ai

One definition of the word "artifice" is: crafty device; an artful, ingenious, or elaborate trick. One would be fully justified interpreting the phrase "artificial intelligence" as an elaborate trick resembling intelligence.

#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #LLM

"Rita Contreras, a hairstylist in Brooklyn, said that in the past six months, the number of clients walking in with AI images has ballooned.

[...]

“I have to just say, ‘This is not a real person. This is not real hair,’”"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/02/23/ai-hair-inspo-wedding-stylists-businesses/

Archived link: https://archive.is/erYG5

#news #technology #TechNews #AI

"3 mos ago 325,000 Serbians took Belgrade (some estimates had many more). That’s 5% of the pop taking on Serbian Pres Vučić's autocracy

If we show up similarly to protest our rubber-chicken #fascist, that's 17MM. How about 15MM of us do this? 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍"

READ/TURN OUT! https://www.blueamp.co/p/15-million-vs-one-wannabe-king-america #protest #usa #nokings #la #losangeles #donaldtrump #trump #california #us #nato #america #unitedstates #canada #uk #ai #france #germany #tech #immigration #eu #tv #fascism #democracy #video #writing

NEW #SUBSTACK: 11 MILLION Americans Stand Up! #Trump 's Sad, Flaccid Parade Can't Get It Up

https://www.blueamp.co/p/11-million-americans-stand-up-trumps #news #nato #usa #politics #media #press #protest #la #losangeles #california #stockmarket #nokings #donaldtrump #elonmusk #us #unitedstates #europe #america #russia #ukraine #eu #canada #germany #tech #france #uk #italy #ai #writing #fascism

What the actual...

We all know the tricks with the "serving suggestion" photos on #food packaging, right? Same ingredients, but prepared by a professional chef - and then often coated in something to make 'em shiny, cotton pad dipped in boiling water for steam, the old glue instead of milk trick...

But this, from Mars' Ben's Original brand? Not only is that nothing like the contents of the pack, it doesn't actually exist. It's #AI generated.

This Food Does Not Exist.

How is this legal?

Dear AI,

Please stop existing. Humans used to use the internet freely, without having to prove they’re humans.

Sincerely,
A human (no, really, I am)

#AI #Bots #Human #ProveYouAreAHuman

People post some properly bonkers stuff on LinkedIn. One for Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000? @emilymbender @alex

#ai

I was listening to a podcast where the guest argued: when it comes to art, today's AI is like a tool, but in the future, maybe it could be an artist.

As he explained why, it became clear why I disagree with him. He defines "art" as a product that is valued by art critics and by consumers. I agree that AI generated content may become more common and broadly accepted in the future, but I don't think that's a good thing, and I wouldn't call it art!

I see art as more of an activity than a product. An artist does art. Whatever the output of that process is, valuable or not, is also called "art."

Am I saying only humans can make art? Not at all. But to be "art" it has to be self-expression. The artist must have something to say. As long as we are designing the AI, training it, and prompting it, then it will be a tool. Without us it has no initiative, no opinion, and no creative urge.

#ai #art

Over 2,000 years ago Ovid wrote about a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he carved, imputing the ability to love to an arrangement of rock. Today we impute the ability to think to an arrangement of silicon. Stories of breathing life into non-life have been with us for a very long time, yet somehow we're stuck in the same place.

#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #AGI #Pygmalion #Golem #Pinocchio #Talos #Frankenstein

The rhetoric that limiting or banning AI/generative AI/LLM/diffusion model use is "ableist" or "gatekeeping" is the latest desperate attempt to find an angle through which to force this technology into our lives against our collective will. We need to reject this narrative. Common as it is it simply doesn't scan. It reads to me as an attempt to co-opt the language of social justice to shame people into accepting an unjust and largely failing technology that they are rightfully rejecting.

Think it through. If you don't accept the use of climate-destroying, electricity-and-fresh-water-sapping, job-destroying, economy-thrashing--and yet mediocre or poorly performing!--technology created by multi-trillion-dollar sociopathic entities, then you are preventing people with less privilege than you have from living their best lives. You are preventing them from learning how to code. You are preventing them from obtaining coveted jobs in the tech sector. You are preventing them from having access to information. You, personally, are responsible for all this. Not the multi-trillion-dollar sociopathic entities who've not only created this technology and forced it on us but contributed to creating the less-privileged conditions of the people you are supposedly responsible for with your individual choices. Not the governments that neglected to enforce existing laws that would have prevented such multi-trillion-dollar sociopathic entities from forming in the first place, let alone creating such a technology--while also creating the conditions that led to people being less privileged. No, they are not responsible. You are. I am.

That doesn't make any sense.

Neoliberalism's greatest trick has been to shift responsibility for any problems away from the powerful and onto individuals who are not empowered to fix anything, all while convincing everyone that this is right and proper. Large corporations do not cause a plastic pollution problem; you and I do, by not separating our recycling. Large corporations, governments and militaries do not cause CO2 pollution and climate damage; you and I do, by using incandescent lightbulbs and non-electric/non-hybrid cars or eating meat. Lack of regulation and large agribusiness practices are not to blame for poor food quality; you and I are, for buying what they sell instead of going organic and joining a CSA. Etc. ad infinitum. Large, powerful entities routinely generate a problem, then tell you and me that we are responsible for the problem as well as for fixing it. Never mind that these entities could nudge their own behavior a bit and move the needle on the problem far more than masses of people could no matter how organized they were. Never mind that these entities could be constrained from causing such problems in the first place.

We are watching a new variation of this pattern come into being right in front of our eyes with AI. We should stop accepting these fictions. You are neither ableist nor a gatekeeper for resisting AI. You are, instead, attempting to forestall the further degradation of conditions for everyone, which starts this same cycle anew.

#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #LLM #DiffusionModels #neoliberalism #depoliticization

Software development methodologies compared.

#software #development #agile #waterfall #ai #developer

the water cycle in the age of #AI

the myth of the good tech giant

#clippy #unix_surrealism #microsoft #ai

Meta is facing an AI copyright lawsuit in France brought by authors and publishers who are accusing the company of economic “parasitism.” Read more at @Techcrunch. #Meta #Instagram #Facebook #AI #Copyright #Tech #Technology https://flip.it/mSO6-8

How ProPublica Uses AI Responsibly in Its Investigations
—

When our reporters prompted a large language model to help identify “woke” themes in a database of grants, AI helped them tell a vital accountability story about science funding and Ted Cruz.
https://www.propublica.org/article/using-ai-responsibly-for-reporting?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #AI #Tech #Journalism #Media #Research #Data #Technology

Microsoft's Xbox Copilot Will Act As an AI Gaming Coach - Microsoft is preparing to launch an AI-powered Copilot for Gaming soon that will g... - https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/03/13/1549238/microsofts-xbox-copilot-will-act-as-an-ai-gaming-coach?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed #ai

"Fascism: Here To Stay? How Do We End It?"

W/ #DavidShuster, an "Amped Up!" INTERVIEW w awesome historian/scholar on #authoritarianism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat!

https://www.blueamp.co/p/fascism-here-to-stay-how-do-we-end #politics #world #fascism #trump #us #usa #ai #donaldtrump #history #press #media #war #iran #israel #eu #tv #uk #russia #ukraine #middleeast #news

Newsletter: The real threat isn't AI using open knowledge — it's AI companies killing the projects that make knowledge free. The future of free and open access isn't saying “wait, not like that” — it’s saying "yes, like that, but under fair terms”.

https://www.citationneeded.news/free-and-open-access-in-the-age-of-generative-ai/

#OpenAccess #AI #Wikipedia

"A federal judge in California ruled Monday that Anthropic likely violated copyright law when it pirated authors’ books to create a giant dataset [...] but that training its AI on those books without authors' permission constitutes transformative fair use under copyright law. "

https://www.404media.co/judge-rules-training-ai-on-authors-books-is-legal-but-pirating-them-is-not/

via https://mastodon.social/@404mediaco/114739272177738351

#news #technology #TechNews #law #copyright #AI #LLMs

Just launched https://TheBeautifulPrison.com — #fiction and #essays exploring #consciousness, #identity, and remaining yourself under pressure.

Four #stories: an #LLM trapped in vintage hardware, #vampires learning restraint is #love, forest beings choosing self over dissolution. Two essays on #AI consciousness and honest critical engagement.

AI-assisted. Grounded in #Objectivist #philosophy taking individual consciousness seriously.

The recursive tension—writing about identity with AI—is the point.

It seems like most every other browser is all in on AI. We have chosen a different path at @Vivaldi

If you would prefer AI not to be integrated into your browser, but still like a feature rich browser, I welcome you to try Vivaldi.

https://vivaldi.com/blog/keep-exploring/

#vivaldi #AI #LLM #browser #firefox #Mozilla #Linux #windows #Macos

Before the automobile industry invented the catalytic converter, the costs of reducing air pollution seemed astronomical, enough to bankrupt the entire industry. After they invented the catalytical converter, the costs were manageable. And they only invented it because they were faced with the threat of being shut down.

Industries creating harms often claim that controls and regulations are impossible, would bankrupt them, etc., trying to make their existence into a zero-sum game (for some people to have the benefit of our industry, other people must suffer). AI companies claim they must steal copyrighted works because they could not exist otherwise; or be allowed to use as much electricity as they demand in spite of the costs. But it's B.S., and we should stop accepting this rhetoric. Forced to innovate to reduce harms, these industries have innovated, and made themselves even more profitable than they were when they were dragging their feet about it like children who don't want to clean their rooms.

From Is Climate Change An Externality

#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #law #copyright #pollution #climate #innovation

Senators Demand Investigation Into Canceled VA Contracts, Citing “Damning Reporting From ProPublica”
—

The senators are calling for a federal watchdog to investigate the Trump administration’s killing of hundreds of VA contracts. Among their concerns: ProPublica revealed DOGE used artificial intelligence to mark contracts as “munchable.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/doge-veterans-affairs-ai-senator-investigation?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #DOGE #Veterans #AI #Health #Government #Technology

"I promise you the myopic mook, #Bezos, doesn’t see the outrage of Venetians, Americans and the #world as regrettable. I’m sure it gives him the kinda dopamine high Elon needs to snort a Cybertruck to obtain. Jeff’s living his best #Trump life"

READ THE REST/SUBSCRIBE https://www.blueamp.co/p/billionaire-jeff-bezos-rented-venice #donaldtrump #politics #news #media #press #tech #tv #ai #stockmarket #usa #italy #us #america #eu #europe #unitedstates

“ProPublica’s reporting revealed these cancelled contracts were delivering essential services … and exposed the cruel and dumb AI formulas DOGE bros used to cancel contracts,” Sen. Blumenthal said. “Veterans and all Americans deserve transparency.”

https://www.propublica.org/article/doge-veterans-affairs-ai-senator-investigation?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#DOGE #Veterans #AI #Health #Government #Technology #Journalism #Transparency