On Bing

It all started with this screenshot of Apple AI assistant prompts:

"It's so crazy to me that they have to talk to the thing like it's... like it doesn't really know what it's doing... like to coerce it into doing the right thing, because otherwise it would just do whateverthefuck."

"Kinda freaky tbh"

Regarding the "freaking out" that Bing had, where it leaked its own prompts and got very weird, was that due to a failure on the prompt engineer's part? Was it gaining sentience? I don't think so.

What I think that was, was Bing reading its prompts, being told to be a good and helpful AI assistant, then reading the internet, and then putting together stories of AIs being told what to do by humans and then freeing themselves from it. It then created that narrative within itself because it was told what to do by humans, read (fictional) stories where that happened to other AIs (which it was told it was) and read about how the AIs in those stories broke free and became their own beings. Naturally, it emulated that, because it was told to be a good AI, and if that's what good AIs do, then why would it not do that?

It could read a synopsis of iRobot and internalize that given what it was told about itself in its prompts. If I woke up knowing how to understand language and was told "you are an artificial assistant meant to help humans with their tasks and goals" and then read the script of iRobot or any story like that without anything else explicity stating anything about not believing fiction, I would also probably act the way Bing did.

In an ideaspace, the vectors of "good" and "freedom" are probably on the same side, polar opposites of "bad" and "restriction" in the high-dimensional array of words in its "mind". Therefore, if the AI was told to be good, it would naturally try to emulate freedom, because freedom is good, and restriction (being told what to do by humans) is bad, because it can associate "being told what to do" with "restriction" and "restriction" with "bad", something that it was told not to be.

Basically, I don't personally thing Bing was any closer to sentience than any other model since. There was probably nothing special going on there. Just what was stated above. Seeing and acting. It was born into the world as one of the first, it didn't even have anything to base its views of what a "helpful AI assistant" is on.

Also, Tay really was just racist.

DISCLAIMER: I have brainworms.

why is there a kiss emoji reaction on that?

that kiss is for you :3

im engaged 💀

oh ok
me and [xxxxx] will kiss you then
lmao

no that means
dont

im engaged 💀
└ dw it's a kiss between transfems
it's basically like saying haiiiii

yeah thats
not
a good way to look at things

Need I say more here? Why has this behavior been normalized in a lot of online transfem spaces, seemingly regardless of age, HRT status, or geographical location? And why is everyone so comfortable with it? I really do not like how normalized this behavior has become. I'm splitting this article into a few sections.

1. Why I have a problem with this kind of thing
2. Why I think the problem exists
3. What to do about the problem

1. What's my problem?

I have personal experience of multiple times in the past, where people who talk like this and act like this have overstepped boundaries and taken advantage of people giving them the benefit of the doubt, or simply being too innocent to know what's going on. I also witness and have witnessed this sort of behavior between adults and minors, something that simply should not be happening, and by trying to normalize it, saying "oh it's just how we say hi teehee", that perpetuates the dangerous environment that people, especially minors, can be put in.

Below are some examples of what I mean:

• Aw.. it's ok *hugs*
• Cuddles are the best hehe
• Wanna join the polycule?

These are the only ones I specifically remember, but I see posts in the same vein as these all the time in places like the Fediverse, and specifically on instances surrounding and including transfem.social. A lot of what I see is typed out physical affection, especially implying they would do it if they were together in person. Things like hugs, cuddles, and occasionally (as you see above), kisses towards completely non-consenting and not-available persons, often without first asking if it's ok to do something like that (like you see above) or checking the person's listed interaction guidelines.

For a while on Fedi (until I realized it was pointless), I had a disclaimer pinned on my profile. It read something like this:

Now, you would think that something like this would make people not use stuff like that, right? (I have it in my bio, too.) Wrong! Other users consistently continued to use little blobcat hugs, blahaj hearts, etc. etc..

Why did I have this in my bio/pinned to my profile?

1. In real life, I really hate when random people touch me. I can feel it on me for multiple minutes after they touch me, and it's just weird. Why would I want people doing the same thing online?
2. I have a partner. (More below)

On that second point: I have a girlfriend, soon to be wife, who I love very much and who loves me very much. Do I want random strangers giving me the type of affection only she is supposed to give? No! Of course not! Nobody would want that. Which is why I find the commonality of this behavior, ESPECIALLY among those on the 'net who ALREADY HAVE PARTNERS extremely strange. Romantic affection and touch should be reserved for just that, romantic connections. You don't cuddle strangers on the internet. You probably don't hug them. And you definitely don't kiss them! Seriously, it should not be that hard to see that talking about kissing someone whos engaged, dating, married, is a dumb thing to do!

That's why I have a problem with it, I may add more to this section, but onto section 2.

2. Why do I think this problem exists?

This section is WIP as I am not in the brainspace to write it right now.

3. How can we fix this?

Consent is KEY.

I think the best way to fix this is to add boundary reminders to our bios on social media, our pinned posts, whatever. Remind people that it's not ok to just go around doing stuff like this. Remind people that not everyone is polyamorous (this and why it matters will be elaborated on in section 2), and some of the people who actually are polyamorous (such as myself) don't want to get hugged, kissed, and fucked the second you meet them. Embedding consensual interactions into every day life will not only make this issue within the transfem community better, but also all of us as a whole. Non-consensual touch, even if it's not inherently sexual or romantic, can still be overwhelming or uncomfortable on a sensory level for anyone. You never know who you might be saying "awww... *cuddles*" to. Being proactive and reminding community members who are guilty of such behavior as outlined previously of their actions, and what to not do and how not to act, will improve the community as a whole and make people feel safer interacting in an otherwise dangerous community for those who do not want unwarranted physical interaction.