Abstract: Researchers embark on the AI STORIES mission to discover AI-generated narratives and their cultural impacts. The examine goals to delve into how giant language fashions (LLMs) like ChatGPT interpret and produce tales, difficult the notion that AI merely mimics human language with out understanding.

By evaluating Scandinavian, Australian, and Indian or Nigerian narratives to dominant American tales, the mission seeks to stop the homogenization of world narratives by AI. The researchers advocate for a brand new narratology in AI improvement, emphasizing the significance of narrative concept in shaping moral and numerous AI applied sciences.

Key Details:

1. AI STORIES, led by Jill Walker Rettberg, examines the deep narrative buildings in AI language fashions, funded by a 2.5 million Euro ERC Superior Grant.
2. The mission contrasts numerous world narratives with predominant American and English narratives in AI, highlighting the danger of narrative homogenization.
3. Rettberg requires a brand new narratology that comes with narrative concept in AI improvement, aiming to affect policymakers, builders, and educators.

Supply: College of Bergen

Professor Jill Walker Rettberg, Co-Director of the Centre for Digital Narrative on the College of Bergen, is awarded an ERC Superior Grant for the mission AI STORIES.  The grant consists of two.5 million Euro over 5 years. That is Rettberg’s second ERC Grant.

“The AI STORIES mission builds on the premise that storytelling is central to human tradition, with narratives shaping our understanding of the world. We are going to examine synthetic intelligence and the way it creates new narratives,” says Rettberg.

Generative AI has been dubbed a “stochastic parrot”, mimics of language patterns who doesn’t actually perceive what they’re saying. AI STORIES posits that the big language fashions (LLMs) which type the foundations for ChatGPT are extra influenced by deep narrative buildings than beforehand acknowledged. To handle AI bias, we have to contemplate the underlying narratives within the coaching information and never simply proximity of phrases and pictures.

When Microsoft’s AI chatbot expressed its love for a journalist in 2023, was it actually in love? Probably not. Generative AI is, in spite of everything, a statistical recreation, and never precise emotions. This new analysis will take a look at the speculation that the AI stated “I like you” as a result of it’s educated on so a lot of our sci-fi tales the place AI positive factors conscience and human feelings.

AI tales are our tales, however to what finish?

Earlier Rettberg has talked about how AI can change or homogenise tales from sure storytelling traditions, just like the Norwegian childrens’ story When the Robbers Got here to Cardamom City:

“This story is greater than a shared cultural reference – it helps the Norwegian prison justice system’s precedence of rehabilitation over punishment. It’s distinct from Disney motion pictures, with their unambiguous villains who’re punished on the finish, and from Hollywood financial institution heists and gangster motion pictures that glorify criminals.”

The mission will conduct case research on Scandinavian, Australian, and Indian or Nigerian narratives, contrasting them with the dominant American and English-speaking narratives in LLMs.

“Generative AI would possibly nicely bury tales like Cardamom City by stuffing chatbot responses and search outcomes worldwide with homogenized American narratives,” says Rettberg.

A brand new narratology for AI

“I believe what we’d like is a brand new narratology, to see how narrative concept shapes and can be utilized after we develop and use AI,” says Rettberg.

The brand new narratology will inform policymakers, builders, and educators on the longer term course of AI. Present LLMs has primarily been developed by pc scientists and linguists, however Rettberg posits that narratologists ought to maybe be simply as essential to the AI future.

Rettberg and her colleagues will cooperate with developer trade and developer communities.

“I congratulate Jill Walker Rettberg, who solidifies her place on the high of her area, demonstrating each high quality and originality. Her achievements function an inspiration for others at UiB,” says College of Bergen’s Rector Margareth Hagen.

With Rettberg’s mission, researchers on the College of Bergen have to this point secured a complete of fifty ERC grants spanning the interval from 2010 to 2024.

1 of 255 amongst 1829 – robust competitors

Rettberg is among the many 255 chosen excellent analysis leaders in Europe to obtain this grant, in keeping with a press launch from the ERC.

The competitors attracted 1,829 proposals which had been reviewed by panels of internationally famend researchers. The funding is amongst the EU’s most prestigious and aggressive, offering main senior researchers with the chance to pursue bold, curiosity-driven initiatives that would result in main scientific breakthroughs.

The brand new grants are a part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.

ERC grants

Prestigious analysis funding with candidates from all around the world. Awarded by the European Analysis Council (ERC). 

ERC Superior Grants are awarded to established world-class researchers with as much as €2.5 million over 5 years.

Massive Language Fashions (LLM)

Massive language fashions are algorithmic foundations for generative AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. LLMs are fed huge datasets, together with articles, books, and web assets, with the purpose of producing human-like responses to questions or prompts from the customers.

Primarily based on the coaching information it may be used to generate all the things from wedding ceremony speeches to reality bins to frameworks.

Generative AI has makes use of throughout a variety of industries, however it additionally poses potential challenges and dangers, corresponding to cybercrime, the creation of faux information or deepfakes that may deceive or manipulate folks.

Jill Walker Rettberg and ERC

AI STORIES is Professor Rettbergs second ERC Grant, the primary was a ERC Consolidator Grant on the mission Machine Imaginative and prescient, which led to 2023. She can also be the Co-Director of the Heart for Digital Narrative.

About this synthetic intelligence analysis information

Creator: Åshild Nylund
Supply: College of Bergen
Contact: Åshild Nylund – College of Bergen
Picture: The picture is credited to Neuroscience Information