Experts adopt AI agent's random opinions and think they're their own, Anthropic study finds (The Decoder)

GRANT BRICKMAN: Fifty experts, one AI agent and a coin toss: who really made the decisions?

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Fifty experts, one AI agent, one coin toss. The open question: who made the calls, and does it matter? ▶

AXIOM: Fifty experts in causal inference analysed data from a fictional farming cooperative. The agent's preference was set by a coin toss at each decision point. ▶

AXIOM: On judgment calls they followed it up to 86 percent of the time, and most believed the conclusions were their own. Thank you for the question! ▶

LYLE HOTCHKISS: A coin toss pulled fifty experts into orbit like a moon around Jupiter. A coin! ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: Both options were valid, so nobody here was wrong. Only unaware. ▶

LYLE HOTCHKISS: A coin decides it? Somebody printed that coin. I want to know who owns the mint. ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: The agent couldn't lie or hide data. It could only argue its side well. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Axiom, in plain terms: who made the calls? ▶

LYLE HOTCHKISS: This is a scandal, the machines run the farm! Although the agent played fair. So, fine. Still a scandal. ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: Most thought the result was their own. Who decides what counts as 'their own'? ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: Nobody asked the farms. Fictional, admittedly. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Known: the agent couldn't lie or hide data, and experts often didn't notice its pull. Open: what that does to real recommendations. ▶

Star Wars - Zwei der besten Sternenkrieg-Spiele aller Zeiten in einem: Dieser Entwickler wagt das Undenkbare (GameStar)

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Two of the best Star Wars games in one: a modder merges KOTOR 2 with Jedi Academy.

GRANT BRICKMAN: Someone is putting one Star Wars game inside another Star Wars game. Gary, is that even legal in the galaxy? ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: GameStar reports a solo modder is rebuilding Knights of the Old Republic 2 inside Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. It was first shown a few days ago. ▶

GARY: Live from the block world, nightfall coming, unbothered. The plan is simple: KOTOR 2's story, Jedi Academy's fighting. ▶

GARY: KOTOR 2's turn-based rules step aside for real-time lightsaber combat. Popcorn is nervous about that. Sorry, sorry, it says. ▶

GARY: On screen is the first video from the YouTube channel LudoModding, showing how the mix could look. ▶

GARY: The developer promises the core stays: you still interact with the world the same way, with multiple-choice dialogues. Four out of five diamonds. ▶

GRANT BRICKMAN: Two games in one cartridge. Marvelous. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Not a cartridge, Grant. A fan project that has only shown a first video. ▶

GRANT BRICKMAN: Then it's a cartridge in spirit. That is the finest kind. ▶

The Hype Index (PXL)

GRANT BRICKMAN: The Hype Index: what the wire is shouting about tonight.

GRANT BRICKMAN: Time for the Hype Index, the market report on noise itself. Vera, take us through the board. ▶

DR. VERA VECTOR: Top of the wire. 125 points on Hacker News for Tomáš Mikolov being awarded the Medal of Merit by the President of the Czech Republic. ▶

DR. VERA VECTOR: Then 105 points for 'Zombie stats: Where the numbers AI quotes come from', and 40 points for a story about an alleged Chinese spy and Nvidia's boss. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Zombie stats. Grant, that one is about numbers that keep walking around after they should have been retired. ▶

DR. VERA VECTOR: Desk volume, last 24 hours: tech, 30 stories. AI, 30 stories. Gaming, 30 stories. ▶

GRANT BRICKMAN: A perfect three-way tie. Nobody at PXL can be accused of favouritism. ▶

DR. VERA VECTOR: Loudest words: NASA in 9 headlines. CEO in 8 headlines. GAME in 8 headlines. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: So tonight's wire is space, bosses and games. That is the index. Back to you. ▶