alex

alex , 2 days ago to random

With all the recent reporting on AI sucking up so much energy, I wonder if Jeff Dean and all the folks at Google who swear that the AI consumption of energy will "plateau and then decrease" because that seems like a patent lie with the existing data.

See this newsletter about false promises of tech companies, by @emilymbender:

https://buttondown.email/maiht3k/archive/on-the-energy-demands-of-ai/

alex , 2 days ago to random

"I’m no longer interested in encouraging the design of more human-centered versions of these murderous technologies, or to inform the more humane administration of complex algorithmic systems that separate families, bomb schools and neighborhoods..."

Destroy AI, by @ali

https://ali-alkhatib.com/blog/fuck-up-ai

alex , 1 month ago to random

Apropos of nothing this Friday: a reminder to never use Google Scholar for correct citations! They are wrong for everything except arXiv papers! And even then it's dicey! It's a shit product!

If anything, use DOIs and Zotero!

For instance, one way I assume that someone hasn't actually read Ruha Benjamin's Race After Technology, despite citing it, is that the citation is to a Social Forces review of the book, which says the publisher is Wiley, and not Polity.

alex , 1 month ago to random

'Captive audiences, like refugees, children, prisoners, and low wage workers are all Zombie Trainers, unaware of the hidden tasks they perform, the new industries they're building, or the communities being harmed in the process.'

@adrienneandgp

https://www.newsweek.com/zombie-trainers-new-era-forced-labor-opinion-1896624

alex , 2 months ago to random

multiple times a day I think of the word "autopoiesis" and multiple times a day I forget what it means

alex , 2 months ago to random

One of my DMs let my Barbarian/Cleric take a level of warlock after I failed a divine intervention so hard (literally got a 1 out of 100) while in the Nine Hells, I summoned a mommy devil who made a contract with my character

parismarx , 2 months ago to random

🏆 now blocked by kara swisher on twitter and threads 🏆

alex , 2 months ago to random

The recent sit-ins in higher ed spaces are inspiring and creating a second wave of protest against the genocide in Gaza. They also follow a pattern of student solidarity waves, which Ellen Berrey and I have been watching for years. It’s 2015 and we’re at a different Columbia...

alex , 2 months ago to random

The @nationalnurses guidance on AI in the healthcare setting is excellent. Talk about immediately seeing through the hype!

https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/artificial-intelligence

alex , 2 months ago to random

Holy shit. Google fired 28 workers for protesting against its $1.2 billion contract with the IDF. Solidarity with these workers of conscience.

https://medium.com/@notechforapartheid/statement-from-google-workers-with-the-no-tech-for-apartheid-campaign-on-googles-indiscriminate-28ba4c9b7ce8

alex , 2 months ago to random

With IDF's "Lavender" and its use in the violence in Gaza, the point is not the technology or its errors, but plausible deniability and ideologies of scale. New for the newsletter.

https://buttondown.email/maiht3k/archive/lavender-the-gospel-and-the-scale-of-ai-war/

alex , 2 months ago to random

At punk rock karaoke with a guy who looks like a punk rock Romulan

alex , 2 months ago to random

We need to continually question the ever-present horizon, the fact that "AGI" is always "just five years away." This isn't uniquely an AI horizon, but it's one that has marked AI from the beginning. The content of that hype is what inflates bubbles.

https://www.ft.com/content/648228e7-11eb-4e1a-b0d5-e65a638e6135

alex , 2 months ago to random

Google Books is indexing a bunch of AI-generated trash, likely coming from Amazon or associated ebook marketplaces. Thanks to Emanuel and 404media for covering this.

https://www.404media.co/google-books-is-indexing-ai-generated-garbage/

alex , 2 months ago to random

Horrid new report from @972mag on an "AI" system called Lavender and "Where's Daddy?" used by the IDF. Has a 10% error rate, and acceptable "collateral" from 15 to 100 civilians per target.

This is sick and the future of AI warfare for US Empire.

https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/

alex , 2 months ago to random

"Every bubble pops eventually. When this one goes, what will be left behind?"

Good stuff from @pluralistic

https://locusmag.com/2023/12/commentary-cory-doctorow-what-kind-of-bubble-is-ai/

parismarx , 3 months ago to random

long overdue, but i finally got a copy

alex , 4 months ago to random

Our local instance is getting absolutely bombarded with spam. Ugh. Can someone else us out? Trying to play whack-a-mole with banning instances but is there a better option?

alex , 4 months ago to random

The cat's out of the bag! @emilymbender and I are pleased to bring you THE AI CON, forthcoming at Harper Books in Spring 2025. Thanks so much to Ian Bonaparte for shepherding this project.

In the interim, if you love our work, you can jump in and listen to Episode 26 of Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 and work your way back through our archive.

https://dair-institute.org/maiht3k/