A placebo effect can make users overconfident when they think tech is helping them:
A new study suggests that a placebo effect is at play when people expect their performance to be enhanced by augmentation technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI). The researchers found that individuals with high expectations of these technologies engage in riskier decision-making, which could be a problem as people adopt these technologies without properly understanding their benefits and limits.
Augmentation technologies boosting our physical, cognitive, or sensory performance have become commonplace. Some are so widely in use that they've become invisible – spellcheck, for example – and new technologies are emerging that could push our abilities beyond human limits, like exoskeletons and AI-based vision-enhancement. But the hype around these technologies also builds expectations, which could lead people to change their behaviour.
'Individuals are more inclined to take risks when they believe they are enhanced by cutting-edge technologies like AI or brain-computer interfaces,' says Robin Welsch, assistant professor at Aalto University. 'This occurs even if no actual enhancement technology is involved, indicating that it's about people's expectations rather than any noticeable improvement. The findings also imply that a strong belief in improvement, based on a fake system, can alter decision-making.'
[...] 'The hype surrounding these technologies skews people's expectations,' says Steeven Villa, doctoral researcher at LMU Munich. 'It can lead people to make riskier decisions and favourable user evaluations, which can have real consequences.'
[...] 'AI-based technologies that enhance users are increasingly common and play a role in real-life decisions that impact people's lives, well-being, confidence, and safety.' says Thomas Kosch, professor at HU Berlin. 'To ensure the effectiveness of new technologies beyond the hype, placebo-controlled studies are necessary for accurate evaluation and validation to tell apart snake-oil from real innovation.'
Journal Reference:
Steeven Villa, Thomas Kosch, Felix Grelka, Albrecht Schmidt, Robin Welsch (2023). The placebo effect of human augmentation: Anticipating cognitive augmentation increases risk-taking behavior, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 146. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107787
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 17, @11:32AM (1 child)
Dipshits through history believe in their superior *insert thing here* to go and be dipshits to other people.
(Score: 4, Funny) by anubi on Monday July 17, @11:50AM
I've heard this before. I think it still applies:
" To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer. "
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Monday July 17, @12:06PM (4 children)
Seems suspiciously laser focused on AI.
It's nothing new. Idiots always want to believe whatever mindless hype is in their fancy management brochures.
"These new electronic com-put=ers will solve all of your problems, you won't have to think about anything ever again."
"Put everything in a database, that will solve all your problems".
"Make everything object-oriented! That will solve all your problems"
"Let's put it on the web! That will solve all of your problems. The only application you will ever have to use again is a web browser!"
"Re-write everything in Java with XML! That will solve all of your problems!
"Lets bring in a Microsoft Sharepoinrt server. That will solve all of our communication problems in this dysfunctional office!"
"But is it webscale?"
"AI AI AI. Oh, I! AI!"
"It's got what plants crave!"
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Monday July 17, @01:39PM (1 child)
(Score: 4, Interesting) by HiThere on Monday July 17, @01:51PM
He wasn't claiming that it didn't happen with AI. It does. It's just that it happens all over the place. In the drug industry it's called the placebo effect...and it's basically the same thing. (And, IIUC, it even happens to existing AIs. I think it's called "model blindness" in that area. But this is basically a guess, as I only read a brief overview.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday July 17, @02:30PM (1 child)
My experience, for what it's worth, is that the formula appears to be:
E = M / K
Where:
E is the enthusiasm for the technology.
M is the money these people think can be made from it.
K is the knowledge of how the thing actually works.
For example, when it comes to so-called "AI", the people who are thinking "Wow! We can get rid of all those pesky artists and inventors and just have computers do all that stuff for us!" are really excited, while the people who know how machine learning models work and the difference between "good enough to create things that fool people" and "genuine artificial intelligence" are the ones saying "Hold on, have you ever considered that you don't have a clue what you're talking about?"
Also relevant to the discussion is that an awfully large percentage of the population does not know the difference between a fact and a convincing argument (the fact remains true whether or not you believe the argument).
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 17, @03:18PM
To be fair, audiences that go to Dwayne Johnson movies could conceivably be placed in front a screen generating schlock action indefinitely.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by inertnet on Monday July 17, @02:37PM
Applies to "the cloud" as well. I've heard people ask for a reassuring confirmation by saying: "but everything will be in 'the cloud', right?" As if 'everything' would therefore function without any problem by being in that magic cloud.