Our digital lives are increasingly noisy, shaped by the gigabytes of information that we consume on a daily basis. The bits and bytes that make their way into our psychology via messages, articles, videos, shorts, and podcasts are algorithmically curated to latch into relevancy. Platforms that serve information to us use our attention to personalize recommendations and advertisements, leaving us in a swirling vortex of information. Within this landscape of information, our software can become truly individualized, facilitated by thoughtful design of emergent applications that center user privacy, customization, and co-constructed features.
Read moreI hold a lot of value in the ‘self’ that I express through technology. Platforms like Facebook have an ‘irrevocable use’ clause in their terms of service that allows them to do what they’d like with your data in the name of ‘improving their services’, but you technically still own your data. So, I took it upon myself to start using that information for my own benefit.
Read moreEach person is unique. Our bodies and brains are uniquely shaped to the inputs we are given (or give) them. Our minds are shaped by the information we consume, the people we listen to, the stories we tell ourselves as truth. Thoughts and beliefs are connected through neural pathways, which are reinforced and made stronger the more frequently we practice thinking a certain way. Over time, this neuroplasticity turns practice into routine; our inner voice becomes the narrator of our memory.
Reflecting on the way that my relationship to computers and the internet has changed over the past decade prompted me to download a complete archive of my Facebook history before I went on vacation.
I used a python script to iterate through every folder in my Facebook messages archive and generate a .csv file with message content. I then uploaded the .csv file to ChatGPT to query and interrogate the data, asking it questions about myself and my growth.
Read moreI’ve had a hypothesis for several years now that we’re already well within the fabled technological singularity. The quest for a super-intelligent, self-modifying computer is openly promoted in Silicon Valley. It makes sense that we would look for computational intelligence that looks like human intelligence – but what if we’re looking at this the wrong way?
Read moreTrust can be found between individuals, within organizations, and between an individual and an institution. When we consider the concept of trust, we might think about people we trust to be vulnerable around when we are going through a difficult time in our lives. We might think about the trust that we have with the institutions in our lives, such as trusting that we will be able to access medical care when it is needed. As of 2023, Generative AI was trusted more than any institution – which includes church, Congress, the military, businesses, and schools.
Read moreOne of the most challenging moments as a leader can be confronting the moment when you know that you are no longer able to continue down a particular path you had been following. For me, a moment like this came on Wednesday, August 23rd, 2023, when I sat down in an empty room in the Palais de Congres conference center in Montreal and submitted my leave of absence request for my fifth term at CBS.
Read moreAs an autistic and queer individual, the role that technology plays in identifying, surveilling, and categorizing acceptable behavior within society is not lost on me. Despite using machine learning technology since 2014, I have used ChatGPT one time. The challenge that has come from not using OpenAI products and ChatGPT has actually been in the way that it impacts my relationship with people more than anything else.
Read moreOne decision that many organizations may be making right now is how to develop a corporate policy about artificial intelligence. Could, perhaps, an eigenvalue be calculated against a matrix of perspectives within an organization, to represent a new form of communicating the nuance and fluid nature of these complex, multi-cellular entities in which we house business endeavors? To evaluate this idea, I took a small (9 person) survey of team members and asked them to share their perspectives on AI innovation.
Read moreAs I’m writing this, I’m wearing a green t-shirt with a giant eyeball over my rapidly growing stomach. It’s Halloween, and I’ve decided to dress up as Mike Wazowski – it feels like I’m all stomach these days, so it felt appropriate. My partner dressed up as Boo. Halloween is an especially interesting time of year to reflect on identity and persona: it’s a holiday that encourages people to step into a different character and
Read moreI can understand the appeal of language models. Language – the act and structure of communicating the cognitive processes I undergo on a day to day basis – is observable, whereas memory is not.Over the past several months, I’ve been working through the development of an architecture that may someday allow me to digitize my memory in a more complete way on the glass whiteboard in my office.
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