follow so many sharp, sophisticated people on here becomes clear.

#AI

I heard Bill McKibben speak yesterday at #MountainFilm. In his view, we have about 6 years to make massive changes in our carbon emissions if we are to avoid massive, catastrophic #climate — and therefore social —disaster.

The only way to achieve that is through policy-level change on a global scale. But global leadership, especially in the worst carbon emitting countries, has shown itself to be completely captured by the fossil fuel industry.

We have to force the policy changes through massive direct action. They keep ignoring our marches, so what is the next step?

Can I make a suggestion? California is constantly building new super highways instead of high speed electric trains. Maybe a mass civil disobedience campaign at every new highway project, demanding funds be spent on electric mass transit.
#ClimateChange #DirectAction

Watched three films so far, all excellent. I always have this. If intention to discuss them here, but then there's always something else interesting to see or do or it's midnight and I have to sleep. Maybe later. Anyway, next film is starting shortly...

#Mountainfilm

Oblig selfie in front of the #Mountainfilm banner.

I always think I look mad 🤷‍♂️
I'm actually stoked to be here again 😂

Anyone else going to #Mountainfilm in #Telluride ?
Say hi!

Who is going to #MountainFilm in Telluride?

I've been going for 9 years now. It's always so inspiring. The only bummer is that I usually have to fly in and out because that's a busy work time. I always want to make a long road trip out of it.

#Telluride