I'm a rational optimist. Here's why I don't believe in an AI doomsday.

S47

I'm a rational optimist. Here's why I don't believe in an AI doomsday.     We live in interesting times. The systems of today are powerful. They can write, paint, direct, plan, code, and even write passable prose. And with this explosion of capabilities, we also have an explosion of worries. In seeing some of these current problems and projecting them into future non-extant problems, we find ourselves in a bit of a doom loop. The more fanciful arguments about how artificial superintelligence is inevitable and how they’re incredibly dangerous sit side by side with more understandable concerns about increasing misinformation. It’s as if we’ve turned the world into a chess game. In chess, you rarely keep playing up until the moment you actually checkmate someone. You only play until the inevitability of that checkmate becomes clear. It might still happen 10, 15, or 30 moves down the road, but the players can see it coming. Continued here

S43

They Plugged GPT-4 Into Minecraft--and Unearthed New Potential for AI     The technology that underpins ChatGPT has the potential to do much more than just talk. Linxi "Jim" Fan, an AI researcher at the chipmaker Nvidia, worked with some colleagues to devise a way to set the powerful language model GPT-4—the "brains" behind ChatGPT and a growing number of other apps and services—loose inside the blocky video game Minecraft.The Nvidia team, which included Anima Anandkumar, the company's director of machine learning and a professor at Caltech, created a Minecraft bot called Voyager that uses GPT-4 to solve problems inside the game. The language model generates objectives that help the agent explore the game, and code that improves the bot's skill at the game over time.  Continued here

�

S34

Fossil-Fuel Interests Try to Weaken Global Plastics Treaty     Good news: the world is discussing a treaty to stem plastic pollution. Bad news: fossil-fuel interests are trying to weaken itCLIMATEWIRE | An international effort to rein in plastic pollution is running into resistance from China, Saudi Arabia and other nations that see a future in plastics amid declining demand for oil, gas and coal. Continued here

S11

3 Tips for Adapting to     The authors of a new book, 'Culture Shock,' from Gallup provide data-backed recommendations for companies creating their new work 'normal.' Continued here

You Might Like

�

�

�

S17

3 Words Explain Why Amazon Employees Just Walked Off the Job. It's What CEO Andy Jassy Should Be Most Worried About     The walkout comes after employees say there is a 'lack of trust' in the company's leadership. Continued here

S3

B2B Sales Culture Must Change to Make the Most of Digital Tools     Today’s B2B sellers drive greater customer loyalty and business success by addressing customer pain points, creating value in every interaction, and stitching together the unpredictable pathways buyers use to reach a decision. To start, integrating digital technology and salespeople to achieve a superior customer experience requires a robust digital support system. Key elements include a foundational digital platform, data analytics, and tools that provide a holistic view of buyers and enable the coordination and orchestration of their journey. But equally important is the transformation of sales systems and culture, which involves continual adaptation of sales roles, success profiles, compensation, and management practices. In this article, we largely focus on these sales system and culture elements. Continued here

S36

India Cuts Periodic Table and Evolution from School Textbooks     The periodic table, as well as evolution, won’t be taught to under-16s in India as they start the new school yearIn India, children under 16 returning to school this month at the start of the school year will no longer be taught about evolution, the periodic table of elements or sources of energy. Continued here

S41

Zojirushi's $750 Rice Cooker Can Learn From Its Mistakes     If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDFor as big as the cooking industry is, most kitchen-product launches are modest affairs. There might be some trade show hoopla or a video, and lord knows my inbox is full of press releases, but a recent rice cooker event, of all things, stood out for its flashiness. Japanese manufacturer Zojirushi proposed an expense-paid trip to Japan House in Los Angeles for sushi, cocktails, and the unveiling of its “most advanced and expensive rice cooker” to date in the United States. Continued here

You Might Like

�

�

�

S31

Most Aliens May Be Artificial Intelligence, Not Life as We Know It     Human intelligence may be just a brief phase before machines take over. That may answer where the aliens are hidingThe Fermi paradox takes its name from a 1950s visit by physicist Enrico Fermi to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. One day, as Fermi was walking to lunch with physicist colleagues Emil Konopinski, Edward Teller and Herbert York, one mentioned a New Yorker cartoon depicting aliens stealing public trash cans from the streets of New York. While dining later, Fermi suddenly returned to the topic of aliens by asking: “Where is everybody?” Continued here

S42

Meta Announces a New Quest Headset, Because Apple     If you’re in the business of selling VR or mixed reality headsets, the time to announce your new product is … now. Especially if you’re Meta.This morning the company showed off the Meta Quest 3, which is 40 percent thinner than the previous headset and contains twice the processing power, thanks to a new Snapdragon chipset from Qualcomm. Also, the hand controllers have been redesigned to improve their ergonomics. The new headset will go on sale “this fall” starting at $500. In a blog post, the company teased that more details about the Quest 3 would be revealed at Meta Connect on September 27.  Continued here

�

S4

How Unnecessary Paper Packaging Creates the Illusion of Sustainability     As global consumers grow increasingly conscious of the environmental toll of plastic packaging, many brands have taken steps to reduce their use of plastic. But at the same time, some brands have adopted a much less productive approach to the anti-plastic movement: They’ve begun adding superfluous paper packaging on top of plastic packaging in order to make their products look more environmentally friendly without actually reducing plastic waste. The authors’ research demonstrates that this sort of overpackaging can indeed be effective in boosting consumers’ perceptions of sustainability, despite the fact that it is demonstrably worse for the environment (not to mention more expensive for manufacturers). However, they also found that simply adding a “minimal packaging” label to plastic packages can reduce the misperception that overpackaged products are more sustainable, enabling brands to attract environmentally-conscious consumers without creating unnecessary paper waste. Continued here

S29

50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: June 2023     “Poet John Keats died tragically early, in 1821, at the age of 25, of tuberculosis. But few people are aware that he crowded two careers into his brief life: he studied medicine and was trained in surgery for as many years as he wrote poetry. Even people who know of Keats's early training have assumed that he was pushed into medicine against his will, resented it and left it as soon as possible. Not so, according to Robert Gittings, an English biographer of Keats. The poet picked a medical career on his own, worked hard at a sound training program and did well, and had actually qualified as a general practitioner when he gave up medicine to devote the rest of his life (four years, as it turned out) to the joys and pain of writing.”“It has now been 24 years since Claude Shannon outlined how a computer could play chess. Last August, while Bobby Fischer was winning the world chess title from Boris Spassky in Iceland, several computers were quietly contending in Boston for the U.S. computer chess championship. The winning machine, a Control Data Corporation 6400, was not actually present; its moves were relayed from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where its program, known as Chess 3.5, had been written. The program is fundamentally different from all previous programs in that it can take advice from a master. Writing in Scientific American in February, 1950, Shannon explained why he thought the chess-playing problem merited attention: ‘The problem is sharply defined, both in the allowed operations (the moves of chess) and in the ultimate goal (checkmate). It is neither so simple as to be trivial nor too difficult for satisfactory solution.” Continued here

�

S23

The students living with retirees     When 23-year-old Poppy Jenkinson got home in the evening, she would sit around the dinner table with her two housemates and discuss her day – sharing work news, friendship dramas, and, on occasion, relationship problems.Often, her housemates would give her a fresh perspective. "They’re both in their 70s and have been married for almost 40 years. They were always sharing nuggets of wisdom," she says.  Continued here

S13

3 Industries That Will Be Forever Changed by ChatGPT     Robots haven't taken over the world--yet--but artificial intelligence and chatbots are making big waves all over the corporate world. Continued here

�

S10

Bill Gates Loves This 'Amazingly Well Done' TV Series That I'm Obsessed With Too     It can teach you a lot about leadership and power. Continued here

S50

Hubble's great discovery concealed a tension that still haunts cosmology     This article is the sixth in a series exploring contradictions in the standard model of cosmology.In 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that the Universe is expanding and produced the first major triumph in our understanding of cosmic history. Almost a century later, a tension tucked within his discovery now pulls at the bedrock of our best cosmological theories. Continued here

�

S18

2 Things Enterprises Get Right About AI and 1 Thing They Get Wrong     You may not have to worry about AI taking your job anytime soon, but it is changing how we work. Continued here

S19

How to Keep Cyberattacks from Tanking Your Balance Sheet     The threat of cyberattacks — and potential impact on corporate balance sheets — is only expected to grow. Technological advances in areas such as generative AI and automation have strengthened threat actors, leading to new and evolving threats. Against this backdrop, it becomes increasingly crucial for corporate boards to align their organizations’ cyber-risk management with their business needs. Cyberattacks are, first and foremost, a risk to a business’ integrity. They can damage the most fundamental components of a business, from the integrity of customer data to IT infrastructure, all while impacting the company’s intellectual property, reputation, valuation, and even the morale of staff. How should board directors and senior leaders be managing this type of business risk? Knowledge brings power, and the more corporate leadership knows about the impact of cyber risk on the business, the better it can provide effective leadership. Continued here

S30

Answering Questions about Boring Numbers, Disasters, Fusion, and More     You know a story is going to be fun when it starts with a question that makes you laugh: What is the most boring number in the world? It's a legitimate mathematical question, and it turns out there are interesting numbers (prime numbers, powers of 2) and not-so-interesting numbers. You can probably anticipate the paradox: If a number is especially boring, doesn't that make it interesting? Theoretical physicist Manon Bischoff, who is an editor for our partner publication Spektrum in Germany, shows how to sort numbers for boringness and why it matters.I admit I was skeptical when we first started discussing a story proposal about treating a person with multiple personalities. Weren't some of the classic cases exaggerated or made up? But the fascinating account of “Ella” by therapist and anthropologist Rebecca J. Lester explains how dissociative identity disorder can develop and manifest. It's a hopeful and generous story that takes us inside the therapeutic process and reveals how someone can start to heal from extreme trauma. Continued here

S12

Research Shows Using This Pronoun Makes You     What word can make you more influential? The headline provides a clue. Continued here

S15

Transparency in Business Is Paramount and Here's Why     Always err on the side of transparency. Continued here

S5

10 Common Job Interview Questions and How to Answer Them     Interviews can be high stress, anxiety-driving situations, especially if it’s your first interview. A little practice and preparation always pays off. While we can’t know exactly what an employer will ask, here are 10 common interview questions along with advice on how to answer them. The questions include: Continued here

S26

Seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border? You'd better speak English or Spanish     For Haitian migrants that have made grueling journeys to the U.S.-Mexico border, the language barrier is one of the last roadblocks to entering the U.S. Jean Jeef Nelson, a case manager in San Diego and Tijuana for Haitian Bridge Alliance, a grassroots organization that assists thousands of Haitian and Black migrants, told Rest of World many of his clients struggle to use CBP One because they don’t speak one of the supported languages. CBP One, an app developed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, became mandatory to schedule initial asylum appointments in early May.“We were seeing that lots of people who don’t speak either Spanish or English are paying other people to apply for them. And those who don’t have any money are usually stuck,” said Nelson, adding that his clients have paid as much as $400 to others to book their appointments. Continued here

S8

Should You Use ChatGPT to Write a Resume?     Generative AI tools are becoming more accessible to people around the world, and the potential use cases feel endless. With its ability to write everything from essays to poetry to code, ChatGPT, in particular, is changing how we think about tasks related to writing, research, and automation. In my work as a researcher in this space, I frequently get asked about applications of this technology from both an efficiency and an ethical standpoint. One recent example is: Should I use ChatGPT to write my resume? Continued here

S16

To Be Successful In Business, You Have to Take Care of Yourself First     Much like an oxygen mask on a plane. You have to care for yourself before you can take care of anything else--including your business. Continued here

S7

How to Respond to an Unreasonable Request     Unreasonable requests don’t have to be seen as intractable demands. These six strategies can help you respond more effectively and feel more empowered. First, assess the relationship. How (or if) you respond to the individual and how much you decide to try to accommodate the request, will likely depend on your relationship. Also, be curious. Ask open-ended questions about what’s really behind the request to shed light on what the other person really needs (versus what they think they need). Raise awareness. Often, part of the egregiousness of an unreasonable request is that the person making the request has no idea that what they are asking for is unreasonable. And finally, be clear on your boundaries, 0ffer alternative solutions, and let the other person know what would work next time. Continued here

S2

8 Best Practices for Creating a Compelling Customer Experience     How can a company best create a compelling customer experience? Based on the author’s research involving thousands of companies and analyses of millions of customer data points from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), the eight areas that companies need to focus on are: Orchestrating the marketing ecosystem, aligning company and customer needs, delivering amazing customer convenience, reinforcing digital marketing, adjusting customer incentives, cultivating customer evangelists, handling customer complaints, and managing product returns. Continued here

S22

What did Stonehenge sound like?     Through the doors of a university building, down a concrete hallway and inside a foam-covered room stands a shin-high replica of one of the most mysterious monuments ever built: Stonehenge. These miniature standing stones aren't on public display, although they might help give the million annual visitors who come to the real site a better understanding of the imposing, lichen-covered stone structure built roughly 5,000 years ago. Instead, this scale model is at the centre of ongoing research into Stonehenge's acoustical properties, and what its sound might tell us about its purpose.  Continued here

S37

How to Bring More Predictive Power to Economic Forecasts     A new study co-authored by Wharton’s Jules van Binsbergen uses a machine learning algorithm to produce more accurate and granular forecasts for GDP growth, employment, and interest-rate decisions.A study by experts at Wharton and elsewhere captures changing economic sentiment over 170 years to predict fundamentals such as GDP growth, employment, and monetary policy decisions. The study leads conventional forecasting models on several counts: in time series by more than a century; in capturing important information existing models fail to capture; in granularity that tracks nationwide and state-level variations; and in cross-sectional variations. Continued here

S45

Kaspersky Says New Zero-Day Malware Hit iPhones--Including Its Own     The Moscow-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has made headlines for years by exposing sophisticated hacking by Russian and Western state-sponsored cyberspies alike. Now it's exposing a stealthy new intrusion campaign where Kaspersky itself was a target.In a report published today, Kaspersky said that at the beginning of the year, it detected targeted attacks against a group of iPhones after analyzing the company's own corporate network traffic. The campaign, which the researchers call Operation Triangulation and say is "ongoing," appears to date back to 2019 and utilized multiple vulnerabilities in Apple's iOS mobile operating system to let attackers take control of victim devices. Continued here