TagTechnology
AI: Tool or Companion?
Personalized AI systems only make sense in a friendless society.
Internal Meta Document Reveals Shockingly Permissive Standards
Advocates call for more safety as AI bots flood the sceneAccording to a report from Reuters, Meta, parent company of Facebook, has allowed its chatbot to flirt and have “sensual” conversations with children. Meta AI is now accessible on various Meta platforms, and age limits are essentially suggestions, not requirements. Anyone can lie about their age and create an account. Jeff Horwitz writes, These and other findings emerge from a Reuters review of the Meta document, which discusses the standards that guide its generative AI assistant, Meta AI, and chatbots available on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, the company’s social-media platforms. Meta confirmed the document’s authenticity, but said that after receiving questions earlier this month from Reuters, the company removed portions which stated it is permissible for chatbots to flirt and engage Read More ›
The State of Reading in an AI World
Are we heading to a post-literate society?
MIT Study Associates ChatGPT Use with Cognitive Trouble
The ChatGPT users in the study lost major ground in creativity, memory, and deep thinkingA new study from MIT links excessive use of ChatGPT to a decline in critical thinking skills. Instead of making users more productive, the study finds that dependence on ChatGPT is associated with loss of memory and cognitive decline. In short, the AI tool isn’t making us smarter. It’s doing quite the opposite to us. The researchers divided participants into three groups: the LLM group, the search engine group, and the brain-only group. Here is a section of the abstract from the study, Brain-only participants exhibited the strongest, most distributed networks; Search Engine users showed moderate engagement; and LLM users displayed the weakest connectivity. Cognitive activity scaled down in relation to external tool use. In session 4, LLM-to-Brain participants showed Read More ›
Did Orwell’s 1984 Predict the Rise of AI?
A simple act like writing a diary entry emblemizes the struggle to stay humanThree books stand at the top of the dystopian genre, even several decades after their publication: Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley; Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury; and perhaps supremely, 1984, by George Orwell. Each novel features versions of a futuristic society in which freedom is restricted (through different means) and foresees a bleak existence governed by the basest impulses in the human race. While Orwell’s masterpiece is typically hailed as a warning of the surveillance state, where individuality is erased in favor of group identity, it is also about the rise of technologies that replace human thought. Novelist Walter Kirn points this out in a recent episode of America This Week: 1984 is the story of the extinguishing, the Read More ›
AI Still Can’t Think
It can only create the appearance of thought
Adult Content Site Leaves France Due to Age Verification Law
Will other countries follow suit?
Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 Can Deceive and Blackmail
Is AI getting out of control?
AI: The New Industrial Revolution?
Experts try to guess where AI is heading over the next few years
Is “New Media” Really the Answer?
Old and new media and the crisis of trust and expertise
Snapchat Has Been Totally Exposed
Employees admit the harms of the camera app
Famed Reclusive Novelist to Release New Novel in the Fall
How can writers and creators today attain success in their fields?
AI Slop is Invading the Culture, Replacing Writers
The antidote to AI slop is a renewal of aesthetic and literary taste
Are Colleges Beyond Saving?
They need to rediscover the purpose of higher education
Are We Experiencing a Universal Cognitive Decline?
People are increasingly having trouble reading, focusing, and solving complex problems.A new study shows that people are struggling more than ever to read, concentrate, and solve problems. The research comes just a few months after Oxford’s indicative decision to make “Brain Rot” its 2024 “Word of the Year.” Common experience itself lends itself to the conclusion that we are struggling to focus, that our attention is fragmented, and that simply thinking about one issue for more than a few seconds is difficult. The Financial Times reported that intelligence and reasoning capacities have declined since the early 2010s. While the COVID-19 pandemic is commonly blamed for the plummet and is indeed responsible for much of the cognitive decline, the downward trend preceded the crisis according to the study. John Burn-Murdoch reports: Read More ›
A New McDonald’s PlayPlace Doesn’t Look Very Fun
A virtual playground doesn't offer kids genuine play
Podcast Guest Claims He Won’t Die, Says We’re Creating God With AI
Got immortality? This man says he has the secret.
Re-enchanting the Secular West
More writers and intellectuals recognize the need for right-brain thinking