Don't cry
/Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened - Dr. Seuss
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
Problems are Signals
/Americans in general have always admired growth. We admire the fastest growing companies and the cities that grew the most in the past decade. Magazines list the national economics that are growing the fastest. Bigger is better and bigger-faster is better still.
There is another kind of growth, which is much harder to measure. Its goal is not an increase in size (or intelligence or sophistication or experience or skill), but simply ripening. We overcome the barrier to growth as development when we are able to view our problems as signals that it is time to let go of the way in which we have been seeing and doing things and initiate a developmental transition.
The barriers to this kind of growth are overcome whenever we stop viewing our flaws and problems as things to be solved or removed and start viewing them as signals. What the problems are, really, are old solutions that have outlived their usefulness. From that point of view, whenever we do away with a problem instead of listening to its message, we trigger a string of events that lands us in trouble.
William Bridges, The Way of Transitions
Don't be afraid
/Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is. - H. Jackson Browne
10 Recent Articles about the Dangers of AI
/A.I. Could Soon Need as Much Electricity as an Entire Country – New York Times
AI becoming sentient is risky, but that’s not the big threat. Here’s what is… - Science Focus
Why humans can't trust AI: You don't know how it works, what it's going to do or whether it'll serve your interests – Japan Today
‘A.I. Obama’ and Fake Newscasters: How A.I. Audio Is Swarming TikTok – New York Times
Google and Microsoft Are Supercharging AI Deepfake Porn – Bloomberg
How the inventor of the first chatbot turned against AI – The Guardian
Tools such as ChatGPT threaten transparent science; here are our ground rules for their use – Nature
China AI & Semiconductors Rise: US Sanctions Have Failed – Semi Analysis
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark is pouring millions of dollars into combating AI’s dark side – CNBC
6 Free Webinars this Week about Journalism & AI
/Mon, Oct 16 - How to Cover Indigenous Stories as a Non-Indigenous Journalist
What: A panel discussion on how reporters can best cover Indigenous communities and why having Indigenous reporters in newsrooms is essential.
Who: Anna V. Smith is an associate editor at High Country News, Matteo Cimellaro is mixed race journalist of Cree and Settler ancestry, Brittany Guyot was the third recipient of the CAJ/APTN Indigenous Investigative Fellowship and is now an Investigative Reporter with APTN Investigates.
When: 6 pm, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Uproot Project
Wed, Oct 18 - The NYTimes & the Transformation of Journalism in the Digital Age
What: Politics & the transformation of journalism in the digital age
Who: NY Times political correspondent Adam Nagourney & Patt Morrison
When: 5 pm, Pacific
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Jews United for Democracy and Justice and Community Advocates
Wed, Oct 18 – Police Intimidation of the Press: The Marion, KS Search & Seizure Outrage
What: Public officials probably don’t miss the watchdog function of the press in light of the violation of press freedom in Kansas earlier this year. And perhaps some of their constituents have forgotten the benefits of a robust Fourth Estate. Violations of both the First and Fourth Amendment Constitutional rights now worry some in the media. Accusations of 'fake news' undermine media credibility and create combativeness by public officials to challenge the legitimacy of a free press.
Who: Walter Smith Randolph is Connecticut Public Broadcasting’s investigative editor; Eric Meyer is the majority owner, editor, and publisher of the Marion County Record in Marion, Kansas; Dean Pagani is a professor of communications at the University of New Haven; Paul Bass has been a reporter and editor in New Haven for 45 years; Caitlin Vogus, a 2010 graduate of Harvard Law School, is the deputy director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation.
When: 7 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: The Harvard Law School Association of Massachusetts and the Harvard Club of Kansas City
Thu, Oct 19 - The Israel - Gaza Conflict: What Journalists Covering War Should Know
What: Journalists on the ground and from afar are reporting on the fast-developing Israel-Gaza war. What’s important to consider in the coverage? How can you cut through the disinfo?
Who: Multimedia journalist Michael Lipin, who covers international affairs as a Voice of America bridge editor;Steven Youngblood, who is the founding director of the Center for Global Peace Journalism at Park University in Parkville, Missouri.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: International Center for Journalists
Thu, Oct 19 - AI for Nonprofits: What You Need to Know
What: A closer look at the latest generation of AI. You'll learn what these tools can do for your mission-focused work and the need to use them in a thoughtful, responsible manner. You'll come away with a better understanding of what AI is, the different kinds of AI that exist, use cases for nonprofits, and thoughtful strategies for this emerging tech.
Who: Joshua Peskay & Destiny Bowers of RoundTable Technology.
When: 12 pm, Central
Where: Teams
Cost: Free
Sponsor: TechSoup
Fri, Oct 20 - Covering campaign finance and lobbying
What: The basics of how to cover campaign finance and lobbying.
Who: OpenSecrets' research experts Anna Massoglia, editorial and investigations manager and Pete Quist, deputy research director.
When: 11:30 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: National press club journalism institute, Open Secrets
The Bitter Lesson
/There’s a famous essay in the field of machine learning known as “The Bitter Lesson,” which notes that decades of research prove that the best way to improve AI systems is not by trying to engineer intelligence but by simply throwing more computer power and data at the problem. The lesson is bitter because it shows that machine scale beats human curation. And the same might be true of the web. Read more at The Verge
The Tonic
/Unselfish love for others is a tonic to the soul. At this very moment, someone needs you to care for him. Without you, his life may be incomplete. It could be a member of your family; possibly it is your neighbor or the person with whom you work. You see, you really do not have time to indulge in self-pity because of your past failures; already too many are stuck in the mud of self-pity, and they need you to lift them out of despair.
Larry Kennedy, Down With Anxiety
15 Articles about The Potential Impact of AI on Medicine
/Why AI Is Medicine’s Biggest Moment Since Antibiotics - Wall Street Journal
I’m an ER doctor: Here’s what AI startups get wrong about “ChatGPT for telehealth” – Fast Company
Hospital bosses love AI. Doctors and nurses are worried. – Washington Post
Deep Learning Model Detects Diabetes Using Routine Chest Radiographs – Health IT Analytics
AI Helps a Stroke Patient Speak Again, a Milestone for Tech and Neuroscience - New York Times
Google DeepMind’s AI Model Scours Our Genes to Guess Who Might Get Sick - Wall Street Journal
A boy saw 17 doctors over 3 years for chronic pain. ChatGPT found the right diagnosis - NBC Today Show
AI might be listening during your next health appointment - Axios
A step towards AI-based precision medicine - Science Daily
Is the Eye the Window to Alzheimer’s? New AI tools could diagnose the disease with visual scans - Wall Street Journal
Predicting epileptic seizures with AI - RIU Research
AI’s potential to accelerate drug discovery needs a reality check - Nature
An AI Tool That Can Help Forecast Viral Outbreaks – Harvard Medical School
Microsoft announces new AI tools to help doctors deliver better care – CNBC
New AI Tools Must Have Health Equity in Their DNA - JAMA Network
15 Articles about the Ethics of AI
/Generative AI Is a (ethical) Disaster, and Companies Don’t Seem to Really Care – Vice
Artificial Intelligence comes with risks. How can companies develop AI responsibly? - NPR
USC Invests $1 Billion in New Computing School to Teach Ethical AI Use - dot.LA
The Green Glass Approach to Responsible AI – Expert AI
AI is acting ‘pro-anorexia’ and tech companies aren’t stopping it – Washington Post
Pope Francis: AI should be used in a responsible and ethical way – Market Watch
For artificial intelligence to thrive, it must explain itself - Economist
Colonizing Art – Openmind Mag
AI operations create a huge carbon footprint and often rely on low-paid workers in developing countries. Some professors and students may decide it’s ethically questionable to use these tools. – Chronicle of Higher Ed
The ethics of AI-powered marketing technology – Mark Tech
Ethical considerations in the use of AI – Reuters
Answering AI’s biggest questions requires an interdisciplinary approach – Tech Crunch
OpenAI's 'unreasonable claims' exhaust AI-ethics researchers – Insider
Generative AI Is Making Companies Even More Thirsty for Your Data – Wired
Flattering God
/God is never flattered by our sanctified exhaustion. -Calvin Miller
This Chapter of Your Life
/If the present chapter of your life is a course you are taking, what would an appropriate title for it be? What are you meant to be learning in it? What is it that you need to unlearn for this course? What is it time for you to let go of? What unlived life is now there in the shadows?
William Bridges, The Way of Transition
15 Things people are trying to get AI to do–from solving crime to detecting wildfires
/Can A.I. solve rape cases? To find out, a Cleveland professor programmed a computer to analyze thousands of police reports -Cleveland.com
Some in the (book) publishing world are already experimenting with AI programs in areas such as marketing, advertising, audiobook production and even writing, weighing their promise of supporting work done by humans against the threat that the machines ma. -NY Times
AI-powered technology may also help revitalize endangered languages, including by processing and storing languages and identifying language patterns. Additionally, AI may help accomplish these tasks at unprecedented speeds or just in time, before an endangered language goes extinct. -Inside Higher Ed
Many in publishing are taking action to protect their work. The Authors Guild recently organized a petition signed by thousands of writers demanding that companies seek their approval before using their work to train A.I. programs. New York Times
Text With Jesus replicates an instant messaging platform, with biblical figures impersonated by the artificial intelligence program ChatGPT. The launching of the app stirred reactions ranging from amusement to accusations of blasphemy and heresy. -Religious News Service
Can ChatGPT become a content moderator? The technique is still not as effective as experienced human moderators, OpenAI found. But it outperforms moderators that have had light training.-Semafor
Can A.I. Detect Wildfires Faster Than Humans? California Is Trying to Find Out. -New York Times
AI providers begin to explore new terrain: chatbots in salary negotiations – Axios
Coca-Cola launches beverage created with the help of artificial intelligence -Food Dive
Get Ready for AI Chatbots That Do Your Boring Chores - Wired
Alexa, will generative AI make you more useful? -Semafor
Can AI predict, and try to prevent, homelessness? -NPR
ChatGPT was allegedly used to generate an apology statement about The Lord of the Rings: Gollum - TechRadar
Best Free & Paid AI Resume Builders: Build a Resume in Minutes - Tech.co
Multinationals turn to generative AI to manage supply chains - Financial Times
It’s All in the Attitude
/Several years ago on an extremely hot day, a crew of men were working on the road bed of the railroad when they were interrupted by a slow moving train. The train ground to a stop and a window in the last car – which incidentally was custom make and air conditioned – was raised. A booming, friendly voice called out, “Dave, is that you?” Dave Anderson, the crew chief called back, “Sure is, Jim, and it’s really good to see you.” With that pleasant exchange, Dave Anderson was invited to join Jim Murphy, the president of the railroad, for a visit. For over an hour the men exchanged pleasantries and then shook hands warmly as the train pulled out.
Dave Anderson’s crew immediately surrounded him and to a man expressed astonishment that he knew Jim Murphy, the president of the railroad as a personal friend. Dave then explained that over 20 years earlier he and Jim Murphy had started to work for the railroad on the same day. One of the men, half-jokingly and half seriously asked Dave why he was still working out in the hot sun and Jim Murphy had gotten to be president. Rather wistfully, Dave explained, “twenty-three years ago I went to work for $1.75 an hour and Jim Murphy went to work for the railroad.”
Zig Ziglar, See You at the Top
9 articles about AI & Academic Scholarship
/AI beats human sleuth at finding problematic images in research papers – Nature
Signs of undeclared ChatGPT use in papers mounting - Retraction Watch
Spitting out the AI Gobbledegook sandwich: a suggestion for publishers - Dorothy V. M. Bishop blog
AI destroys principles of authorship. A scary case from educational technology publishing. - Marco Kalz blog
Artificial Intelligence–Generated Research in the Literature: Is It Real or Is It Fraud? - Mary Ann Liebert Publishers
ChatGPT used in peer reviews of Australian Research Council grant applications – itnews
As scientists explore AI-written text, journals hammer out policies – Science.org
Use of AI Is Seeping Into Academic Journals—and It’s Proving Difficult to Detect – Wired
Draft law in China sets out penalties for AI-aided academic writing – University World News
We’re All Lousy Self-Evaluators
/A stranger walks into a room and sits down behind a table. He picks up a piece of paper and read aloud a generic-sounding weather report. He completes his “report” in about 90 seconds and walks out of the room.
Next, you’re asked to guess his IQ.
You’re part of a psychological experiment, and you object to the absurdity of the request. I don’t know anything about that guy. He just came into a room and read a report. It wasn’t even his report- you gave it to him to read! How am I supposed to know his IQ?
Reluctantly, you make a wild guess. Separately, Fake Weatherman is asked to guess his own IQ. Who made a better guess?
Amazingly, you did, even though you know nothing about Fake Weatherman. Two (German) psychologists … conducted this experiment, and they found that the strangers’ IQ predictions were better than the predictions of those whose IQ was being predicted- about 66 percent more accurate.
To be clear, it’s not so much that you’re a brilliant predictor; it’s that he’s a lousy self-evaluator. We’re all lousy self-evaluators. College students do a superior job predicting the longevity of their roommates’ romantic relationships than their own.
Savor, for a moment, the preposterousness of these findings. Fake Weatherman has all the information, and you’ve got none. He’s got decades of data- year’s worth of grades, college entrance exams cores, job evaluations, and more. Fake Weatherman should be the worlds foremost expert on Fake Weatherman!
Chip & Dan Heath, Switch
12 Media Webinars this week about AI, journalism, storytelling, NIL, and more
/Mon, Oct 9 - The Darkening Tide of Digital Repression and the Risks of Journalistic Reluctance 2023
What: This seminar examines why journalists often fail to take the necessary information security steps to better protect themselves, their sources, and their stories, despite ongoing threats to journalism.
Who: Jennifer R. Henrichsen, Assistant Professor at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University
When: 3:10 pm, Pacific
Where: Microsoft Teams
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Washington State University
Mon, Oct 9 - Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI: Empowering a Deeper Conversation
What: Navigating the positive and effective uses of AI and generative AI within K-12 school settings. Seven essential guidelines recommended for school superintendents and school leaders when implementing actionable steps and policies around AI and generative AI will be described.
Who: Matthew Friedman currently serves as the Superintendent of Schools in the Quakertown Community School District in Pennsylvania; Kelly May-Vollmar is the Superintendent of Desert Sands Unified School District, California; David Miyashiro is Superintendent of Cajon Valley Union School; Pete Just, CETL serves as the Executive Director of the Indiana CTO Council. District, California.
When: 5 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsors: The School Superintendents Association, The Consortium for School Networking, ClassLink
Tue, Oct 10 - Storytelling for Impact
What: Tips, techniques and tools to help the modern marketer tell better and more impactful stories to activate their audiences around ideas and actions.
Who: Kiersten Hill Director of Nonprofit Solutions for FireSpring
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: FireSpring
Tue, Oct 10 - Boost your reporting with data visualization: a toolkit for journalists
What: The basics of data visualization for journalists. By the end, you'll have everything you need to make your own charts and share them with your audience.
When: 11 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Flourish
Tue, Oct 10 - How ChatGPT Reduces Costs and Time by 70% in Lesson Writing - See a Proof in Action
What: What is the overview of the ChatGPT ecosystem and the tools and plug-ins you can use? What are the learning platforms that can integrate with ChatGPT and reduce your cost? What are the steps to take so ChatGPT can be used to reduce research, writing, and development effort and expenditures? How do you deal with copyright and ownership of the content? What ChatGPT tools can you use in graphics, videos, and animation?
Who: Ray Jimenez, Ph.D. Architect of TrainingMagNetwork.com, Chief Learning Officer of Vignettes Learning. He spent 15 years with Coopers & Lybrand in the areas of management consulting and implementation of learning technology solutions.
When: 12 noon, Pacific
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: OpenSesame
Wed, Oct 11 - Interpretable AI, algorithmic accountability, and AI ethics
What: What is interpretable machine learning? How can we make algorithms accountable for their decisions? How can we better explain how AI works in critical situations?
Who: Dr Stylianos Kampakis who has more than 10 years of experience in the area of data science working with organisations of all sizes on topics like data strategy and algorithm design.
When:11 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: The Tesseract Academy
Wed, Oct 11 - Athletes as Influencers: Working With NIL, Pros and Retired Players
What: Get best practices and actionable strategies to activate and optimize your athlete influencer relationships.
Who: Giancarlo Morena Sr. Director of Marketing Celsius, Jared Kozinn Head of Sports Partnerships Dansons, Pit Boss; Bob Lynch CEO and Founder SponsorUnited
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: AdWeek
Wed, Oct 11 - Digital Marketing for Nonprofits with HootSuite
What: Gain invaluable insights from industry experts on how to effectively manage and market your social media channels. Learn the dos and don'ts of social media management specifically tailored for nonprofits. Have your pressing questions answered in real time during our open Q&A session following the presentation.
When: 12 noon, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: TechSoup
Thu, Oct 12 - Ideas That Will Instantly Grow Your Audience
What: Implementing a simple, but effective SEO strategy that will immediately get you results; Social media tactics that uses Meta’s tools to quickly grow your audience; How to take traditional topics like education and sports and build fast digital-only features that are useful, searchable and shareable; AI approaches that will help you create content efficiently but ethically.
Who: David Arkin, the owner of David Arkin Consulting and Tara Jones, who works for his consulting firm as a digital content strategist.
When: 1 pm, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: $35
Sponsor: Online Media Campus
Thu, Oct 12 - Telling Hard Stories: 2023 Dart Awards Celebration & Winners' Roundtable
What: Questions of craft, ethics and storytelling, and explore innovative best practices in hard-hitting, humane reporting on violence and tragedy.
Who: Janelle Nanos, Enterprise Reporter, The Boston Globe; Raquel Rutledge, Investigations Editor, The Examination News; Meg Shutzer, Investigative Journalist and Documentary Filmmaker; Connie Walker, Host, Gimlet, a Spotify Studio; John Woodrow Cox, Enterprise Reporter, The Washington Post
When: 6 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma
Thu, Oct 12 - Reading Instruction and AI: New Strategies for the Big Education Challenges of Our Time
What: Experts in the field explore these instructional pain points and offer game-changing guidance for K-12 leaders and educators.
Who: Brandi Renfro Educational Consultant, Promethean; Lauraine Langreo Staff Writer, Education Week; Glenn Kleiman Senior Adviser, Stanford Graduate School of Education; Julie Cohen Charles S. Robb Associate Professor, University of Virginia's School of Education and Human Development and others
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Education Week
Fri, Oct 13 - How journalists can (and should) start using AI in their work
What: A practical look at what journalists need to know about AI tools and their applications within journalistic work. Best practices for using AI in the newsroom.
Who: Francesco Marconi, a computational journalist, and the co-founder of AI company Applied XL, formerly R&D Chief at The Wall Street Journal and AI Co-Lead at the Associated Press,
When: 11:30 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: National Press Club
10 Quotes Worth Reading about the Future of AI
/Within five years everyone would have access to an AI personal assistant. He referred to this function as a personal chief-of-staff. In this vision, everybody will have access to an AI that knows you, is super smart, and understands your personal history. -Venture Beat
Some experts in generative AI predict that as much as 90% of content on the internet could be artificially generated within a few years. -Bloomberg
Currently, most AI falls under narrow or specialized intelligence — good at one thing but pretty useless otherwise. However, we’re inching closer to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), where machines can understand, learn, and apply knowledge across different domains. -Christophe Atten writing in Medium
It is certainly the case that many new technologies have led to bad outcomes – often the same technologies that have been otherwise enormously beneficial to our welfare. So it’s not that the mere existence of a moral panic means there is nothing to be concerned about. But a moral panic is by its very nature irrational – it takes what may be a legitimate concern and inflates it into a level of hysteria that ironically makes it harder to confront actually serious concerns. And wow do we have a full-blown moral panic about AI right now. -Marc Andreesen writing in a16z
All of the software we’ve ever used was engineered to work backward from an outcome. Its creators wanted to help you find a webpage or play a game or operate a laptop. Perhaps you’ve noticed that the major AI chatbots arrived with almost no user documentation or instructions. A lump of clay doesn’t come with instructions either. That’s what makes this moment unique — and so worthy of species-level #1 foam-finger pride. We humans have created a tool for potentially infinite tasks. Its imperfections are ours to solve — and its powers still ours to shape. -Washington Post
“AI may cause a new Renaissance, perhaps a new phase of the Enlightenment,” Yann LeCun, one of the godfathers of modern artificial intelligence, suggested earlier this year. AI can already make some existing scientific processes faster and more efficient, but can it do more, by transforming the way science itself is done? Such transformations have happened before. -The Economist
DeepMind’s cofounder says generative AI is just a phase. What’s next is interactive AI: bots that can carry out tasks you set for them by calling on other software and other people to get stuff done. “Technology is going to be animated. It’s going to have the potential freedom, if you give it, to take actions. It’s truly a step change in the history of our species that we’re creating tools that have this kind of, you know, agency.” -MIT Tech Review
What If the Robots Were Very Nice While They Took Over the World? First it was chess and Go. Now AI can beat us at Diplomacy, the most human of board games. The way it wins offers hope that maybe AI will be a delight. -Wired
People need to develop “rugged flexibility,” to manage change most effectively. In other words, people need to learn how to be strong and hold on to what is most useful but also to bend and adapt to change by embracing what is new. -Venture Beat
Imagine if your brain got 10 times smarter every year over the past decade, and you were on pace for more 10x compounding increases in intelligence over at least the next five. Throw in precise recall of everything you’ve ever learned and the ability to synthesize all those materials instantly in any language. You wouldn’t be just the smartest person to have ever lived — you’d be all the smartest people to have ever lived. (Though not the wisest.) That’s a plausible trajectory of the largest AI models. -Washington Post
We seem to be in what I can only call an “AI lull.” The initial excitement about ChatGPT, which started in January, has receded. Do not be deceived. While the hype and marketing may have died down, at least on the retail side, the AI revolution will continue. -Bloomberg
What Overinvolved parenting does to Kids
/When parents have tended to do the stuff of life for kids—the waking up, the transporting, the reminding about deadlines and obligations, the bill-paying, the question-asking, the decision-making, the responsibility-taking, the talking to strangers, and the confronting of authorities, kids may be in for quite a shock when parents turn them loose in the world of college or work. They will experience setbacks, which will feel to them like failure. Lurking beneath the problem of whatever thing needs to be handled is the student’s inability to differentiate the self from the parent.
When seemingly perfectly healthy but overparented kids get to college and have trouble coping with the various new situations they might encounter—a roommate who has a different sense of “clean,” a professor who wants a revision to the paper but won’t say specifically what is “wrong,” a friend who isn’t being so friendly anymore, a choice between doing a summer seminar or service project but not both—they can have real difficulty knowing how to handle the disagreement, the uncertainty, the hurt feelings, or the decision-making process. This inability to cope—to sit with some discomfort, think about options, talk it through with someone, make a decision—can become a problem unto itself.
Julie Lythcott-Haims, How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success
A pessimist & an optimist
/A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. -Sir Winston Churchill
Irritations
/Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. -Carl Jung