What worries me is that companies are using “the AI fucked up” as an excuse and just… not fixing the problem. They’re using it as an accountability shield.
AI Is Destroying Grocery Supply Chains
Submitted 2 weeks ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to technology@lemmy.world
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-supply-chain-groceries
Comments
Goatboy@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Bakkoda@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
IMO this was always the reason for it. It’s the ultimate scapegoat and from the second you saw a headline that said “AI is responsible for…” or “AI did…” and not “Humans used AI to…” it was all over.
Humans are using AI to justify wage suppression, mass layoffs, janky everything and we just gonna blame software and data centers. It’s humans, it always was and at least for the foreseeable future it’s always gonna be.
Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
It’s like all those articles that read “The vehicle struck…” instead of “The driver struck…”, “A shooting then took place…” instead of “The officer then shot…”, etc, etc.
It’s a deflection of blame and whenever I see it it makes my blood boil.
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
“Computer says” is a pretty standard excuse for doing fucked up shit as it adds a complex form of indirection and obfuscation between the will of a human and the actual actions that result from that will.
Doesn’t work as an excuse with people who actually make the software that makes the computer “say” something (because the complexity of what us used is far less for them and thus they know what’s behind it and that the software is just an agent of somebody’s will), but it seems to work with even non-expert (technology fan) techies, more so with non-techies.
With AI the people using the computer as an excuse just doubled down on this because in this case the software wasn’t even explicitly crafted to do what it does, it was trained (though in practice you can sorta guide it in some direction or other by chosing what you train it with) further obscuring the link between the will of a human which has decided what it does (or at least, decided which of the things it ended up doing after training are acceptable and which require changes to training) and the output of a computer system.
Considering that just about the entirety of the Justice System. Legislative System and Regulatory System are technically ignorant, using the “computer says” as an excuse often results in profit enhancing outcomes, incentivising “greed above all” people to use it to confuse, block or manipulate such systems.
cogman@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Hey, can we stop calling everything with a computer “AI”? Order management systems have been a thing long before LLMs were invented (I’ve worked on one). This was perhaps one of the first applications of computing. Humans hand writing an order form in a major grocery store hasn’t been a thing since like the 80s.
Also, I’m like 80% sure this article was barfed out by an LLM. The em-dashes be everywhere.
daychilde@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’m also suspicious that the ransonware attack had anything to do with AI, but I didn’t want to say so because going against the common consensus in threads like this gets me downvoted, so I’d rather not say it if people aren’t going to consider it (and then agree or disagree). heh
Then again, as a user of emdashes^[Thanks to wincompose software since I’m a Windows dude, but on Linux I’d use the compose key] — I suppose I’m under suspucion of being an LLM as well. ;-)
Would you like me to compose responses to any other comments in this thread?^[/s not needed I hope hehe]
Trilogy3452@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The argument it’s making is not relying on technology (in this case some AI) because it can be distrupted. I don’t think having a single point of failure is unique to technology in general
ranzispa@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
Who the fuck wrote such a terrible article? What is described is not a problem with AI per se, but rather automation and poor security. AI may be part of that automation system, but this is a trend which started with the dot com bubble and not something new. Besides, the models they reference to check plant diseases and so on are most definitely not the LLMs which have now become synonyms of AI.
Sure, a cyber attack can lock down your production; but it is mostly not AI who generated this problem. It may intensify the problem, but as of now we don’t have many examples in which that happened.
IratePirate@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
This should have many more upvotes. The security incidents quoted at the start of this article have no relation to its actual topic, i.e. the hypothesis that there may be increased fragility of supply chains as a result of AI adoption. While it’s plausible this may happen, the article makes it sound like this has happened when it clearly hasn’t. In other words: it’s little more than “hurr, durr, AI dangerous”.
Dojan@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
It’s clickbait. Since AI is tangentially related they can drive engagement by headlining that even if the actual crux of the situation isn’t about that.
sturmblast@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
AI
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Computers used for logistics dates from 80s. Ransomware shutting down a system is a computer system vulnerability, but the right headline is “computer systems fail, we need to back to abacus”.
ignirtoq@feddit.online 2 weeks ago
The result of all this may be catastrophic. Should a worst-case scenario ever occur — a cyberattack, a natural disaster, an internet outage — there may be no human workers left with the skills that once kept food on the shelves.
Very nerdy of me, but this reminds me of a Stargate SG-1 episode “the Sentinel.” The team travels to a planet whose civilization relies on fully automated technology. The people don’t have to operate or maintain it (normally), so their society has completely forgotten how. In the episode, one set of antagonists comes in and sabotages their defense system, and another set sees the opportunity and invades. The protagonists have to then figure out the defense system and fix it.
We don’t live in a TV series. There aren’t benevolent outsiders who will swoop down and save our systems in the nick of time when they break down. We’re headed in a bad direction.
aviationeast@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I prefer the one where Teal’c drinks a fresh pot of hot coffee straighten from the pot.
Also had a civilization that needed robots to help maintain everything.
treadful@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I prefer the Star Trek TNG episode where they kidnap a dozen children from the Enterprise.
BranBucket@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
When smart home thermostats and light switches were still a new thing, I used to talk about “Jurassic Park Tech” as in too worried about whether or not they could… and that’s even more the case with AI.
At some point I think this gets to be like S. M. Stirling’s Emberverse, where modern tech stops working and people who know how to make traditional wooden bows become an extremely valuable resource. Except it’ll be having some old-timer on hand who’s able to handle logistics with just spreadsheet, a Rolodex, and a calendar that’s going make or break companies.
silverneedle@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
😹 How are we concerned with statistical systems being vulnerable (which is shitty, sure) when they don’t even lead to productivity increases, that is they cannot even do the jobs they’re made to do? Get real. What a clownshow
Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Yeah this is what bugs me.
There are no trade off, there are only disadvantages.
It’s like a drug that not only it’s bad for you, it’s also not fun to do.
silverneedle@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
It’s like a drug that not only it’s bad for you, it’s also not fun to do.
Cigarettes after a week?
Eheran@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
No productivity increase? What? For waiters maybe.
silverneedle@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
“AIs” can’t even operate vending machines, let alone recognize handwriting reliably or translate text. I know a few people that work in archives with (pre-)medieval manuscripts and I myself have bitten my teeth out with Google Translate™ and DeepL™. That’s how I know. There was a study done on that. You could make a simple vending machine that collects usage statistics and sends reports via radio that just works using a few scripts. Emphasis on “works”.
My my my
Linktank@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
What are you? An investor?
ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
There’s nothing in this article about problems with AI specifically.
XLE@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Don’t worry guys, AI will revolutionize everything. You won’t have to think at all!
Except AI is trash at doing what it’s advertised to do, it makes everybody dumber, and its shills will blame you once it inevitably mucks everything up.
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
“You’re prompting it wrong”
Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Isn’t it incredible that “AI” is sold as a product that is ‘PhD level smart’ (lol), but if it doesn’t do the straightforward thing you asked of it then it’s your fault.
They don’t oficie instructions for it because they can’t provide instructions; what works on one version might not work next week. But it’s still your fault if it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to.
Are you excited yet??
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Last year McDonalds tried a test of replacing human drive thru workers with an AI running the speaker board. It was shut down after only 3 weeks.
My favorite bit was a guy trying to order a big mac meal large with a coke.
What the AI heard, was 81,000 bottles of Dasani water. Then asked “Is this correct?” To which the guy responded “81,000 bottles of fucking water???”
To which the AI added a big mac meal medium with a water. Then asked if his updated order was correct. He just drove off.
ClownStatue@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
I was at a Bojangles earlier this year and they had an AI doing their drive thru. I was trying to order a meal, but didn’t want a drink. That confused the heck out of the AI. It kept trying to force a drink in me. Gave up and walked into the store. Guy behind the counter was smiling and said something like, “we can hear what you’re saying to it. Next time just pull around. We got you.”
Eheran@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
How do we know that actually happened? Is there a video? Who recorded it?
SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
If AI is “responsible” for the well-being of humans…DEAD humans can’t get sick. DEAD humans don’t have to pay rent. DEAD humans stay dead.
The logic is solid.
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
i mean i guess total collapse is a form of revolution
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The final frontier
IratePirate@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
We don’t even have “AI”. We have LLMs, aka chatbots, aka glorified digital parrots that, just because they’re eloquent and sound competent, management with little to no technical expertise feels can replace large parts of the workforce.
If we just called it “cyberparrots” instead of “AI”, maybe more people would their limited utility and the utter folly of having these take over ever larger portions of business procedures.