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Weeknotes 224; enabling fantasies

By Iskander Smit in weeknotes —
"morphing fantasies of Weizenbaum warnings", via MidJourney

Hi!

Today I do a short update and keep it to the captured news of the week. Last week it was mostly crunch time at Structural. I attended a meetup of IxDA London on AI for creative work, discussing the potential for creativity and having a new type of user research. Like this Figma add-on.

We also had a nice design session with the think tank of Afrikaanderwijk for the Cities of Things Lab 010 project. We are now starting to design together a ‘robot’ for the neighbourhood as part of the co-design.

Lorna and I are shaping a ThingsCon Salon in Eindhoven as part of the STRP program on Listening Things. More information soon, save the date: 14 April 19-21:30 at AI Innovation Lab, High Tech Campus, Eindhoven.

Speaking of events. These are some happening the coming week:

The noticed news items from last week:

The generative AI revolution has begun—how did we get here?
A new class of incredibly powerful AI models has made recent breakthroughs possible.
Ars TechnicaHaomiao Huang
HISTORY - In case you need some context on the current rapid developments in generative AI.
MusicLM: Google AI generates music in various genres at 24 kHz
Your musical wish is MusicLM’s command, making audio from “rich captions.”
Ars TechnicaBenj Edwards
GENERATIVE MUSIC - All forms of art will have their AI co-pilots... For inspiration. Or if you can translate music into prompts...
Why does ChatGPT constantly lie?
Maybe it has to do with the reasons humans use language.
NoahpinionNoah Smith
DoNotPay chickens out on its courtroom AI chatbot stunt
DoNotPay’s CEO received threats of legal action.
The VergeEmma Roth
AI POWER - Is it an interesting test in possibilities or a smart marketing move? “postponing our court case and sticking to consumer rights” after receiving threats from “State Bar prosecutors” about the potential legality of the stunt."
The End of Writing
Soon, you won’t need to write much anymore. Artificial Intelligence will do it for you. With all the free time we will have, we could try to rethink how we learn, work, and how we communicate.
iA
WRITING - iA was my go-to writing tool a couple of years ago (now it is mainly Ulysses for serious writing). What do they think about the changes in writing? "Soon, you won’t need to write much anymore. Artificial Intelligence will do it for you. With all the free time we will have, we could try to rethink how we learn, work, and how we communicate."
MULTI·ON
Don’t browse alone
HELPFUL AI - Or is this a bit silly? Is it a learning experience or doing dedication to an AI butler?
All the smart home products that work with Matter
Here are all the Matter controllers, Thread border routers, and certified Matter devices that are coming to a smart home near you.
The VergeJennifer Pattison Tuohy / @jp2e
CONNECTIONS MATTER - Overview of Matter-enabled devices.
I am not a robot
When I first thought about doing Do Interesting I assumed it’d be easy. I’ve spent a long time thinking about this stuff. There’s the blog post from way back when, there are the conferences, there’ve been occasional workshops. I own...
Russell Daviesthe blog post from way back when
GENERATIVE AI - Many smart people are exploring the role of generative AI in different contexts. That is valuable.
This Shape-Shifting Robot Can Liquefy Itself and Reform
The technology could one day assemble and repair hard-to-reach circuits, act as a universal screw or retrieve foreign objects from a body, researchers say
Smithsonian MagazineSmithsonian Magazine
ROBOTICS - Just like in the movies...
What Does It Mean to Be Strategic?
The practice of connecting intentions to outcomes
EveryDimitri Glazkov
AI-generated code helps me learn and makes experimenting faster
Posted on Friday 27 Jan 2023. 795 words, 7 links. By Matt Webb.
Interconnected, a blog by Matt Webb
CO-PILOTING - This week another interesting exploration by Matt (you might want to subscribe to his newsletter in case you did not do yet). A short description of his experimenting with Github Copilot; "What happened what that it helped me frame my problem. I was able to rapidly explore the edges of my knowledge, and figure out how to structure my questions and what I need to learn. My learning requirement is not obviated obviously… 
Bits or pieces?
The rants and raves of Simon Wardley on Evolution, Technology, Economics and Business
swardley
CONVERSATIONAL PROGRAMMING - "In summary, get yourself ready for a world of conversational programming. We're not quite there yet but we should be there soon. When it arrives, embrace it and thank me later."
Live or DIE — a review of a paper on SSI’s harms
Dear lawmakers and regulators, this draft industry paper doesn’t do the job. I explain why in the hope that you will act.
Generative IdentityPhilip Sheldrake
NEW IDENTITIES - The author uses a review for exploration of SSI: "This paper isn't going to help anyone in the ways it should. I'll explain in overarching terms what I think has happened here and then illuminate a selection of the draft paper's significant shortcomings."
Autonomous race cars go head-to-head, break records in Las Vegas
Autonomous race cars took to the track at CES, opening new forms of competition and setting speed records.
Freethink MediaB. David Zarley
AUTONOMOUS - Still not flawless...
LG, Whirlpool Target Customers Disconnected From ‘Smart’ Appliances
The appliance makers continue to invest in efforts to drum up revenue through internet-connected devices, but many customers aren’t logging on.
The Wall Street JournalIsabelle Bousquette
NOT CONNECTED - Is it surprising that people are not connecting their appliances to the internet? 
In Japan, humanoid robots could soon become part of the family
More than any other nation, Japan tends to feel comfortable with the idea of humanoid robots entering the home.
Freethink MediaOrly Lobel
ROBOTICS - That Japan has a place in their culture of objects and is more adaptive for robotics is no news. The article seems to give a nice overview.
Magician for Figma
A magical design tool for Figma powered by AI.
Magician beta
AI IN ALL - There are many examples every week with new AI enhancements of existing tools. Here is another one for Figma.
The Knitting Clock
Artist Siren Elise Wilhelmsen designed a clock that knits while it tells time -- the clock makes one two-meter long scarf every
kottke.orgJason Kottke
ART - Embodied time... 

These links are not fetched by Ghost, but are worth sharing:

And to close, an interesting paper on the Future of Mobility: Winners and losers and new options in the public space

The paper explains the known shifts from owning to sharing and different forms of working environment. The public angle makes it a potential interesting read. It has a focus on Germany.

“Ultimately, however, it is up to the political players to decide who will prevail in the future of mobility and under what conditions products and business models can be developed. The privilege of the private car to use public space is coming to an end. In many cities, city tolls are being considered and scarce space is being redistributed. In the future, whoever has access to scarce public space will do the business in the transportation market. In this sense, politics at the local level is gaining in importance. It determines the rules for new mobility services. These have great significance for the enforcement of good work.”

Canzler, W., & Knie, A. (2023). The future of mobility: Winners and losers and new options in the public space (No. SP III 2023-601). WZB Discussion Paper.

http://hdl.handle.net/10419/268271

See you next week!