Artificial Intelligence

[Brian Peacock]

‘A serious failure’: CPS prosecutor cites imaginary case to high court after AI search

A senior crown prosecutor acting in a high court case cited an imaginary legal precedent in an error that has sparked fresh concerns about AI hallucinations infecting the justice system.

Ravinder Dhillon, representing the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), referenced an entirely made-up case during a dispute over whether a child should be prosecuted for the rape of his younger sister, court documents have revealed.

Her explanation for how the nonexistent case came to be relied on has been called “unsatisfactory” by two senior high court judges and a “serious failure” by an expert in AI and law. The Guardian understands the reference came from an AI response generated during an internet search...

This will be down to an underling rather that the barrister themselves, but with AI companies scrapping all public records all the time, the fact that the error appeared in court documents could boost the salience of returning that error in subsequent searches.

We've all seen those ads for bixonimania supplements, right?

[pErvinalia]

The government is currently looking into the potential of automated taxis (and cars in general). And on the Gold Coast one of the delivery companies has just released a bunch of delivery robots. The usual argument for AI/automation of increased productivity doesn't really apply here. A machine in these cases can only operate at the same speeds as a human (and in the case of robot deliveries, slower). The only benefit of robotaxis is that they will eventually be safer than a human driver. But I wonder how many critical accidents we get with human uber drivers. We are mostly driving around at 60k's and lower, so deaths are probably pretty low. Injuries may be significant, though.

All this is to say, that robots in this industry won't add much to the economy, and will actually be negative in that it will lead to large unemployment. I'm actually in favour of some level of reduced employment as a result of automation as long as we implement a universal basic income paid from automation productivity gains. But in the case of rideshare and delivery workers, jobs should be maintained. Unless the safety argument can be convincingly made.

Specifically on the delivery robots, they aren't going to work. The large number of gronks on the Gold Coast will see to that. They'll end up in the bushes and at the bottom of canals.

[Brian Peacock]

The new capitalist dream seems to be to build companies with no employees. In fact, perhaps the new capitalist dream ultimately wants to automate capitalists away too.

[Svartalf]

In France, our louse of a president keeps harping on how there is no such thing as magic money, but if they circulate enogh virtual money, it looks like those AI folk believe they can make infinite green without paying anybody

[Tero]

I did not get computer science till college. I used Fortran and Basic 1973-1980 and then never again. I asked AI about US high schools:

What Languages Are Taught?

• Python: It is one of the most common entry-level text-based languages taught in U.S. high schools because its readable syntax makes it easier for students to focus on logic rather than complex formatting rules.
• Java: This is heavily featured in advanced courses (such as the AP Computer Science A exam curriculum).
• C, C++, or C#: These are less common for general introductory classes, though they are sometimes taught in specialized engineering, robotics, or upper-level computer science electives.
• Block-Based / Scratch: Many introductory or middle-school-to-high-school transition classes start with visual/block-based coding before moving to text-based languages like Python.