Since 1998 I've had privileged access to certain tech R&D.

I know it's easy to forget the A in AI is the defining descriptor of the type of "intelligence" & be wowed.

But it's become v important to pay attention to what informed critics are saying than what techbros* selling a product say. Undefined concepts of "humanity" & overemphasis on $ cost/value in AI prevail in the latter's discourse.

*Yes, apt term: https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/16/1065255/sam-altman-openai-lessons-from-dall-e-2/

https://greylock.com/greymatter/sam-altman-ai-for-the-next-era/

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/11/meta-researchers-create-ai-that-masters-diplomacy-tricking-human-players/

"In his '92 book The Culture of Contentment, a series of essays that ring very true today, the late economist JK Galbraith wrote that “individuals & communities that are favored in their econ, social & political condition attribute social virtue & political durability to that which they themselves enjoy. That attribution, in turn, is made to apply even in the face of commanding evidence to the contrary” @gregggonsalves

Today's required read. There will be a quiz. #covid
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/covid-surge-response-ignored/

Hahahahah. Holy shit.

So Zoom is irrevocably turning their entire network into a training data set: https://hackers.town/@devlogic/110843380784157782

EVERY "public service" company is now attempting to extract value. They're all going for it. They're gonna burn it all down to try and turn AI into a financial exit. Search engines, communication backbones, social networks, everybody.

My read is they're all shit terrified of the impact AI will have and aren't long-term thinkers, so their only short term play is to burn it all down and exit ASAP. Never mind that what they're burning down is, uh, the entirety of our infrastructure. They don't care.