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 moreAs our realities trend toward the algorithmic, we’re no longer just technology users — we are participants in an evolving dialogue between human intent and machine capability. We can watch from the sidelines as a new paradigm in human-computer interaction evolves or we can build it.
At the core, this is about changing how we engage with information, each other, and the world around us. AI is reshaping how computer systems are designed to process, synthesize, and navigate information.
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’m not sure if it’s just me, but this feels increasingly less true as AI threatens to take over the way that we think and communicate. What is one to do? Write an English-to-English translator.
Read moreI wanted a version of Tetris that had a logarithmic board instead of a square grid. I couldn’t get the idea out of my head, so I turned to AI.
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 moreI’m no stranger to being a contrarian – so when ChatGPT exploded onto the scene a few years back, I resisted the urge to start using it for everything and instead decided to go as long as possible without. At the one year mark, I wrote about how my non-use of ChatGPT was going. The TL;DR – the ethical concerns related to large-scale, hosted LLMs around copyright, labor in training, climate, and monopolization/market capture led
Read moreOn the list of “things that annoy me about AI”, trying to upsell AI features as part of a service is close to the top. I’ve recently noticed that my LinkedIn feed has been shoving an AI icon and related “coaching prompts” into my feed, and my solution of hiding every post that had the icons on them wasn’t actually filtering the system the way that I wanted. Today I spent a few minutes learning
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.
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