Werd I/O

The NYT's new terms disallow use of its content to develop any new software application, including machine learning and AI systems. It's a shame that this has to be explicit, rather than a blanket right afforded to publishers by default, but it's a sensible clause that many more will be including. #AI

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“Weizenbaum’s questions, though they seem simple—Is it good? Do we need it?—are difficult ones for computer science to answer. They could be asked of any proposed technology, but the speed, scope, and stakes of innovation in AI make their consideration more urgent.” #AI

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Hey, sounds like my middle school experience! This is important for me to understand as a parent, and it's important for schools to adapt to as de facto caregivers. These dynamics should be corrected for, not accepted. #Society

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A perfect piece on where we’re at in time. Personally, I’m not going back to the office, and I applaud greater worker power. We need to move forward. #Labor

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Utterly ghoulish. #AI

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I've been really enjoying this. It does have the unfortunate effect of reducing the time you spend faffing with slide design and font choices, which means you actually have to write the substance of your presentation. Curses! Still, despite its attempts to thwart my procrastination, it's beautifully designed and perfect for the way I think. #Productivity

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It's truly beautiful to see Threads begin to embrace indieweb and federated social web protocols. This is a first step; true federation is, I've been assured, coming. #Technology

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We’ve seen the United Nations share their biometric registration of Rohingya refugees with the Myanmar government without their consent. A private company that subcontracts services in other countries makes accountability very difficult when there are rights violations.” #Technology

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Smuggling naked bigotry through bills that must pass to keep the government working is a deeply underhanded tactic. It's hard to see the modern Republican Party as anything other than a party of exclusion, catering to the dregs of the twentieth century who desperately don't want to see the world change around them. #Democracy

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I strongly disagree with this stance. Allowing your work to be mined by AI models should be opt-in only - otherwise there is no possible way for a publisher or author to apply a license or grant rights. #AI

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Medium has made it clear that it is not a home for AI-driven content. And it's experiencing record growth now that its recommendation engine has been re-tuned for substance, as decided by humans. This is all great news: for Medium and as an example for everyone on the web. #Media

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“When popular culture thinks of Blackness, rarely does somebody think of a tiny little town or a mountainside and the Black person who’s there. I want to be a part of revealing that this thread—that Black skin—can be even on the side of a mountain.” #Culture

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I see this as less of a problem in cozy witch fiction - which, I must be clear, I have read zero of - and more of an issue in American fiction as a whole, across all media. These books (probably) aren't actively laundering racist ideas; they're perpetuating cultural discrimination that is under the surface everywhere. Still, it's incumbent on authors to understand and be accountable to the tropes they're building with. #Culture

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I like this approach to building graphics for journalism. Management of these kinds of static assets feels like a cumulative problem, but lightweight HTML / CSS / JS is pretty portable and sandboxable. And ACF is the hidden hero behind journalism's WordPress sites. #Media

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Different AI models have different political biases. Google's tend to be more socially conservative - possibly in part because they were trained on books rather than the wider internet. Regardless of the cause, this is proof, again, that AI models are not objective. #AI

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That's a giant "nope" from me, but your mileage may vary. #Technology

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It's very painful to see accelerators that are also vibrant community hubs shut down because of business dynamics. I've lived that. What I can see here is someone who cares about his community. I was never a part of PIE, but I know Rick did it for the right reasons. And I know from Matter that the community continues long after the thing itself has disappeared. The legacy is long lasting. Congratulations, Rick - on to the next thing. #Technology

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“Whenever someone says, “we’ll adapt to climate change,” 100% of the time it’s a rich person. Poor people never say “we’ll adapt” because they know they can’t afford it. For them, adaptation = suffering.” That's the pull-quote for me: this won't affect everyone equally. As always, the most vulnerable, the people who are already struggling the most, will suffer the worst of it. #Climate

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This resonated with me a lot. What I'll say is: I'm glad Winnie is in the world. I know these feelings, intimately. I don't have much definitive to say about that. I haven't drawn any conclusions. It's a journey, daily. #Culture

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Black faces are overrepresented in databases used to train AI for law enforcement - and some facial recognition software used in this context fails 96% of the time. This practice is an accelerant for already deeply harmful inequities. Time to ban it. #AI

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A knockabout spy adventure that takes a few unexpected turns and sticks a landing that had me cheering. Truly a lot of fun - I inhaled it in one sitting. As always, it's deeply researched, but the detail only ever adds to the entertainment. (Without spoiling anything, I'm very familiar with some of the settings and cultural overtones, and they rang completely true.) There are knowing callbacks to some of Eliot's earlier work, but this stands alone - and could be the start of a new series that I would gladly read the hell out of. #Fiction

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It's been a long time since I've given any talks (the pandemic put a stop to that) but I really like this approach, and I'll do something similar in the future. #Technology

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None of this looks like it comes from 1969. Although some of the content is outdated today, the style is far more modern - this feels like something straight from the internet era. Fascinating and relentless (I couldn't watch the whole thing). #Culture

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A prominent writer platformed by the New York Times and Washington Post, and championed by major figures in tech, including by Marc Andreessen and the CEO of Substack, turns out to be an actual white supremacist. #Society

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Yes to all of this. These are basic functions that the web gives you almost by default. Everything on the web should let you do them. #Technology

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