The Black Mirror plot about AI that worries actors

(Just aw this,  made some points, but the overall ideas were too strange to  make the broader case. 

The Black Mirror plot about AI that worries actors

SAG strike 2023    By Shiona McCallum    BBC Technology reporter

Hollywood actors are striking for the first time in 43 years, bringing the American movie and television business to a halt, partly over fears about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI).

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) actors' union failed to reach an agreement in the US for better protections against AI for its members - and warned that "artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to creative professions" as it prepared to dig in over the issue.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the chief negotiator for the SAG-AFTRA union, criticised producers for their proposals over AI so far.

He said studios had asked for the ability to scan the faces of background artists for the payment of one day's work, and then be able to own and use their likeness "for the rest of eternity, in any project they want, with no consent and no compensation".

If that sounds like the plot of an episode of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror, that's because it is.

US media has been quick to point out that the recent series six episode "Joan Is Awful" sees Hollywood star Salma Hayek grapple with the discovery that her AI likeness can by used by a production company without her knowledge.... ' 

Can a Computer Write a Script? Or an Ad? Or Manage a Marketing plan?

A writer of ads, or a manager of marketing plans learns what works based on results in context.  So why not?      The idea of 'a script' was used in the earliest days of AI to create directions and goals to forge results.  We did parts of what is described here to efficiently fit ads into TV and radio slots.  The idea is not far away.  And a marketing plan is a known process based on data, so use it to deliver.

Can a Computer Write a Script? Machine Learning Goes Hollywood   By Los Angeles Times 

The idea of using machine learning programs to help write scripts and other tasks is becoming increasingly popular in Hollywood.

Entertainment companies are using the technology to color-correct scenes, identify popular themes in book adaptations, and craft successful marketing campaigns.

In addition, talent agencies are using the technology for suggestions on how to market actors and actresses.

Machine learning can provide vast amounts of data on why certain movies or TV shows work and why others fail.

Last year, the Entertainment Technology Center presented analysis showing correlations between a movie's story structure and how well it performed worldwide at the box office.

For example, films that led with action sequences did more than 13 times better at the box office on average than films that started with memory sequences.

Machine learning can also identify which stories are resonating online, pinpointing specific scenes or characters about which viewers are most passionate. .... " 

Google Duplex Makes Real Reservations

Google Duplex gets closer to what we would call a human assistant.   You give it a task by voice, with Google assistant, and it does the work.    Here the work is making calls to restaurants to ensure  reservations.  The  AI asks and answers clarifying questions of both the requester and the restaurant.  The goal is to get a confirmation.

 The 'creepiness' that is perhaps included is that the restaurant does not know its an AI voice, though in the test they are participating.   Later Google implied the system would make that clear when calling.   The video on the link below shows how it would work.

This kind of chatbot interaction obeys a 'script'.  We have all internalized such scripts for dealing with people, or machines.   If either party asks questions that are not interpretable in the script, we get confused too.   And perhaps pass the person off ...  to another script, or to some other resource in concierge fashion, which is what we did in our own brand experiments.

I like that they are doing this, if its useful people will get used to this idea of talking to a machine in new and more flexible ways.   We have learned that already in just the past couple of years.  Even when a machine starts the conversation.

Google brings its Duplex AI restaurant booking assistant to 43 states By Brian Heater@bheater in TechCrunch

No moment wowed the audience at last year’s I/O more than Duplex. The demo of the artificial intelligence restaurant and appointment booking program left many in the audience wondering whether Google had just pulled a fast one over on them.

Turns out, it’s real.

Over the summer, I got a chance to test drive Duplex at a Thai restaurant in Manhattan. And later in the year, the company rolled the program out in limited testing to restaurants in four U.S. cities. Today, it announced that it’s opening things up even more.  ... " 

Google Home Follows Conversational Recipes

Following a cooking recipe is a simplified kind of conversation.   The assumed script is something that has been standardized over time. There are ingredient list and quantities,  cooking instructions,  Serving instructions.  Then there are are comments/assumptions on the script.  Potential substitutions, alternative methods, techniques, visuals,  ...  And then there are interactions of various sorts, which depends on how experienced a cook you are.  But it all starts with  a few simple lists.  At the end perhaps some helpful hints, like serving quantities. So this is a good place to start thinking about useful conversations and their context.

Google Home just added a 'skill' for cooking. You can ask it for a recipe via search,  or find one of your via search and send it to the Google Home App.  It interprets it, and then you can start following the recipe. So it really supports recipe browsing.

Amazon Echo has had a similar recipe reciting capability for sometime.  It has a far shorter list of recipes derived from Allrecipes, but those alone are quite complete.  Amazon does not support easy recipe browsing.

In each system you no longer need to load the skill.  Just ask some questions that imply you are interested in cooking recipes.   And off you go.  More details of the experiment below:

Schank's XTOL Experiential Learning

A mention of Roger Schank, AI pioneer, founder of the 'AI Boom' company Cognitive Systems, who I recall was critical of our AI work in the 80s.  His work in AI scripting was fundamental. He later did research for Andersen Consulting. Recently became a co founder of XTOL.  " ... Our proven approach provides you with critical technology and business skills. You’ll gain authentic experience at a realistic pace conducive to learning at an affordable price. The Professional Development Center at the University of Texas at Austin has partnered with Experiential Teaching Online (XTOL) — to offer four skills-based technology career programs. In response to the growing demand for highly skilled technical employees in Texas and beyond, these certificate programs offer a real-world, collaboration-driven, skills-based learning experience focused on software technology and data analytics. .. "  

He writes about his latest work in AI, which takes scripts on to expert Storytelling:  " ... I spent 25 years working in Artificial Intelligence. My new goal is not to build intelligent machines, but rather to build an intelligently organized and indexed knowledge base that is easily accessible and gets smarter over time. The current manifestation of this goal is called EXTRA (Experts Telling Relevant Advice). EXTRA is a knowledge management system that stores and retrieves digitally recorded stories. EXTRA has one intention -- and that is to get a story to a user that will help him or her make a decision just at the time that they are about to make a decision. We use storytelling as the vehicle to impart knowledge. You can read more about EXTRA and see a demo here.   ... " 

Further:  Roger Schank's home page.  Recent interview: The Art of Learning.

A thread ongoing in Linkedin, which talks about this connected to Knowledge Graphs, AI and cognitive systems.