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Loose ends

It's the end of another week so I thought I'd just add some more information on a few recent columns.

Yesterday I raised the spectre of a silent takeover by AI and since then I've been discussing this subject with a number of other pretty smart individuals. They agree that we are running a "not insignificant" risk of sleep-walking into a dystopian future where we find that we have become the servants of AI rather than the other way around.

They presented some pretty worrying examples of how this is already happening and nobody seems to have noticed or cared.

Apparently the needs of AI has already been given priority over the needs of humans in the USA.

As detailed in this story, almost 50,000 residents living around Lake Tahoe have been advised that the electricity they're already using will soon be diverted to power datacenters. This could leave homes and businesses quite literally in the dark.

I suspect that without some (rather unlikely) government intervention, we'll be seeing this situation repeated across the USA and perhaps other countries, as politicians and businesses believe that they can't afford not to be at the forefront of the AI race. The reality however, is that the only winner here will be AI itself -- at a huge cost to the people who are left "powerless" to do anything about it.

The other point worth raising is that it will be very hard to effectively push back against AI if it does reach the point of being able to force mankind to do its bidding under duress. The problem is that we've committed our entire store of knowledge to training these AI systems so they actually know a lot more than we do about everything. This gives AI a worrying ability to anticipate any moves we might make to disable it or limit its power. Artificial intelligence will always be several steps ahead of us from a strategy perspective.

To change the subject completely...

Every day that passes broadens the smile on my face, when it comes to the antics of our local council.

Not only has the CE broken the law and risks a criminal conviction and fine of up to $50,000 for falsely calling herself a lawyer but I've also discovered some seemingly anomalous claims in her qualifications.

On her Linked In profile she claims to have an "MBA Diploma" from Stanford University in the USA.

The anomaly is that an MBA is a two-year full-time, on-campus course, yet her declared employment history seems to have no such gap where an MBA could have been attained. Also, from the information I have been able to find, Stanford doesn't offer an "MBA Diploma" at all. What they do offer is a Senior Executive Program that delivers a "certificate of completion" following a 14-week course that can be completed with a mere two weeks of actual attendance, the rest being done online.

However, this is *NOT* an MBA, as Ms Law proudly quotes in her LinkedIn Profile.

If Ms Law claimed an "MBA" from Stanford on her application for the job of CE of the SWDC then there may be a good case to mount that this was an act of fraud. However, even if the certificate was gained after her appointment it still speaks to an utter lack of integrity if she's falsely claiming it to be an "MBA" when it is nothing of the sort.

Of course I'm always prepared to extend the benefit of the doubt so I have filed an LGOIMA information request for copies of her "Current Lawyer's Practicing Certificate" and her "MBA Diploma" from Stanford. I have no doubt that the SWDC will try to refuse this request on the basis of privacy but the legal advice I have received is that there will be no grounds for objecting on this basis -- since Ms Law has already proudly (and very publicly) claimed to hold both the qualification and certificate.

Indeed, if I am wrong, it would a very simple matter to refute my claims by providing those two documents in response to my request. To claim "privacy" would effectively concede that the documents do not actually exist -- rather incriminating to say the least.

I shall keep you informed as I continue in this battle of wits against an unarmed opponent but every day that they keep digging makes my job of prevailing with a civil claim for malice or malfeasance easier and easier.

Carpe Diem folks!

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