AI round-up: Week of December 2, 2024

I’m late this week…but I have a good excuse. I started my day at Kent State University judging the Ad and PR Campaign Presentations. They were incredible; so much talent in one room! The future of the industry is in good hands. And guess what – there were some AI-generated images in the presentations…

As for the world of AI, which is why you’re here…hey, we made it! Nothing happened over Thanksgiving break. So I guess the AI boom is over??

We have 20 days until Christmas and probably two working weeks left until people shut it down. I know I’m going to lose some of you as we go deeper into December, so this is the penultimate issue of the AIRU for 2024.

I’m going to start this one with the Learn a Little section, mainly because there are still a lot of questions around prompting…and I feel bad telling folks that there really isn’t a wrong way to do this. (Feels like I’m avoiding the question.)

So, two of my faves and most attributed authors recently put out dueling pieces on prompting. Christopher Penn and Ethan Mollick.

Here is a key quote from Mollick’s blog as it pertains to common frustrations with prompting:

“There are many stumbling blocks: people treat AI like Google, asking it factual questions. But AI is not Google, and do not provide consistent, or even reliable, answers. Or people ask AI to write something for them and complain when it produces generic text. Or they can’t even figure out what to write at all, staring at a blinking cursor. In short, they can’t prompt the AI.”

So, enjoy, and ‘Learn a little!’

“Good Enough Prompting” (Ethan Mollick)

‘4 Reasons Why Generative AI Prompts Fail’ (Christopher Penn)

the BIG five

1. 4 Generative AI Trends for the Future.
And no, one isn’t an AI slow down. Thank you Christopher Penn, for saying what really shouldn’t have to be said!

2. People are building relationships with AI. But are they real?
As Casey Newton put it in his newsletter, this is a must read for anyone who currently works with AI. (This is why I always say be nice to the machines!)

3. This quant legend feels AI has taken over parts of his job.
And is ‘annoyling better’ at it.

4. Feel good about yourself!
Check out the top 25 generative AI tools Digital Trends thinks you should try in 2025. Then pat yourself on the back that we’ve been talking about these in…we’ll say more ‘real time’. (Yes, that’s a plug for this newsletter!)

5. Amazon’s Project Rainer sounds like every sci-fi movie ever.
Trainium chips. Mega-cluster. Ultracluster. AI Supercomputer.

You should probably know what this is. It will be here in 2025.

Did you hear…

…there are certain names that bring ChatGPT to a halt. Like Voldemort! Just kidding. (Ars Technica)

…AI agents want to do your shopping for you. (TechCrunch) They just need your credit card. No problem, right?

…ChatGPT’s search results are…well…they’re not good. (The Verge)

…OpenAI has 300 million active users a week. (CNBC)

Unrelated, I’m sure…but OpenAI just announced a $200 ChatGPT Pro subscription. (Wired)

My favorite story:

Google’s DeepMind tackles weather forecasting with great performance. (Ars Technica)

Are we supposed to be impressed? So AI is better than the local weather? My wife has been laying claim to that for years.

Must read/must discuss:

Remember waaaay back when we first started talking about AI and I said my biggest fear wasn’t that AI could do what humans did …but if people would care who did it?

My point was laziness would win out, with people defaulting to ‘good enough’ for the majority of what they consumed. For proof I propped up the fact that most people don’t really vet the information they’re consuming on social media…they read a few lines, copy, paste and argue.

Well, Shelly Palmer says it a lot better than I did in his most recent blog: “If you can’t tell the difference, there is no difference.” Guess what? He points to people ‘not caring’ about the difference as a reason it doesn’t matter / there is no difference.

We talk a lot about being the human in the loop. That’s not what I’m worried about. I’m more worried we don’t care about the humans out of the loop.

-Ben

As a reminder, this is a round-up of the biggest stories, often hitting multiple newsletters I receive/review. The sources are many … which I’m happy to read on your behalf. Let me know if there’s one you’d like me to track or have questions about a topic you’re not seeing here.