I think we all by now understand that AI (artificial intelligence) is not the solution when it comes to understanding humans. It often makes errors, and when yo...
Resistance to Flock Cameras and Police Surveillance Is Exploding
Backlash to Flock cameras and AI systems is exploding after scandals, including police using the tech to stalk women.
A Camera, Not an Engine II
Further thoughts on photography in latent space, now with agents!
AI: A Guide for Thinking Humans | Melanie Mitchell | Substack
I write about interesting new developments in AI. Click to read AI: A Guide for Thinking Humans, by Melanie Mitchell, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
What Does 'Human-Centred AI' Mean?
While it seems sensible that human-centred artificial intelligence (AI) means centring "human behaviour and experience," it cannot be any other way. AI, I argue, is usefully seen as a relationship between technology and humans where it appears that artifacts can perform, to a greater or lesser extent, human cognitive labour. This is evinced using examples that juxtapose technology with cognition, inter alia: abacus versus mental arithmetic; alarm clock versus knocker-upper; camera versus vision; and sweatshop versus tailor. Using novel definitions and analyses, sociotechnical relationships can be analysed into varying types of: displacement (harmful), enhancement (beneficial), and/or replacement (neutral) of human cognitive labour. Ultimately, all AI implicates human cognition; no matter what. Obfuscation of cognition in the AI context -- from clocks to artificial neural networks -- results in distortion, in slowing critical engagement, perverting cognitive science, and indeed in limiting our ability to truly centre humans and humanity in the engineering of AI systems. To even begin to de-fetishise AI, we must look the human-in-the-loop in the eyes.
What Does 'Human-Centred AI' Mean?
While it seems sensible that human-centred artificial intelligence (AI) means centring "human behaviour and experience," it cannot be any other way. AI, I argue, is usefully seen as a relationship between technology and humans where it appears that artifacts can perform, to a greater or lesser extent, human cognitive labour. This is evinced using examples that juxtapose technology with cognition, inter alia: abacus versus mental arithmetic; alarm clock versus knocker-upper; camera versus vision; and sweatshop versus tailor. Using novel definitions and analyses, sociotechnical relationships can be analysed into varying types of: displacement (harmful), enhancement (beneficial), and/or replacement (neutral) of human cognitive labour. Ultimately, all AI implicates human cognition; no matter what. Obfuscation of cognition in the AI context -- from clocks to artificial neural networks -- results in distortion, in slowing critical engagement, perverting cognitive science, and indeed in limiting our ability to truly centre humans and humanity in the engineering of AI systems. To even begin to de-fetishise AI, we must look the human-in-the-loop in the eyes.
The brain in the machine: How AI could help explain how we think | IBM
Scientists are using large AI models to predict patterns of brain activity at scale, a development that researchers say is pushing neuroscience toward a new kind of digital imaging.
The Fork in the Road: AI Horseless Carriages or Collective Intelligence for Science - Cosmik Labs
FLOCK Out
SURVEILLANCE DOES NOT MAKE US SAFER Flock is a surveillance company that sells Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR) and partners with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) and law enforcement to target people during immigration raids and to investigate people who travel for abortion care. Dozens of cities across the nation have already taken a stand […]
AI slop has hit the science communicators
AI for science: What can it do? Can it do things? Let’s find out!
A what we’re reading spotlight
AI for the rest of us - The AI community for everyone
Our community and events are for everyone. We're a community of AI practitioners, educators, students, and enthusiasts who are passionate about making AI accessible to everyone.
Introducing interaction models | Thinking Machines Lab
AI agent runs amok in Fedora and elsewhere
Agentic AI systems can be used to do a variety of things autonomously on behalf of a human user [...]
How To Think About AI (with Cory Doctorow)
AI might just be useful once we get through the huckster phase.
AI as a Tool for the Mental Load | Brittany Ellich | Offprint
AI didn't make me faster at tasks. It took over the tracking, the invisible remembering that runs a household, and gave me back creative energy I forgot I had
