Big Brother Goes AI and Runs Amok

What you see is what you get. And you get the short end of the stick...

“Amazon is reviewing whether Perplexity AI improperly scraped online content” (AP, 2024.06.28):

Amazon spokesperson Samantha Mayowa confirmed Friday that the tech giant was assessing information it received from the news outlet WIRED, which published an investigation earlier this month that said Perplexity appeared to scrape content from websites that had prohibited access from such practices.

…in the past few weeks, the company has found itself in hot water amid accusations of plagiarism. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has offered a robust defense of the startup after it published a summarized news story with information and similar wording to a Forbes investigative story. It did so without citing the media outlet or asking for its permission. Forbes later said it found similar “knock-off” stories lifted from other publications.

The excuse? “We just aggregate what other AI engines aggregate”:

Srinivas said in an AP interview earlier this month that his company “never ripped off content from anybody. Our engine is not training on anyone else’s content,” in part because the company is simply aggregating what other companies’ AI systems generate.

Not just lifting content of unsuspecting publishers, but also bending the reality:

Separately, The Associated Press found another Perplexity product invented fake quotes from real people.

AI running amok? Wait till it takes over your car…