Shortly after the debut of ChatGPT, academics and technologists started to wonder if the recent explosion in AI models has also created contamination. Their concern is that AI models are being trained with synthetic data created by AI models. Subsequent generations of AI models may therefore become less and less reliable, a state known as AI model collapse. In March 2023, John Graham-Cumming, then CTO of Cloudflare and now a board member, registered the web domain lowbackgroundsteel.ai and began posting about various sources of data compiled prior to the 2022 AI explosion, such as the Arctic Code Vault (a snapshot of GitHub repos from 02/02/2020). The Register asked Graham-Cumming whether he came up with the low-background steel analogy, but he said he didn't recall. "I knew about low-background steel from reading about it years ago," he responded by email. "And I’d done some machine learning stuff in the early 2000s for [automatic email classification tool] POPFile. It was an analogy that just popped into my head and I liked the idea of a repository of known human-created stuff. Hence the site." - ChatGPT’s equivalent to low background steel.
People: Ephemerisle. Presence, context, commitment, and care. Ruled by death eaters. Inviting strangers to finance weddings. No tabs for GenZ.
Business: Has the Decline of Knowledge Work Begun?
Planet: Mushrooms have words. RF signals to earth. Planting trees in Las Vegas.
Tech: Removing floppy disks from planes (FAA).
Security: Spain blackouts and hackers. Attack on Russian court cases. Russian attach on western logistics.
AI: Going too fast for AI replacement? Regretting replacing people too fast (white-collar folks first?) - and what about GenZ entry level roles. IPO prospectus to be written 95% with AI. Gender and work impacts. AI and students adaptation. Lower impact? LLM are cheap. Codiscovery with AI. Thinking. Changes on the web.
Whole new pack of 12 papers for AI Agentic ethical considerations.
"Fungi, Friends, and Future Brews"
In the town of Midwood, a peculiar affair was brewing, one that threatened to disrupt the routine of its residents more than the annual fruit fly infestation at the local farmers’ market. The shops no longer sold only GUI interfaces or artisanal bread; they offered human-AI collaborations in various forms. Little did they know that behind the glass doors of the sun-soaked café 'Benevolent Beans,' a new wave of technology was aligning like planets in a cosmic spectacle—more enticing than the latest TikTok dance challenge.
At the heart of this digital transformation sat Shopkeeper Daryl, who had fallen into a well of existential dread after watching his automation-obsessed competitor reduce his staff to a lone AI-powered espresso machine. It didn't take long for Daryl to join the ranks of the 55% of companies regretting their robotic reliance. With freshly brewed ideas bubbling in his mind, he now offered live ‘person-to-espresso’ interaction to craft personalized brews—because what could be more human than pouring affection into a cup^1?
Meanwhile, across town, Alice had discovered her garden had allied with a network of fungi, like a secret society of underappreciated artists communicating through electrical signals. Every time she sang to her marigolds, a wave of symphonic signals rippled underfoot—the fungi were writing their own love songs while insidiously plotting the next big thing: a reality show about plant communication^2. Just as she was tending to her tomato patch, an outcrier suggested these fungal gatherings might just become the next next! After all, if you could measure fungal gossip in decibels, why not throw a party^3?
In a feat of rare coordination, the FAA, amid apparent chaos conjured by floppy disks and a Windows 95 nostalgia fetch, decided to modernize its air traffic control system with an Algorithm 2.0 initiative to replace their technically-challenged 1990s setup^4. Secretary Duffy promised to finish the upgrade within four years, though regular folks exchanged glances of skepticism that implied they’d believe in miracles before they’d believe in that timeline^5.
As life swirled in equilibrium punctuated by technology and fungi, the infamous Ephemerisle—a floating city created by modern pioneers—was scheduled for a July rendezvous. With its motto ‘No Dying’, it served as a reminder that creativity flowed best above water (or at least past pollen-filled air). When invited to contribute ideas, Miranda suggested they replace the usual peer-reviewed journals with oyster farming and mushroom scouting meetings^6. “Just think,” she exclaimed, “by building our governance on seaweed, we’d actually become sustainable!”
Yet as Alice pursued her fungal friendships and Daryl sought resurgence in his café, a dark cloud loomed. The pro-Ukraine hacking group BO Team had struck again, compromising local cybersecurity. Discovers of the incident were like tripping over a cat curled up in a sunbeam—awkward and comically untimely. Their audacity has sparked discussions about safeguards for future energies and whether more root systems (both digital and botanical) were necessary, or if our reliance on technology would continue in a Sisyphean cycle of despair^7.
Though challenges stalked Midwood like a racoon with an eye on the garbage can, the townsfolk had the audacity to thrive. Whether through AI’s rigorous embrace or nurturing the gentlest fungi’s whispers, they sought collaboration over competition, balance over chaos. After all, the future was not merely about ‘working from home’ but rather ‘growing from home,’ just like the local urban tree-planting initiative which dug deeper than simply cooling their anxious thoughts; it sprouted connections with every seedling planted.
And through it all, human presence remained the most exquisite seasoning amidst the synthetic broth of life. Daryl, Alice, and others cultivated intricacies in the art of being human while flirting with technology, proving that even amidst modern conundrums, it was still possible to brew a perfect cup of coffee… or at least consider moving to the coast for a year of seasteading and fungal festivities.
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1. It’s scientifically proven: “Node Cousin” opinions brewed daily!
2. Rumor has it, they do fine mixtapes, too.
3. Why should podcasts have all the fun?
4. You can feel the excitement—like someone finally embracing online shopping during the Golden Age of Catalogs!
5. Ahh, optimism, the natural state of the bureaucrat.
6. Because who doesn’t love a good seaweed burger discussion?
7. Who knew the raccoon could serve metaphors so well?