Ted Chiang has the best way to think about ChatGPT: newyorker.com/tech/annals-of…

I am reconsidering my opinion that LLMs know nothing and could never convincingly impersonate a human being.

Do you have a data fanatic in the family? Buy them a personal subscription to Significance this Christmas: ow.ly/zC0R50QaXv6 #statistics #data

Congratulations to our Director Carly Kind on her appointment as the new Australian Privacy Commissioner. We wish her the very best in her new role. We are now looking for a dynamic, forward-thinking and inclusive leader to become our next Director⬇️ adalovelaceinstitute.org/job/director/

glorious

This week I have mainly been getting inside the life of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (the company that gave us ChatGPT). Listen from 7pm Saturday on BBC Radio 4 or BBC Sounds bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

and this, my children, is why I don't do consumer DNA tests. Once your genetic data is out there, it's out there. You can't pull it back. And remember, if you do a DNA test, you're also uploading at least some of your family members' DNA too. techcrunch.com/2023/12/04/23a…

“We all share the same values, the real question is about the best means to achieve them” is the ultimate technocratic power move. It’s deeply undemocratic because it puts out of contestation the key judgment about values and their prioritisation.

New age check guidance published today by ⁦Ofcom⁩ for consultation: ‘Implementing the #OnlineSafetyAct : Protecting children from online #pornography’ #OnlineSafety #OnlineHarms #eSafety #OSA2023 #OnlineSafetyAct2023 #AgeAssurance #ChildSafeguarding ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/20…

My baby sibling is due on May 23rd!

on publication day, read this edited extract in Quillette on the digital mirror of Narcissus:

Please read it before doing any stories about how technology is changing politics:

Again, if you're interested in how technology affects political campaigning: 1) read Technology is not the Problem (especially chapter 3) 2) follow these guys⤵️

I asked my daughter what she thought about this exchange (not mine). She solemnly warned that it was probably a scam. She has a nose for this kind of thing.

now yesterday's event - but may still be copies in the Hay Festival bookshop

My younger sibling going cheap this weekend!

Both Timandra Harkness and Technology is not the Problem are available as audiobooks read by Timandra Harkness

Love this photo by Paul Clarke of tiffany jenkins and me at the launch of Technology is not the Problem. Caption competition?

Katie Razzall martha lane fox Shona Ghosh Katy Balls Jessica Elgot Sean Topham BBC Radio 4 BBC Sounds Delighted that the Conservative use of microtargeted campaigning in 2015 got a mention - I wrote about that in Timandra Harkness before it was fashionable to care (I.e. before Trump/Brexit votes). Paperback edition got a new chapter with lots on digital politics!

Katie Razzall martha lane fox Shona Ghosh Katy Balls Jessica Elgot Sean Topham BBC Radio 4 BBC Sounds Timandra Harkness Obviously a LOT about microtargeted political campaigns in Technology is not the Problem - much of it about why the problems of personalised politics go back long before the internet.