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Weeknotes 238; ai writing as remix cult

By Iskander Smit in weeknotes —
ai writing as remix cult- Midjourney

Hi all! First, let me apologise for sending this newsletter one day later than usual. We decided to enter a grant proposal quite late, and the deadline was yesterday, so I needed to eat in the hours I normally spend completing the newsletter (Monday evening and -nite).

Nevertheless, here we are. As an update of activities, that proposal is a follow-up of some good conversations on our AI roadmap that is key to Structural’s services. Of course, the interlanguage we are developing specifically connects the collaborative work of human and machine analysis. Let me know if you want to know more; happy to extend.

I don't know your experiences; I got delayed listening to all the tech podcasts. I need s strategy for choosing a tech cast diet. Hardfork, Sharptech, Vergecast, Dithering, Pivot, the topics are often the same (Bluesky was last week's hot topics) but they have different angles. Maybe I should allow myself a diet of one of all per week. To prevent I have no time for other things, like events.

Events to check out

Notions from last week’s news

Let’s dive into the news of last week.

In the series AI tooling, Microsoft was announcing Bing and Edge extensions.

Announcing the next wave of AI innovation with Microsoft Bing and Edge - The Official Microsoft Blog
Just three months ago, we unveiled the new AI-powered Microsoft Bing and Edge to reinvent the future of search with your copilot for the web. We aimed to tackle a universal problem with traditional search – that nearly half of all web searches go unanswered, resulting in billions of people’s searche…
The Official Microsoft BlogYusuf Mehdi - Corporate Vice President & Consumer Chief Marketing Officer
Microsoft 365’s AI-powered Copilot is getting more features
The preview is also being expanded to 600 additional customers.
The VergeJess Weatherbed

And Google is announcing their co-pilot showing off creative writing tools and coding capabilities, which is the expectation.

Alphabet to unveil A.I. updates at Google I/O, showing off creative writing and coding capabilities
Google’s hefty investments in artificial intelligence will be on display at its annual developer conference this week.
CNBCJennifer Elias

Coursera is going a step further, introducing the Responsible AI principles

Coursera’s Responsible AI Principles - Coursera Blog
By Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the transformative force of our era, reshaping industries and redefining the
Coursera Bloglgordon

Let’s see if they are adding to this with a new constitutional approach at these schools.

AI gains “values” with Anthropic’s new Constitutional AI chatbot approach
List of guiding AI values draws on UN Declaration of Rights—and Apple’s terms of service
Ars TechnicaBenj Edwards

It is a small step from chatbot to emotional connections. In one of these podcasts mentioned above, it was mentioned how we more easily mix reality and chat interfaces due to our digital nomad life…

These ChatGPT Rivals Are Designed to Play With Your Emotions
Startups building chatbots tuned for emotionally engaged conversation say they can offer support, companionship—and even romance.
WIREDCondé Nast
Senior Google Engineer Claims Company’s AI Lacks ‘Secret Sauce’
The company has reportedly declared it would stop sharing its AI research, leaving the world further in the dark on AI developments.
GizmodoThe A.V. Club

Sometimes you get an image right away. The Future of Writing resembles how hip-hop has created a new art form by remixing music. Driven, of course, by the AI support tooling.

The Future of Writing Is a Lot Like Hip-Hop
A new kind of literary curation will be the defining skill for the next era of human creativity.
The AtlanticStephen Marche

A long interview on the capacity of AI to expand human learning.

Can Artificial Intelligence Expand Our Capacity for Human Learning? -- Campus Technology
Gardner Campbell considers issues and concerns surrounding AI, identifies helpful resources, and offers some grounding thoughts on human learning.
Campus TechnologyMary Grush

And how about AI as the new consulting?

Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?
As it’s currently imagined, the technology promises to concentrate wealth and disempower workers. Is an alternative possible?
The New YorkerCondé Nast

Some updates on predictions by experts on AI

The promise and peril of AI, according to 5 experts
Is AI going to kill us? Or take our jobs? Or is the whole thing overhyped? Depends on who you ask.
VoxPeter Kafka

This is just a logical step in a longer strategy that only might be speeding up now.

Insiders say Apple is building an “AI health coach”
Tech giant Apple is developing an app with an AI health coach to help you live a healthier lifestyle, according to a Bloomberg report.
Freethink MediaKristin Houser

A sandbox for complex systems; would be nice to use.

Researchers create a tool for accurately simulating complex systems
A new technique eliminates a source of bias in a popular simulation method, which could enable scientists to create new algorithms that are more accurate and boost the performance of applications and networks.
MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyAdam Zewe | MIT News Office

An interesting take from Ethan Mollick: “Once you see AI as being more like a person in how they operate, it becomes much easier to understand how and when to use them.”

AI is not good software. It is pretty good people.
A pragmatic approach to thinking about AI
One Useful ThingEthan Mollick

Clickbait or some serious downfall?

The metaverse is no more | Boing Boing
The sprawling, nebulous ‘Metaverse’ has been completely abandoned by its parent company, Meta, only a few years after its initial inception. Unsurprisingly, “VR Chat but with capi…
Boing BoingGrant St. Clair
RIP Metaverse, we hardly knew ye
Mark Zuckerberg spent years trying to make the Metaverse happen, but now it has been replaced by AI and is headed to the tech industry idea graveyard.
InsiderEd Zitron

Years ago, we developed a conceptual application of robotic creatures in cities that measured air pollution (PACT); it was the start of the Cities of Things research project. It becomes now partly reality.

New Low-Cost Device Developed by MIT Can Measure Air Pollution Anywhere
An open-source tool developed by MIT’s Senseable City Lab allows individuals to easily and affordably monitor air quality. Air pollution poses a major threat to public health, with the World Health Organization attributing over 4 million premature deaths globally each year to poor air quality. De
SciTechDailyColin Collins

Did you follow the hype around Humane? Especially the unrealistic product demo. Now online:

Cars driving computers is becoming cheezy to say; it was already a long time the case for Mircomobility, defined by the app experience even more than the ride. In that sense, it is interesting to see how Qualcomm is extending this market by acquiring Autotalks.

Qualcomm acquires Autotalks to boost Snapdragon’s automotive safety technology, reportedly for $350-400M
Qualcomm’s longer term bet on the automotive sector as a lucrative customer base for its chips and related communications technology is getting a significant push today: The company announced that it is acquiring Autotalks, a fabless chipmaker out of Israel that builds semiconductor and system-on-a-…
TechCrunchIngrid Lunden

Robots without chips

Origami Robotics: Scientists Push the Boundaries of Autonomous Capabilities
A team led by UCLA created autonomous OrigaMechs without chips, utilizing conductive materials. Roboticists have adopted a method resembling the traditional art of paper folding to fabricate autonomous machines from thin, pliant sheets. These lightweight robots are more straightforward and cost-eff
SciTechDailyColin Collins

What makes you more happy, possessions or experiences?

Experiences Won’t Make You Happier Than Possessions
Be skeptical of pop psychology studies
EverySasha Chapin

In other news…

Popular IKEA Chair Turns Computer Monitor Off, Baffling Everyone
A programmer was confused when his office chair started zapping his 4K monitor. Then he found other people complaining about the same problem.
VICEErnie Smith

And, similar in the series of unintended consequences

The Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind?’ Is Turning Off Alarms on Google Pixels
The Pixies tweeted “Sorry about that! ⏰ 📱 🛑” after fans noticed the band’s hit was deactivating their a alarms.
GizmodoMiguel Jorge

Some people from Vai Kai introduce a new toy with an educational touch. Crowdfunding.

A2ZEBRA - Learn mathematics in a playful way
Interactive dice game for elementary school children. Your child learns mathematics in a playful way, on their own and without any pressure.
a2zebra GmbH

Paper for this week

A relevant paper deals with the political impact of AI.

“This chapter discusses the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) from the vantage point of political economy, based on the following premises: (i) AI systems maximize a single, measurable objective. (ii) In society, different individuals have different objectives. AI systems generate winners and losers. (iii) Society-level assessments of AI require trading off individual gains and losses. (iv) AI requires democratic control of algorithms, data, and computational infrastructure, to align algorithm objectives and social welfare.”

Kasy, M. (2023, April 19). The Political Economy of AI: Towards Democratic Control of the Means of Prediction. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/x7pcy

See y’all next week!