Thanks Charles for this interesting post. I agree with all you wrote, however, I have my doubts when it comes to potential biases led by negative comments spread all over the web about naturism, particularly when it comes to sexuality and the confusion many people still have about naturism and sexuality. Machine learning algorithms work on probability and if the link between sexuality and naturism is found in more occurrences than not, it may create an unwanted bias. So far, my tests with chatGPT are fairly optimistic when it comes to nudism and naturism. We somehow need to keep a sharp eye on it as it may move in not so good a direction in the future with the overall censorship increase that is plaguing the web. Thank you very much for a great post!
Thank you, Marc. I liked your recent post about how to discuss naturism with others. It's true that the most heavily used social media censor any naturist material that shows frontal nudity, but not necessarily discussions of the subject. And you say you're "fairly optimistic" about things.
What I wrote in this latest newsletter is intended mainly for naturists and open-minded people who may be interested in it. I aimed to suggest three different ways that AI could be used to benefit such people by making participation in naturism more appealing and easy to accomplish. While mainstream media - especially the less reputable types - tend to treat naturism poorly, the point here is that AI enables people who are most interested in naturism to GO AROUND the media negativism in order to get information useful to them.
It's true that the current crop of chatbots often refuse even to discuss naturism, especially if the scary word "naked" is used in the question. But systems that are developed especially for naturists can avoid that problem and provide correct information without censorship. Further, it's not necessarily true that the prevalence of connecting naturism with sexuality by the general public will be reflected in the results from chatbots and AI search tools. I just posed this question to ChatGPT:
Are naturism and nudism just excuses for people looking for sex?
And here's the response:
No, naturism and nudism are not just excuses for people looking for sex. Naturism and nudism are social and cultural movements that promote nudity as a way of living in harmony with nature and fostering body acceptance and body positivity.
While it is true that some people may participate in these movements for sexual reasons, it is important to understand that this is not the norm or the intended purpose. Most naturists and nudists participate in these movements because they believe in the benefits of being naked, such as feeling more connected to nature, increased body confidence, and a sense of liberation from societal norms and expectations.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that sexual behavior is not condoned in naturist and nudist environments, and anyone engaging in such behavior would be considered inappropriate and potentially be asked to leave. Therefore, it is incorrect to assume that naturism and nudism are merely excuses for sexual behavior.
Thanks for an interesting article on the subject of AI. Been writing about the same on our site though from another perspective, concerning how AI could be used to create fake and inaccurate representations of naturists and naturism. It good to read your insight and perspective.
It's true that AI can be misused to impugn naturism. But that's just a flyspeck compared to the misinformation propagated by segments of the traditional media, some religious organizations, and general cultural ignorance. Naturism needs a much stronger positive PR effort... but for whatever reason I'm not expecting to see it very soon.
Hi Charles, Shirley Mason here. I enjoyed your researched and well thought out article. Recently, I've read and listened to experts explain exactly what AI is and its potential positive and negative uses. I can understand why leaders in AI feel its proliferation must be slowed and guardrails put in place before leashing it on society. In reference to using it for nude recreation and it not be over-ridden by the negative and misleading information to be predominant, I think it would be necessary for a few hundred people verbally answer these questions, have those answers translated to text and posted to a few hundred web sites, blogs, chat rooms, etc. for AI to 'learn' it and then use that information when asked. Am I on the right track?
Well, sort of on the right track. These bots use what's called a "large language model" (LLM). That's generally made by sweeping up as much text as possible from the Internet and maybe other sources - stuff that's already out there. The words in this massive collection are then processed to learn what sequences are found most often. So tons of data relevant to naturism is ALREADY in the database. It includes a large part of what's ever been written about naturism.
So here's the thing: Although there has been a lot of stuff written that's negative about naturism, there is far more positive about naturism from actual naturists - maybe even stuff you've written yourself. What the bots do is select things to say that are the most PROBABLE given their data. That means mostly positive stuff about naturism. There's more to it than that, of course. But that's the general idea.
The problems arise when probability doesn't produce correct statements. For instance, in medical diagnosis, if a patient show certain symptoms, a diagnosis may be correct 90% of the time - but could be seriously wrong 10% of the time. A bot that only gave the 90% result would be wrong too often. Of course, even human MDs could be mistaken for the same reason - except that they spend many years learning their particular specialty, including the other 10% of possibilities.
Thanks Charles for this interesting post. I agree with all you wrote, however, I have my doubts when it comes to potential biases led by negative comments spread all over the web about naturism, particularly when it comes to sexuality and the confusion many people still have about naturism and sexuality. Machine learning algorithms work on probability and if the link between sexuality and naturism is found in more occurrences than not, it may create an unwanted bias. So far, my tests with chatGPT are fairly optimistic when it comes to nudism and naturism. We somehow need to keep a sharp eye on it as it may move in not so good a direction in the future with the overall censorship increase that is plaguing the web. Thank you very much for a great post!
Thank you, Marc. I liked your recent post about how to discuss naturism with others. It's true that the most heavily used social media censor any naturist material that shows frontal nudity, but not necessarily discussions of the subject. And you say you're "fairly optimistic" about things.
What I wrote in this latest newsletter is intended mainly for naturists and open-minded people who may be interested in it. I aimed to suggest three different ways that AI could be used to benefit such people by making participation in naturism more appealing and easy to accomplish. While mainstream media - especially the less reputable types - tend to treat naturism poorly, the point here is that AI enables people who are most interested in naturism to GO AROUND the media negativism in order to get information useful to them.
It's true that the current crop of chatbots often refuse even to discuss naturism, especially if the scary word "naked" is used in the question. But systems that are developed especially for naturists can avoid that problem and provide correct information without censorship. Further, it's not necessarily true that the prevalence of connecting naturism with sexuality by the general public will be reflected in the results from chatbots and AI search tools. I just posed this question to ChatGPT:
Are naturism and nudism just excuses for people looking for sex?
And here's the response:
No, naturism and nudism are not just excuses for people looking for sex. Naturism and nudism are social and cultural movements that promote nudity as a way of living in harmony with nature and fostering body acceptance and body positivity.
While it is true that some people may participate in these movements for sexual reasons, it is important to understand that this is not the norm or the intended purpose. Most naturists and nudists participate in these movements because they believe in the benefits of being naked, such as feeling more connected to nature, increased body confidence, and a sense of liberation from societal norms and expectations.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that sexual behavior is not condoned in naturist and nudist environments, and anyone engaging in such behavior would be considered inappropriate and potentially be asked to leave. Therefore, it is incorrect to assume that naturism and nudism are merely excuses for sexual behavior.
Thanks for an interesting article on the subject of AI. Been writing about the same on our site though from another perspective, concerning how AI could be used to create fake and inaccurate representations of naturists and naturism. It good to read your insight and perspective.
It's true that AI can be misused to impugn naturism. But that's just a flyspeck compared to the misinformation propagated by segments of the traditional media, some religious organizations, and general cultural ignorance. Naturism needs a much stronger positive PR effort... but for whatever reason I'm not expecting to see it very soon.
"Naturism needs a much stronger positive PR effort... but for whatever reason I'm not expecting to see it very soon"
Agree with this 100% we have written about this as well.
Hi Charles, Shirley Mason here. I enjoyed your researched and well thought out article. Recently, I've read and listened to experts explain exactly what AI is and its potential positive and negative uses. I can understand why leaders in AI feel its proliferation must be slowed and guardrails put in place before leashing it on society. In reference to using it for nude recreation and it not be over-ridden by the negative and misleading information to be predominant, I think it would be necessary for a few hundred people verbally answer these questions, have those answers translated to text and posted to a few hundred web sites, blogs, chat rooms, etc. for AI to 'learn' it and then use that information when asked. Am I on the right track?
Well, sort of on the right track. These bots use what's called a "large language model" (LLM). That's generally made by sweeping up as much text as possible from the Internet and maybe other sources - stuff that's already out there. The words in this massive collection are then processed to learn what sequences are found most often. So tons of data relevant to naturism is ALREADY in the database. It includes a large part of what's ever been written about naturism.
So here's the thing: Although there has been a lot of stuff written that's negative about naturism, there is far more positive about naturism from actual naturists - maybe even stuff you've written yourself. What the bots do is select things to say that are the most PROBABLE given their data. That means mostly positive stuff about naturism. There's more to it than that, of course. But that's the general idea.
The problems arise when probability doesn't produce correct statements. For instance, in medical diagnosis, if a patient show certain symptoms, a diagnosis may be correct 90% of the time - but could be seriously wrong 10% of the time. A bot that only gave the 90% result would be wrong too often. Of course, even human MDs could be mistaken for the same reason - except that they spend many years learning their particular specialty, including the other 10% of possibilities.