Does AI Autocomplete Covertly Shift Human Opinions? This paper presents evidence that it has. If you've ever used a chatbot to suggest ideas, it can be quite persuasive in presenting selective facts that support a stance. I've often challenged a few of the major chatbots on their opinions and present opposing evidence. The response is always "You raise excellent points" and acknowledges that there is another side to an point position. Another recent paper suggests that most of the major chatbots express the same answer to many topics that are open-ended and don't have a single factual answer. If these chatbots were able to function like Community Notes does on X, then that might be helpful, but given the lefty-bend of the employees that staff AI companies, I am not heartened. It's probably another mind-wash.
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Impressive. OPPO is a smartphone maker that has finally solved the crease problem in foldable phones. I don't know if Apple has approached these guys to license their technology. Very nice. But I still want something like the phones in Corning's A Day Made of Glass and A Day Made of Glass 2. Of course, all that glass wouldn't last a day in Portland. 🙄
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Heh. How to tell if you're dealing with an AI robocaller. They're sounding more realistic every day.
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28.16% of adults claim to have at least one intimate or romantic relationship with an AI.
Adults 60 years and older are more likely to consider intimate relationships with AI as not cheating.
More than half of Americans claim to have some kind of relationship with an AI system.
ChatGPT is the #1 AI platform adults feel they have a relationship with, Amazon’s Alexa is #3, Apple’s Siri is #4, and Google’s Gemini is #5.
Oh my. All those intimate conversations attached to user IDs, recorded and trained upon. People are that...crazy. 🤦🏻♂️ If you must, use local-hosted LLMs, folks! Open-source models are dying to meet you!
Oh, and sometimes, those "AI girlfriends" aren't really AI. They're just paid actors, who can be grossed out by reading what you type in. Yuck.
Here's another example of someone who was arrested because of a poorly trained computer vision system. A Tennessee grandmother spent 6 months in jail falsely accused of a crime in a different state. Having written an AI facial recognition app myself, I know how difficult these systems are. People age. They may sport different hairstyles. Men may have tonsorial variations. Women can really look different with make-up (as many men can attest to). People can wear glasses. Different lighting can change appearances. Then there can be differences in head tilt. Facial recognition could be a start of an investigation, but it shouldn't be used as the sole reason for imprisonment. But law enforcement personnel aren't AI experts. They rely on software procurers to recommend what to purchase. This is really unfortunate.
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Colon cancer deaths are the leading cause of cancer deaths in those younger than age 50. In men only, actually. Breast cancer deaths are still the highest in females in that age group.
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Unbelievable. A 3.1 mm magnet that is about as strong as a large industrial magnet. It uses a ceramic superconductor called REBCO (rare earth barium copper oxide). This could have applications such as in MRI scanners.
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Interesting take on how AI may not actually kill off jobs. It analogizes with the fact that ATMs didn't eliminate bank teller positions as was predicted. In fact, there were more bank tellers after these were introduced. But later on, bank teller positions did decrease, but it was due to the mobile phone – something that was not anticipated. I feel the same way. Companies are slow to figure out that you will still need engineers. But it is true that jobs that can easily be automated are going to be reduced significantly. The job skills that will be sought after in the future will be recalibrated.
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Nostalgia. A collection of essays with the same theme: The Internet used to be fun. It still is, but in a different way. It's also far less private, so while you're having your fun, be more careful. It's sort of like this artlcle about why computers are not automatically making people smarter. Computers, like the Internet, like AI, are just tools. They have and will make smart people more productive and smarter. But in the hands of people who just want to be entertained, the tech will very effectively numb your mind.
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Maybe the loss of memory that occurs with aging is due to bad gut bacteria? Well, at least in mice.
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Risk of ischemic optic neuropathy is just a risk with semaglutide, not tirzepatide. Nice to know.
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OpenUI is a webapp that can create apps for you. Try the playground. I used their weather app template to create a weather app. I can do that already with my AI tools. When you have something that just gives you the code, with no input from you, there is no learning. I like that I can design my own app, with my own features. And since I build it a step at a time and see it come to fruition and watch it grow, I learn something.
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Nearly 1 in 5 house hunters want to relocate. Top places to flee from are: Los Angeles (topping the list), followed by New York City, San Jose-San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago. I read a comment someone posted that real estate agents in the Seattle area are seeing a burst of activity as people want to move away from the area.
And what's a living wage? Nowhere in the United States is the minimum wage as high as the living wage. Yet folks like Bernie Sanders think that all jobs should pay a living wage. That's unrealistic, but Bernie has never had a real job in his life, so he wouldn't know. Minimum wage in Seattle, Burien and Tukwila is already more than $20 /hour, and some lawmakers want to raise it further. Which is why the living wage there has increased to $30 /hour, and will keep increasing.
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Phil Knight gave $1 million to Chris Dudley's gubernatorial campaign. Chris is a very nice guy and would make a great governor, but this is Oregon, and there are so many headwinds. Phil should have given him more – like $5 million to really move the needle, not just give him parity with Christine Drazan. Go big or go home!
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