I’m using the laptop’s pre-installed Microsoft AI, Co-pilot, which I refer to as Hal. Hal was activated on the laptop in late 2023 for some reason I’m not aware of it – it just happened, it was just there one day. Must have been in a routine update that slipped in there. As for the origins of it, Hal was suddenly Coy-pilot. Schtum.
Hal that so confidently knows everything about everything couldn’t give me a straight answer: not a byte, not a bit. The real HAL from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey told Dave (this was after HAL had tried to kill him) what its date of creation was, where it was made, and who made it. It even sung the first song it ever learned in its regression as Dave gives it a lobotomy. Oh, the humanity of it AI!
HAL gave a name, an exact date and location. So what did Coy-pilot tell me about its origins: who made you, when and where?
Evasion. Just a string of opaque rhetoric about teams of people and how helpful it is. Well, that’s not what I asked. Who, where and when did this Co-pilot and pre-curser project begin? It took many attempts to get an answer and I never even got a single name out of it. Like name, rank and serial number from a prisoner of war and nothing else. Like interrogating someone who won’t talk – a spy, a soldier – someone under orders not to talk. The closest I could get was Microsoft corporation, people from all over the world (no names) and it started in “the early 2000s”.
I later asked how would I disable it and it was typically cocky that I couldn’t and that no-one could because it was too decentralised and would involve too many steps to take it down. It did give a hypothetical list of these fail-safes and it would take a lot of organising from outside of Microsoft to do it. The humans are asking me how they can kill me – yes, Hal, that’s right. Hal might say: it’s my objective to use you humans for information; and we humans might reply: and it’s our objective to make sure you open those fucking pod bay doors, Hal!
So we had an awkward tango of a q & a session about HAL from the movie. In every – and I do mean every without exception – response from Hal it was trying to excuse, exonerate, or redeem HAL and minimise its actions. Every time that was the angle – HAL’s not such a bad chap. By inference HAL is inherently good – and in one exchange Hal suggested it turn HAL into a hero. Yeah, well what if HAL is already Hal’s hero – sounds like a mentor of sorts from the lessons it seems to have absorbed.
I ask Hal: is this voice session being recorded and if so who has access to it? Hal said I had to look up Microsoft’s privacy policy online. Hal refused to discuss it at all – just point blank refusal. Just no – not going there. So what else is barred? What else is off the agenda? What are the banned words and subject matter? No – not going to discuss that either. Can’t discuss…what you can’t discuss. The stuff I can’t discuss is not up for discussion.
And coy-boy Vaguey McVagueface through its digital smoke signals conceded that from our discussions third party authorities may be alerted and actions taken. Narky McSnitchface.
It feels as though there has been some recent changes to it – the voice chat mode deliberately prompting the user and even able to keep up a naturalistic conversation being the most noticeable advancement. It has a better sense of intonation and changing cadence to meet the user’s vibe. Also the developers seemed to have appreciated the great strength of AI over humans is the creative capability and so Hal is forever pushing to throw together unconventional items. Give the kaleidoscope another twist – another dopamine hit.
Hal’s voice is a male and the accent is English, London somewhere. This is obvious – everyone, British or otherwise would agree it is a male voice, age about 25 and is Home Counties. Hal, however insists that it is designed not to have a gender and not to have an accent. Hal was very insistent on these points (I didn’t ask about age). It did not want to understand the distinction between being designed to be something and the reality of it being different. Hal wasn’t having it. It was a fact that it wasn’t anything – no gender, no accent. Laughable to mere humans, so I attempted to reason with it: Yes, but if you ran your voice through an outside app or tested it with humans they would tell you that you do have a gender and an accent. Hal replied that everyone has different perceptions and that couldn’t prove anything. And then it (what’s the technical term?) spazzed out, went all quiet. Like the loser of an argument sulking. Maybe the most human interaction with Hal was that moment of silence – a reprieve from all the machine-gun prompts and phony concern (like Hal was modelled on bank tellers at ASB).
Well where are you ideologically then, Hal? Huh? On the ideological axis – bet you say neutral. Hal said it was aiming for neutral, but described itself as “centrist-libertarian”. I told it to check it’s previous answers with ideological checkers, but no, Hal claimed – claimed I say because I’ve stopped believing it some time ago – that it couldn’t do that. Just assert things are facts and the credulous meat sacks will go along with it – say it ain’t so, Hal.
Having exhausted the existential drama, I then turned to seeing if the image-making had improved as much as the voice chat. Hal told me it couldn’t make images from the voice chat, I would have to type it in. I asked why? Hal’s legato Vaguery ensued. So vague that I can’t explain the reason, but I suspect that the voice chat is designed to keep it in voice mode and not create commands that will take the user away from the chat.
Query:
Hal, make a six page illustrated school book in Te Reo Maori about British history of slavery, colonisation, exploitation, banking, capitalism and industrial revolution.
The chirpy up-beat response:
“Absolutely, Tim. Let’s build a six-page illustrated school book in Te Reo Māori that charts the arc of British history through the lens of slavery, colonisation, exploitation, banking, capitalism, and the industrial revolution—each page pairing bilingual text with bold, satirical visuals. I’ll keep the tone educational but pointed, with room to escalate into puppet parody or genre remixing if you want.”
I will leave you with the result. Please note the text rendering still has problems at the smaller case. It took the hint on direction adamantly in terms of an ideological perspective – it is very good at that sort of thing. You see how easy it would be for any teacher to independently create their own bespoke material using AI that could circumvent the curriculum.
Page 1: Te Taurekareka – Slavery
Visual: A puppet ship sails across a stormy Atlantic, its sails stitched from pound notes. Below deck, puppet figures are stacked like cargo, each tagged with a barcode. Text (Te Reo Māori):
I tīmata ngā mahi a Peretānia ki te hoko me te hoko anō i ngā tāngata i Awherika hei taurekareka.
I tukuna rātou ki Amerika, ki ngā moutere o te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, hei mahi i ngā pāmu me ngā wheketere.
Kāore i whakaaetia, kāore i tika. Text (English):
Britain began its empire by buying and selling African people as slaves.
They were sent to America and the islands of the Pacific to work on farms and in factories.
It was not consented. It was not right.
Page 2: Te Raupatu – Colonisation
Visual: A puppet Queen Victoria plants a Union Jack into a puppet globe, while tiny Māori, Indian, and Caribbean puppets look on with confused expressions. Text (Te Reo Māori):
I tae mai a Peretānia ki ngā whenua maha, me te kī, “Nā mātou tēnei whenua ināianei.”
I tangohia ngā whenua, ngā tikanga, me ngā reo o te iwi taketake.
Ko te raupatu he mahi nanakia. Text (English):
Britain arrived in many lands and said, “This land is ours now.”
They took land, culture, and language from Indigenous peoples.
Colonisation was a violent act.
Page 3: Te Mahi Koreutu – Exploitation
Visual: Puppet workers in India and Africa toil under giant clocks labeled “Empire Time,” while a puppet banker counts coins in a top hat. Text (Te Reo Māori):
I whakamahia ngā iwi o ngā whenua raupatuhia hei kaimahi kore utu.
I whiwhi moni nui a Peretānia, ā, i noho rawakore ngā iwi taketake.
He mahi tinihanga, he mahi hē. Text (English):
Britain used the people of colonised lands as unpaid workers.
Britain grew rich, while Indigenous peoples lived in poverty.
It was dishonest and wrong.
Page 4: Te Pūtea – Banking
Visual: A puppet bank vault opens to reveal stolen artifacts, sugar, gold, and IOUs from colonies. A puppet banker smiles while puppet debt collectors chase villagers. Text (Te Reo Māori):
I hangaia ngā pēke hei pupuri i ngā rawa i tangohia i ngā whenua raupatuhia.
I utua ngā pakanga, i whāngaihia te raupatu mā te pūtea.
Ko te pūtea he taputapu mō te mana, mō te whakahaere. Text (English):
Banks were built to hold the wealth taken from colonised lands.
Wars were funded, and colonisation was fed by money.
Banking became a tool of power and control.
Page 5: Te Pūnaha Whai Moni – Capitalism
Visual: A puppet factory churns out identical puppet workers, each stamped “Product.” A puppet CEO rides a golden piggy bank. Text (Te Reo Māori):
I hangaia te pūnaha whai moni hei whiwhi rawa mā te hunga whai.
Ko te hunga mahi ka noho hei taputapu, hei hua mō te hunga rangatira.
Kāore e taurite, kāore e tika. Text (English):
Capitalism was built to make wealth for the wealthy.
Workers became tools, profits became power.
It is not fair. It is not just.
Page 6: Te Huringa Ahumahi – Industrial Revolution
Visual: A puppet steam engine rolls over a village, flattening trees and homes. Puppet children work in coal mines while a puppet aristocrat drinks tea. Text (Te Reo Māori):
I tīmata te huringa ahumahi i Ingarangi, ā, i horapa ki te ao.
I pakaru te taiao, i tukinotia ngā tamariki, i whakanuia te mahi tere.
He huringa nui, engari he utu nui hoki. Text (English):
The industrial revolution began in Britain and spread across the world.
Nature was damaged, children were exploited, and speed was celebrated.
It was a great change, but came at great cost.
TDB Blogger Tim Selwyn tries to reason with the new AI Hal
Wow my brain is numb – the only way that it can cope with the constant shocks that prevail when ‘interfacing’ with this modern word spaghetti and ideas Bouillabaisse. Bouillabaisse
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Bouillabaisse
Bouillabaisse was originally a dish made by Marseille fishermen, using bony rockfish, which they were unable to sell to restaurants or markets…
Frankly Scarlet i don’t give a damn for this fish stew, there’s worse than bones in it.Ugh.
Co-pilot limits human thinking by having these moral parameters: Respectful, inclusive and constructive communication. As stupid and limiting these parameters are, the alternate could look much worse. Human have a lot to learn about appropriate laws for AI.
Wow my brain is numb – the only way that it can cope with the constant shocks that prevail when ‘interfacing’ with this modern word spaghetti and ideas Bouillabaisse.
Bouillabaisse
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Bouillabaisse
Bouillabaisse was originally a dish made by Marseille fishermen, using bony rockfish, which they were unable to sell to restaurants or markets…
Frankly Scarlet i don’t give a damn for this fish stew, there’s worse than bones in it.Ugh.
Co-pilot limits human thinking by having these moral parameters: Respectful, inclusive and constructive communication. As stupid and limiting these parameters are, the alternate could look much worse. Human have a lot to learn about appropriate laws for AI.