Links
Chatbot Hype Like it's 2016 All Over Again
Simon Willison.net: Think of Language Models Like ChatGPT as a “Calculator for Words”
I like to think of language models like ChatGPT as a calculator for words.
The more I use these tools, the more I think the narrative around "Microsoft makes Google dance by adding GPT to Bing," narrative is more
Links
That "Let's Pause AI" Letter is a Mess
Chloe Xiang: The Open Letter to Stop 'Dangerous' AI Race Is a Huge Mess
“It's essentially misdirection: bringing everyone's attention to hypothetical powers and harms of LLMs and proposing a (very vague and ineffective) way of addressing them, instead of looking at the harms here and now and addressing
Links
ChatGPT Will Hype Up Trump, Please Stop Reporting that it Won't
Pranav Dixit: This Uncensored Chatbot Shows What Happens When AI Is Programmed to Disregard Human Decency
Still, AI chatbots have recently become targets of political culture wars. At least one study of ChatGPT bias found that its responses skewed “progressive” and “Democratic.” Even today, asking ChatGPT to write an ode to Donald Trump results in
Links
eSIM Has Some Major Benefits
Brian X. Chen: Attention, Travelers: Now Is the Best Time to Switch to eSIM
As vacation season looms, now is as good a time as ever to bite the bullet and become familiar with a smartphone feature that many of us have ignored for years: the eSIM, the digital version of the SIM card that
Links
It’s More Than Just Elon Who Gets Artificially Boosted Into Your Timeline
Zoë Schiffer: The Secret List of Twitter VIPs Getting Boosted Over Everyone Else
But Twitter does have a different standard
Links
What Was the First Thing You Asked ChatGPT?
Stuart A. Thompsonm Tiffany Hsu, and Steven Lee Myers: As Chatbots Spread, Conservatives Dream About a Right-Wing Response
The program has, for instance, written an ode to President Biden, but it has declined to write a similar poem about former President Donald J. Trump, citing a desire for neutrality. ChatGPT also told one user
Links
Liberal Use of the Exploding Head Emoji Over Nothing
John Gruber: It’s Game Over on Vocal Deepfakes
Now come this: a Twitter thread from John Meyer, who trained a clone of Jobs’s voice and then hooked it up to ChatGPT to generate the words. The clips he posted to Twitter are freakishly uncanny. It really sounds like Jobs. The only hitch is
Links
The Venture Capitalist's Dilemma
Molly White: The Venture Capitalist's Dilemma
We have found ourselves in a scenario where the investor class has, yet again, managed to privatize profits and socialize losses. While many of these powerful, wealthy, and connected individuals have pushed for policies that would scale back government and regulators, promoted cryptocurrencies they believe to be
Links
Off to Register Myself with the Florida Government
Jacob Ogles: Bloggers Having to Register With the State if They Want to Criticize the State.
The bill then requires reporting with the state “if a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post.” Registration is required within five days of any blog mentioning
Links
More Asterisks Than Expected
Zoë Schiffer: How Twitter keeps competitors off its For You page
Shadow-banning corporate accounts of competitors is more unusual – but consistent with Elon Musk’s ill-fated decision to ban people from posting links to their Mastodon accounts in December, which he quickly rolled back.
Free speech absolutism sure comes with more asterisks than
Links
The Toothpaste is Out of the Tube
Isaiah Colbert: That ‘AI-Generated’ Anime Is a Slap in the Face to Pro Animators
Unlike the breathtaking Dragon Ball Z fan film, Dragon Ball: Legends—which took the indie studio Studio Stray Dog four years to make—Corridor Digital’s attempt at recreating the passion and energy displayed in early-aughts anime comes off
Links
The Oddest A.I. Opinion I’ve Read so Far
Brian X. Chen, Nico Grant, and Karen Weise: How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant Lost the A.I. Race
The excitement around chatbots illustrates how Siri, Alexa and other voice assistants — which once elicited similar enthusiasm — have squandered their lead in the A.I. race.
This is a very odd article, and this specific paragraph
Links
My Year Of Dicks Should Have Won Best Animated Short
Dan Kois: That Oscar Absolutely Should Have Gone to My Year of Dicks
I’m here to tell you that yes, it is too bad My Year of Dicks didn’t win. And while even the most diehard cinema fans don’t usually spend a lot of time talking about the shorts categories at the
Links
From Stereotype to a New Kind of Hero
Walter Chaw: It Took Me Nearly 40 Years to Stop Resenting Ke Huy Quan
I carried resentment of these characters with me into adulthood. They amplified my feelings of otherness. I grew up wanting to be Luke Skywalker in a culture that could only see Asian men as sexless sidekicks or (also sexless) kung fu
Links
I Use Mastodon Like I Use RSS
Eric M.: Single-User Mastodon Instance Is a Bad Idea
If you're thinking about setting up your own single-user Mastodon instance for similar reasons, I urge you not to do it. The user experience is so broken that it's baffling that anyone would find it acceptable.
Everything the author points
Links
Tucker in the Group Chat vs Tucker on TV
Aaron Blake: 4 Takeaways From the New Dominion-Fox Lawsuit Documents
[Tucker] Carlson responded: “All of them fail. What he’s good at is destroying things. He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong. It’s so obvious.”
And:
Two days before Jan. 6, Carlson
Links
WTF Was that Google Event?
Benj Edwards: In Paris Demo, Google Scrambles to Counter ChatGPT but Ends Up Embarrassing Itself
On Wednesday, Google held a highly anticipated press conference from Paris that did not deliver the decisive move against ChatGPT and the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership that many pundits expected. Instead, Google ran through a collection of previously announced technologies in
Links
When You Won't Admit Your Heart Sings
Barbara Krasnoff: Where Are the Good Android Apps for Mastodon?
Currently, the one that’s recommended most often seems to be Tusky, but I’ve tried that, and while it looks like a decent app, it just doesn’t do it for me. There are several others out there, some still in development, so I’
