speculations

The latest Google phone promises to transform my children into perfect, smiling angels. Why would I want that?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/19/phone-children-google-pixel-retouch-childhood-snaps I was a bit disappointed when there wasn’t a couch and the therapist didn’t have a cigar waiting in an ash tray. Counselling was a hard step for me and I wanted some clichés to hold onto. Still, it’s been good. Until now. I was asked to bring in photos from my childhood. I’d … [Read more…]

OpenAI board attempts to hit “Ctrl-Z” in talks with Altman to return as CEO

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1985272 No, a u-turn doesn’t look good. You’re right, it never does. But what choice have we got? It’s not just the media and the online storm. It’s not even the shareholders – one of whom told me they are being lobbied hard internally and externally. No we’ve got to rethink because he has friends … [Read more…]

OpenAI fires co-founder and CEO Sam Altman for allegedly lying to company board

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/17/openai-ceo-sam-altman-fired We’ve been in business together since the start. We can both remember those long nights with you and I brainstorming ideas, strategies. Our complementary skills powered the whole thing. We built it together. A real partnership. So I’m a little, how shall I put this?.. puzzled, no actually pissed off that I’m going and … [Read more…]

Fortnite is blocking some outfits in experiences made for kids

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/16/23964778/fortnite-blocking-outfits-experiences-kids The avatar on the gate was smiling. “Welcome,” it said. It knew them by name. “Good to see you again.” Moments of small talk pulled from data streams and databases: “Heh how was the match? Glad your mum is feeling better.” Encouraging comments in response to wearables: “This is going to be a good … [Read more…]

Parental Advisory: This Chatbot May Talk to Your Child About Sex and Alcohol

https://www.wired.com/story/parental-advisory-chatbots-children-sex-and-alcohol/ The picket line outside the school was good-natured but passionate. Some children, kept out of school, stood with their parents. Others filed past, some embarrassed as their friends laughed and joked. The protest grew louder as the teacher closed the gates, The parents shouted demands that the headteacher come out and meet them. Why … [Read more…]

How Brands Are Humanizing AI

https://www.adweek.com/media/how-brands-are-humanizing-ai/ No, I don’t want an away day. We need something much more fundamental. Yes, it’s ‘team building’ but no, paint-balling won’t do it. We need to do something more permanent. A reset. A rethink of how we work together. You’ve seen the tensions. You seen the dysfunctional ‘teams’ . We’ve all seen talent wasted … [Read more…]

Introducing the AI-dience: The most accurate consumer model in advertising today

https://www.marketing-interactive.com/introducing-ai-dience-consumer-model-in-advertising-today My mate said it was easy money. Apparently some researcher comes round to your house and, well talks to you. Just a conversation about all sorts of stuff. It’s not: “what do you think of this washing powder” – which is good. Frankly I don’t care. No my mate says it’s like a talk … [Read more…]

Here is the anatomy of the 2023 Christmas ad season

https://digiday.com/marketing/here-is-the-anatomy-of-the-2023-christmas-ad-season/ Perfection has served us well. You only have to look at the awards on my shelves! We’ve hit every judge’s buttons, regularly. Our culture AIs have identified the trends and things that resonate faster than our competitors’ and we have the best prompt engineers in the business in our creative teams. We’ve automated perfection … [Read more…]

Spray-on sensors can turn any clothing into motion-sensing technology

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2402474-spray-on-sensors-can-turn-any-clothing-into-motion-sensing-technology Look, there’s money attached. Budget. Extra budget and we’re behind in the league tables. We need to up our game .. if you’ll forgive the… The Department has made it clear. Unless our school gets its ranking higher, we’re going to miss out on this year’s extra funding. There’s no reason our kids can’t … [Read more…]