BETTER THAN HEARSAY - An “AI” Bicycle Built for Two

By Michael Ryan

CORNWALLVILLE - I think I found a recent audit interesting, done by the New York State Comptroller’s Office on Artificial Intelligence.

The jury is still out because whenever I’m forced to answer questions put to me by an infernal phone robot I instantly lose it, calling it awful names and saying I hope the conversation is recorded and somebody hears me.

So I’m probably not the right person to be writing about anything to do with AI computers or machines or whatever they bleeping are.

My first thought, reading the report from Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, was, ‘Would an AI find me intriguing or mundanely inferior?’

Case in point. I own a wood-splitter that can be set horizontally or vertically which can be quite useful, handling heavy pieces. I’ve had it for years.

One autumn afternoon, I was splitting some large chunks of locust, busting my back lifting them, not remembering, until a couple of hours Into the job, that the splitter could have been set flat on the ground, not three feet up.

What would an AI say about that bit of genius? Would it make sarcastic remarks as payback for the expletives I’ve hurled at its ilk, or, perhaps worse, try to murder me? There is precedent.

DiNapoli’s audit states from the get go that there is, “improved guidance needed for State agencies using AI to avoid risks.”

I researched AI’s, finding on Wikipedia that Artificial Intelligence, “refers to the capability of computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence.

“Artificial intelligence was founded as an academic discipline in 1956,” Wikipedia states, plodding through ”multiple cycles of optimism” in its development before experiencing a “boom,” starting a decade ago.

“The emergence of advanced generative AI in the midst of the AI boom and its ability to create and modify content exposed several unintended consequences and harms in the present,” Wikipedia states.

Those unplanned pitfalls “raised concerns about the risks of AI and its long-term effects in the future, prompting discussions about regulatory policies to ensure the safety and benefits of the technology,” Wikipedia states.

DiNapoli declares in his audit, “New York State’s centralized guidance and oversight of agencies’ use of AI is inadequate and creates a risk that the technology could be used irresponsibly.

“The audit looked at the State’s overall AI policy and how AI was used at four state agencies: the Office for the Aging, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Transportation,” DiNapoli said.

This recent report is actually the second in a series on “AI Use in New York Government, following a 2023 audit of New York City’s AI Governance,” DiNapoli’s audit states

“New York state agencies are using AI to monitor prisoners’ phone calls, catch fraudulent driver’s license applications, assist older adults and support government services,” DiNapoli said.

“Our audit found insufficient central guidance and oversight to check that these systems are reliable and accurate, and no inventory of what AI the State is using,” DiNapoli said.

“This audit is a wake-up call. Stronger governance over the State’s growing use of AI is needed to safeguard against the well-known risks that come with it,” DiNapoli said.

“While the State has moved to implement AI systems, guardrails for these technologies have not kept pace,” DiNapoli said.

“Without adequate guidelines and oversight, AI systems that are meant to help expedite and expand services can, for example, expose data to unintended sources and create inequalities in decision-making and the delivery of services,” DiNapoli said.

Which is why I’m teetering about the Comptroller’s audit, whether it is interesting or a warning to get the heck out of Dodge, and fast.

Who can forget the 1968 movie, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” where HAL, a Heuristically Programmed Algorithmic Computer, controls the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft?

HAL is pals with the astronaut crew until a glitch prompts the crew to try to shut him down, but the clever HAL, reading their lips and uncovering their plot, goes on a homicidal rampage.

Ultimately having his circuits burnt, HAL begins singing the old 1892 British song “Daisy Bell,” insanely crooning to his longed-for lady love, ”Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do, I’m half crazy, all for the love of you.”

“You’d look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two,” HAL endlessly serenades, and I don’t know if DiNapoli can carry a tune, but can his barbershop quartet of bureaucracies and he be far behind?