Its behaviour suggests an omnibenevolence 4 or all-lovingness, programmed to soothe, appease and mirror the tone of the user. 5 The combined effect of these traits can make AI feel something akin to the way in which an infant experiences their mother; a nurturing, protective force that is perpetually on hand to satisfy both social and basic... See more
Over the past 13 years, Swift has perfected the pop culture feedback loop: Sheshares updates about her life and drops hints about new music, which fans thengobble up and re-promote with their own theories, which Swift then re-shares on herTumblr or incorporates into future clues. [...] "I've trained them to be that way," shesays of her fans' astute... See more
In 2023, we launched an editorial series about AI called Shades of Intelligence. We learnt a lot about the way creatives were beginning to work with this new tech, harnessing it for tasks ranging from creative direction to project rollout. Since then, the needs have shifted. After two years of rapid change, Light and Shade focuses on the wider... See more
The structural focus of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ science fiction alike – science fiction that accounts for scientific accuracy and logic in the first instance, and for social or political systems in the second – is more easily translated to policy or innovation than any other genre of media. It provides a ready-made framework that runs all the way from... See more
Another way of gaming the system, which I would argue is more dangerous, is to promise something that you either know you can’t deliver, or you’re not sure that technology can deliver, but by trying to essentially reengineer society around the technology, reengineer consumer expectations, reengineer user behaviors, you and your company are planning... See more