Chatbots like ChatGPT can predict words with amazing precision. The danger lies in believing they’re capable of more. The first problem with … Circling the rings of nuance around planet AI
writing
Pictures of you
In the den on the bookshelf he keeps a framed set of photos of himself. Starting at 10 o’clock and moving clockwise, he is a grade school student in a striped red turtleneck, the late 1970s. The picture has the… Read More ›
April
The album is my link to him, it came out the year he died. It’s just called April and it was released on April 1, 2008. I remember buying the CD, standing outside the record store waiting for the bus…. Read More ›
Warnings from Shakespeare on AI
In case you missed it, last week I launched a new website called Words Matter. I’ll be posting essays about technology, potential impacts on society, with links to more information. This week’s piece reflects on the impact of AI through… Read More ›
Trump indictment looms as the world looks on
If you really think about it, it’s funny we use the phrase to “pay attention.” If attention is ours, why do we have to pay for it? Usually you buy something you don’t have. It seems counterintuitive since others literally… Read More ›
The spring of our discontent
It’s spring again, so I bought a book called Global Catastrophic Risks. It’s not the right book for the season but I’m compelled to read it because it cost so much. It’s thick and scientific with a Bruegel painting on… Read More ›
‘A’ stands for ambiguous in AI
‘A’ stands for ambiguous in AI Check out my new WordPress site Words Matter for essays about today’s emerging technologies and how AI will impact all of us. Thanks to my good friends here who helped me create this first… Read More ›
No more the mystery
Automating music discovery through algorithms has forever changed the way we learn about and consume new music. But have we lost something precious along the way? I moved to Seattle in the summer of ’96 and left just after a… Read More ›
Letting go of Jon Cook
In 1996 I didn’t know what to do there, I just knew I had to be on the internet. There was a little internet cafe around the corner from my apartment on Broadway, Seattle’s hip, gay neighborhood I’d just moved… Read More ›
Brief candles
Leaving Utah last September was one of the saddest times of my life, saying goodbye to our daughter Lily. That little airport in the middle of nowhere, so desolate. Sitting in the lobby waiting for the airport workers to open… Read More ›
Bill Pearse 