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Frauds, Scams & Cons (General; Miscellaneous)

Stormkhan said:
When I think of the scientific advancements that have happened in my own lifetime, it seems exponential.
This is why I think it's laughable about the sheer excitement generated by the current iteration of A.I. It's just a development of the existent bots, that are pitiful in use. It's technology pretending to be sentient but, really, it's just a data harvesting program. The only thing it's really good for is starting the discussion over regulation and trying to foresee legal and ethical issues. For instance, universities are insisting that if an A.I. program has been used in a students work then it must be credited as such.
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We're hearing a lot about it in the writing world. Some authors are living in fear of the AI written books. Well, yes, it's probable that the market may be filled with a lot of 'told stories' which bring no new insights into the human condition, no new ways of looking at things, no distinctive 'author voice' and no real twisted emotion. And some people will love them. But I don't think there's any replacement for the weirdness of the human input.

Although some publishers are now printing a 'this book must not be used for the purpose of harvesting data' inside books, perhaps to discourage programmers from using the text to help the AI 'learn'. It will be interesting to see how that pans out, and whether it would even be possible to prosecute for doing so - I mean, how would you prove it?
 
catseye said:
We're hearing a lot about it in the writing world. Some authors are living in fear of the AI written books. Well, yes, it's probable that the market may be filled with a lot of 'told stories' which bring no new insights into the human condition, no new ways of looking at things, no distinctive 'author voice' and no real twisted emotion. And some people will love them. But I don't think there's any replacement for the weirdness of the human input.

Although some publishers are now printing a 'this book must not be used for the purpose of harvesting data' inside books, perhaps to discourage programmers from using the text to help the AI 'learn'. It will be interesting to see how that pans out, and whether it would even be possible to prosecute for doing so - I mean, how would you prove it?
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I don't think AI will ever beat the human imagination. Stay optimistic.
 
catseye said:
Although some publishers are now printing a 'this book must not be used for the purpose of harvesting data' inside books, perhaps to discourage programmers from using the text to help the AI 'learn'. It will be interesting to see how that pans out, and whether it would even be possible to prosecute for doing so - I mean, how would you prove it?
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Exactly. It's hardly enforceable.
"Well, since you asked so nicely, I'll refrain" is rarely heard.
 
Stormkhan said:
Exactly. It's hardly enforceable.
"Well, since you asked so nicely, I'll refrain" is rarely heard.
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I suppose publishers could start introducing a random word in text in their books. If every publisher put a different word in, say the word 'tiger' randomly inserted, would AI be able to extract that random word or would they reproduce it? Could it be used to prove which books had been used to teach the AI?

The human eye would probably edit it out when reading, or just think 'well, that was odd'. But AI would, presumably integrate it...
 
catseye said:
I suppose publishers could start introducing a random word in text in their books. If every publisher put a different word in, say the word 'tiger' randomly inserted, would AI be able to extract that random word or would they reproduce it? Could it be used to prove which books had been used to teach the AI?

The human eye would probably edit it out when reading, or just think 'well, that was odd'. But AI would, presumably integrate it...
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Oh, this would drive me crazy. If only one word is misspelled in a book, I catch it. Even if it is a word that is a correctly spelled one, but an error in editing.

I have always thought that I would love to be a proof reader of novels, but the idea that I would also have to read poorly written stories as well, is kind of the nightmarish aspect of that job.
 
brownmane said:
Oh, this would drive me crazy. If only one word is misspelled in a book, I catch it. Even if it is a word that is a correctly spelled one, but an error in editing.

I have always thought that I would love to be a proof reader of novels, but the idea that I would also have to read poorly written stories as well, is kind of the nightmarish aspect of that job.
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My proof reader only gets to read after the book has been through at least two edits, so the book is practically ready to go. Proofs are only to mop up any errors that everyone else has missed, so you'd hope there's not too much to do.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I don't think AI will ever beat the human imagination. Stay optimistic.
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'AI' will probably beat 90% of human imagination. For any kind of machine learning ('AI') to be useful, it only has to be better at 'some task' than most people. :cool2:
 
Coal said:
'AI' will probably beat 90% of human imagination. For any kind of machine learning ('AI') to be useful, it only has to be better at 'some task' than most people. :cool2:
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But a book (at least, certainly the kind I write) isn't entirely imagination. It's imagination + psychology + characterisation + growth and development of characters + description + new spin on ways of looking at things + author 'voice'. I'm sure AI can replicate a lot of these things. but without an innate understanding of how and why people do things (which can be very emotionally driven), I'm not sure it will be able to write more than 'this happened then this happened then this happened' stories.

Humans behave in bizarre and unpredictable ways. I think it's the unpredictability that may be the downfall of the AI generated story. Of course, there will always be readers who just want to read lots of hot sex, men with big muscles and teeny tiny woman who fall into their arms, and AI can probably do these admirably. But that just leaves the field of 'have you ever thought about THIS?' open for the human writer.
 
I heard one expert on the radio the other day describe current A.I. quite well ...
"All these programs are just predictive text with access to masses of patterns to draw from. They can't create in of themselves - only follow the rules they've been given and string words together. They really don't understand what the words mean."
 
Or Jack Kerouac?
"No, I'm not an A.I. program ... I'm off my tits on mescaline!"
 
So I had an interesting (not) text a month or so ago.

It was not anyone in my contact list and read:

Hey, how's Kevin doing?

I texted back "wrong number".

Reply: Let's not be kidding. I was looking for someone to do some photos for my new shop.

Me: F*** off.

No reply :bthumbup:.

Several days later, I was reading up on latest phone scams and the description of the scam was the same set up as with my text. The texter tries to keep up a conversation with you in an attempt to get personal information.
 
brownmane said:
So I had an interesting (not) text a month or so ago.

It was not anyone in my contact list and read:

Hey, how's Kevin doing?

I texted back "wrong number".

Reply: Let's not be kidding. I was looking for someone to do some photos for my new shop.

Me: F*** off.

No reply :bthumbup:.

Several days later, I was reading up on latest phone scams and the description of the scam was the same set up as with my text. The texter tries to keep up a conversation with you in an attempt to get personal information.
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This sounds like the beginning of the pig butchering scam.

https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-pig-butchering-scam/

It's very popular these days. Also, surprisingly successful. Tons of people on /r/scams on Reddit have fallen for variations of it.
 
Stormkhan said:
A text saying the words "Let's not be kidding." sounds suspect to me. Especially if they start so informal with the word "Hey".
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Exactly. The wording was off. But "f off" certainly stopped them. I'm polite to people when they've gotten a wrong number, but beyond that, I don't converse.

I have learned to be rude as I've aged. Growing up, I was told to be polite always, even if I didn't like the person. I have met adults (when I was a kid) that I knew not to trust. I got around a lot of iffy situations by playing dumb, rather than being rude and telling them to get lost. That takes more time than they're supposed feelings are worth.

Being told to be "nice" leaves people open to all kinds of con artists and untrustworthy people.
 
brownmane said:
Exactly. The wording was off. But "f off" certainly stopped them. I'm polite to people when they've gotten a wrong number, but beyond that, I don't converse.

I have learned to be rude as I've aged. Growing up, I was told to be polite always, even if I didn't like the person. I have met adults (when I was a kid) that I knew not to trust. I got around a lot of iffy situations by playing dumb, rather than being rude and telling them to get lost. That takes more time than their supposed feelings are worth.

Being told to be "nice" leaves people open to all kinds of con artists and untrustworthy people.
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Omg. I just saw my grammatical error ffs
 
Damn good work!

A man in India has allegedly managed to stay in a five-star hotel in the capital, Delhi, for close to two years without paying the bill.

Police received a complaint by managers at the Roseate House near Delhi airport after they discovered the apparent scam - 603 days into the man's stay.He allegedly owes the hotel over 5m rupees ($70,000; £55,000). The complaint alleges the man colluded with staff who helped hide the mounting bills. No-one has been arrested.

Though the case was reported to Delhi police on 24 May, details have only recently emerged in the local media. The unnamed man is said to have checked into the hotel on 30 May 2019 after having booked a room for a single night, and stayed there until 22 January 2022, the Indian Express newspaper reports.

Even though he did not pay, one of the staff members allegedly kept extending his stay, the report adds.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65983209
 
brownmane said:
Exactly. The wording was off. But "f off" certainly stopped them. I'm polite to people when they've gotten a wrong number, but beyond that, I don't converse.

I have learned to be rude as I've aged. Growing up, I was told to be polite always, even if I didn't like the person. I have met adults (when I was a kid) that I knew not to trust. I got around a lot of iffy situations by playing dumb, rather than being rude and telling them to get lost. That takes more time than they're supposed feelings are worth.

Being told to be "nice" leaves people open to all kinds of con artists and untrustworthy people.
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My experience and view entirely.
 
All a con job?

A key document before the U.S. Supreme Court was likely faked, reports The New Republic, as it turns out the man who supposedly emailed a Christian graphic designer requesting her services for a gay wedding says he didn't send it. He wasn't getting married, he didn't need a graphic designer, and isn't gay.

Yes, that was his name, phone number, email address, and website on the inquiry form. But he never sent this form, he said, and at the time it was sent, he was married to a woman. "If somebody's pulled my information, as some kind of supporting information or documentation, somebody's falsified that," Stewart explained. (Stewart's last name is not included in the filing, so we will be referring to him by his first name throughout this story.)
"I wouldn't want anybody to … make me a wedding website?" he continued, sounding a bit puzzled but good-natured about the whole thing. "I'm married, I have a child—I'm not really sure where that came from? But somebody's using false information in a Supreme Court filing document."
Here is what we know—though, to be frank, I do not know what we have learned from this yearslong mystery, other than it looks like Smith and her attorneys have, perhaps unwittingly, invented a gay couple in need of a wedding website in a case in which they argue that same-sex marriages are "false."
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https://boingboing.net/2023/06/30/a...upreme-court-turns-out-its-probably-fake.html
 
Oh dear..

Captain Tom Moore’s daughter ordered to demolish spa built using charity’s name​

She & her husband used the charity in applications but the spa/pool was in their garden for their own use.
The Captain Tom Foundation said in a statement to a national newspaper: ‘At no time were The Captain Tom Foundation’s independent trustees aware of planning permissions made by Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore purporting to be in the foundation’s name.

‘Had they been aware of any applications, the independent trustees would not have authorised them.’

since his passing the charity foundation setup in his name has been embroiled in a number of controversies.

In May 2022, a probe was launched by a watchdog over concerns regarding the charity’s accounts, after it was revealed the foundation tried to appoint Mrs Ingram-Moore as its CEO on a six-figure salary and spent roughly a tenth of all money raised on consultancy fees.

The Charity Commission said last year it also had concerns about ‘arrangements between the charity and a company linked to the Ingram-Moore family’.
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