AI Disrupts Coding, Meat, and Jobs | radical Weekend
Grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and enjoy your inaugural Radical Weekend—our dose of insights, links, and interesting (and sometimes weird) stuff from the future.
The Thin Wisps of Tomorrow
GitHub’s coding assistant, Copilot, demonstrably boosts productivity. A case study surveyed Copilot users about the tool’s effect on their efficiency, aiming to validate their perceptions against actual user data. As it turns out, it does make the average coder significantly more productive. However...
Cognition just changed the coding game. The AI startup released Devin, which allows you to develop code end-to-end. Gone are the days when you needed to know at least a bit about software engineering; Devin is a full-fledged software engineer. This answers the question we raised in one of our slides: What happens when we automate the software engineer?
Prompt Engineering might not be the job of the future. Just a year ago, the venerable World Economic Forum declared “prompt engineer” the number one job of the future. This week, Anthropic (the company behind Claude AI) released a metaprompt framework that takes your prompt-writing skills to the next level—no degree in prompt engineering needed. Prompt Engineers: We hardly knew you...
Amy Webb drops her annual trend report. Another year, another SXSW, and yet another excellent trend report from Future Today Institute founder Amy Webb. I doubt anyone reads this tome cover to cover—the PDF clocks in at 979 pages—but it’s chock-full of insights and definitely worth browsing through.
Some US states are working on banning lab-grown meat. Never underestimate the power of entrenched interests—such as the farming lobby. From Arizona to Florida, bills are being put forward to prevent the sale of lab-grown meat—ostensibly to protect consumers from “franken-meat,” but more importantly, to protect US farming interests.
What We Are Reading
🤝 How Co-Leaders Succeed Co-leadership, where an executive, department, or team shares leadership roles, can lead to more creative and strategic problem-solving and wiser decision-making. Check out these seven strategies to enhance co-leadership success. @Jane
🧠 This Is What Your Brain Does When You’re Not Doing Anything The default mode network in the brain is a complex and interconnected system that remains active during rest, playing a crucial role in various cognitive functions and interactions between different brain networks. @Mafe
🤯 One Reason Hybrid Work Makes Employees Miserable Exploding “overhead tax”—the set of administrative commitments and conversations that come with every additional task to be done—is a major problem for hybrid workforces, which are especially prone to spending more time talking about and managing work than actually doing it. @Jeffrey
🛍️ A $400 Million Bet Says This Is the Mall of the Future The hourglass is coming into effect in the retail sector, describing efforts to reshape what traditional retail space might look like in the future. Luxury products and lifestyle experiences aim to go far beyond shopping to entice visitors. @Julian
🤔 The Dream-Chaser’s Milestone Dilemma The “Dream Chaser’s Milestone Dilemma” is the ambivalence and conflict creative individuals feel as they pursue their dreams while watching others achieve traditional adult milestones. @Pedro
📉 Gartner Predicts Search Engine Volume Will Drop 25% By 2026, Due to AI Chatbots and Other Virtual Agents In last week’s Briefing, we discussed the far-reaching implications of search traffic being replaced by AI queries – now research firm Gartner predicts that search traffic will plummet by a staggering 25% within the next two years. @Pascal
Bits & Pixels
» Cloudflare, the massive Internet infrastructure company, has just announced its groundbreaking “Firewall for AI” offering—a significant stride towards securing AI at the edge.
» AI firm Stability.AI has released its Stable Diffusion 3 research paper, providing a captivating insight into the intricate mechanics of its cutting-edge model.
» When it comes to automotive controls, physical knobs triumph over touchscreens every single time.
» Why do AR headsets all look like oversized ski goggles? There’s a reason.
» Train your dragon: Answer.AI releases open source system enabling 70b language model training on desktop computers with standard gaming GPUs.
» E-Bikes have overtaken buggies for some Amish.
» A fascinating insight into Meta’s approach to building their AI infrastructure.
radical Ignite Session: The Future of Spatial Computing (or: Whatever happened to AR and VR?)
Join Pascal Finette in our dynamic bimonthly live event series to dive into the heart of innovation. Pascal engages in candid conversations with eminent experts who demonstrate progress in practice.
On Thursday, March 21st, starting at Noon EST, we feature Aaron Frank, a longtime expert in Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Spatial Computing. Together, we will explore the future of this field.
With the recent release of Apple’s Vision Pro headset, Meta’s ongoing efforts, the continuous updates to the Quest Pro hardware, and the entry of new companies into the market, this could be the moment when headset-based computing takes off – or not?! Join our radical Ignite Session to find out!
Candy 🍬
I enjoyed my conversation with Gabriel Rath on the New Work Chat podcast, where we delved into the topics of curiosity, the world’s trajectory when it comes to technology, and my intriguing encounter with Steve Jobs (a tale for another time). As an added bonus, you’ll have the opportunity to hear me speak German—a language I seldom use these days.
🎧 #214 Pascal Finette, CEO “Be Radical”: Es lebe die Neugier!
Some Fun Stuff
Witness server-throwing athletes unleash their raw power in an unconventional display of strength and skill: CloudFest’s annual World Server Throwing Championship merges the ancient sport of discus throwing with the modern tech world for a quirky, tongue-in-cheek spectacle. 💪🖥️🏆
Tired/Wired
Twitter → X
Skype → X
Roku → X
4Chan → X
X → MySpace
(*) The “Tired/Wired” column in Wired magazine was a regular feature acting as a cultural pulse, spotlighting what was deemed “out” (Tired) and what was “in” (Wired) across technology, culture, business, and beyond.