AI

Against “Brain Damage”

AI doesn't damage our brains, but unthinking use can damage our thinking. What's at stake isn't our neurons but our habits of mind. There is plenty of work worth automating or replacing with AI (we rarely mourn the math we do with calculators), but also a lot of work where our thinking is important. For these problems, the... See more

maps. But kids growing up with AI companions are learning that meaningful relationships involve curiosity about context. They expect technology that notices their environment, conversations that build on visual cues, interactions that feel personally tailored to their current moment, and responses that connect to their physical world, not just... See more

The AI industry oscillates between fear-mongering and utopianism. In that dichotomy is hidden a subtle manipulation. Where’s the middle ground? Where are the headlines that treat AI as normal technology? Is it not possible that the world will mostly stay the same, with a few perks or a few downsides, and a few trade-offs?

No, they jump from “AI will... See more

AI is a tool, and like any other, it should follow the golden rule: All tools must enhance, never erode, your most important one—your mind. Be curious about AI, but also examine how it shapes your habits and your thinking patterns. Stick to that rule and you'll have nothing to fear.

Penrose.com created a benchmark for basic account balance tracking, using a year’s worth of actual data from places like Stripe — and found a result that I suspect will be typical: AI errors tend to compound over time. (In fairness, ChatGPT agent wasn’t yet out when Penrose ran the test, but I would be surprised if their results were wildly... See more

If you don’t have time to read this post, these five graphs give most of the argument. Each includes both the energy/water cost of using ChatGPT in the moment and the cost of training GPT-4 divided by the number of prompts:

Life and being an “I” is about having experiences in the physical world, about suffering and joy and curiosity and protectiveness and fascination and humor and lack of understanding and an underlying (if only vague) sense of profound loss and fear of death (one’s own and of one’s loved ones). It is not the glib throwing-about of technical phrases... See more