Comment by socializer
2 hours ago
As you read these stories, keep in mind that there will never be an astralcodexten.com guest essay from someone who spent time trying to diagnose a health condition with AI and it didn't help or even caused some harm. And that's probably the most common experience.
Yes, health systems worldwide have a number of problems caused by the need to operate at a scale and manage costs, same as with primary education. AI can create some efficiencies, but it almost certainly solves fewer healthcare or education problems than most AI maximalists believe.
> AI can create some efficiencies, but it almost certainly solves fewer healthcare or education problems than most AI maximalists believe.
Do you have any information to back this claim up?
He doesn't need to have it, because his comment is carefully crafted to not say anything other than signaling anti-AI sentiment.
Of course AI "almost certainly" solves fewer problems than the people that think AI can solve all the problems think. That doesn't mean anything. Also notice how he puts together "AI didn't help" and "AI caused harm", and then says that's the most common experience.
Really? I hear almost daily that AI is on the precipice of being a self-improving demigod that will either kill us all or usher in utopia. If it's really so obvious that AI won't fulfill the most maximalist claims maybe those folks should stop making them.
Or, alternatively, the comment you're responding to is NOT empty — there is value in reminding all the AImaxxers on this board that GPT v10 may not have one-shotted the end of human suffering by early 2027.
The vast majority of modern medical practice is not diagnosing one-in-a-million conditions that escaped the attention of the rest of the medical establishment. It's increasingly about geriatric care, including dealing with people of diminished mental acuity. Add to this ~20% of the population who believes that vaccines cause chemtrails and you're really not solving a lot by giving people a sycophantic chatbot not beholden by consequences of its actions, willing to entertain any theory of what might be wrong with me.
Again, I think AI has applications in these niches - I really don't think we need doctors personally prescribing viagra or itch cream - but a lot of healthcare is people management.
The claims of said maximalists are extraordinary and thus require extraordinary evidence.
Dismissing them otoh does not.
Vibes. All headlines and vibes.