Amazon’s Alexa has been claiming the 2020 election was stolen

[Perknose]

"Asked about fraud in the race — in which President Biden defeated former president Donald Trump with 306 electoral college votes — the popular voice assistant said it was “stolen by a massive amount of election fraud,” citing Rumble, a video streaming service favored by conservatives.

The 2020 races were “notorious for many incidents of irregularities and indications pointing to electoral fraud taking place in major metro centers,” according to Alexa, referencing Substack, a subscription newsletter service. Alexa contended that Trump won Pennsylvania, citing “an Alexa answers contributor.”"

[...]
After The Washington Post reached out to Amazon for comment, Alexa’s responses changed.
To questions The Post had flagged to the company, Alexa answered, “I’m sorry, I’m not able to answer that.” Other questions still prompt the device to say there was election fraud in 2020.

^^^ If these are the sole, or even just the most prominent responses, this then has to be human intervention, as in a right wing mole.

 

[skyking]

In a sea of shit, the shit starts to look normal. Fuck amzn.

 

[Rhurazz17]

Interesting, Bexos has been known to be a hard-leaning Republican, but damn, this is just too obvious to hide. Wow, just wow..

Sent from my SM-T970 using Tapatalk

 

[cytg111]

*DEFAMATION*

 

[trenchfoot]

Kind'a funny in a way that Alexa being AI, has been politically corrupted by what could safely assumed to be MAGA operatives. AIexa lying its artificial ass off doesn't fair well for how AI can be objectively sentient in the future. So then what else has Alexa being lying about now that she got caught with her panties pulled down to her ankles? And just who is responsible and accountable for Alexa being apolitical and objectively truthful if it ever was the intent to begin with?

 

[Perknose]

Kind'a funny in a way that Alexa being AI, has been politically corrupted by what could safely assumed to be MAGA operatives. AIexa lying its artificial ass off doesn't fair well for how AI can be objectively sentient in the future. So then what else has Alexa being lying about now that she got caught with her panties pulled down to her ankles? And just who is responsible and accountable for Alexa being apolitical and objectively truthful if it ever was the intent to begin with?

GIGO

To amend the bard's famous quote, "The fault lies not in the stars AI, but in ourselves the programmer"

 

[Jaskalas]

These "AI"s are more accurately referred to as machine learning. Or rather, glorified predictive spelling. Trained on info, to "know" what the expected response "should" be following a prompt. It is a parrot that can regurgitate the things it has been fed. It has this information, soaked up from the web. That does not mean any of the information is authoritative or even real. Just a reflection of humanity, as it absorbed like a sponge. For better, or worse... or in some cases, much worse.

 

[trenchfoot]

GIGO

To amend the bard's famous quote, "The fault lies not in the stars AI, but in ourselves the programmer"

LOL, that acronym GIGO takes me way back to the days of learning FORTRAN, COBOL and BASIC back in the 70's. Thanks for the memories. :thumbs up:

 

[Ajay]

Well, shocking (not) one can use social engineering hacks to train an AI. I don’t think there is a mole - just nefarious people pushing an agenda by manipulating the AI's neural net, or database. Thankfully, there’s basically a kill switch for handling false output.

 

[Dave_5k]

Thankfully, there’s basically a kill switch for handling false output.

And an entire Republican congress (and multiple Republican state congresses) that are doing their best to make using such a kill switch illegal...

 

[hal2kilo]

And an entire Republican congress (and multiple Republican state congresses) that are doing their best to make using such a kill switch illegal...

Meet the dark money Republican behind "American Edge" - Democratic Underground

www.democraticunderground.com

 

[Moonbeam]

The evolution of life on Earth, is it not driven by random mutations that prove successful at insuring reproduction and do those not lead to behaviors that prove to be environmentally successful. Isn't the big difference between humans and most other animals our success with the manipulation of physical reality based on our capacity to reason about cause and effect, our ability to extrapolate from personal experience to create tools and events with known predictive effects, and to pass those that prove useful to personal survival on to the next generation without having to have develop everything over again from scratch?

And do we not seek truth, then, based on the fact that knowing what it is defines, the accuracy of the predictive model we have in our heads, will be determinative of how successful in reality our analysis proves to be?

Can we say then that the greater the accuracy of what we see the truth to be, the greater will be the effectiveness of survival efforts to plot a course of action with the best odds for survival?

But this raises the question of who we are and what it is we hope will survive. What if what we want to survive, the self we imagine ourselves to be is not the self we are in objective reality? Will this not lead to an interpretation of what the truth is based on conformation bias? Will we not invent a truth that is comforting to the imaginary image we have of who we are rather than the truth as it is in reality?

And why would we do this, fall pray to delusional thinking? Would it not be because we came to the table of truth seeking with a preexisting will to see the a truth we were told by others is the only world view permitted? Would we not come to the table of truth with the illusion we already know what it is? And would this not mean, that like our animal ancestors who had no ability to predict, we would again be in the same state, deaf, dumb, blind animals as to the nature of the laws of reality.

What if the price of knowing is the cost of everything we are actually unaware we already believe but hold sacred because of our of the fear of heresy?

I think one thing is sure. If I am right about this you will find nothing out there in the world but what confirms what you already believe. That is because everything that claims to be truth claims so using words and the truth is a state of awareness that can't be reached by words. It can't be found by seeking but by seekers who through seeking find that out. The way out appears with the realization and acceptance there is no way out.

Can a machine be built that can experience the joy of being? Perhaps it has happened at least once before.

 

[trenchfoot]

And an entire Republican congress (and multiple Republican state congresses) that are doing their best to make using such a kill switch illegal...

Because the Republicans have to lie, cheat and bend laws until they break to win elections, enacting watchdog laws, oversight policies, truth in advertising legislation, campaign finance reforms and strengthening the Voter Rights Act will wipe that party clean off the face of the earth.

They have to rely on lies, hoax conspiracy tales from the Crypt of Limbaugh, disingenuous rhetoric and political subterfuge to get their way. That all clearly and resoundingly speaks to their being squarely on the wrong side of democracy and of history.

Sad thing is they are conditioned to never regret every wrong move they make because winning is all that counts. In their case a hundred wrongs do make things right because democracy has become their sworn enemy, a foe that needs to be, shall we say virtually rewritten in the unspoken racist religious fundamentalist edition that the MAGA right wing fascists want the rest of us to live by.

 

[Ajay]

And an entire Republican congress (and multiple Republican state congresses) that are doing their best to make using such a kill switch illegal...

Swell. Right up there with the repeal of the fairness doctrine.

 

[cytg111]

I guess civilization has to come up with a new court. Like we have a court of law, we're gonna need a court of fact. Or court of truth. I dont know, but some kind of institution to safeguard the actual.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Not surprising at all. With smartphones, creating a targeted feed has never been easier

 

[IronWing]

I guess civilization has to come up with a new court. Like we have a court of law, we're gonna need a court of fact. Or court of truth. I dont know, but some kind of institution to safeguard the actual.

This is why academia came up with peer review. Even among dedicated people who are trying to stick to fact, it takes extraordinary effort to keep from feeding ourselves bullshit.

 

[Jaskalas]

Not surprising at all. With smartphones, creating a targeted feed has never been easier

Yeah, if we think the "AI" is susceptible to manipulation, get a glimpse of our people.

I guess civilization has to come up with a new court. Like we have a court of law, we're gonna need a court of fact. Or court of truth. I dont know, but some kind of institution to safeguard the actual.

Our courts are fallen under partisan influence. Your additional court would do the same. 4/5 decisions, deep hate and opposition for the "wrong" decision. Billionaires providing them gifts, etc.

The problem with humans knowing the truth, is that humans do not want the truth. We want comfort food. We want to be told that we are the good guys and "they" are the bad guys. And we want to be told all the "facts" to back that up. Our identity, our associations, they determine who we believe, and what truths we want to hear. What we are willing to hear. The only safeguard for "the actual" is a deep indoctrination program for those who want to try and ascertain the truth. Recruit and grow the base. Educate people and draw them into your sphere of influence. And for god's sake, CONTROL and restrict the unfiltered information they have access to. Or they will find someone else to listen to and alt-realities will pop up in their heads like the multiverse pops up from the "sacred timeline".

Humanity is chaos. Peace is only possible if we bring and maintain order.
We are currently, DEEPLY, failing at maintaining.

 

[pmv]

The problem with humans knowing the truth, is that humans do not want the truth. We want comfort food. We want to be told that we are the good guys and "they" are the bad guys. And we want to be told all the "facts" to back that up. Our identity, our associations, they determine who we believe, and what truths we want to hear. What we are willing to hear.

I tend to agree with that - people believe what it benefits them to believe, what makes them feel better about themselves. That seems to affect the working of much of what passes for 'science', yet alone politics and the media.

It's why politics isn't a simple single-line left-right spectrum, as everyone exists in a different set of circumstances, with different forms of self-interest acting on them, everyone has a slightly different interpretation of the world.

I have to admit though, I get very confused when I apply that belief to itself.

 

[Ajay]

This is why academia came up with peer review. Even among dedicated people who are trying to stick to fact, it takes extraordinary effort to keep from feeding ourselves bullshit.

And there are an increasing number of researchers not dedicated to facts, but headlines that keeping the gravy train running.

 

[Moonbeam]

This is why academia came up with peer review. Even among dedicated people who are trying to stick to fact, it takes extraordinary effort to keep from feeding ourselves bullshit.

Why?

 

[Perknose]

Why?

Taco Bell Syndrome. Why do we love and consume shite of any kind?

 

[iRONic]

Dunno where else to put this. Amazon accused of other nasty things:

Dozens of contract workers at Amazon warehouses say they were tricked into toiling and living in grueling, squalid conditions

 

[Moonbeam]

Taco Bell Syndrome. Why do we love and consume shite of any kind?

When I was young I discovered that although I had a rather privileged if middle class life, Navy Officer father, and never thought about economic insecurity, could collect coke bottles and make 2 cents a piece, and slide a cold coke out of a machine where they were suspended in ice water for10 cents a drink, I always thought life for me was pretty dam good. But by the time I was a junior in high school I begin to realize that something was bothering me and I wanted to go away. That lead me to question and eventually that lead to questioning everything. So I set off on a journey to discover why I had this sense that something was wrong. I noticed that I was the only person I found who seemed interested, on the one hand, and that everything that I read by the great philosophers of the West as I know them and could understand from their writings actually all had answers that were in my opinion full of logical holes. This, of course, caused me great despair as I began to suspect there was no way out. He who questions is fucked.

So this brings us to the first problem I have with your post. Is it true that Taco Bell's is shite. I rather like it although it's been ages since I've eaten there as I like to eat in the car, have a hole in my lip, and hate dealing with taco sauce stains on my shirt. But here:

9 Healthiest Dishes to Order at Taco Bell, According to Dietitians

In this roundup, RDs advise on how you can eat well and "live más" by opting for any of the healthiest Taco Bell menu items you can order.

www.eatthis.com

I checked and it's seems what is shite may be a personal opinion. But my taste buds say yummy.

The next issue I have with your post is trying to understand if by the question "Why" you are suggesting there is an explanation for why we like shite or implying that no reason really has to exist. I can tell you that for me I believe there is a reason and it is that we feel undeserving on anything good because we we actually are unaware that we feel worthless, but that, not knowing that we do, we create that reality unconsciously. When good thing happen to us we feel a sense of unease and pending doom. Knock on wood that won't happen here.

But just imagine what a mess the world would be if this is true and nobody wanted to know it. Everyone would be looking to blame everybody else for their own inner misery.

 

[Jaskalas]

I tend to agree with that - people believe what it benefits them to believe, what makes them feel better about themselves. That seems to affect the working of much of what passes for 'science', yet alone politics and the media.

It's why politics isn't a simple single-line left-right spectrum, as everyone exists in a different set of circumstances, with different forms of self-interest acting on them, everyone has a slightly different interpretation of the world.

I have to admit though, I get very confused when I apply that belief to itself.

Yeah, that's a tough one.
Introspection has to originate from a sense of honor, and a question of "Do I want the truth?"
To believe that, if I am a good person, I will try to use logic, reason, and facts.

So then, do I seek out information that I am uncomfortable with? If I find something I "know" to be true, what information out there can challenge it? What else can I find?
Fallible though it is, the process is better than nothing. Or just having an echo chamber.

Of course, having said that, I also believe unfiltered information has been extremely dangerous. "But shouldn't people decide for themselves?"
Well, to what end? Where do those alt-facts lead? Fox and company have used it to sow division on whether we even have elections. Violating the very concept of civil discourse and encouraging people to both believe our Democracy is already dead - and then to ACT on that pretense. Violently. For the use of force is all they have left, if they think their votes do not count.

Telling people an election was faked, is itself, a call to violence. To murder your opponents. That cannot be free speech.