AI
Matt Ross and
AI
Just a moment...
perplexity.aiArtificial intelligence is already killing off important parts of the human experience. But one of its most consequential murders—so far—is the demise of a longstanding rite of passage for students worldwide: an attempt to synthesize complex information and condense it into compelling analytical prose. It’s a training ground for the most... See more
Brian Klaas • The Death of the Student Essay—and the Future of Cognition
Subsequent research by Gerstgrasser and colleagues at Stanford and MIT (arXiv:2404.01413) provides important qualification: model collapse is not inevitable if synthetic data accumulates alongside real data rather than replacing it. The pathological scenario assumes complete substitution—thoughtful data curation can prevent the worst outcomes.
Substack • The Cognitive Collapse Thesis: How Polluted Information Loops Are Degrading Both Machine and Human Intelligence—And What It Means for Capital, Power, and Civilization
I’m coming to terms with the high probability that AI will write most of my code which I ship to prod, going forward. It already does it faster, and with similar results to if I’d typed it out. For languages/frameworks I’m less familiar with, it does a better job than me.
The grief when AI writes most of the code
Enter Large Language Models (LLMs). The first tranche of products and startups leveraging LLMs has kept within the mental model of selling software to achieve step-function improvements in end-user productivity. The "Copilot for [x]" trend reflects this mental model. While there are fantastic startups innovating to improve employee productivity,... See more
Sarah Tavel • AI startups: Sell work, not software
AuthorityHacker surveyed 1,200 music consumers and got some striking results: 93% said they did not value AI-generated music as highly as music produced by humans. And, while over 60% said they would consider listening to AI music, some 56% also said they would not willingly pay for songs generated using AI. Perhaps most striking: 89% of those... See more
As AI fakes proliferate, we need to draw a clear distinction between human-made music and AI-generated content
Byron is my AI writing partner — powered by ChatGPT, shaped by a 7-page writing profile we built together. He doesn’t write for me, but with me. When I lose a thread or stall on phrasing, Byron offers possibilities — paths I might not have seen. Between my neural implants and Byron’s digital guidance, I now collaborate with two adaptive systems:... See more
For my 80th birthday I bought myself a new brain
I lost my mom to Parkinson’s this year, so this hit a nerve. My mom never would have done this sort of thing, but as the saying goes, this is the worst it will ever be. I hope I live disease-free long enough to see some significant treatment advancements for neurodegenerative diseases.
The irony is that I now know more than I ever would have before AI. But I feel slightly dumber. A bit more dull.
Dustin Curtis on Svbtle • Thoughts on Thinking
This whole post is very good. I don’t know whether Dustin is a canary or not, but he’s poking at some things I’ve been feeling to some degree.