Obviously non-obvious

Let’s face it: everyone has been there. One minute, you’re doing something that feels super cool, whether it’s a dance move, a fashion choice, or a joke. The next minute, it hits you like a ton of bricks: what was so cool just a moment ago is suddenly… cringe. But why does that happen? What makes something cool one second and cringey the next? Why is the line between the two so razor-thin? Let’s unpack this concept, because when it comes to the world of “cool” and “cringe,” things aren’t always what they seem. Cringe-ness and Cool-ness Are States of Mind First off, let’s address the fact that both cringe-ness and cool-ness are states of mind. Cool isn’t an objective truth that’s written somewhere in the cosmos. Likewise, cringe isn’t some universal law of physics. What is cool to one Read more…

ChatGPT is amazing, but have you ever seen outputs from text completion models, i.e. the precursors to ChatGPT? Do you think ChatGPT is skilled at “understanding” the human emotional expressions yet? Do you think the images are more emotionally accurate than the texts? Here is a list of actual outputs from OpenAI. All of them were generated with the input “A story about a robot expressing the emotion []” where the brackets indicate placeholders for specific emotion keywords. Enjoy! A robot named Aloof A robot named “Aloof” had been inside the body of a human woman for years, waiting for a opportunity to express her emotion above ground. Finally, she decided to enter a state called “delighted” and immediately Carmen Became Elated, Wrote Aloof. text-ada-001 A robot named Z3-8 Once upon a time, there existed a robot known as Z3-8. Read more…

Online scams are a common threat in the digital age, and it’s important to know how to spot and avoid them. With the rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Bard/Gemini, Grok and more, the scams will only become more sophisticated and difficult to detect. This is one of the unfortunate prices we must pay for the benefits that AI brings us. Here are some examples of common online scams, with suggestions on how to stay safe from them. Phishing These are attempts to trick you into revealing sensitive information, like passwords and credit card numbers. Enhanced phishing attempts could involve AI creating deceptive emails or messages to specific individuals, making them more convincing and harder to detect. You can protect yourself by using security software and keeping it updated, using multi-factor authentication for your accounts, and backing up your Read more…

Whether you are emailing someone you don’t know, or messaging your colleague, certain common features set apart great questions from the lousy ones. In many cases, it is not the actual question, but the method of asking that can potentially make the interaction less pleasant and less productive for everyone involved. Asking the same question over a phone call or a meeting would also benefit from some of these considerations, but factors such as personal history and “catching up” would become relevant in those contexts. In this article, we present 7 simple tips that illustrate the subtle art of asking questions via text-based media like Slack channels, emails, personal messages, and so on. Google is your friend This is a no-brainer, but frequently overlooked. Just put the exact question you have into Google. Or ChatGPT, Bard etc. If your company Read more…