I'm traveling for the week so I'll take the opportunity to do another AMA. It's been a while since the last public one (4 months to be precise).
This is a good moment for you to ask all those questions you shy away from asking me because they have nothing to do with a specific article.
You know, the usual:
Writing
How I manage/grow/nurture TAB
The future of the newsletter
“How can I get 1,000 paid subs?”
And, of course, anything-AI
Just so you know my opinion, I think these AMA sessions are often underused.
There are always interesting insights you can get from someone who's doing what you want to do or who knows what you want to know that you couldn't easily get otherwise.
From the standpoint of our current development in AI tech, I’d be very interested to hear if there are any fiction books you recommend that paint most likely potential futures
Alberto, I'm going to take you up on your suggestions. I'm assuming that you included these prompts because you have thought about the issue and want to share the answers. I hope that's the case. My questions are:
I'm interested in finding a group blog of exclusively AI content. Humans behind the scenes only. Have you seen anything like this on Substack? If group blog is a bridge too far, how about any blog with exclusively AI content?
If there is nothing like this on Substack, or very few such blogs, is this an opportunity worth exploring in your opinion? A chance to be unique?
As you know better than I, there are a good number of blogs that talk about AI. But where are the blogs doing AI?
In other news, I just got ChatGPT Plus, and like so many others, am finding it pretty amazing. Dalle blows my little mind!
I hope you're going on a vacation to some exotic destination where they have real life babes, and not just digital friends! :-)
Many of the people I know use ChatGPT for search. As do I. Indeed, if I had to name a "killer app" for the technology that's what I would say. What in your view are the pros and cons of using the technology for that purpose? Anything interesting on the horizon?
I use Midjourney to create AI generative images. I would like to use AI to create story scenarios around the images - e.g., start with an image of a man and a woman are sitting at a table at a sidewalk cafe. I would like an AI application that would evaluate the image and give possible interpretations such as: 1) they are brother and sister discussing family business; 2) they are undercover police watching somebody; 3) they just met and are starting to get romantically involved. So two questions: 1) is there an AI application that does this now; and 2) if not, is there a corpus of fiction texts - novels, short stories, advertisements, etc - that could be used as training data? Any suggestions or pointers will be appreciated.
Hi Alberto, love your Substack for a number of reasons. One of which you are an AI expert of Latine background, and I work for a national (U.S.) Latine nonprofit that is trying to wrap their minds around how to operationalize AI. Not easy! On another matter, have you read Bostrom’s “Superintelligence”? What is your take on Yudkowsky’s (and others) fast AI takeoff/“AI ruin” scenario after we achieve AGI? Thanks!
With the exponential rise of AI as the new buzzword across all industries, there is a LOT of activity out there about "AI Trainings" of all sorts. my 2c is, while for those of us with a maker spirit the best way to learn is to start experimenting / trial and error, for the "feint of heart" there is a lot of emotional and functional barriers to adoption, so professional trainings are likely to play a role in ramping up adoption.
What do you think about the training offerings popping up out there? What do you think adds value for whom, and more broadly speaking, what do you think will be the main factors for accelerating adoption beyond the "trial and error" phase?
I cannot praise your content enough. Your writing is invaluable for keeping up to date on developments in the tech scene. Particularly handy for the underground commute where I can't access the internet.
I've recently moved to London to pursue a career in tech/automation ethics and policy. I completed my bachelor's in politics at the end of last year. I've spent the last few years (and currently) bartending while studying, so I've been looking for a more office admin type job to transition to the more corporate space. I'll have to wait three years before I can take a master's degree at local rates, so I'm desperate to gain some practical, career aligned experience in the meantime; hopefully more than just a generic office job.
Do you (or anyone in the forum) have any advice for those of us trying to break into this industry?
From the standpoint of our current development in AI tech, I’d be very interested to hear if there are any fiction books you recommend that paint most likely potential futures
Alberto, I'm going to take you up on your suggestions. I'm assuming that you included these prompts because you have thought about the issue and want to share the answers. I hope that's the case. My questions are:
1. "How can I get 1,000 paid subs?"
2. How do you manage/grow/nurture TAB?
Ok, here ya go Alberto....
I'm interested in finding a group blog of exclusively AI content. Humans behind the scenes only. Have you seen anything like this on Substack? If group blog is a bridge too far, how about any blog with exclusively AI content?
If there is nothing like this on Substack, or very few such blogs, is this an opportunity worth exploring in your opinion? A chance to be unique?
As you know better than I, there are a good number of blogs that talk about AI. But where are the blogs doing AI?
In other news, I just got ChatGPT Plus, and like so many others, am finding it pretty amazing. Dalle blows my little mind!
I hope you're going on a vacation to some exotic destination where they have real life babes, and not just digital friends! :-)
“How can I get 1,000 paid subs?” how???
What role do you think data protection has at the "speed of innovation" in global AI? Biden is finally catching up to spamoflage and other problems with amok ML modeling collecting and referring targets for foreign interference. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-23/biden-seeks-to-stop-countries-from-exploiting-americans-data-for-espionage
Many of the people I know use ChatGPT for search. As do I. Indeed, if I had to name a "killer app" for the technology that's what I would say. What in your view are the pros and cons of using the technology for that purpose? Anything interesting on the horizon?
I use Midjourney to create AI generative images. I would like to use AI to create story scenarios around the images - e.g., start with an image of a man and a woman are sitting at a table at a sidewalk cafe. I would like an AI application that would evaluate the image and give possible interpretations such as: 1) they are brother and sister discussing family business; 2) they are undercover police watching somebody; 3) they just met and are starting to get romantically involved. So two questions: 1) is there an AI application that does this now; and 2) if not, is there a corpus of fiction texts - novels, short stories, advertisements, etc - that could be used as training data? Any suggestions or pointers will be appreciated.
Hi Alberto, love your Substack for a number of reasons. One of which you are an AI expert of Latine background, and I work for a national (U.S.) Latine nonprofit that is trying to wrap their minds around how to operationalize AI. Not easy! On another matter, have you read Bostrom’s “Superintelligence”? What is your take on Yudkowsky’s (and others) fast AI takeoff/“AI ruin” scenario after we achieve AGI? Thanks!
Hi Alberto,
With the exponential rise of AI as the new buzzword across all industries, there is a LOT of activity out there about "AI Trainings" of all sorts. my 2c is, while for those of us with a maker spirit the best way to learn is to start experimenting / trial and error, for the "feint of heart" there is a lot of emotional and functional barriers to adoption, so professional trainings are likely to play a role in ramping up adoption.
What do you think about the training offerings popping up out there? What do you think adds value for whom, and more broadly speaking, what do you think will be the main factors for accelerating adoption beyond the "trial and error" phase?
Hi Alberto,
I cannot praise your content enough. Your writing is invaluable for keeping up to date on developments in the tech scene. Particularly handy for the underground commute where I can't access the internet.
I've recently moved to London to pursue a career in tech/automation ethics and policy. I completed my bachelor's in politics at the end of last year. I've spent the last few years (and currently) bartending while studying, so I've been looking for a more office admin type job to transition to the more corporate space. I'll have to wait three years before I can take a master's degree at local rates, so I'm desperate to gain some practical, career aligned experience in the meantime; hopefully more than just a generic office job.
Do you (or anyone in the forum) have any advice for those of us trying to break into this industry?