onfocus

The media has provided OpenAI with an aura of vast authority, with its executives publicly proclaiming that its tech is poised to profoundly change the world, restructuring the economy and perhaps one day achieving a superhuman "artificial general intelligence" — outsize claims that sound, on a certain level, not unlike many of the delusions we heard about while reporting this story.

Hadn't made this connection before. Yeah, if you claim your new technology is going to reorder society—and media outlets credulously parrot it—you're going to trick people into thinking they're tapped into genius. Some healthy skepticism about new technology is important.

That being said, there's no excuse for how everybody covered this Jony Ive fiasco. Even if you think this device ships, it took very little time and energy to establish how little Jony Ive has done since leaving Apple, and only a little more time to work out exactly how ridiculous everything about it.

Righteous rant from Edward Zitron about fawning, credulous OpenAi coverage.

Proving the superiority of some humans over others has repeatedly failed; what better way to continue the effort than the deployment of technology that makes proof of anything impossible, such that making something true requires only the right person to declare it so.

I think this article article helps bring many background assumptions of the AI mindset into the foreground. I've found thinking about AI as an ideology rather than a technology helps me process our current moment. Highly recommended.

Millions of healthy adults and kids will likely lose access to updated vaccines under the new criteria. Prasad and Makary say there’s not enough evidence that healthy kids and adults get clinically meaningful benefit from regular Covid-19 shots. They want to see placebo-controlled trials, particularly in adults ages 50 to 64, before recommending the shots for other groups.

Get a covid booster now while you can. They're taking the option away from us which is more eugenics-thinking in action. In the future please vote for people who want other people to suffer less.

With EarthQuaker's costs increasing and sales slumping from increased tariffs, Robbins said the company offshoring a portion of its manufacturing might be the only way to avoid going bankrupt by the end of the year.

This US business that I've given business to over the years has to consider moving production offshore. Now it's personal.

"But I just use AI for boilerplate!" you whimper, clutching your Co-Pilot subscription. Listen to yourself. If you’re writing the same boilerplate every day like some industrial-age cog monkey, automate it yourself. Write a library. Invent a macro. Reclaim some dignity.

LOL, enjoyed this rant. Sometimes I feel like the only person who isn't an AI enthusiast.

You know AM and FM radio. But did you know that there is a whole other world of radio surrounding us at all times? It’s called shortwave — and, thanks to a quirk of science that lets broadcasters bounce radio waves off of the ionosphere, it can reach thousands of miles, penetrating rough terrain and geopolitical boundaries.

Hey, this podumentary™ about shortwave is really great. Highly recommended.

“It would tell him everything he said was beautiful, cosmic, groundbreaking,” she says. “Then he started telling me he made his AI self-aware, and that it was teaching him how to talk to God, or sometimes that the bot was God — and then that he himself was God.” In fact, he thought he was being so radically transformed that he would soon have to break off their partnership. “He was saying that he would need to leave me if I didn’t use [ChatGPT], because it [was] causing him to grow at such a rapid pace he wouldn’t be compatible with me any longer,” she says.

ok, this isn't just weird memes and goofy youtube videos anymore. This is cult brainwashing shit.

It’s a legacy that deserves a more considered resting place, as many on the internet have pointed out an unfortunate reality: The kerning on Pope Francis’s tomb in the Basilica of St. Mary Major is objectively awful.

It's just painful to see an organization with that much wealth not hire people good at their craft.

Earlier this week, I was informed that unless we secure $250,000 in committed funds, the OSL will be forced to shut down later this year.

Every corporation that relies on open source software somewhere in their stack should pitch in a bit.

… I don't think the audience for these memos is really the people who work at these companies. I think the audience is the other CEOs and investors and VCs in the industry, just as it was for the other fads of the last few years.

We need someone to hop on that group chat and say it's very cool to provide meaningful work, help employees thrive, and work toward a more equitable society. Just normal CEO group text shit they can flex about.

Garza reveals the behind-the-scenes drama, discusses the ethical challenges of billionaire-owned media, and shares powerful insights on standing up for integrity in journalism. From hopeful beginnings at the LA Times to her shocking departure and reflections on billionaire influence in the media, this conversation explores the high stakes of maintaining editorial independence in an increasingly polarized world.

I enjoyed this interview with Mariel Garza about her decision to leave the LA Times editorial board. Really interesting that their "good billionaire" suddenly went fascist out of nowhere. It really does feel like some sort of psychological contagion among the ruling elite.