@datarama@hachyderm.io
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

datarama

@datarama@hachyderm.io

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baldur, to random
@baldur@toot.cafe avatar

Google laid off their python lang team. This is a bad idea:

Google is all-in on “AI” and python is integral to ML
Other lang teams should be worried. If something as core to ML like python gets axed in an AI Bubble, what hope do other langs have?

https://social.coop/@Yhg1s/112332127058328855

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@baldur AFAIK they're not eliminating the work that team was doing, they're moving it to Germany where tech labour is cheaper.

(This is still a bad idea, not because Germans are going to be worse at the job, but because they've essentially just flushed all their established python langdev talent down the drain.)

eniko, to random
@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar

"this code has a several hundred case switch statement, disgusting" said the people who have no idea what the industry standard for coding programming language interpreters is

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@eniko psst. Wanna buy some computed gotos?

drahardja, to ai
@drahardja@sfba.social avatar

Are there any studies that actually show the efficacy of in preventing models from getting trained on your artwork? The authors of Nightshade of course claim that it works, but has there been independent studies to verify this?

I’ve only found some reddit posts that talk about it. and Nightshade don’t seem to be effective in fooling CLIP (text description extraction from image), only in fooling training models into misunderstanding the style (GLAZE) or label-to-subject correlation (Nightshade) of the image during training. While these sound pretty good, they don’t seem to be silver bullets. How many of us have to consistently misdirect trained models before they get fooled? How effective are these techniques actually?

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@drahardja I don't think anybody knows. I haven't been able to find any studies either.

Craigp, (edited ) to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Noodling at a cyberpunk TTRPG system just because I don't like how the existing ones handle things.

The three common approaches are

  1. Augmenting your body makes you less human

  2. Oh, did we say "cyberpunk" we meant "cybermilitaryindustrialfanboy"

  3. We adapted popular TTRPG system and changed some words to "cyber".

I don't like any of those.

What I like is the meat of having a ton of options to juggle and slot in, while also being punk-ish.

"Punk" doesn't mean "streamlined", FFS.

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@Craigp In the really dumb old TTRPG "Rifts" by Palladium, I kinda liked how they handled some of their augmented-human characters (though not all - cyborgs were pretty much just cool walking tanks).

One had chemical augmentation; a harness full of various drugs and cybernetic implants that injected everything they needed right when they needed it. They were terrifyingly strong and fast. But they all died 5-7 years after augmentation; the body can't take that kind of strain.

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@Craigp If they got "de-augmented" within a year or two, they could have a normal lifespan and function more or less normally. But that was very, very rare, because they'd also go back to being a boring un-augmented baseline human. And also, they tended to get a bit "drunk with power", and started deluding themselves into thinking they could last just a little longer.

After the first two years, they'd be increasingly disabled if they got off their drugs. Eventually withdrawal itself ...

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@Craigp Ah! You know it, so I won't belabor the point.

I loved Juicers! They were awesome tragic characters.

The system itself was more broken than a modern-day Microsoft desktop OS.

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@Craigp (and while the setting was more cyberpunk than Cyberpunk, what that setting really was was "80s Heavy Metal Album Cover: The Role-Playing Game".)

thomasfuchs, to random
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io avatar

And this is why people use Macs
https://journa.host/@mathewi/112322859973165069

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@thomasfuchs I use a Compose key on Linux (hey, this is Mastodon, you were expecting a smug Linux weenie at some point, right?).

I can easily write æ, ö, ß, λ, ⊆, д, é, è and ☭, among many other more-or-less useful things.

(and this is also part of how US-ANSI keyboards ended up becoming my favourite physical layout, with the dubious side effect that I can barely use a Danish keyboard anymore.)

thomasfuchs, to random
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io avatar

Protip: don't get major depressive disorder

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@thomasfuchs 0/5, would not wish it on my worst enemy.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

I want to make an MMORPG where everyone's hair is the source of their power, but the bigger your hair, the more damage it takes from getting in cars or walking through doors.

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@Craigp This sounds eerily like the heavy metal scene in the 80s.

baldur, to random
@baldur@toot.cafe avatar

“Civil War (the movie) is a blunt object. - by Dave Karpf”

This review makes me actually want to go out and see this movie https://davekarpf.substack.com/p/civil-war-the-movie-is-a-blunt-object

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@baldur I read the review too, and reflected that I'm not sure it'd have quite the effect on me it's intended to: To me, the US isn't "here", it's also "there".

(You lived in the US for a while, IIRC? I have family there, but never spent more than a couple of weeks in the country.)

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@baldur Probably doubly so!

For me, the US is no more "here" than Bosnia is (in fact it's probably less so - I've known many more Bosnians than Americans), so the emotional gut-punch of "war can happen here too" wouldn't work any more than a film about the war in Bosnia would. (a war film set in modern-day Scandinavia would, though).

Secondly, specifically civil war, for obvious reasons, has a very prominent place in US cultural self-understanding. ...

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@baldur ...which obviously isn't unique to the US; I'm sure Spaniards and Russians also have strong feelings and a lot of cultural baggage in their own, even more recent, civil wars. But the last civil war in Denmark was in the 1100s.

That is not to say it's a bad movie or that I don't want to see it, just that I don't think it'd have the impact Karpf mentions on someone like me.

thomasfuchs, to random
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io avatar

Finally a real use case for AI

https://www.psu.com/news/sony-files-new-patent-allowing-the-ai-to-play-games-for-you-during-the-grind/

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@thomasfuchs Wow, a machine that can play games for me! What's next? A machine that will eat pizza for me, or take naps for me?

tomw, to random
@tomw@mastodon.social avatar

Pop quiz: can you spot the problem in this PHP snippet? I just got tripped up by it and it was very Not Fun. (This is rewritten to be a minimal example.)

if ( $coolness > 10 ) {
define('COOL_MODE', true);
}

if ( COOL_MODE == true) {
echo 'You are cool.';
}

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@tomw @abucci In Queinnec's "Lisp in Small Pieces" from 1994, this exact behaviour (except, obviously, with symbols instead of strings) is described as undesirable behaviour the Lisp community learned the hard way to get rid of ... at some point in the early 70s.

(and also how misguided it was to "reduce errors" ... by allowing people to do things they almost certainly didn't want to. Though it made for some neat tricks in early algebra systems.)

baldur, (edited ) to random
@baldur@toot.cafe avatar

“Considerations for AI Opt-Out”

Good overview of the state of play. https://www.mnot.net/blog/2024/04/21/ai-control

Edit 3: Deleted the other comments. IANAL and this is well over my pay grade.

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@baldur I mean, it's strictly correct that the EU legislation "changes copyright reservation from opt-in to opt-out", but it appears to me that the actual AI copyright reservation policy isn't opt-in - it's that the ingesters simply don't give a crap.

Opt-out is better than that. (Though opt-in would be better still.)

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@baldur The naïve idealist in me is confused about how pretty much everyone just accepted that copyright doesn't apply to AI companies, after decades of brutal copyright maximalism.

The cynical realist in me knows that this is because now the mass copyright infringement is being carried out by corporations, and they can buy as much legislation as they feel like.

baldur, to random
@baldur@toot.cafe avatar

“You can’t stop AI crime and abuse now! The genie is out of the bottle!”

It costs literal billions, a small ocean’s worth of water, and electricity that could power nations to keep that genie out of the bottle. They absolutely do not have to make the abuses this easy or cheap

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@baldur You could regulate training and deploying new ones, but it's going to be hard (realistically: impossible) to get rid of all the LLaMA, Mistral etc. models people are running on their own machines. Even if they were banned too, there'd still be underground sharing of them.

baldur, to random
@baldur@toot.cafe avatar

“Struggling with a Moral Panic Once Again | by danah boyd | Apr, 2024 | Medium” https://zephoria.medium.com/struggling-with-a-moral-panic-once-again-f126528c7715

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@baldur I recently read Gerd Gigerenzer's book "How to Stay Smart in a Smart World" (ostensibly about the limitations of AI, but as much about tech in general), and one thing that stood out to me about kids' relation to smartphones is that it's pretty much the opposite of what my own bias would have assumed. They're not generally addicted to their phones - but many (even teenagers) are frustrated by how their parents seem to be addicted to theirs!

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@baldur That particular section in the book - "Distracted Parenting", by analogy to "Distracted Driving" - was honestly pretty heartbreaking.

(I think you might like the book, btw. It's from 2022, so the AI material only very briefly touches upon generative models.)

drahardja, to ArtificialIntelligence
@drahardja@sfba.social avatar

Another monstrosity; an offense to humanity.

Can we stop making robots look humanoid already? Make them look weird and machine-like; they’ll probably work better that way anyway. Making things that look humanoid yet violate the physical expectations applicable to humans is an insult to actual humans.

“Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas robot is a swiveling, shape-shifting nightmare”

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/17/24133145/boston-dynamics-resurrects-atlas-humanoid-robot-electric-new

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@drahardja The thing is: While weird machinelike robots are great for working in places where humans don't or can't go, they can't necessarily function well in a human environment. (eg wheels are great, but not so much for going up or down a staircase).

And that means a weird machinelike robot can't destroy the livelihood of your plumber, your electrician or your nurse. But a humanoid one might! Which is why capital really, really wants humanoid robots (if they can be made cheap enough).

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Wow, the plaza is crushingly overpacked because we have a few hours of sun.

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@Craigp I am the same way. When I actually am outside - especially in actual nature (or what little my country still has left that passes for "actual nature"), I will stay for a long time and enjoy it.

But I don't want to go, in the first place. There are so many indoor activities I'd rather do.

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@Craigp Today's excuse for me is that I'm still a bit messed up after the surgery. It still hurts, and even more, I feel fragile. I'm well aware that even if someone bumps into me, it will hurt a lot.

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@Craigp I actually like chilly wind. I tolerate cold well, and as long as it doesn't bite, I feel reasonably at home in it if I'm just wearing warm clothes. On the other hand, it doesn't need to get much more than a couple of degrees over room temperature before I feel like I'm melting.

This seems like a poor choice of specialization, given current developments.

baldur, to random
@baldur@toot.cafe avatar

“Society of Authors survey reveals a third of translators and quarter of illustrators losing work to AI”

We all know how crap generative images are but machine translation seems to be outright declining. Google Translate now thinks “skógarþröstur” in Icelandic means “woodpecker” https://downthetubes.net/society-of-authors-survey-reveals-a-third-of-translators-and-quarter-of-illustrators-losing-work-to-ai/

datarama,
@datarama@hachyderm.io avatar

@baldur @alda As a related footnote, one of my old school mates has worked as a translator for a lot of his professional life, and subtitling was the worst. He told me that they often had to translate text transcripts without even seeing the film they were subtitling (due to studio paranoia about pirating), which meant they often screwed things up simply because they had no contextual cues to go on beyond the text.

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