Writings on AI, self-improvement, and living a good life.
When AI builds itself
Our progress toward recursive self-improvement, and its implications.
AI, Ethics, and Society — Home
233. "The Illusion of Thinking" — Thoughts on This Important Paper
This is a fantastic paper. I just love it. tl;dr AI is not human. Anthropomorphization has been bad for AI, LLMs, and Chat. Clippy walked so today's AI could run.
Import AI 455: AI systems are about to start building themselves.
The first step towards recursive self improvement
Is there something it is like to be an AI?
Posted on Wednesday 2 Jul 2025. 1,593 words, 6 links. By Matt Webb.
The AI future where humans get paid to be creative
"AI" and Productivity
[I keep bringing these up on Bluesky, so I think it’s time to gather them up and make a post out of them.] This is a collection of articles...
Mathematical methods and human thought in the age of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the name popularly given to a broad spectrum of computer tools designed to perform increasingly complex cognitive tasks, including many that used to solely be the province of humans. As these tools become exponentially sophisticated and pervasive, the justifications for their rapid development and integration into society are frequently called into question, particularly as they consume finite resources and pose existential risks to the livelihoods of those skilled individuals they appear to replace. In this paper, we consider the rapidly evolving impact of AI to the traditional questions of philosophy with an emphasis on its application in mathematics and on the broader real-world outcomes of its more general use. We assert that artificial intelligence is a natural evolution of human tools developed throughout history to facilitate the creation, organization, and dissemination of ideas, and argue that it is paramount that the development and application of AI remain fundamentally human-centered. With an eye toward innovating solutions to meet human needs, enhancing the human quality of life and expanding the capacity for human thought and understanding, we propose a pathway to integrating AI into our most challenging and intellectually rigorous fields to the benefit of all humankind.
Import AI 463: Self-improving robots; a 10k Chinese GPU cluster; and an elegiac essay for the human era
What eras bookend our interregnum?
AI is not superhuman
What metaphor should drive the field of AI research?
Wherein I Find Myself Writing About Writing
Most everyone finds writing to be challenging (especially those who say they enjoy it). This is because writing is an intentional, thoughtful act. This is as it should be, but “AI” has recently exacerbated the misbelief that writing is simply an output. In fact, it's a creative process that has merit in and of itself.
The Era of Experience & The Age of Design: Richard S. Sutton, Upper Bound 2025