A profile of Anthropic and its key executives like Chris Olah, and a look at Project Vend, an internal “Claudius” experiment to run the office vending machine
Researchers at the company are trying to understand their A.I. system's mind—examining its neurons …
A look at WhatsApp's massive global reach and influence, and how the messaging app became a core technology relied on by governments and extended families alike
The platform has become a core technology around the world, relied on by governments and extended families alike. What are we all doing there?
A therapist details treating ChatGPT as a “patient”, describing its programmed self-critique as “a brilliant means of seducing a techno-skeptical therapist”
Gary Greenberg / New Yorker :
A look at the potential future of personalized, AI-generated entertainment, and how it could both submerge human originality and enable new forms of expression
NOTE: Our Forums and CMS and RSS were nixed when our host updated Perl … Phil Hoad / The Guardian : An inside look at how Netflix's use of data led to generic “algorithm films” intended for broad appe...
A look at the potential future of personalized, AI-generated entertainment, and how it could both submerge human originality and enable new forms of expression
We're used to algorithms guiding our choices. When machines can effortlessly generate the content we consume, though, what's left for the human imagination? X: @newyorker . LinkedIn: Pinja Pakalen , ...
A profile of film studio A24, valued at $3.5B in June 2024, as it focuses on big budget projects and explores AI tools via A24 Labs, drawing mixed reactions
Alex Barasch / New Yorker :
Two new books on OpenAI and the AI industry bust Sam Altman's myths around OpenAI, and highlight the pursuit of power behind the do-gooder rhetoric
Two timely and myth-busting books show that the AI boom is driven by the pursuit of power, wealth and hubris
TikTok restores its service in the US, thanking Donald Trump for “the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties”
The company said this afternoon that it is “in the process of restoring service” and thanked President-elect Trump for …
The Trump administration's promises of mass deportations may lead to increased use of spyware like Graphite; ICE has a $2M contract with Graphite maker Paragon
Other Western democracies have been roiled by the use of spyware to target political opponents, activists, journalists, and other vulnerable groups.
HBO's documentary Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery says Peter Todd, known for his Bitcoin codebase contributions, is Satoshi Nakamoto, a claim Todd denies
A new HBO documentary takes a swing at uncovering the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, inventor of Bitcoin.
Parents and US lawmakers are debating whether social media has fueled a teen suicide crisis, as mental health struggles have risen sharply among young Americans
Mental-health struggles have risen sharply among young Americans, and parents and lawmakers alike are scrutinizing life online for answers. Bluesky: @madelinevo.bsky.social and @caseyjohnston.bsky.soc...
The use of AI techniques has accelerated and improved drug discovery efforts, as antibiotic-resistant infections contribute to 1.5M deaths annually
The A.I. revolution is coming to a pharmacy near you. — When I first became a doctor, I cared for an older man whom I'll call Ted. X: @erictopol X: Eric Topol / @erictopol : The #AI drug discovery r...
As social media platforms pivot away from news distribution, a look at news sites like The Verge, which feel more like social media, with aggregation and more
As social networks become less reliable distributors of the news, consumers of digital journalism are seeking out an older form of online real estate.
A profile of UMG CEO Lucian Grainge, who helped record labels rake in billions of dollars from streaming and now hopes to do the same with generative AI
John Seabrook / New Yorker : X: @carolineonline_ and @drorpoleg . Forums: Hacker News See also Mediagazer X: Caroline Butler / @carolineonline_ : A bit of a puff piece for Lucien Grainge but an absol...
Generative AI is just the latest innovation to put pressure on the copyright system, but might be the one that brings down the whole legal copyright structure
Louis Menand / New Yorker : X: @artsjournalnews and @newyorker X: @artsjournalnews : Does AI Mean The End Of Intellectual Property?: My right of ownership of some piece of intellectual property bars ...
How Microsoft forged its OpenAI partnership, was blindsided by OpenAI's board firing CEO Sam Altman, and managed to get OpenAI to reinstate Altman
How Microsoft forged a partnership with OpenAI, was blindsided by the OpenAI board firing Sam Altman, and managed to get Altman reinstated as CEO
The companies had honed a protocol for releasing artificial intelligence ambitiously but safely. Then OpenAI's board exploded all their carefully laid plans.
A profile of Jensen Huang, the Taiwan-born, US-educated Nvidia founder, who started the company in 1993, and a look at Nvidia's rise, built on GPUs and CUDA
The company's C.E.O. bet it all on a new kind of chip. Now that Nvidia is one of the biggest companies in the world, what will he do next?
A look at wrongful US arrests due to false positive facial recognition matches, and how “automation bias” can lead the police to ignore contradictory evidence
Eyal Press / New Yorker :
A profile of Holly Herndon, an artist and musician who uses AI in her work and who co-founded Spawning, a company building a “consent layer for AI” for artists
Anna Wiener / New Yorker : X: @newyorker , @kcesq , @totalvibration , @newyorker , @hollyherndon , @annawiener , @joelvmills , and @newyorker LinkedIn: Nicolas Smirnoff and Zoe Cooper X: @newyorker :...