Doing & Saying
/If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. – Marcus Aurelius
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
What makes data real?
/The beautiful images of galaxies, nebulas, and other astronomical objects produced by radio telescopes have been processed several times and colorized before we see them, but we still consider these images to be real and not synthetic.
So, what makes data real? Real data are data that have been generated by a process that is appropriately connected to real phenomena, where the terms “appropriately connected” and “real” are defined by the relevant research community. For example, we can say that an MRI image of the brain is real because it has been produced by a process that is appropriately connected to a real brain. However, sometimes MRI machines produce images that radiologists classify as (unreal) artifacts because they have been produced, for example, by the scanner itself or by the patient’s movements.
Referring to data as “real” does not necessarily entail a commitment to a physicalist notion of reality. Data could be about physical, chemical, biological, social, or psychological phenomena. For example, we would consider data concerning biodiversity, stock prices, suicidal ideation, or cultural taboos to be real data, even though the phenomena they refer to cannot be equated with specific physical objects. The data could be about things we cannot directly observe, such as electrons, quarks, entropy, or dark matter. What matters most is that the relevant scientific community considers the data to be about real phenomena.
Read more at the PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America)
AI Discovers Ancient Civilizations
/Artificial intelligence has discovered ancient civilizations over 5,000 years old hidden beneath some of the world's largest deserts, including one in the heart of the Dubai desert, without the use of a single shovel. Advancements in remote sensing and data analysis using artificial intelligence have transformed archaeology, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of excavations. The integration of AI and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) proved especially powerful. SAR technology provides high-resolution images of structures buried beneath the earth's surface, capable of penetrating natural barriers such as sand, vegetation, and ice. Read more at the Jerusalem Post
Slow to Anger
/Learning to be slow to anger gives us the time and freedom of mind to decide how we should solve our problems or how we should express our anger. Being slow to anger allows us to respond to conviction, to confess our sins of anger, and rise above hate to forgive those who have offended us.
Gary Collins, Counseling and Anger
23 Recent Articles about AI & The Arts
/Flora is building an AI-powered ‘infinite canvas’ for creative professionals – Tech Crunch
UK ministers consider changing AI plans to protect creative industries – The Guardian
The New Leverage: AI and the Power of Small Teams - Jarango
Not all creativity is worth saving – Fast Company
Christie’s AI Art Sale Defies Controversy, Surpasses Expectations - ArtNews
A lab at the University of Chicago is protecting artists from theft by a new adversary: the machines – Chicago Mag
Musicians releases a “silent record” in outrage at a proposed change to British copyright law – New York Times
How AI can help in the creative design process – The Conversation
A ‘True Crime’ Documentary Series Has Millions of Views. The Murders Are All AI-Generated – 404 Media
Hollywood writers say AI is ripping off their work. They want studios to sue – LA Times
First Christie’s Auction Devoted Exclusively To AI Art Sparks Backlash – Forbes
Oscars Consider Requiring Films to Disclose AI Use – Variety
AI is turning the arts into a Waste Land – Washington Post
AI transparency framework in Design – UX Design
Copyright Office Offers Assurances on AI Filmmaking Tools – Variety
Top 6 Examples of AI Guidelines in Design Systems – SuperNova
Denying Copyright for AI-Assisted Art Threatens Innovation – Data Innovation
This play is a flawed look at AI – Washington Post
Sotheby's to auction its first artwork made by a humanoid robot – CBS News
More than 10,500 actors, musicians and authors protest tech’s AI data grab - Washington Post
Exploring a digital music teaching model integrated with recurrent neural networks under AI – Nature
AI and the Arts: What does this mean for future artists? – WUFT
AI Definitions: Synthetic Data
/Synthetic Data – This type of data is produced by a GenAI mathematical model. It can be created from scratch or derived from data that come from real-world systems. Some experts say we are running out of original human data to feed to LLMs for training and can use synthetic data in place of the real thing. If synthetic data can be made to work, it could negate the problem of using copyrighted material for training. Sceptics say using synthetic produced data will lead to a degradation of model’s performance. There is also the danger of misrepresenting synthetic GenAI data as real data, providing fertile ground for misconduct. Previously effective methods of spotting fraudulent data through statistical techniques, such as detection of nonrandom digits, are being made obsolete by the emergence of synthetic data. This possibility is why some scientists consider its use to be unethical.
More AI definitions here.
If I'd made that $30 million
/If I'd made that $30 million a year, maybe I'd just have bought that huge, finished vineyard and let others do it all. I'd have missed out on the pleasure of being in the vineyards every day. -Baseball Hall of Famer Tom Seaver
13 Free Webinars this week about AI, Journalism & Media
/Mon, March 10 - Capacity Building for Small Communications Teams
What: This workshop will help nonprofit leaders take an introspective look at their communication goals, resources, and team needs. Participants will gain valuable tools and strategies for building capacity and supporting their communications team in communicating more strategically.
Who: Annetta Crecelius, Kern Design Lab
When: 11am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: The Nonprofit Learning Lab, Consultants for Good
Tue, March 11 - Using Neuroscience to Separate Science from Science Fiction in Content Design
What: In this session, prepare to have a lot of conventional wisdom shattered as Dr. Simon explores how repetition, emotion, complexity, imagery, and so much more influence the effect our content and presentations have on our audience’s attention and memory.
Who: Carmen Simon, Cognitive Neuroscientist, Founder of Enhancive
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Training Magazine Network
Tue, March 11 – Al Innovator Collaborative: Licensing Publisher Data and Content
What: A regular gathering for members using AI in journalism to connect and share ideas.
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free for members
Sponsor: Online News Association
Tue, March 11 – Everything You Want to Know About Social Media and Your Nonprofit but Are Afraid to Ask!
What: Whether you are a beginner at social media or an all-out expert, all questions are welcome! This is a unique opportunity to get valuable insights and tips that will help the overall strategy and execution of your organization's social media.
Who: Jeremy Haselwood, a marketing and business expert with over 20 years of experience.
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: CharityHowTo
Tue, March 11 – Saying More with Less: The Art of Short Form Writing
What: The transition into short form writing and how the smart brevity philosophy impacts our daily lives.
When: 6 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Axios, National Association of Hispanic Journalists
Wed, March 12 – Smart Brevity playbook: All-staff newsletters
What: The data and strategies you need to ace your all-staff newsletter. This session will cover: How to thoughtfully assess and consolidate your messages; The data you need to make the case for resources; The strategies to boost engagement and deliver comms employees want to read.
Who: Emily Inverso Axios HQ VP, Brand and Strategy.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Axios
Wed, March 12 – Taming Complexity With AI
What: How AI could help align siloed departments and agencies. Where the biggest AI pain points exist. Use cases and best practices from agencies who have simplified their processes with AI.
Who: Matthew McCarville, State Chief Information Officer, Chair, Nebraska Information Technology Commission; Craig Orgeron, Executive Director and State Chief Information Officer, Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services; Chris Dilley, Chief Technology Officer, State & Local Government, ServiceNow.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: ServiceNow
Wed, March 12 - Free Speech in an Era of Digital Platforms
What: In this seminar, we consider the scope of rights granted to Americans by the First Amendment and examine both the benefits and drawbacks of free speech in the era of digital platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok. Participants will understand why disinformation and hate speech are protected by the First Amendment and consider why disagreement is not an infringement of free speech. Learn more about how digital platforms are reshaping people's ideas about the scope and limitations of freedom of expression, and discuss approaches to regulating harmful content including de-platforming, content moderation, and cancel culture.
Who: Catherine Morris, Media Education Lab
When: 10 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Media Education Lab
Wed, March 12 - Making AI Pay Its Way in News
What: A practical deep dive into their data-driven approach to AI in newsrooms. Through real-world examples, unpack how they decide on AI projects – from writing assistants to predictive analytics – and measure what actually works.
Who: Ezra Eeman, WAN-IFRA AI Expert; Juan Carlos Lopez Calvet, Director of Data & AI, Schibsted News; Media
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: World Association of News Publishers
Wed, March 12 - Covering trauma and coping with mental health
What: In wake of the recent LA wildfires, this panel will discuss how to cope with your mental health while covering traumatic news events.
When: 6 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: The Society of Professional Journalists Los Angeles Chapter
Thu, March 13 – Legal Issues
What: Around the world, journalists are facing increasing legal threats and intimidation -- and student newsrooms are no exception. In this discussion, we will hear from the Student Press Law Center about the kinds of legal challenges student reporters are facing and what we can do about it.
Who: Panelists include CCN’s Meg Little Reilly and SPLC’s Gary Green, Mike Hiestand and Jonathan Gaston-Falk.
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: University of Vermont, Student Press Law Center
Fri, March 14 - Now-Proofing Your Media Organization
What: We unpack the major issues impacting journalism today and explore strategies for resilience. This is a must-attend event for journalists, editors, and media professionals looking to safeguard press freedom and adapt to the evolving challenges of the Trump era.
Who: Erin Millar, Co-founder & CEO of Indiegraf
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Indiegraf
Fri, March 14 - Psychology of Branding: How Shapes, Colors and Fonts Influence Customers
What: Whether you’re just starting or looking to refine your brand, this webinar will provide you with the tools to build a brand that not only stands out visually but also connects emotionally with your audience.
Who: Branding Specialists Ricky Fitts & Kate MacDonnell.
When: 5 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Small Business Development Center, Widener University
If-Then
/If God does not exist, then everything is permitted. – Fyodor Dostoevsky
New AI Conversational Voice Model
/Sesame's new AI conversational voice model features uncanny imperfections like stumbling over words and correcting itself. These imperfections are intentional. Some users feel emotionally attached to the voice assistant. In one case, a parent recounted how their 4-year-old daughter developed an emotional connection with the AI model, crying after not being allowed to talk to it again. -More at ArsTechnica
AI-assisted Reviews of Student Visa Accounts Begin
/AI is being used by the US State department to find foreign students who it perceives to be Hamas supporters. Their visas will be revoked. News reports of anti-Israel demonstrations and Jewish students' lawsuits are being checked for evidence that "foreign nationals allegedly engaged in antisemitic activity." Read more from Axios
22 Articles about the Business of Running an AI Company
/OpenAI Announces 'NextGenAI' Higher-Ed Consortium – GovTech
This Scientist Left OpenAI Last Year. His Startup Is Already Worth $30 Billion. – Wall Street Journal
Google AI Overviews Are Secretly Killing Top Pages While Boosting Hidden Ones – Digital Information World
The ‘Spy Sheikh’ Taking the AI World by Storm – Wall Street Journal
Amazon has a ‘slew of AI devices’ coming, hardware chief says - CNN
Microsoft identifies developers it says evaded AI guardrails – Axios
Apple Vows to Build A.I. Servers in Houston and Spend $500 Billion in U.S. – New York Times
X Rolls Out AI-Generated Ads in Push to Win Advertisers Back – AdWeek
Anthropic adds advanced reasoning to latest model - Axios
Why AI Spending Isn’t Slowing Down - Wall Street Journal
Humane is shutting down the AI Pin and selling its remnants to HP – The Verge
AI race's winner might not yet be born – Axios
How DeepSeek’s Lower-Power, Less-Data Model Stacks Up - Wall Street Journal
Guardian signs licensing deal with ChatGPT owner OpenAI – Press Gazette
Building a personal, private AI computer on a budget - http://ewintr.nl
An ambitious effort to track the impact of AI adoption by looking at the data on Claude – Anthropic
Deep Research and Knowledge Value - Stratechery
The hottest new idea in AI? Chatbots that look like they think. – Washington Post
AI designed computer chips so complex that humans can’t understand them – BGR
Ultra-efficient AI won’t solve data centers’ climate problem. This might. - Washington Post
Researchers claim to have created an open rival to OpenAI’s o1 ‘reasoning’ model for under $50 – Tech Crunch
The Art of Listening
/Effective listening takes practice; it’s actually a discipline. It doesn’t come easily or naturally. Listening means more than just hearing what a person says.
A counselor once told me, "Hearing captures the words a person speaks; listening captures the meaning and the feeling beneath those words."
Listening is the mental step by which we become more aware of the other person than we are of ourselves.
The best definition of listening I have ever come across is that given by Norman H. Wright” “Listening is not thinking about what you are going to say when the other person has stopped talking."
Stephen Goforth
Interview Coder
/A Columbia University student is facing a disciplinary hearing at the college after he used an AI program to help him land internships at Amazon, Meta, and TikTok. He said these interviews often cover topics no one will ever see on the job. So, he wrote a program called Interview Coder to help him and others bypass the process. Read more at Gizmodo
A Self-fertilizing Garden
/Psychologist Joyce Shaffer tells the story of a man unable to talk or walk following a stroke. Two years later, he was hiking and teaching thanks to intense physical therapy. When the man died a few years later, an autopsy showed a large area of his brain had been destroyed by the stroke. Even so, he had regained the ability to be active and productive.
Schaffer’s explanation: “Moment by moment you create your brain. It is plastic. It can change for better or worse depending on lifestyle choices … Without challenge, your brain retires. With lifestyle choices a person can turn their brain into a "self-fertilizing garden.”
Stephen Goforth
An AI-powered “wellbeing companion”
/An AI-powered “wellbeing companion” named Sonny is now available to more than 4,500 public middle and high school students in nine districts across the country, many of which are in low-income and rural areas where mental-health services are lacking. - Wall Street Journal
Overcoming an Aversion to Loss
/Most of us don’t like losing. In fact, it’s what the academics call loss aversion. We feel the pain of loss more acutely than we feel the pleasure of gain. In other words, we may like to win, but we hate to lose.
The psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky showed that even something as simple as a coin toss demonstrates our aversion to loss. In a recent interviews, Mr. Kahneman shared the usual response he gets to his offer of a coin toss:
“In my classes, I say: ‘I’m going to toss a coin, and if it’s tails, you lose $10. How much would you have to gain on winning in order for this gamble to be acceptable to you?’
“People want more than $20 before it is acceptable. And now I’ve been doing the same thing with executives or very rich people, asking about tossing a coin and losing $10,000 if it’s tails. And they want $20,000 before they’ll take the gamble.”
In other words, we’re willing to leave a lot of money on the table to avoid the possibility of losing.
We see this aversion to loss play out in the lives of real people when we try to make smart money decisions, especially when it’s time to make a change to our investments. It almost doesn’t matter what change we need to make. We hesitate to change from the current situation because it means having an opinion and making a decision. And with a decision comes the very real possibility that we’ll make the wrong one. Sticking with the status quo feels much better even if we know it’s costing us money.
To get past our aversion to loss, I recommend taking the Overnight Test.
Imagine you went to bed, and overnight someone sold your losing stock and replaced it with cash. The next morning, you have a choice: You can buy back the stock for the same price, or you can take that cash and (do something else with it). What would you do?
Most people wouldn’t buy the stock back.
Just by changing your perspective (investing cash versus getting rid of the stock), you can gain clarity and have the emotional space to make the decision you know you need to make.
Sometimes, that’s all it takes. While we’ll probably never embrace loss, it’s good to know that we can find ways to work around our aversion to it when it makes sense.
Carl Richards writing in the New York Times
22 Articles with AI Predictions
/The Government Knows A.G.I. is Coming – New York Times
AI Could Usher In a New Renaissance – Wall Street Journal
AI’s Legal Storm: The Three Battles That Will Shape Its Future – Forbes
Five AI and Data Science Trends That Matter for 2025 – MIT Tech Review
AI Is Just Getting Started. Here Are 4 Ways To Prepare For The Next Leap Forward – CrunchBase
OpenAI product chief says world is "on the verge" of AI agents - Axios
An AI coding company on how computers as we know it will change – Semafor
2025 Dating Trend Predictions from Relationship Experts - The New York Times
25 experts predict how AI will change business and life in 2025 – Fast Company
Tech That Will Change Your Life in 2025 - Wall Street Journal
Is the Tech Industry Already on the Cusp of an A.I. Slowdown? - The New York Times
The GPT era is already ending something has shifted at OpenAI – The Atlantic
New Book Explores Promise and Perils of AI for Scientific Community – Annenberg Public Policy Center
How ChatGPT changed the future - Axios
Three experts discuss the rise of low-quality content and its implications for the profession, the news industry and the public sphere. – Reuters Institute
AI could soon be making major scientific discoveries. A machine could even win a Nobel Prize one day – The Conversation
Will AI kill Google? Past predictions of doom were totally wrong. – Washington Post
Google is forming a new team to build AI that can simulate the physical world – Tech Crunch
Agentic AI: Top 2025 predictions that will redefine business intelligence – Silicon Angle
Humanity May Achieve the Singularity Within the Next 12 Months, Scientists Suggest – Popular Mechanics
2025 AI Predictions for Small Business – Forbes
Can AI predict the next pandemic? A new study says yes – News Medical
AI Definitions: Symbolic Artificial Intelligence
/Symbolic Artificial Intelligence – The dominant area of research for most of AI’s history until artificial neural networks became the center of most of the recent developments in artificial intelligence. Symbolic AI requires programmers to meticulously define the rules that specify the behavior they want from an intelligent system. It works well when the environment is predictable, and the rules are clear-cut. Researchers believed if they programmed enough rules and logic into computers, they could create machines capable of human-like reasoning. Despite the fact that symbolic AI has lost its luster in the last few years, most of the applications we use today are rule-based systems. An alternative approach to AI is machine learning. Some believe the future of AI lies in a hybrid combination of these approaches.
More AI definitions here.
17 Articles about Amazing Things AI can do now
/A diagnostic tool that uses DNA sequencing & machine learning to detect multiple diseases from a single blood sample – Inside Precision Medicine
In a showdown of psychotherapists vs. ChatGPT, the latter wins, new study finds – Fortune
Matchmakers in India Now Have Competition: AI – The Walrus
AI invented a new miracle material that's as strong as steel but light as foam – BGR
How regular people are cashing in on AI - ZDnet
A new AI tool allowed me to talk to my 80-year-old self. It’s going to be quite a life. – Wall Street Journal
AI Comes to the Apple Orchard—From Pollinating to Picking - Wall Street Journal
From zero to millions? How regular people are cashing in on AI - ZDnet
Meta’s AI-Powered Ray-Bans Are Life-Enhancing for the Blind - Wall Street Journal
Using AI missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared in 2014 – Economic Times
Google’s X spins out Heritable Agriculture, a startup using AI to improve crop yield – Tech Crunch
A German startup specializing in geospatial data, is using sensing technology in autonomous vehicles to map the seafloor to strengthen underwater military defense – Wall Street Journal
AI designed computer chips so complex that humans can’t understand them – BGR
DeepMind AI crushes tough maths problems on par with top human solvers – Nature
Using A.I., Researchers Peer Inside a 2,000-Year-Old Scroll Charred by Mount Vesuvius’ Eruption – Smithsonian Magazine
Generative AI meets Venn diagrams in a quite unique interface. – SuperRandom
Cancer could be spotted early on thanks to new 'human-defying' AI-powered body scan – Daily Record