Now that I live in central Texas, when I return to my native Alabama I am always thinking: Dang, the trees here are tall.
WSJ:
AI is trained in part on what people like, and people prefer the brown-nosing, says Myra Cheng, a computer-science Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University and lead author of a March study on agreeable AI. Participants rated sycophantic AI responses significantly higher in quality and, after interacting with a more obsequious model, said they were more likely to return to the AI.
This bodes ill.
The home of The Victorian Society was well chosen.Β
In 1968, [KoΕakowski] was fired from Warsaw University for βforming the views of the youth in a manner contrary to the official tendency of the country,β banned from teaching and publishing entirely, and placed under constant police surveillance.Β
As I come to the end of my teaching career, I am bitterly disappointed in myself: I have never been formally charged with βforming the views of the youth in a manner contrary to the official tendency of the country.βΒ
Angus taking a break from playing in the garden hose, which is his favorite thing to do that does not involve eating.
For my Buy Me a Coffee supporters I wrote a report from Mission Control.Β
How much would you pay for a smarter baby? β I can imagine the lawsuits later: βWe paid for a smarter baby but instead we got a child whoβs compassionate and generous! Weβve been screwed!βΒ
Via Ian Leslie, a beautifully designed page on ordinary abundance.
Book/magazine cover art by Kenneth Romney Towndrow