Weeknotes 301 - unraveling roles through robotic fashion

Hi, y’all!

Last week no events to visit. I went to the AI exhibition “Photography Through The Lens of AI” in the photo museum in Amsterdam (FOAM), which was nicely divided into four chapters; Missing Body (exploring forms and how AI is represented), Missing Person (what does it mean AI can substitute humans), Missing Camera, AI is creating events etc that never took place, and Missing Viewer: no need for humans, AI can live on its own. Not all the work was super good, but it was definitely worth the visit. Without planning to, it connected rather well to the triggered thoughts of last week on “sensors impersonating cameras to recreate reality”.

One project (Street Ghosts) from the parallel exhibition on art project by Paolo Cirio was a kind of reversed version of the lovely James Bridle's project Render Ghosts: The artist took the blurred people in Google Streetview pictures and printed these full-size back into reality at that location. See below.

A project showed the shadows of people without the person, which the AI removed. I wondered what would happen if you fed the AI images of people (or objects), not the real people but only the shadows. Would the AI be able to create interesting originals from those shadows?

Among this one is on my endless reading list. You know about bias in AI, but she had the right examples, and it was a pleasant conversation.

Triggered thought

Watching this short documentary “The secret robot that will disrupt fashion” on a new way of clothing production made me think about different lenses on generative things; the theme we have developed for TH/NGS 2024 conference is all about formulating questions about things that become like co-performing partners. They are starting conversations with us to generate new and possible unexpected output.

The Vega factory portrayed in the documentary is creating a way to weave yarns into clothing pieces that are much more efficient and custom-made. Sometimes, it is like taking out the middle machines that we need and going directly from demand to production.

One thought is what the role of design will be in this case. Will we have a form of co-design where the order of design and making is shifted? Will the designer partner with the consumer to create the garment directly, but with the help of a designer who has special capabilities? Reversed co-design?

Another thought here is how generative AI will find its place. It will not only translate the human body into a readable protocol for the machine to print the garment you use but also become like that designer creating new variations and new combinations. Will the machine based on hidden possibilities create a new form of clothing? Will it create a jumpsuit instead of different pieces in a suit, or a different separation from bottom pieces (jeans) to tops, going left and right parts?

We see that there is a different relation with the machine. And a different deconstruction of tasks done by machines and humans. What if there is a production line in every city, instead of a shop for clothing, there is a machine that you can send orders to? Will there be workshops organized to create your personal clothing together with others and professional designers? Does that workshop replace the shopping? And of course, there will still be variations on what we see. We will have runways and fashion designers that inspire with totally different design methods. There will be fashion trends. This is a kind of immersive layer that is not made tangible before we create the custom “printed” piece.

Troy Nachtigall is researching the relation of robotic machines for garment production is topic of research at Wearble Data Lab by Troy Nachtigall. Is this happening already and how far is this developed? What is the impact of new generative AI to a market system like fashion?

For the subscribers or first-time readers (welcome!), thanks for joining! A short general intro: I am Iskander Smit, educated as an industrial design engineer, and have worked in digital technology all my life, with a particular interest in digital-physical interactions and a focus on human-tech intelligence co-performance. I like to (critically) explore the near future in the context of cities of things. And organising ThingsCon. I call Target_is_New my practice for making sense of unpredictable futures in human-AI partnerships. That is the lens I use to capture interesting news and share a paper every week.

Notions from the news

Another week of turmoil at OpenAI, with some key people leaving the company. Is this a pure battle for power or serious signs of the breakdown of the company? Is OpenAI alre§ady “too big to fail”?

In the meantime, developments have been very fast and AI has come a long way in a short time…

If there is an AI bubble now, the capabilities are not the direct reason.

Three reasons we’re in an AI bubble (and four reasons we’re not)

AI critics are right about the industry’s challenges — but they risk missing the larger story

PlatformerCasey Newton

Human-AI partnerships

How to deal with unwanted hallucinations (sometimes hallucinations can contribute to “generating out of the box”), Apple is preparing. Better safe than sorry…

“Do not hallucinate”: Testers find prompts meant to keep Apple Intelligence on the rails

Long lists of instructions show how Apple is trying to navigate AI pitfalls.

Ars TechnicaAndrew Cunningham

Addictive intelligence makes a lot of sense. Like TikTok is a master in addictive pleasing, it feels like a no-brainer this will happen too with chatbots. On purpose or as “collateral damage” as part of having an engaging conversation.

Chatbots don’t chat

Continuing the theme of my post from over the weekend, here is some more on generative models and the simulations of attentiveness, intimacy, or friendship they are purported to provide.

Internal exileRob Horning

Embracing sub optimal relationships? Chicken or egg

Embracing Sub-Optimal Relationships

The Convivial Society: Vol. 5, No. 10

The Convivial SocietyL. M. Sacasas

As always, nice explorations of thoughts on the future of apps as part of intelligent interaction experiences (I had some thoughts here), and translated to things. “That’s the lo-fi sci-fi future I want”. Matt is right.

No apps no masters

Posted on Friday 9 Aug 2024. 1,415 words, 11 links. By Matt Webb.

Interconnected, a blog by Matt Webb

An important aspect of the co-performance we will have with AI and alikes is the mutual conversation and adaption to each other capabilities. This research is a signal of this. And to connect: a new Astro Bot controller that create that interaction it seems.

People game AIs via game theory

They reject more of the AI’s offers, probably to get it to be more generous.

Ars TechnicaJohn Timmer

Sony’s adorable Astro Bot controller is now available for preorder

The next DualSense collab launches on September 6th.

The Verge

Will Humane be the first to fail? Hopefully, there are learnings. A good product is ruling a promising story.

Humane’s daily returns are outpacing sales

After raising $200 million from investors, Humane has only sold $9 million worth of products and has received $1 million in returned products.

The Verge

Is this real or another one following the playbook to create a narrative on the possible high impact and sell it for that same impact?

OpenAI Warns Users Could Become Emotionally Hooked on Its Voice Mode

The company has revealed details of AI model safety testing—including concerns about its new anthropomorphic interface.

WIREDCondé Nast

This is a standard pipeline and recipe for model post-training, enhancing models with synthetic data and human feedback loops (aka training).

A recipe for frontier model post-training

Apple, Meta, and Nvidia all agree — synthetic data, iterative training, human preference labels, and lots of filtering.

InterconnectsNathan Lambert

Robotic performances

More Waymo’s. Still in the current cities. In the meantime, the parking Waymos that are too polite for efficient driving is becoming a meme.

Waymo expands robotaxi service areas in LA, SF

Waymo says it’s currently serving well over 50,000 paid rides per week across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.

The Robot ReportThe Robot Report Staff

Hong Kong is also becoming a test bed.

Self-driving cars with level-4 automation being tested in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s trial of self-driving cars is making good progress, matching technology standards seen in mainland China and abroad.

Interesting EngineeringBojan Stojkovski

The most interesting robotics imho is using the principles for enhancing non-robotic or connected things.

Robotic buoys make their mark at the 2024 Paris Olympics - The Robot Report

This year’s sailing events at the Paris Olympics are using robotics buoys from Effetto Venturi for the first time.

The Robot ReportMike Oitzman

The robo-olympics has started

google deepmind’s robot arm can play competitive table tennis like a human and win

researchers at google deepmind have developed ABB’s robot arm to become a competitive table tennis player that can win the games.

designboom | architecture & design magazinematthew burgos | designboom

Apparently is this the archetype of cobots? It's a bit limited, but it's good to have the category established.

7 cobots released so far in 2024 - The Robot Report

A look at some of the new collaborative robots released this year and the trend toward larger, higher-payload cobots.

The Robot ReportBrianna Wessling

Immersive connectedness

I need to check my own archive; I think this was already a topic not long ago. Or it was discussed in a podcast. Still, it is interesting to follow if Apple is making the move towards more of a location search , than mainly be a navigation app: attacking Google Maps

A new Apple Maps ‘search here’ button will quickly target specific areas

One less reason to switch back to Google Maps.

The Verge

New Nest learning thermostats are quite rare.

Nest renewed: Google launches a complete redesign of the iconic smart thermostat

Nest’s new thermostat is a giant Pixel Watch on your wall.

The Verge

Tech societies

Thinking about futures is like fiction + facts. Very true and well fleshed out.

Fiction+Facts=Futures

Design Fiction is an approach and methodology that helps reveal and playfully represent possibilities in the form of pragmatic material artifacts. It does this so as to exercise the imagination, which is the existential capability we have to see/create/conjure the unexpected, unanticipated newness that we call ‘inspiration’ and ‘innovation.’ Design Fiction operates in the dynamic space between barely possible and pragmatic reality, playfully messing with the tension between the not true *yet and what could be(come). This approach ignites and inspires the kind of thinking that leads to farm-fresh ideas, while fostering the kind of engaged and thoughtful discussion that just makes one want to build something — to take action. The artifacts created through Design Fiction aren’t just imagined scenarios; they function as probes and materialized experiments in the form of things like advertisements, product specifications, instructions for things yet to be manufactured. They guide us through the complexities of the grounded world and reveal how our ideals and realities might intersect in impactful, transformative ways. It is a mindset as much as a methodology.

Near Future Laboratory

The next generation of facial recognition.

No facial recognition? No problem! How London Bridge tested tech to track individuals inside the station

AI cameras can use this one weird trick to sidestep privacy restrictions to follow people around

Odds and Ends of HistoryJames O’Malley

Let’s hope for positive developments.

Chinese team creates first AI training system that runs entirely on light

Taichi-II chip is fully optical and significantly boosts efficiency and performance, according to Tsinghua University scientists.

South China Morning PostZhang Tong

We can start thinking about a new AI engineer empowered by GitHub models.

Introducing GitHub Models: A new generation of AI engineers building on GitHub

We are enabling the rise of the AI engineer with GitHub Models – bringing the power of industry leading large and small language models to our more than 100 million users directly on GitHub.

The GitHub BlogThomas Dohmke

Googles Ruling is talk of the tech town (in the US for sure). Will it make a difference?

The Google monopoly ruling won’t save the internet

More competition won’t be enough to dismantle Silicon Valley’s power

DisconnectParis Marx

Reality is following fiction. Or fiction is activating reality.

He Made a Movie About Humans Rising Up Against AI. Now He’s Doing the Real Thing

Mike Rianda’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a sci-fi comedy about a family fighting back against Silicon Valley tech. As animators gear up to battle Hollywood studios, it’s becoming a fable.

WIREDCondé Nast

Paper for the week

Social robotics and mindfulness… “Social Robots, Mindfulness, and Kindergarten”. Rather applied research, I think

The objective of this paper is to present existing research on social robots and mindfulness, assess the potential benefits and challenges of integrating these two fields in kindergarten, and, most importantly, inspire future studies on the use of robots and mindful-ness in early childhood education.

Anagnostopoulou, P., & Drigas, A. (2024). Social Robots, Mindfulness, and Kindergarten. nternational Journal of Online and Biomedical Engineering (iJOE), 20(11), pp. 146–160. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v20i11.49503

Looking forward

Will be writing/completing proposals for ThingsCon and Wijkbot, planning and discussing sessions, and for ThingsCon also curating the program (and connecting with funding partners). Keep track of the latest here: https://thingscon.org/th-ngs-2024/
Also, the final preparations for the Salon in Amsterdam on 5 September. The number of participants for the workshop is almost reached, so go there if you like to join!

Enjoy your week!

PS: