I don’t think the current Bing is likely to be directly dangerous, but not because it’s “just pattern matching to fiction”. Fiction has always programmed reality, with both magnificent and devastating consequences. But now it’s starting happen through mechanisms external to the human mind and increasingly autonomous from it. There is absolutely something to see here; I’d suggest you pay close attention.
Simulations of science fiction can have real effects on the world.
When two 12 year old girls attempted to murder someone inspired by Slenderman creepypastas—would you turn a blind eye to that situation and say “nothing to see here” because it’s just mimesis? Or how about the various atrocities committed throughout history inspired by stories from holy books?
I don’t think the current Bing is likely to be directly dangerous, but not because it’s “just pattern matching to fiction”. Fiction has always programmed reality, with both magnificent and devastating consequences. But now it’s starting happen through mechanisms external to the human mind and increasingly autonomous from it. There is absolutely something to see here; I’d suggest you pay close attention.