AI Hype Soars, Stutters; Future Foggy, Fraught
AI Hype Soars, Stutters; Future Foggy, Fraught
Brew a fresh pot, recline, and let our assortment of futuristic morsels tantalize your mind as you embark on this week’s journey through the hazy, captivating landscape of tomorrow.
The Thin Wisps of Tomorrow
The Laser Projection Hype Reignited. By now, you have surely seen the many damning reviews of Humane’s AI Pin. The company has raised $230 million by combining failed concepts of laser projection on the body and projector phones, adding an AI twist for good measure. Despite the hype and founders’ Steve Jobs-esque attire, the device’s poor image quality, impracticality, and lack of advantages over smartphones make one wonder how so many big-name companies could fall for this old scam with a new AI coat of paint.
Alexa, shut up. Nothing ages as badly as a futurist’s prediction. Amazon is essentially shutting down Alexa Skills, the plug-in architecture which it hailed as the gateway to our voice-activated overlord’s heavens; one that admittedly I once touted as “the future”. It turns out that it takes the power of LLMs to make voice sing (maybe).
Less is More. After processing over 500 million GPT tokens, a startup founder shares surprising insights, revealing that less is often more when it comes to prompts and dependencies. While GPT-4 proves undeniably useful, its quirks and limitations, such as struggling with null hypotheses and output length, challenge common assumptions, hinting that the path to AGI may be paved with incremental improvements rather than revolutionary leaps.
AI Soars, Costs Skyrocket, Nerves Rise. The 2024 AI Index Report reveals an AI landscape marked by staggering advancements, jaw-dropping training costs, and a global populace growing increasingly anxious about the technology’s impact. As the U.S. leads the AI race and industry dominates research, the lack of standardized responsibility benchmarks leaves many wondering if we’re ready for the AI revolution that’s already at our doorstep.
What We Are Reading
🚶♂️ ‘All It Takes Is A Quick Walk’: How A Few Minutes’ Exercise Can Unleash Creativity – Even If You Hate It Scientists now confirm that even brief aerobic activities, such as climbing stairs or taking a short walk, can boost creativity and innovative thinking. So for all you productivity folks out there, it’s now proven that you can work on your health and problem-solving skills at the same time! @Jane
🚨 Crypto Fomo Is Back. So Are The Scams Scammers try to feed on FOMO. The number of memetoken presales increased fivefold between February and March of this year when the price of bitcoin surged to record heights. A third of the 369 presales in March alone were identified as scams. @Mafe
🧠 Brain Scans Of Philly Jazz Musicians Reveal Secrets To Reaching Creative Flow Whether you’re a jazz musician or a coder, there’s actually a sort of formula—or at least a common path—to unlocking flow-state creativity. @Jeffrey
🚮 Amazon Is Filled With Garbage Ebooks. Here’s How They Get Made. An illustrative account of how the current digital marketplace encourages the creation of absolutely worthless content that is best described not even as a product in itself but as a means to sell courses & guidelines for others on the apparent opportunity. @Julian
🌧️ How Cloud Seeding Works And Why It’s Wrongly Blamed For Floods From Dubai To California Cloud seeding artificially recreates the process by which rain and snow naturally occur: In normal clouds, microscopic droplets of water vapor are attracted to atmospheric aerosols like dust or salt from the sea. When enough water droplets converge around these, they form ice crystals and fall. @Pedro
🌿 We Need To Rewild The Internet The internet has become a centralized, controlled ecosystem, stifling innovation and resilience. Discover how the principles of ecological “rewilding” could revolutionize the future of our digital world. @Pascal
Bits & Pixels
Automation. The potential to revolutionize scientific research: Discover how AI-powered agents could supercharge the pace of innovation by embracing the wisdom of the past to pioneer the innovations of the future.
Breakthrough. OpenAI’s latest model rivals expert ophthalmologists in diagnosing eye conditions, signaling a new era of AI-assisted medicine. As the technology’s potential in healthcare soars, the question remains: will the medical profession embrace this revolutionary tool, or will resistance slow the pace of life-saving progress?
Constraint. AI’s insatiable appetite for electricity threatens to short-circuit its own growth. As tech giants grapple with power-starved data centers, the race is on to keep the lights on and the algorithms humming.
Disruption. A New York City fried chicken shop’s virtual cashier, streamed live from the Philippines, sparks debate about the future of work in the digital age. Do you want fries with that?
Growth. Amazon Prime continues to thrive, reaching a new milestone of 180 million US subscribers. That is more than every other American paying for Amazon’s bundle of VIP services.
Roadmap. Unlock the secrets to a thriving AI career with guidance from a pioneering expert. Andrew Ng’s free ebook on “How to Build Your Career in AI” might just be the bedtime reading your kids ought to do.
Shift. Gen Z is trading textbooks for toolboxes, embracing skilled trades as a path to stable, AI-resistant careers. Will this new wave of young workers be enough to fill the growing gap left by retiring boomers?
Showdown. In a groundbreaking test, an AI-controlled jet faced off against a human pilot in a high-speed dogfight. As the US Air Force pushes the boundaries of autonomous warfare, the question remains: who emerged victorious? And: What would Tom Cruise say?
Simulation. Nvidia’s Earth-2 harnesses the power of AI to create a digital twin of our planet, revolutionizing weather prediction. Will this cutting-edge technology help us navigate the storms of the future and prepare for climate change?
World Domination. ChatGPT continues to rule the world of LLMs, alas the competition starts to close in. Maybe even more interesting though is the fact that 90% of ChatGPTs traffic is coming from outside the US:
Some Fun Stuff
Teleport yourself back to the glorious ‘90s (or the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘00s), lean back, and channel surf some good old TV… 📺
Some random fun links: