#AI is a tool and should be used with understanding and knowledge | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

not-terezi-pyrope · 1 month ago

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AI continues to be useful, annoying everyone

Okay, look - as much as I've been fairly on the side of "this is actually a pretty incredible technology that does have lots of actual practical uses if used correctly and with knowledge of its shortfalls" throughout the ongoing "AI era", I must admit - I don't use it as a tool too much myself.

I am all too aware of how small errors can slip in here and there, even in output that seems above the level, and, perhaps more importantly, I still have a bit of that personal pride in being able to do things myself! I like the feeling that I have learned a skill, done research on how to do a thing and then deployed that knowledge to get the result I want. It's the bread and butter of working in tech, after all.

But here's the thing, once you move beyond beginner level Python courses and well-documented windows applications. There will often be times when you will want to achieve a very particular thing, which involves working with a specialist application. This will usually be an application written for domain experts of this specialization, and so it will not be user-friendly, and it will certainly not be "outsider-friendly".

So you will download the application. Maybe it's on the command line, has some light scripting involved in a language you've never used, or just has a byzantine shorthand command structure. There is a reference document - thankfully the authors are not that insane - but there are very few examples, and none doing exactly what you want. In order to do the useful thing you want to do, they expect you to understand how the application/platform/scripting language works, to the extent that you can apply it in a novel context.

Which is all fine and well, and normally I would not recommend anybody use a tool at length unless they have taken the time to understand it to the degree at which they know what they are doing. Except I do not wish to use the tool at length, I wish to do one, singular operation, as part of a larger project, and then never touch it again. It is unfortunately not worth my time for me to sink a few hours into learning a technology that you will use once for twenty seconds and then never again.

So you spend time scouring the specialist forums, pulling up a few syntax examples you find randomly of their code and trying to string together the example commands in the docs. If you're lucky, and the syntax has enough in common with something you're familiar with, you should be able to bodge together something that works in 15-20 minutes.

But if you're not lucky, the next step would have been signing up to that forum, or making a post on that subreddit, creating a thread called "Hey, newbie here, needing help with..." and then waiting 24-48 hours to hear back from somebody probably some years-deep veteran looking down on you with scorn for not having put in the effort to learn their Thing, setting aside the fact that you have no reason to normally. It's annoying, disruptive, and takes time.

Now I can ask ChatGPT, and it will have ingested all those docs, all those forums, and it will give you a correct answer in 20 seconds about what you were doing wrong. Because friends, this is where a powerful attention model excels, because you are not asking it to manage a complex system, but to collate complex sources into a simple synthesis. The LLM has already trained in this inference, and it can reproduce it in the blink of an eye, and then deliver information about this inference in the form of a user dialog.

When people say that AI is the future of tutoring, this is what it means. Instead of waiting days to get a reply from a bored human expert, the machine knowledge blender has already got it ready to retrieve via a natural language query, with all the followup Q&A to expand your own knowledge you could desire. And the great thing about applying this to code or scripting syntax is that you can immediately verify whether the output is correct but running it and seeing if it performs as expected, so a lot of the danger is reduced (not that any modern mainstream attention model is likely to make a mistake on something as simple a single line command unless it's something barely documented online, that is).

It's incredibly useful, and it outdoes the capacity of any individual human researcher, as well as the latency of existing human experts. That's something you can't argue we've ever had better before, in any context, and it's something you can actively make use of today. And I will, because it's too good not to - despite my pride.

#not-terezi-speaks #ai #programming

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trulyradicalactivist · 5 months ago

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Now that many of you are on the same page with me about the fight for radqueer liberation and freedom from oppression, it’s time for us to channel our strengths into meaningful action. To make a difference, we must educate, invigorate, and advocate. These three pillars, I've found, are the foundation of effective activism. In my time of being an activist, these are the things I use the most to gather community. For all of you, I'm gonna take this time to break them down and explore how all of us can contribute. If everyone really is with me on this, we can turn the tide faster than ever before.

Everything is under the cut. I tried to change my writing style a little from last time (a lot of people thought it was AI generated, so I studied some other speeches to try and write more "human", I hope it worked.)

Educate.

Are you good at making posters? Writing essays, articles, or conducting research? Do you enjoy learning and sharing what you discover? Maybe you’re great at debates. If so, education can be where you shine. Education is essential for dismantling stereotypes and misinformation about our community.

There are many ways to educate, some small, and some more direct. Firstly, start conversations with fellow community members. Run polls, collect data, and organize your findings. Then you can store that information, maybe in a folder, a Google Doc, or even in your notes app. Use it to write essays explaining specific topics or write articles debunking misinformation. Share your work with the world, not just our community, but to those who believe the stereotypes you are writing against.

Now, if education isn’t your strength, make sure you amplify the work of others. Share accurate information, send educational resources to those who might be misinformed, and help shift perceptions. Knowledge is one of the most powerful tools we have, let’s all wield it wisely and responsibly.

Invigorate.

Do you love drawing, writing fanfiction, or making memes? Maybe you enjoy putting together jewelry, like Kandi bracelets, making people laugh, or inspiring people through any form of creativity? If so, you can invigorate the community.

Let’s bring life and joy to the radqueer community. Yes, we face a lot of challenges, and that is exhausting, but we can and should create spaces full of excitement and connection. You could start a cooking blog and help your community learn a skill they might need, open an Etsy store to sell stickers or patches, you could design stim toys if you really know how to! Do anything that fosters creativity and belonging. Build spaces for us, by us, and let's make our movement one with vibrancy and culture!

Advocate.

Advocacy is something everyone can do. It’s about amplifying voices, yours and ours as a community. Share your experiences, whether it’s through writing, social media, or art. Speak openly about how your identity shapes your life.

Advocacy is also about challenging stigma. If you have dysphoria, talk about it. If you don’t, explain your identity and what it means to you. Are you a paraphile? Share your journey with pride, if you feel comfortable, and help others understand how your identity connects to your identity as a whole. Advocacy is about being unapologetically visible. Make them see you. You exist and they have no say in that.

These three actions (educating, invigorating, and advocating) are the building blocks of rebellion. And that’s exactly what we’re doing: rebelling against oppression and ignorance.

Let’s take charge together. Let’s fight for the acceptance and freedom we deserve. We are strong, we are resilient, and we are capable of creating change. I believe in all of you, and I love you all. Let’s do this, together, here and now.

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elbiotipo · 1 month ago

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Do you ever think about how everyone keeps on thinking of assimov law of robotics as a good idea and something that we should actually program into robotics, meanwhile every asimov story about them was him thinking of interesting ways for a robot to bend or break them? Like the way people treat what was meant to be a plot device to facilitate interesting stories as a fundamental of robotics i just find funny

I haven't seen many serious takes on it (though maybe I should start checking out more sci-fi lately) but yes, that's my impression, that it was a plot device that even Asimov knew was flawed and impossible to enforce in real life, but it made for really great stories. One could see the laws of robotics as a fictional religion of sorts

The interesting thing about Asimov's robots (and other robots inspired by him) is that they are a fictional "people" much as Tolkien's Elves or Star Trek's Vulcans. Asimov's Robots are able to be sentient because of the "Positronic Brain", quite literally a plot device that allows them to be sentient. Their main feature isn't that they are robots and the mechanics of it because Asimov never really gets into that (mostly), it's mostly that they're artificial people, and the plot conflicts that arise from that.

This is why it's so obvious that the Three Laws are basically impossible to program or execute with our current knowledge of programming, it's because they aren't thought for real robots, but Asimov's Robots, with positronic brains able to understand them.

It's still really interesting to me because it reflects how the idea of AIs have changed through time. In the 50s and for most of the XXth century, the idea of artificial intelligence was basically that of artificial humans; a robot with a human-like body (or not, but an individual body) and an artificial brain. It was believed generally, or at least that what it seems to me, that the "body" part was easy, that soon, you could have robots in your home doing chores... but the brain part was the hardest one, if not impossible. An AI creating pictures or having a realistic conversation with a human was considered one of those feats that would take centuries of research if not impossible.

Look at how things turned out in real life, however. There are no real domestic robots outside factories, and nobody has yet managed to create mass-produced human-like androids. It turns out that the human form is very, very hard to replicate. And yet, I can now jump into a lot of websites and have a chat with a convincingly human-like *AI*, not only that, I can ask it to impersonate characters or people, create pictures for me, and create text that is nearly indistinguishable from human writing (as well as other feats like image, audio, text recognition, etc.) I need to stress that all that, which is now just arguments on the internet, was considered pure science fiction barely 10 years ago, an impossible feat for many. And yet, here it is. These "AI" or whatever you might want to call them or analyse them, are very different from the Asimovian (and popular) concept of AI as discrete individuals with a "body" and a "person". Where is the AI's "body"? Which one of its endless iterations is its real "self"? Okay, I'm digressing but I hope the contrast is made clear because it's interesting to me.

Soon enough, however, I think not more than ten or twenty years away, someone will finally create mass-produced human-like robots, and now that these AI tools exist, they will be equipped with them. And we will get bona-fide Asimovian Robots that can talk and interact with us, virtually the thing that science fiction has been telling us for decades will someday come. And given the world's reaction to "AIs" right now, I'm not sure I want to know how we will react to them.

#science fiction #isaac asimov #asimov #worldbuilding

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juniebugs · 2 months ago

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using batfam characters to explain innate immunity :)

i have an exam in a week so i'm projecting my lack of knowledge onto my comfort characters

aka describing immunology through superheroes because i have an illness no part of my immune system can save.

listen. i don't think there's an audience for this. i don't know why there would be. but i'm studying bioengineering and have a special interest in superheroes.... sooooo.......

OTHER SIMILAR POSTS THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL TO UNDERSTAND MY MADNESS:

for more general immunology definitions to actually understand my nonsense pls go here

for me utilizing marvel characters to describe adaptive immunity pls go here.

just a heads up: i'm using innate = batfam and adaptive = marvel knowledge but they do overlap so just y'know be prepared. this is a lot of text but it should should be scientifically accurate or at least not horribly wrong.

also hindsight tells me the emojis give chatgpt but generative ai is incapable of coming up with the level of insanity finals season gives dw folks this is all genuine madness.

FIRST LAYER OF DEFENSE (INNATE / BATFAMILY)

The first line of defense is the surface barriers, this is like the basic weapons that all the vigilantes would have.

🧍‍♂️SKIN == Batcave

It consists of many layers of closely packed, keratinized cells (mmm stratum corneum my fav) and is very hard for bacteria to get through (batman is the only baddie in the batcave). Skin sheds periodically (we love dust) which removes microbes from the surface. Think of Alfred shooing unwanted guests…. With force if need be.

🦠MUCOUS == Batarangs

mmm mucous love. They both trap the baddies and operate through specialized movements. While the batman clan would be like doing some cool training moves idk that mucous is like

Coughing /sneezing

Or the even more exciting

Swallowing.

Woooo. But the general idea remains. Specialized movements, but very general (all family members would use them).

👩HAIRS == Grappling Lines

I don’t know if you have ever watched the hit antimated film batman: under the red hood but batman is fitting the red hood and uses the grappling line to trap him and he gets out which is how (partially) they figure out the red hood is Jason todd. Lore.

ANYWAY like the grappling lines, hair traps and filters the baddies (microbes). 🚗CILIA == Batmobile

Cilia are hair like microscopic projections on epithelial surface. They wave and propels the movement mucous ejecting or destroying pathogens

Kind how like how the batmobile whips b-man supreme around gotham with his scary equipment and then will bring the baddies to Gordon. Wild stuff here. 🥹TEARS == Smoke Pellets

Have you ever felt emo? Yeah, me too. We were all twelve once. When you cry to my chemical romance– or more specifically to spraying your side-part’s hairspray in your eyes- you are clearing and draining irritants.

Continual doing of this keeps the microbes from settling.

For a batman analogy because im committed to the bit:

Think like the smoke pellets. B-man supreme uses these to let him escape, often taking the baddies with him.

🧫ENZYMES (Lysozyme) == EMP Devices

Bro enzymes are sick. Lets talk about lysozyme. This enzyme breaks down cell walls of certain bacteria and can appear in tears saliva, sweat, and other secretions.

In batman, he has this sick device called a EMP device that breaks down electronics (cell walls) and can be used in conjunction to other methods.

🧼BODILY FLUIDS == Utility Belt

Okay so we’re goopy gooey guys. But this is a strength. Our goop is versatile. Our bodily fluids (mmm) is like batman utility belt. Depending on location, circumstance, or even vigilante the tools may vary but generally their training is similar.

Okay queens we did the first layer of defense and now it’s the second layer of defense.

---------------------------------- SECOND LAYER OF DEFENSE (INNATE / BATFAMILY)

If weapons don’t work its fist to fist, vigilante versus baddie time. Okay so we are starting off with some sexy antimicrobial proteins.

🚨INTERFERONS == GOTHAM PUBLIC

First lets look at interferons. Interferons are like the general gotham population these are small secreted proteins which interfere with viral replication.

Like if a baddie was just chilling on gotham these guys would call up the vigilante homies. Probably like ‘two face is out again and not a new make-up release get your ass over here batman’ and that would be that. 🛰 COMPLEMENT SYSTEM == JUSTICE LEAGUE

The complement system is a collection of >30 plasma proteins that ‘complement’ the antibacterial activity in the body. They are essentially someone you call in when you need a helping hand – like the just league!!! 🤓IRON-BINDING PROTEINS == TIM DRAKE

Timerson drakerson is like iron-binding proteins. He breaks in slow silent and gets the job DONE. He is essentially like a sneaky dude that prevents bacteria (baddies) from growing (hacking into the mainframe *nerd emoji*).

Not featured in their own category is other antimicrobial proteins. Those could be like the police ringing out big bird to kick ass. 😡NATURAL KILLER CELLS == JASON TODD

RED HOOD JASON TODD IS A NATURAL KILLER (NK) CELL THIS IS HOW THIS WHOLE IDEA STARTED.

Okokok natural killer cells prowl. They are looking for cells out of place, lacking inhibition receptors etc. This is like hood prowling crime alley looking over the baddies and seeing if anything is out of place.

He is unique (quirky) and does his own thing. While a part of the innate immune system (batfamily) he is kind of operating by his own direction.

Is a straight forward killer.

Perforin -> breaking in, getting the info he needs

Granzyme -> his guns baybeee pew pew they’re dead.

IFN gamma and TFN alpha are pro-inflammatory cytokines affecting viral infections and are like notes he leaves behind. ominously. idk this might be stretch but roll w it. ⚖️PHAGOCYTOSIS == BATMAN'S PROCESS

Batman has a clear methodology and follows a clear and consistent order. His methods could be compared to phagocytosis if you're gigabrained like me. or mentally ill. idk

1.) CHEMOTAXIS -> cells are chemically stimulated to move to the site of damage or infection. This is like the batsignal. Batman gets called to an area of crime and moves fast. 2.) ADHERENCE -> This is attachment of the phagocyte to the microbe. ORRRR big bat finding the sneaky baddie and locking them downnnnn 3.) INGESTION -> phagocyte forms pseudopods forming the phagosome noming the particles. Aka baddies tied and dragged away for interrogation. 4.) DIGESTION -> Phagosome fuses with a lysosome containing digestive enzyme. PLOT TWIST commissioner Gordon is in on this. Its interrogation time babybeee 5.) KILLING -> batman doesn’t kill, but he does let the law (lysosome) handle things where need be.

there are also a few types of cells that can be phagocytes.

🐦NEUTROPHILS == ROBINS

Neutrophils are the most abundant leukocyte. think about how many robins theres been. so many. Neutrophils become phagocytic they encounter infectious material (brucie wayne, or other trauma in their lives). 1st to move from blood to tissue during inflammation (speedy lil guys). Also a major component of pus. I don’t think I want an analogy for that fact tbhs

Also neutrophils can kick the bucket pretty quick. Cough cough Jason cough cough m ��‍⬛MONOCYTES / MACROPHAGES == DICK GRAYSON / NIGHTWING

Okay next up is dick grayson or nightwing/

The first robin, he eventually matured into his own hero name as he got older. Monocytes are circulated in the blood like he does bludhaven awhhhh yeah easy remembering until he gets to the tissues that are inflamed. In the tissues, he matures into macrophages (becomes less silly goofy) and can become who is needed in the moment. New batman for a comic run? Sure np.

So monocytes -> dick grayson, silly goofy, paying attention in case he’s needed.

Macrophages -> nightwing. Ready to lead, fight hard. Ready to take ass and kick names. 🪄BACK TO PHAGOCYTOSIS FOR A PHAT SEC !!!!!

How does the batfamily even know who the baddies (pathogens) are.???

The are using PRRs or pattern recognition receptors to ‘see’ pathogen-associated molecular patterns or PAMPS

Think of it as having the batcomputer (PRR) to collect data (PAMP)

PRR are receptors for common bacterial components. So when it binds to a PAMP (a hit on the system) batman and the family knows to act. Secrete pro-inflammatory cytokins and begin phagocytosis 📌DENDRITIC CELLS == BARBARA GORDON (ORACLE)

Okay last major phagocyte we’re talking about, and one of the most important, are dendritic cells.

Dendritic cells are highly specialized, residents of tissues, and antigen presenting. These link the innate and adaptive immune responses. They use the PRR to recognize and phagocytose pathogens in the tissues.

Barbara was previously batgirl, so has a lot of insights, but has become oracle since her injury. Now she manages the batfamily and tells them where and when to act. (utilizing the batcomputer or PRR).

Travel to lymph nodes to present pathogenic antigens to T cells. OKAY t cells are not technically innate so by my predetermined analogy of innate == batfam // adaptive == marvel this analogy kind falls apart but.

SHE ESSENTIALLY CALLS FOR RECRUITMENTS JUST LIKE INTERDIMENSIONALLY. So then the marvel characters can respond.

-----------------------------------

ROLE PLAY TIME!!!!!!!!! (LET LEARN ABOUT INFLAMMATION & FEVERS)

Oh no!!!! There’s an attack on gotham!!! But gotham is metaphorical so I secretly mean your body. Rip. But not really rip. Because your innate immune system is on their way.

Lets call this response inflammation (oooooo)

Its nonspecific. This crime doesn’t have to be insane for a vigilante to respond. They’re always trying to help. But inflammation is acting as a big fat cry for help (batsignal of sorts).

It tells the vigilantes to deliver the molecules to help, prevent damage from spreading, and prepare the site for repair.

There’s a few main stages it goes through

Initial response!!! 😳

Damaged cells (citizens of gotham) signal that something has gone wrong. This is like a chemical alarm or a bat signal. And mediators are recleased.

PRR and resident macrophages get activated. Akaaaaa bat signal tells bat computer (likely through oracle) to get up and at them. So its go time to release all the vigilantes (cytokines & chemokines)

ALFRED THE LEGEND is the resident mast cells releasing potent inflammatory mediators (responses to the crime)

Contribute a lot but especially to vasodilation & permability of blood vessels aka getting them there asap. Immune cells emigrate by the mediators (alfreds) direction Aka there’s increased vascular diameter, blood flow, they can move fast. Reduction in blood flow velocity -> gotham pauses so they can get through. Increased vascular permability -> all heros get in through any means necessary

They get through the tissue (phagocytosis, chemotaxis -> aka NEEDING a batsignal or a means of identifying where they need to go)

And then clot microvessels -> build up barriers to prevent as much damaged as possible,

First to the scene are the robins (neutrophils) and then monocytes (nightwing, batman, etc)

How did they even get there bro wtf? 🤠

Theres a few different steps to their movement.

1.) ROLLING ADHESION akaaaaa robin has a tracker in the costume and starts running. 2.) TIGHT BINDING aka grappling hooks attaching to building in gothan 3.) EXTRAVASATION / DIAPEDESIS aka cell / vigilante crosses into the rougher neighbourhood where this action is happening. Breaking through so others can follow 4.) MIGRATION the older more experience macrophages (nightwing, batman) recruits the robins and slide through a chemokine gradient.

What does inflammation even look like? 🥵

Gotham has learned to identify when something is going downnnn

1.) redness (rubor) -> the city has cleared out for these guys

2.) heat (calor) -> its getting intense, and you can feel it

3.) swelling (tumor) -> as a response to one crime, other criminals want to act

4.) pain (dolor) -> sometimes citizens get hurt, but their focus prevents crime from spreading in some cases.

from here there's some wonderful skin healing but i'm not tested on it and my notes are long enough sooooo

FEVER == ARKHAM BREAKOUT🤧

Sometimes shit goes down and it needs a bigger response.

A fever is an abnormally high body temperature as a response to invading microganisms.

When Arkham criminals breakout, the batfam becomes more ruthless especially the macrophages (nightwing, batman) instead releasing their pyrogens.

If they can manage themselves then all is okay, and we’ll be okay

If they can’t (i.e. too high of a fever) than it is can be very dangerous and they might go too far. ---------------------------------------------

HOLY SHIT WE'RE DONE INNATE THIS WAS SO INTENSE.

so this means its the end of the batfam except i made babs dendritic cells so she'll be back. which is chill i love her. ANYWAY

if you want to read adaptive immunity marvel info click here. i hope this helps one poor nerd on their bio test. im a provider.

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ay-heart-collection · 1 year ago

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Story writing: The Assassin Lesson

Greetings everyone. I am trying to get back some story ideas of heart back in my mind with AI support.

I understand that many people feel resistant to AI currently, but I think it could be a chance for some of my buried ideas digging back to light. I think it should be OK for make use of it for drafting and brainstorming. Wish you will accept it and like it.

-------------------------------------------------------

The Assassin Lesson

In a training site of an assassin group, the mentor lady of the group stood before her class of aspiring young assassins. The leather suit covered by hooded cloak outlined her beautiful body curves. Her piercing gaze surveyed the room, which cause the atmosphere become thick and heavy, but brought a hint of anticipation to the class.

As one of the master of assassin in the group, the lesson of the mentor lady was focusing on the fatal spots of the human body. Before she began her lesson, she brought a beautiful female with a slender figure to her students. She was a young thief captured in an incidental encounter during a mission. Her upper body had been stripped naked, with her wrists bound with tight restraints, stood at the front of the class. Her eyes wide with fear.

"Today, we shall delve into the skill of piercing the human heart."

The mentor lady began, her low and commanding tone sending shivers down the spines of her students. With a swift motion, she spread out a drawing of a human heart, its delicate form sketched meticulously on a piece of parchment.

Walking towards the captive, the mentor caressed the girl carefully, and made use of some simple drawing tool against her bare chest. Soon, a line art appeared between her petite but firm breasts, aligning it with the actual size and position of her ribcage and her heart beneath. The students leaned forward, their eyes fixated on the scene unfolding before them.

"Now, observe," the mentor said, her voice unwavering.

"The human heart was protected beneath the ribcage, nestled within the chest cavity. To truly strike a fatal blow, one must understand its position and structure."

She pointed to the various parts of the heart drawing on the captive, her finger tracing the major arteries and ventricles. The young thief’s chest rose and fell rapidly, her breath shallow and uneven. Which felt like the mentor’s finger directly touching her myocardium.

"The atria, the ventricles, the aorta," the mentor continued, her voice filled with an unsettling mix of knowledge and detached fascination. "Each component is vital to the heart's function, and each represents a potential fatal spot."

The young thief visibly trembled, her eyes darting around the room, searching for an escape that was not forthcoming.

"One wrong move, and the heart's delicate rhythm is disrupted," the mentor said, her voice dropping to a chilling whisper. "A swift and precise strike, however, can send the body into an irreversible state of shock."

At this point, the mentor paused, allowing her words to hang in the air, the weight of her lesson sinking in. The students exchanged glances, fully aware of the power they were being entrusted with.

"Now, my dear students," the mentor said, her voice rising with an unsettling intensity, "let me introduce the tools we mainly use for piercing the heart.”

The mentor's eyes gleamed with an aggressive pleasure as she revealed an array of common weapons used on the table with a quick motion. As she began explaining each weapon in meticulous detail, the captured girl's terror was palpable, her eyes widening in fear as she gazed upon the deadly tools before her. Feeling as if these sharp edges had already torn her horrified heart.

"First, we have the thin, needle-like stiletto blade," the mentor said, her voice dripping with a chilling enthusiasm. "Its slender form allows for precise entry, slipping between the ribs without causing unnecessary damage."

As she spoke, the mentor demonstrated the correct posture for piercing, gently pressing the stiletto against the girl's exposed skin, mirroring the intended action. The girl's heart beat erratically, a visible thumping against her left breast. She shivered, her body tensing involuntarily at the sensation, a cold sweat forming on her forehead.

"Next, we have the wickedly serrated dagger," the mentor continued, her voice filled with a sinister delight. "Its jagged edges can tear through flesh and bone, ensuring a quick and devastating stab."

With a swift motion, the mentor mimicked the piercing action on the girl's skin, her hand moving in a delicate manner. The young thief let out a stifled gasp, her heart pounding even harder in her chest, as if resisting the impending violence. Beads of crimson blood welled up where the blade had made contact, as a testament to the sharpness of the weapon and the fragility of human flesh.

The mentor's eyes narrowed, relishing in the power that played out before her. She continued her lesson, each weapon explained and demonstrated with excellent precision.

"Now, behold the slender yet deadly rapier," the mentor said, her voice taking on a haunting resonance. "Its long, piercing blade can navigate the narrowest of spaces, reaching the heart with deadly accuracy."

The mentor positioned the rapier against the girl's skin, her hand poised to demonstrate the thrusting motion. The captive's breathing grew shallow, her body trembling uncontrollably under the weight of her fear. As the mentor made a swift but soft thrust, the young heart skipped a beat, as if mirroring the terror coursing through her veins.

As the mentor moved through the remaining weapons, the captured girl's terror only intensified. The mentor's explanations were accompanied by demonstrations on the girl's soft skin, each movement were calculated and precise. The pain and fear etched on the captive's face mirrored the darkness hidden within the mentor's own soul.

"In the next section," the mentor lady paused a second, staring at the captive. "We are to demonstrate the precise locations where the weapons should enter the body, piercing the heart." The terrified thief stood frozen, her eyes wide with fear, as the mentor approached her with a gaze of dominance.

"Pay close attention, my dear students," the mentor commanded, her voice laced with an eerie calmness. "As we delved before, the human heart was well protected within the chest cavity. To penetrate the heart efficiently, we must aim for specific entry points. Allow me to explain."

The mentor positioned herself behind the captive, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders, as if guiding her through the macabre lesson. The captive's body trembled beneath the mentor's touch, her breath was quick and shallow.

"First," the mentor began, her voice resonating with authority, "We have the area between the 3rd and 4th rib, near the sternum. This position allows for a quick and efficient stab, aiming directly at the center of the heart's chambers."

With precise movements, the mentor's hand mimicked the action of a weapon, her fingers hovering just above the inner side of the captive's left breast, indicating the location. The captive flinched, a shiver coursing through her body, as if she could feel the cold steel of an imaginary blade piercing her flesh.

"Next," the mentor continued, her voice low and steady, "we have the space between the 4th and 5th rib, commonly known as the apex of the heart. Representing the tip of the left and right ventricles. Striking here can disrupt the heart's rhythm and lead to swift incapacitation," the mentor paused a bit, "And this is actually my favorite piercing spot."

The mentor's hand shifted slightly lower, held tightly under the left breast of the young thief. Her heart raced in response, the rumbling apex hammering against the palm of the mentor. She bit her trembling lip, her eyes darting nervously between the assassin students and the weapons displayed on the table.

"Moving on," the mentor said, her tone filled with a chilling precision, "we have the area below the xiphoid, right below the heart. Here is the blind spot of the ribcage coverage. A well-placed strike here can cause severe damage from the bottom of right ventricle."

The mentor's hand descended further, hovering just above the captive's abdomen, her fingers poised as if preparing to strike. The captive's breath hitched, her body tensing as if bracing for impact. The room seemed to grow colder as she saw the focused eyes of the assassin students.

"And finally," the mentor concluded, her voice dropping to a chilling whisper, "We have the area over the clavicle. This position allows us to bypass most of the chest armor and ribcage, to penetrate the atria and aorta directly, provided the weapon is long enough."

The mentor's hand moved to the captive's collarbone area, caressed the pulsating veins underneath. The captive's eyes widened, a mix of terror and realization reflecting in their depths. The mentor's teachings had painted a dark path ahead, one that demanded a cold and calculated approach for her fellows students.

"And NEXT..." the mentor scanned the room, her eyes flickering with amusement.

"Is the time for PRACTICE."

Hearing this, the captured girl’s heart sank to the bottom of abyss. She knew that her doom was imminent. Her heart raced uncontrollably, pounding against her chest as if desperately trying to escape its impending fate.

The mentor asked her students if any of them would like to recommend themselves for the upcoming practice session. Excitement filled the air as most of the girls eagerly raised their hands, their faces lit up with anticipation.

With a sinister smile, the mentor selected a student from the eager faces. The chosen student stepped forward, took down her hood, her eyes shined with expectations and determination. The mentor allowed the student to have her pick of weapon and piercing spot, relishing in the power dynamics that played out before her.

The student's gaze lingered over the arsenal of deadly tools, selecting a weapon with a menacing aura. She ran her fingers along the blade, savoring the anticipation that filled the room. With a wicked grin, she turned to face the captive girl, her voice dripping with delight.

"I choose the serrated dagger," the student declared, her voice tinged with a chilling excitement. "And I want to strike at the apex of her heart, just like the mentor I admire."

The captive girl's eyes widened in terror, her breath catching in her throat. The mentor's own smile widened, seeing the fear etched across the captive's face. She nodded approvingly, allowing the student to proceed with her choice.

The student approached the captive girl, her movements deliberate and calculated. The air grew heavy with tension as the serrated dagger glinted ominously in her hand. The captive girl's heart was beating in an insane rhythm, facing the incoming intent to kill with full of fear and despair.

As the student positioned herself, the mentor watched intently. Her eyes glimmering with a twisted joyous. The student's hand trembled with anticipation, staring at the throbbing point below the left breast of the shivering young thief. Her blade poised to strike. The captive girl's body tensed, her eyes locked on the weapon that would soon pierce her vulnerable flesh.

"Don’t blame me." whispered by the young assassin.

In one swift and merciless motion, the student thrust the serrated dagger right between the 4th and 5th rib, torn the captive girl's heart from the apex. The room seemed to freeze in that moment, the sound of the blade piercing flesh echoing through the air.

The captive girl let out a choked gasp, her eyes widened with agony. Her body kneeled down, convulsing with the searing pain that seeped through her being.

"Come, my dear," the mentor held up the young thief, and let the outstanding student to listen to her last heaving chest. "Remember this faltering heart sound, representing our power, and the fragile of life." Her desperate heartbeat, staggered with the spurting sound of blood, echoed in the mind of the student.

Her heart, the very core of her existence, reacted with a final surge of desperation. It beat wildly, as if fighting against the intrusion, a futile attempt to cling to life. But the cruel reality of the situation prevailed, and with each weakening beat, the girl's life force slipped away.

The mentor watched with a twisted satisfaction as the young thief's body slumped, lifeless and still. The room fell into an eerie silence. The mentor's eyes gleamed with a sense of accomplishment, reveling in the darkness that had unraveled within her students.

"Observe, my dear fellow students," wiped the stains on her student’s cheek, she declare to everyone with determination. "This is what we have, the power deciding life and death. But remember, the fleeting nature of life binds us all. We have to be skilled to avoid becoming the next fallen heart."

The End

#female heart #dark cardiophilia #Gif included #Story writing #AI Support #Heart stab

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justanotherblonde · 4 months ago

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I don’t think Ne Zha 2 used Ai because I have seen behind the scenes videos on how the movie was made.

https://youtu.be/v7malQgDT_U?feature=shared

But this person on twitter/X is claiming the film used Ai (this person is a Disney fan so maybe that’s why)

https://x.com/CjstrikerC/status/1891468055114387869

https://x.com/CjstrikerC/status/1891483998448234894

this X user is doing exactly what i predicted and trying to scaremonger about something rather insignificant. the link they provide in their first post to iWeaver, an "AI-powered knowledge management tool", states that AI was used in the following ways in Nezha 2:

Question: What key roles did AI play in the production process of “Nezha 2”? Answer: AI played significant roles in the production of “Nezha 2”. It accurately predicted the box – office trend through AI, foreseeing the record – breaking moment 72 hours in advance. In the production process, it carried out automated complexity grading for 220 million underwater particle effects, generated resource allocation plans based on the profiles of over 3,000 artists, and could also track the rendering progress of 14 global studios in real – time, helping to improve production efficiency and quality. (Source: iWeaver)

now, if that's true, it's probably something the studio will keep on the DL simply because they don't want people to turn it into "they used AI? they made the whole thing with AI??!!! Terrible!!" (which, if you ask me, might be a dumb approach because in a lot of circles it will look worse if their "cover" gets "blown"). but even tho iWeaver says "significant roles", the first "role" of AI was just in predicting box-office gains, not in animation. the second "role" is what i suspected from having watched the movie: that AI was used to help render some scenes (one scene?). this makes perfect sense, and if you ask me is a really legit use of AI tech. dare i say it, perhaps even something the studios should be proud of.

OBVIOUSLY they did not use AI to create this whole movie. 14 animation studios were involved, thousands of animators, SO MUCH more work than "just" throwing some prompts at an algorithm and telling it to "make a movie". there are a ridiculous number of small details that can only be attributed to human work. a couple of my favs: when Li Jing [Nezha's father] lies in front of Shen Gongbao's little brother on Shen's behalf, the soldier behind him gives him a look of mild shock😲; when Nezha's parents have Shen Gongbao over for dinner during the siege, one of the Guardian Beasts is snoozing 😴.

use of AI always opens up the floor to discussion of what is "Art", but that's a debate humans will have for as long as we exist and are still making art. hell, people used to say it was cheating to try and paint something from a photograph, rather than a live model. they're ALWAYS going to be like that. critics are a necessary evil. haters are always gonna hate.

making art is about creating with integrity. artists use the tools available to them, and some artists are better at using tools than others. AI is also a creative tool. that's the world we live in in 2025.

consider this: i'm a teacher at university level, and obviously we've got loads of students trying to use AI to complete their assignments. what we're moving towards is having an "admission of AI use" declaration for them to make, because we acknowledge that this tool can be helpful! for example, SPELLING AND GRAMMAR. i'd LOVE if my students used AI to fix those mistakes. then i could smoothly read their work. AI can also help you get a basic understanding of concepts (thus improving your ability to write about them), but you still have to check the sources it provides you. that's what makes you look dumb at university level: citing imaginary sources and authors that the AI generated for you. AI tools are also pretty crap at actually "understanding the assignment", so it's easy to tell when a student used AI to write the whole essay because it won't be the right format, and thus can't get a good score. but if a student is smart enough to figure out what's required according to the rubric, what parts of the essay are needed, what arguments they need to make to get points, and they use AI to help them write those out, i see no reason to penalise them for using assistance - as long as they admit they used it. lying about one's abilities doesn't serve anyone, least of all the person themselves.

i think it's really easy for some armchair critic to look at a "fact" like "AI was used in the production of this film" and get angry about it. but i'll bet they haven't even been to see the movie, or spent any time looking for "behind the scenes" reports like you did, and that means we can ignore that idiot, because they don't know what we know 😌

thanks for reading!!

#nezha 2 #nezha 2025 #did nezha 2 use ai?#ask blonde #enjoying this discussion very much!#ai debate #ai in animation #ai use

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ivyblossom · 5 months ago

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Lessons in Story: Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is not an element of story, and yet here we are.

I'm aware that AI is bad for the environment. So's tumblr. That's all true. I'm also aware that AI scrapes copyrighted material like google does. I'm aware of how it steals art for its knowledge base without compensating artists and uses is as a model and replacement for skills. That's bad. I'm not going to address any of that here.

I have been observing how people talk about using AI in various parts of their writing process at the same time as I'm been trying to understand my own process and the obstacles I'm facing, and these two topics have oddly collided.

As I've said previously, my background is in some kind of woo woo where narrative comes out in one whole piece. So the fact that writing is many different and iterative pieces is something I had to figure out in my own bizarre way, but at the moment I now understand the basic process to be in these four general stages:

dreaming/planning (coming up with characters, ideas, goals, worlds, etc.)

outlining (not to say that this isn't many sub-stages, all of these steps are big catagories)

writing (actually putting words into sentences so your story exists)

Editing (revising, restructuring, polishing, etc.)

Are there more steps that I'm not accounting for? Those are the stages as I understand them. You can move back and forth through these stages throughout the process, so it's not necessarily linear, though it could be. For me, the key has been embracing the fact these are all radically different activities that require a completely different headspace, different skills, sometimes different tools, and a different perspective on narrative. That has been freeing revelation, because I was trying to do most of it at the same time.

But here's what else I've learned:

Dreaming/planning: this is a zero consistency space when it comes to how close or how far away you are from your protagonist. Are you feeling what they feel, or are you 30,000 feet up looking at the task they have in front of them and the path they're going to take? Or are you somewhere in between? Kind of all of the above at different points.

Outlining: in my experience, this can and should include emotional through lines, but outlining usually focuses on the 30,000 foot view. I have personally never written an outline that didn't miss critical details because of the 30,000 foot gap between me and the protagonist when I outline.

Writing: this seems like the very closest and most intimate you get with your story and your protagonist, right? This is where you live through it with them in extreme detail. There is no distance between you and them, you have to use a telescope to see 30,000 feet up. I find I have to revise my outline in small ways because I often underestimate or overestimate what something's going to feel like on the ground. This is like a micro-discovery phase: not plot discovery, emotional and intimate detail discovery.

Editing: I'm not an expert at this, but so far I feel like it goes back to being extremely inconsistent. It's either very close in a different way, or 30,000 feet up, or various in-between levels, depending on the type of editing or revision. And sometimes it's none of those, it's completely outside looking at how many times you use the word "feel" or whether your verbs and nouns agree.

Right. So people try to insert AI to do the graft for one or more of these stages.

AI in stage 1: I've seen some folks talk about using AI to get ideas for stories. I don't understand that, ideas are the easiest part of this process, as far as I can tell. Life's a rich pageant, maybe that's not universally true. Now, having AI to help you refine an idea, I can see that. Especially if you ask it to point out tropes and cliches as you go. Is that bad? Is that cheating? I dunno.

AI in stage 2: I've never seen anyone say they do this. If you have an amazing and complete story idea and you want to shaped into a 3 or 5 act structure, or a hero's journey, etc. I'm sure AI could do that, but that's mainly just typing. That's like AI as workbook. Is that cheating? I dunno. Does an AI generated outline help you? Or do you just skip the thinking that would have created the details of your story? Hard to say.

AI in stage 3: The wildest version of using AI in the creation of fiction, and there are whole subreddits for it. This is the people who are constructing novels scene by scene by telling AI to write it for them to their specifications and then "heavily editing" the result. So they are ostensibly doing stage 1, 2, and 4 themselves, and are outsourcing stage 3, the hard graft. Though I'd be very surprised if they aren't also using AI for stage 4, but let's assume they aren't.

Stage 3 is the only part of writing process that is protected by copyright, so it's a weird one to outsource. It's also the stage, in my experience, where you do micro-discovery, the in-the-moment scene details and the actual, living emotional experience of your story that you can't completely capture in outline. So if you just animate your outline without living through the story with your characters, it's always going to feel emotionally 30,000 feet in the air, I think. Right? If you feed AI an outline, that's what you'd get. i think doing this is just avoiding doing the most intimate and immediate discovery process of creating a story, and I don't think that serves the story or the writer (or "writer").

I'm intrigued that people think you can do this and it makes sense. You'd have to believe that the writing process is simply describing the contents of your outline, but I don't think that's true. It's like trying to get from the twelfth floor to the first floor by skipping the stairs, the elevator or the escalator and just leaping into the air assuming you'll land just fine because those intermediary systems are just time-wasters anyway.

I've read some arguments that using AI for stage 3 is something people with disabilities need to get their stories out into the world. As a neurodivergent person, I think that's short-sighted and is a disservice to those stories. I'm pretty sure it's just skipping the work of living through the emotional through line of the story and just not making all the little decisions and constructing the tiny details that go into the telling of a story. That's a heck of a missing staircase. Outlines aren't stories. Skipping the writing part means you're missing 2/3rds of the discovery, and therefore 2/3rds of the richness and depth of the story. How does that serve disabled voices? I don't buy it.

AI in stage 4: the one that looks innocuous but is actually dangerous. Dumping your work into AI and having it fix everything for you. This is a bad idea. Dump your work in there if you want to, but have it tell you what it's finding that needs adjustment so you can make decisions about it yourself. Copying and pasting out of an AI engine means you aren't making decisions about it, you're deferring decisions to a machine. That's the fastest way possible to erase your own voice. I can see getting it to flag things it has questions about, but taking AI advice on your writing is way too trusting.

I think this is especially dangerous for writers who don't have confidence in their own voice. AI's voice may seem like a better chose to them, and that's really sad.

I have more to say about AI, but this is more than enough for now.

#lessons in story #AI

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elderwisp · 7 months ago

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hi! Im so sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, I've looked for answers for this before so I'm just not sure,,

i absolutely adore your sims and your story! Its completely inspired me to create a story w/ my sims as well! the only thing is I'm quite overwhelmed with it all and I don't know where to start :(

do you have any tips? Whats your process? there's so many things to use and I'm just curious what you use! Thanks in advance and no pressure to answer if this is the wrong place :))<33

HAI :D OMG EXCITING <3 no worries! my inbox is always open for assistance and i'd love to help! here's a bunch of tips ranging from writing to technical to artsy stuff:

the start:

⟡ i should preface this story did not begin as one typically would which is say following the example of how to write a novel in a year. my writing style for this project started out with my interest in the characters created. my desire to wanting to know why certain oc's acted the way they did and that's where it all began. what started out as short stories of certain individuals reworked into something much more authentic. this was the hook for me so you gotta find that one sliver of interest and run with it. you can most certainly utilize tools like character sheets, pinboards, storyboards to assist you but i find that if i'm not connected to the story, it's difficult to use them

⟡ with that being said LOL invest the time in fleshing out your character because when you understand how they work, when you believe in them, the easier it'll be in creating scenes and writing dialogue. for me, it's almost intuitive writing for characters to the point where i will easily check myself and rewrite a scene because it didn't align with a certain character

⟡ while the influence of your own ideals/experiences eventually bleed into an oc, it's important to identify that, otherwise a cast of diverse characters eventually feel the same. this was something i struggled with for years which is why i could never really begin until now!

⟡ it's good to ask yourself what sort of story do you want to create. the best question is is it plot driven or character driven? what sort of tone do you want to set? do you want to blend them? i think there's a huge stress on just doing things for fun and not taking things seriously but i do want to challenge others to consider what that might look like for others. sometimes people like to create grand posts or fun slice of life posts and neither is more valid than the other. it's truly up to the author

technical stuff:

⟡ i'm gonna be honest with you, i'm not as organized as i once was in how i go about plotting things however! in the beginning, i would utilize sticky notes with ideas written on them and then shuffle around how i wanted things to play out. now i use a dingy little notebook LMAO but i've heard good things about milanote! as for dialogue, i do use google docs but i do think they're under fire for using your things for ai training or somethin O_O

⟡ i do use photoshop to edit my photos and that usually looks like cropping, color/contrast enhancing and sharpening. i do add dialogue last because when i sharpen it all together, the font looks cwispy! there's this mini tut by @/stinkrascal on how to format the text so it's all even if that's the style you're going for! anyways it changed my LIFE lmao! right here are some free alternatives. also this is an older post in which i shared my process and it includes some tips and tricks with photoshop (you can also see how i used to format text lmaooo)

⟡ knowledge is power. if i find myself really struggling with certain aspects, like maybe the logistics of a character, i'll set aside some time to learn from certain authors, commentators or directors. even if it's a short clip of seeing how they approach something as simple as their thought process behind how a scene supported a character to something as small as the significance of Isha's hat from Arcane

misc writing tips:

⟡ ooh! because tessellate is such a large group of characters, it can be challenging to structuring a plot. so i started off by slowly introducing characters rather than all at once. i also break up character plots into arcs but with that comes filler episodes to help space out big moments. i like to utilize filler episodes as bite sized pieces that introduces the readers to newer characters while also allowing there to be breaks in between. those filler posts highlight certain events, ways of living, etc that might influence how things play out in the future. a good example is kai, we're nearing the end of his arc but all of those little moments in between really helped shaped how things played out!

⟡ when i think of conflict, i think of it a lot like a boiling pot. it starts out at a neutral temperature (your foundation), before bubbles begin to form (minor annoyances between characters), steam hissing (the lead up) to an eventual lid popping off (the conflict). the build up is the most important part to the pay off!

⟡ my best piece of advice for darker themes is really understand the topic and stray away from stereotypes as it diminishes a lot of depth in certain subjects as well as does more harm than good. recognize that at the end of the day a weakness does not define a person as they are a person through and through. approach it with compassion rather than judgement.

⟡ i know i know everyone says to read your dialogue out loud and that is incredibly important however while doing that, think about the flow too. as a writer, because we are goal oriented, sometimes dialogue can be turned into what will progress the plot which makes things feel a bit unnatural and sometimes lacking the proper flow. remember to consider the personality of a character. how is a line delivered through a character who is brash versus one who is a bit more reclusive? also! here's a great video about the stiff dialogue in veilguard that shows what unnatural dialogue can sound like.

⟡ remember, comparison is the thief of joy. it's easy to get caught up in recognition and likes. there was a time where i consistently got 3-5 readers and that was it. there are moments now where certain posts are incredibly inconsistent in engagement and sure, it can be disheartening but then i think about the handful of individuals that consistently comment, the specific asks about how a certain post made them feel seen and interact and i remember why it's i chose to write. it isn't the recognition i seek, it's the connection. it's important to have that one thing that gives you the strength to continue because truthfully, things can be inconsistent and that's okay.

the artsy stuff:

⟡ i am a huge fan of cinema, animation and photography. i think consuming a lot of media and art has helped train my eye especially if i feel as if my screenshots are becoming repetitive. it's good to see how different directors go about framing dialogue. comic panels are amazing as well since artists find new unique ways of captivating an audience through levels like coloring, framing, posing and such! it's honestly why i introduced some vertical shots to black out bars in story posts because of that unique angle! remember, media is meant to inspire you! after watching the latest season of Arcane (haven't finished it yet tho) it genuinely relit a fire under my ass LMAO

⟡ different angles, lighting and positioning can help elevate a story. the aesthetics of a story can really add another layer of depth however it's important to remember that it is a supporting role, not the entire role

⟡ i do use my own reshade and i've formatted it to have similarities of a film camera as well as my preference of color correcting. i lean heavier towards contrast, colors and shadows however i always encourage for people to look into what supports their vision the best! the lightroom shader by quint and pd80's contrast/brightness/saturation shader help with color grading in game as they do have sliders that tweak certain colors. the sepia shader is great for adding a cinematic tint but it can conflict with relight and the way the lights are presented. relight of course can add those shadows in lighting. i'll sometimes have two presets, one for up close shots to further shots because sometimes zooming out can create inconsistencies in your preset as things might look to muggy or like a disco ball LOL (ps what helps with that is adjusting bloom if used and messing around with shadows/midtones/highlights/saturation with that lightroom shader)

last but not least, a story is a labor of love, it's a tool in which authors can utilize the pen to their own manner whether it's to communicate ideas or to simply tell a tale. don't be afraid to dive deep into the layers of your story and remember each piece can be important factor but it's entirely up to you as to where you want that focus to be. it does take a lot of courage to start but i truly believe if it's something you cherish, it'll always be worth it!

i do wish you the best of luck! thank you for trusting me enough to give you some tips and tricks! i tried to lean more into the more finite details as i felt like this is what truly helped me throughout the years! <3 also here is a complimentary meme i made:

#btw i created a milinote after this LMAOO #creative process #asks

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dykehelly · 1 year ago

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Scientific knowledge production is a fundamentally social practice that is shaped by the norms of its institutions. The proposed visions of AI make it clear that a primary motivation for these tools emerges from the impulse to produce more science, more quickly and more cheaply. Given evidence that increased publications stagnate the generation of new ideas, considering the epistemic risks of AI provides us with an opportunity to reflect on whether this level of productivity—one demanded by academic and publishing institutions—is one that researchers desire and one that benefits the collective endeavour of scientific understanding. Although visions of AI in science paint its widespread adoption as both inevitable and desirable, we should remember that scientists have a say in how things proceed. We decide when and how AI deserves to be included in our communities of knowledge.

good, comprehensive article about the pitfalls of using AI in scientific research

#every time someone in my field says ''haha well soon we'll just use chatGPT for that'' i lose a little faith sfkjskdff #i'm not even Anti AI in a big way i'm just anti pretending that these tools are smarter than they are #text tag #ai #science

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gallamy · 1 month ago

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A rant by me

A fucking angel loses its wings every time I see that fuckass ai matrix photo.

You know the one.

And to those who are tempted to defend the ai usage: Listen, I’m not mad at you or the ai (itself), but try to the think of the actors whose likeness is being stolen from them without their consent or knowledge.

It’s not fun, it’s robbery. To me, it’s less extreme but similar to those egregious deepfake porn videos. Why? Because it’s associating people you don’t know with situations they may never have consented to. It is gross.

It’s not a money thing, it’s a principle thing.

If I knew someone was taking my face and using ai to project a false reality, I’d literally get nauseous. Like, that’s my fucking face - who are you to use technology to manipulate reality?

I hope what I’m saying makes sense, and that I’m not coming off as some cowardly boomer person afraid of technology because I’m not. Technology can be an advantageous tool.

However, I feel that the world must understand that just because we CAN do something doesn’t mean we SHOULD.

Moreover, just because ai is a tool created by society…that capability doesn’t free those who use ai to replace artists and to steal the likeness of actors or other creatives.

Remember, movies/photos are only impactful because they are human stories told by our contemporaries and elders. Movies/photos are the modern day equivalent of the folklore stories told by our indigenous ancestors (regardless of your heritage). This visual media is our history. They mean something. They aren’t just entertainment. They matter.

#the matrix #fuck ai #I am pro artist

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sempermoi · 9 months ago

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Rant about generative AI in education and in general under the cut because I'm worried and frustrated and I needed to write it out in a small essay:

So, context: I am a teacher in Belgium, Flanders. I am now teaching English (as a second language), but have also taught history and Dutch (as a native language). All in secondary education, ages 12-16.

More and more I see educational experts endorse ai being used in education and of course the most used tools are the free, generative ones. Today, one of the colleagues responsible for the IT of my school went to an educational lecture where they once again vouched for the use of ai.

Now their keyword is that it should always be used in a responsible manner, but the issue is... can it be?

1. Environmentally speaking, ai has been a nightmare. Not only does it have an alarming impact on emission levels, but also on the toxic waste that's left behind. Not to mention the scarcity of GPUs caused by the surge of ai in the past few years. Even sources that would vouch for ai have raised concerns about the impact it has on our collective health. sources: here, here and here

2. Then there's the issue with what the tools are trained on and this in multiple ways:

Many of the free tools that the public uses is trained on content available across the internet. However, it is at this point common knowledge (I'd hope) that most creators of the original content (writers, artists, other creative content creators, researchers, etc.) were never asked for permission and so it has all been stolen. Many social media platforms will often allow ai training on them without explicitly telling the user-base or will push it as the default setting and make it difficult for their user-base to opt out. Deviantart, for example, lost much of its reputation when it implemented such a policy. It had to backtrack in 2022 afterwards because of the overwhelming backlash. The problem is then that since the content has been ripped from their context and no longer made by a human, many governments therefore can no longer see it as copyrighted. Which, yes, luckily also means that ai users are legally often not allowed to pass off ai as 'their own creation'. Sources: here, here

Then there's the working of generative ai in general. As said before, it simply rips words or image parts from their original, nuanced context and then mesh it together without the user being able to accurately trace back where the info is coming from. A tool like ChatGPT is not a search engine, yet many people use it that way without realising it is not the same thing at all. More on the working of generative ai in detail. Because of how it works, it means there is always a chance for things to be biased and/or inaccurate. If a tool has been trained on social media sources (which ChatGPT for example is) then its responses can easily be skewed to the demographic it's been observing. Bias is an issue is most sources when doing research, but if you have the original source you also have the context of the source. Ai makes it that the original context is no longer clear to the user and so bias can be overlooked and go unnoticed much easier. Source: here

3. Something my colleague mentioned they said in the lecture is that ai tools can be used to help the learning of the students.

Let me start off by saying that I can understand why there is an appeal to ai when you do not know much about the issues I have already mentioned. I am very aware it is probably too late to fully stop the wave of ai tools being published.

There are certain uses to types of ai that can indeed help with accessibility. Such as text-to-voice or the other way around for people with disabilities (let's hope the voice was ethically begotten).

But many of the other uses mentioned in the lecture I have concerns with. They are to do with recognising learning, studying and wellbeing patterns of students. Not only do I not think it is really possible to data-fy the complexity of each and every single student you would have as they are still actively developing as a young person, this also poses privacy risks in case the data is ever compromised. Not to mention that ai is often still faulty and, as it is not a person, will often still make mistakes when faced with how unpredictable a human brain can be. We do not all follow predictable patterns.

The lecture stated that ai tools could help with neurodivergency 'issues'. Obviously I do not speak for others and this next part is purely personal opinion, but I do think it important to nuance this: as someone with auDHD, no ai-tool has been able to help me with my executive dysfunction in the long-term. At first, there is the novelty of the app or tool and I am very motivated. They are often in the form of over-elaborate to-do lists with scheduled alarms. And then the issue arises: the ai tries to train itself on my presented routine... except I don't have one. There is no routine to train itself on, because that is my very problem I am struggling with. Very quickly it always becomes clear that the ai doesn't understand this the way a human mind would. A professionally trained in psychology/therapy human mind. And all I was ever left with was the feeling of even more frustration.

In my opinion, what would help way more than any ai tool would be the funding of mental health care and making it that going to a therapist or psychiatrist or coach is covered by health care the way I only have to pay 5 euros to my doctor while my health care provider pays the rest. (In Belgium) This would make mental health care much more accessible and would have a greater impact than faulty ai tools.

4. It was also said that ai could help students with creative assignments and preparing for spoken interactions both in their native language as well as in the learning of a new one.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Creativity in its essence is about the person creating something from their own mind and putting the effort in to translate those ideas into their medium of choice. Stick figures on lined course paper are more creative than letting a tool like Midjourney generate an image based on stolen content. How are we teaching students to be creative when we allow them to not put a thought in what they want to say and let an ai do it for them?

And since many of these tools are also faulty and biased in their content, how could they accurately replace conversations with real people? Ai cannot fully understand the complexities of language and all the nuances of the contexts around it. Body language, word choice, tone, volume, regional differences, etc.

And as a language teacher, I can truly say there is nothing more frustrating than wanting to assess the writing level of my students, giving them a writing assignment where they need to express their opinion and write it in two tiny paragraphs... and getting an ai response back. Before anyone comes to me saying that my students may simply be very good at English. Indeed, but my current students are not. They are precious, but their English skills are very flawed. It is very easy to see when they wrote it or ChatGPT. It is not only frustrating to not being able to trust part of your students' honesty and knowing they learned nothing from the assignment cause you can't give any feedback; it is almost offensive that they think I wouldn't notice it.

5. Apparently, it was mentioned in the lecture that in schools where ai is banned currently, students are fearful that their jobs would be taken away by ai and that in schools where ai was allowed that students had much more positive interactions with technology.

First off, I was not able to see the source and data that this statement was based on. However, I personally cannot shake the feeling there's a data bias in there. Of course students will feel more positively towards ai if they're not told about all the concerns around it.

Secondly, the fact that in the lecture it was (reportedly) framed that being scared your job would disappear because of ai, was untrue is... infuriating. Because it already is becoming a reality. Let's not forget what partially caused the SAG-AFTRA strike in 2023. Corporations see an easy (read: cheap) way to get marketable content by using ai at the cost of the creative professionals. Unregulated ai use by businesses causing the loss of jobs for real-life humans, is very much a threat. Dismissing this is basically lying to young students.

6. My conclusion:

I am frustrated. It's clamoured that we, as teachers, should educate more about ai and it's responsible use. However, at the same time the many concerns and issues around most of the accessible ai tools are swept under the rug and not actively talked about.

I find the constant surging rise of generative ai everywhere very concerning and I can only hope that more people will start seeing it too.

Thank you for reading.

#generative ai critical #ai critical #ai in education #the artist talks

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gemsofgreece · 6 months ago

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Thats such a shame re: the Greek class community. I've been trying to do my best to learn greek for the last little bit, but methods for doing so are rather... limited? It's easier to learn basic Spanish here in the US, or Chinese because my partner's family speaks it, but there isn't enough of a Greek community or anything like that in the city/area I'm closest to, and any places that offer a Greek class (not a 1:1 tutor which is hella $$$, but an actual class with a few other students) are in person only and at least a 6 hour drive away :(

Re: apps, so many have started integrating AI to generate lessons that native speakers (of multiple languages!) Have called them out on having down right incorrect information.

I've got vocabulary lists and Greek radio stations, but they talk so fast that it's really just for immersion right now, there's no way I can follow any of it lol

All that to say, I (and I'm sure many others) appreciate your language posts, they've been super fun/interesting/helpful, so thank you for posting them (despite tumblr being... tumblr)

Thank you! I am really happy to know they actually help some people in their effort of learning Greek or deepening their understanding of it.

It might be perceived as sabotaging people's efforts or killing their motivation but I can't help but agree that the resources for Greek are limited and often of low quality. Nobody who is studying Greek should feel disheartened because they struggle with it, because the resources really are not that good and it is totally legit if not expected to have trouble learning due to it.

Also, I have been seeing "entertaining" educational content left and right and even that makes me... angry. I have seen Greek-learning content that has actual mistakes and I am not even a linguist, so they are glaring mistakes and it's unacceptable to see mistakes or limited knowledge in the content of the supposed teachers. So much of the content features unserious and pointless intervals for fun, focusing on funny expressions or hand gestures or malaka malaka malaka tzatziki malaka yassou souvlaki malaka and honestly this is not a befitting image for the Greek language (or any language for that matter). And even serious resources are chaotic for real. It can not be justified because Greek is easier than Chinese, if Chinese can be taught methodically and realistically, so can Greek. Half of the Greeks making educational content don't truly believe others will learn Greek other than to say a couple vacation phrases for fun. And malaka. *sigh*

If it makes you feel any better, if I weren't a native speaker I would not be able to learn Greek with the tools and apps I have seen around, except some basic with Duolingo. Duolingo is solid. I have checked some other apps and have hated them all but people learning Greek swear by Language Transfer. I didn't get the hype at all but maybe it's a me problem. Check Language Transfer if you haven't. It has recorded actual audio lessons of a Greek teacher with a foreign student and it was originally designed with the Greek language in mind. Maybe this one offers that depth of understanding I mentioned earlier and this is why people like it. I still found it a little chaotic tbh but most people say otherwise so give it a try if you haven't.

You said something that works like a trigger in me XD about Greek being spoken very fast and being unable to follow. I admit it's bold of me to say since I am a native speaker but honestly......... I don't think we speak THAT fast. I have seen this comment many times, people joking that Greeks speak like "atdkyfkaugsakikoakistakpidakoltesiki" so I decided to look into it and there was a study confirming that Spanish and Greek said on average the biggest number of syllables per time unit. However, I kept looking into it and I found what could be clearing things out and maybe it's a trick you can use (though of course I don't know your level in Greek):

The trick is that the difference of Greek (and Spanish) is that unlike many others, they are overwhelmingly open-syllabled languages and have MANY open syllabled endings. That confuses people from more closed-syllable lingual backgrounds because they sort of miss the beats in which the word or phrase is ending and they think the speaker pronounces a never ending word or sentence and they can't follow. Furthermore, despite the openness of the syllables Greek has strong and sometimes challenging consonant clusters (quite stronger than Spanish) and people from closed-syllable backgrounds tend to think this is where a word or phrase is supposed to end but this is never the case since Greek has usually open syllables and the words never end in a consonant cluster (just a sigma or a ni at most), so they kind of miss the flow of the language. To make this false perception worse, Greek has some seriously long words and due to the open syllables it makes people feel like a lot more things are said than what is actually said! And the unpredictable stress also perhaps confuses people with a first language that is usually stressed in the same spot within each word.

For example, imagine a Greek saying in a breath:

"o-si-ði-ro-ðro-mi-kós-stath-mós"

"wow hold on a bit now"

"what...? I just said 'the rail station'!"

You know? It's like German but with a lot of vowels which adds more and more length. I don't know if this hits any close to home, maybe the difficulty you encounter is different, but I figured I should mention this potential explanation just in case. If this hits close to home, then try to train yourself to expect the pauses and the endings of words and phrases only in a vowel or a ni or a sigma. And when you start listening to the radio, don't feel defeated but keep thinking "I am listening fewer words than I think" and "I am missing less stuff than I think".

By the way, by radio you mean classic radio or podcasts? Because there are some podcasts where the narration is a bit on the slower side (to my native ears at least). Check the podcasts of LIFO, such as Mikropragmata by Ares Dimokidis. Check in general podcasts with one single speaker (because in dialogues things get more animated and faster).

From youtube, if you like science, check channels like Καθημερινή Φυσική, Astronio, Greekonomics. Obviously the vocabulary is advanced in this context but I feel they speak medium to slow.

If you like Criminology, real crime stories etc, check out Vassilikou's channel, she speaks slowly and is thinking as she speaks so I think it's a good pace.

For some lightheartedness, trash tv references, celebrity news (Hollywood and Greek), LGBTQ+ representation (mild though, he doesn't really focus on sexuality topics), check Eponimos. He speaks slowly.

And as always, I keep recommending ERTFLIX, the entirely free and internationally available Greek state TV OTT platform which has lots of good content with Greek audio and foreign content with Greek subtitles. Available in all devices, apps, platforms etc

I know you weren't really asking for help but I thought that maybe these notes would make it easier for you idk

#languages #language learning #langblr #greek #greek language #liguistics #major-victory #mail

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mariacallous · 2 months ago

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When Italian philosopher and essayist Andrea Colamedici released Ipnocrazia: Trump, Musk e La Nuova Architettura Della Realtà (Hypnocracy: Trump, Musk, and the New Architecture of Reality), he wanted to make a statement about the existence of truth in the digital age.

The book, published in December, was described as “a crucial book for understanding how control is currently exercised not by repressing truth but by multiplying narratives, making it impossible to locate any fixed point,” according to a description by Tlon, a publishing house Colamedici cofounded. While the book attracted buzz in philosophy circles, Italian magazine L’Espresso revealed in April that the book’s purported author, Jianwei Xun, did not exist, after one of its editors tried and failed to interview him. Initially described as a Hong Kong–born philosopher based in Berlin, it turned out that Xun was actually a hybrid human-algorithmic creation. Colamedici, listed on the book as translator, used AI to generate concepts and then critique those concepts.

“It’s not just a book but a philosophical experiment, a performance. My aim was to raise awareness,” he tells WIRED. He says the point of the book was to help readers understand AI and invent a new concept for this era.

So far, Hypnocracy: Trump, Musk, and the New Architecture of Reality is available in three languages (Spanish, French, and Italian) and has sold some 5,000 copies.

“From figures like Trump, Musk, and other world leaders to the ways in which digital platforms grab our attention, Xun unveils the mechanisms by which power shapes our perception of reality. It is a clear and disturbing analysis that goes beyond traditional critiques of digital society to reveal how reality itself has become a political battleground,” its description reads.

However, the controversy surrounding the decision to use AI to author it, and initially withhold that information, has now become a major part of the discourse around it—and that’s what Colamedici wanted.

“When readers discovered the truth about how the book was created, many were hurt. I deeply regret that, but it was necessary,” he says.

WIRED interviewed Colamedici in a conversation that explored the nuances of his project.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

WIRED: What was the inspiration for the philosophical experiment?

Andrea Colamedici: First of all, I teach prompt thinking at the European Institute of Design and I lead a research project on artificial intelligence and thought systems at the University of Foggia. Working with my students, I realized that they were using ChatGPT in the worst possible way: to copy from it. I observed that they were losing an understanding of life by relying on AI, which is alarming, because we live in an era where we have access to an ocean of knowledge, but we don’t know what to do with it. I’d often warn them: “You can get good grades, even build a great career using ChatGPT to cheat, but you’ll become empty.” I have trained professors from several Italian universities and many ask me: “When can I stop learning how to use ChatGPT?” The answer is never. It’s not about completing an education in AI, but about how you learn when using it.”

We must keep our curiosity alive while using this tool correctly and teaching it to work how we want it to. It all starts from a crucial distinction: There is information that makes you passive, that erodes your ability to think over time, and there is information that challenges you, that makes you smarter by pushing you beyond your limits. This is how we should use AI: as an interlocutor that helps us think differently. Otherwise, we won’t understand that these tools are designed by big tech companies that impose a certain ideology. They choose the data, the connections among it, and, above all, they treat us as customers to be satisfied. If we use AI this way, it will only confirm our biases. We will think we are right, but in reality we will not be thinking; we will be digitally embraced. We can’t afford this numbness. This was the starting point of the book. The second challenge was how to describe what is happening now. For Gilles Deleuze, philosophy is the ability to create concepts, and today we need new ones to understand our reality. Without them, we are lost. Just look at Trump’s Gaza video—generated by AI—or the provocations of figures like Musk. Without solid conceptual tools, we are shipwrecked. A good philosopher creates concepts that are like keys allowing us to understand the world.

What was your goal with the new book?

The book seeks to do three things: to help readers become AI literate, to invent a new concept for this era, and to be theoretical and practical at the same time. When readers discovered the truth about how the book was created, many were hurt. I deeply regret that, but it was necessary. Some people have said, “I wish this author existed.” Well, he doesn’t. We must understand that we build our own narratives. If we don’t, the far right will monopolize the narratives, create myths, and we will spend our lives fact-checking while they write history. We can’t allow that to happen.

How did you use AI to help you write this philosophical essay?

I want to clarify that AI didn’t write the essay. Yes, I used artificial intelligence, but not in a conventional way. I developed a method that I teach at the European Institute of Design, based on creating opposition. It’s a way of thinking and using machine learning in an antagonistic way. I didn’t ask the machine to write for me, but instead it generated ideas and then I used GPT and Claude to critique them, to give me perspectives on what I had written. Everything written in the book is mine. Artificial intelligence is a tool that we must learn to use, because if we misuse it—and “misuse” includes treating it as a sort of oracle, asking it to “tell me the answer to the world’s questions; explain to me why I exist”—then we lose our ability to think. We become stupid. Nam June Paik, a great artist of the 1990s, said: “I use technology in order to hate it properly.” And that is what we must do: understand it, because if we don’t, it will use us. AI will become the tool that big tech uses to control us and manipulate us. We must learn to use these tools correctly; otherwise, we’ll be facing a serious problem.

Why did you choose to present yourself as a translator rather than an author?

I use translator as a metaphor. Yes, I am the translator, but not in the literal sense. I am one because to translate can also mean to transport, and that’s what I do: I transport something. However, I wrote the book in Italian. I didn’t translate it from Chinese—I don’t know Chinese—or from English (the other language that the fictional Jianwei Xun knows). Jianwei Xun is a liminal figure: a meeting point between East and West, a point where cultures collide. And that is the opportunity he offers, to understand that we must meet in these strange spaces that are AI. We can do it, but we have to proceed with caution and courage. I know it sounds paradoxical, but this is how we must embody this connection. To be a translator here is also to be a translator of a historic opportunity: to reflect on what we do. If we do not reflect on this, we will be mere passive subjects. It has to be problematized. We cannot just say “AI, give me more, more, more.” We must be neither techno-enthusiasts who accept everything uncritically, nor technophobes, because it is impossible to live without technology today. AI is here to stay and we must understand it. It offers an opportunity to live more deeply and we must seize it.

If AI can create a convincing philosophical treatise, what is left for human authors? You have said that “we must think, we must be critical.” So what is the way forward for today’s intellectual?

This is a beautiful question because if AI can draw better than we can, if it can drive better, if it can make music better than we do ... then what are we doing here? But we should look at this from another angle, not from the neoliberal perspective that turns all of life into a competition where it is all about winning. It’s not like that. We must seek our own personal fulfillment, find a way to express ourselves, with or without AI. What does it matter if someone else can draw better than me? That’s not the important thing. What matters is that I can learn to draw better and improve my abilities—working with AI or with another person (I recommend with people, but if you choose AI, that’s fine). The big problem of humanity is this obsession to be the first, to be the centre of the story. But science already showed us in the 19th century that we are not at the centre of the universe; we are in a remote corner of the Milky Way. Nor are we even the centre of life on Earth: more than 99% of the biomass is plants, trees, other life forms. We are so small and we have only been here for a very short time, barely 200,000 years. Think of a pine tree or other species; a chicken, which is a much older species. Even among humans, we aren’t a whole. “I am large, I contain multitudes,” as Walt Whitman said. We are also not the most intelligent species on the planet. That doesn’t have to be understood as a tragedy, it can be viewed as a liberation.

Let’s talk about Ipnocrazia [Hypnocracy]. Why did you choose that title for your book? And while we’re at it, let’s delve some into the Trump-Musk relationship that you analyse in the book.

Yes, I talk about a hypnocracy because what is happening is not a power physically acting on our bodies nor even on our minds, but instead on our very state of consciousness. This is what is happening to us: They are manipulating, through algorithms, our way of perceiving the world. And that is really dangerous. When we use a smartphone and social networks, we think we are connected to the world. We read newspapers, but we receive a personalized timeline that create a bespoke reality for us.

This is very concerning. We think we inhabit the same world as others, but our reality is shaped by our biases, opinions, and political positions. We need contact with those who think differently, but these filter bubbles and echo chambers only show us our own reflection. We must build bridges to the unknown, to the different. If not, we are heading for civil war. The other will become a threat, when in fact they are first and foremost a mystery—and perhaps even something to be treasured. That should be our first thought when confronting difference.

Can AI have an original point of view, or does hypnocracy simply recycle human thoughts through algorithms? How would you define this relationship?

This is another big question, because there’s a paradox: Hypnocracy begins with a human perspective. Without it, it wouldn’t exist. But at the same time, I couldn’t have generated this concept without AI. It’s a creative codependency: just as I would need a conversation with another person to develop an idea, I needed that dialogue with artificial intelligence. AI does not live by itself. It requires prompts and stimuli while humans think autonomously. But that is precisely why we must understand what AI is. If we do not respect it for what it is, a tool, we will end up degrading our own humanity. To give an example: If we are used to saying “Alexa, turn off the light” in an impersonal tone, we will end up talking to our partner or friends in the same way. I’m not saying that we need to thank Siri as if she has feelings, she doesn’t, but that we should make sure to preserve our ability to express kindness in real life.

Some intriguing studies indicate that when we order an Uber through an app, we treat the driver worse than when we call for a car by phone. The risk is twofold: humanizing AI (which is of course not human) and “platforming” people (that is, turning them into interfaces). This is dangerous and confusing these different categories of exchanges can dehumanize us.

Do you consider AI to be simply a tool for humans, or how would you define its ontological status?

AI is a human tool, no question. It’s a product of our past, a type of collective consciousness that we created and that helps us understand why we are here. But here’s a paradox: While AI can tell us the weather, recite verses from ancient poets, or suggest possible solutions to problems, it can never help us understand the meaning of life.

The mistake is in asking AI “tell me why I exist.” The better approach is to tell it that, “I’ve been reflecting on the meaning of life. I’ve read Sartre, who says that there is no predetermined meaning, but that we construct one. What other thinkers from other cultures, would you recommend I look at in order to broaden my understanding?” The West is exhausted. We need to find other radical connections: with Native American philosophies, the Vedas, and other distant cultures. Therein lies the great opportunity of AI: It’s not an oracle, but a bridge to the unknown.

What led to the choice of Jianwei Xun’s nationality and the specific cultural context for this fictional philosopher? Was it your decision, the result of AI, or maybe a strategy to challenge certain Western narratives?

The world needs to understand that Western culture must look outside itself. Western civilization has a serious problem: It still believes that it is at the centre of the universe, the only one capable of solving problems, and it treats other cultures as only being able to produce mere copies at best. This is a profound mistake. Today, that which is truly revolutionary—the ideas that may fundamentally change our perspective on the world—will not come from the West. It’s possible that they might come out of China, but even more likely they will come from one of those spaces on today’s frontier where different cultures meet. And we need to beware that even the concepts of East and West are absurd simplifications, but I use them for now.

I wanted to create a perspective that sits outside of this Western narcissism. Something that combined the new with old but forgotten ways of thinking. In Italy, for example, we have a crazy situation: The government demands that schools teach that only we have a history. Can you imagine? As if the Chinese dynasties or the indigenous peoples of America and Oceania did not. This reflects the fragility of a society that, instead of accepting that it is losing its centrality—which is not a tragedy, but a liberation—clings to ridiculous myths.

The book has become a publishing phenomenon. What do you attribute this success to? Is it interest in the conversation about AI, the philosophical provocation, the debate about authorship in the digital age?

It’s true that we’ve had three printings already, although I don't remember whether they were 2,000 or 3,000 copies each. In total, the book has sold between 4,000 and 5,000 copies. But the strangest thing was when a journalist from [the Spanish newspaper] El País contacted me and asked: “Did you use a pseudonym to sell more copies?” It’s actually the other way around! In Italy my books already sell well; I don’t need to invent other names. The first printing was, in fact, only 70 copies; it was an experiment. Then I saw that the concept resonated with readers and we increased the print runs.

Right now, my life is chaotic. I have interviews in five countries, packed schedules of events in France and Spain. But this is a great opportunity and, although it’s fun, it’s serious too. Play is not a trivial thing: If we don’t play, then what are we living for? We are in a dark historical moment; we need to reinvent how we exist.

When El País learned that the philosopher and coauthor of this book wasn’t real, they decided to remove their review of the book from their website. If the thesis of the book is valid and it contributes to an important debate, why delete it instead of contextualizing it? Do you think this reflects our inability to handle the ambiguity between fiction and truth in the age of AI?

I understand that fear. Journalism is under attack, and many media outlets act out of fear of damaging their credibility. Their first instinct is to attack something they see as an “impostor” and erase all traces of it. It’s an understandable reaction, even necessary in some cases, because we must protect journalists. They are crucial to uncovering the truth and restoring trust in experts. But the mistake that El País made was not taking the time to understand the context. For example, they talked about the EU’s AI Act, but in 2023 I attended the [State of the European Union], and I listened to Ursula von der Leyen [president of the European Commission]. She admitted that tech moves faster than regulation, and that legislating is complex because innovation doesn’t wait. El País could have gone deeper into that. Instead of deleting the review, they could have created something more nuanced along the lines of “Yes, the author is fictional, but his analysis of AI is relevant because ...”

However, I understand why the media acted as they did: They played it safe. The problem is that’s not the smartest solution. The smart thing would be to open dialogues, to accept that nobody knows everything about AI. It is a huge and changing field and we should encourage curiosity as a driving force. People are exhausted and scared, but curiosity generates energy. We need more complex discourses, not simplifications driven by fear.

The game, if you will, behind the book exposes a paradox: Readers connected to the fictional philosopher despite knowing he was a creation and not a real person. Doesn’t this demonstrate that, in the age of AI, we crave believable stories more than real facts?

I don’t know. We’ll see how the public reacts now that they know the book is more complex than it first appeared. Before, readers were drawn to it thanks to its interesting theories; now they face two challenges: to discover the real structure of the text—perhaps not until they reach the end—and to approach it with the knowledge that the “author” is not a conventional one. I have read articles in Italian media that embody an absurd contradiction. They engage deeply with the research, but then the headlines reduce the book to its most sensational element: “The Philosopher Who Is an AI Creation.” But no, it’s not that the AI wrote this book, it’s an investigation into ideas of authorship and truth. I know it’s hard to sum it up in a headline, but we should take a few minutes to reflect on it. Otherwise, we feed a tendency to simplify ideas and sow mistrust. We have a huge responsibility to readers.

A possible more nuanced headline could be “An AI Philosopher or a Reflection of Our Times?” But instead we prefer the easy click. Our world now revolves around the immediate reward even when we should encourage slower pursuits—meditation and productive boredom. As Walter Benjamin said: “Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience.” You have to sit on the egg and wait for it to hatch.

Do you see other similar collaborations with AI in the future or was this a one-time thing, a way of questioning what it means to be an author in our time?

I’ll continue to publish works as Jianwei Xun—he’s a bridge between the human and AI—but it won’t be my only voice. It would be dangerous to start thinking that I can only express myself through algorithms. I need to write with and without AI, because I must preserve my ability to dive into myself without intermediaries. Not everyone sees it right now, but in a year or two we will understand the risks of this moment. We are on the verge of losing the ability to think and live without technological dependence. The paradox is that AI itself, used properly, can be an antidote. It’s like a fire that, when it burns in a controlled way, warms us but doesn’t harm us.

When readers discover that this “philosopher” is, in fact, a fusion of AI and human thought, many say they are puzzled and even disappointed. What would you tell them about the value of this hybrid creation? How should they read the book once they know it’s true structure?

It’s a fascinating question, because it’s not about percentages—Jianwei Xun is not 30 percent AI and 70 percent human, for example. Jianwei Xun is the name I use when I engage with artificial intelligence. It’s an identity where the human and the algorithmic merge without any clear boundaries. I’d tell readers to enjoy the journey and allow yourself to be amazed, because a sense of being amazed is what we lack today. As Plato said in The Theaetetus, philosophy is born from thaumazein, a Greek word that means both wonder or amazement and terror. This is precisely our historical moment: It is terrible in two different senses of the word—terrifying and awesome. It’s not a matter of blind optimism, insisting that it’s sunny even when it’s raining, but of choosing how to look. It’s choosing to see beyond the abyss, knowing that we may be lost, but we are not alone.

True freedom—and our defense against manipulation—lies in actively choosing to embrace mystery and the unknown, even when it is scary. Only then will technology become a bridge and not a prison.

What do you see as the future of philosophy in the age of AI, and why do you think it’s urgent that we reflect on these issues now?

The future of philosophy is found in the cracks between what we might call “normality.” Intersectional feminism has taught us that all truth has layers—not only in the struggle around gender, but in every aspect of reality. And yet we continue to pretend that there are pure bodies, minds, and ideas.

One last thing: We have been measuring intelligence with our own yardstick for centuries, ignoring that forests have memories and octopuses dream. Meanwhile, AI infiltrates our refrigerators and the locks on our homes as stealthily as some modern trickster god. It is the myth of Thoth revived: Plato warned that writing, that “poison of memory,” would make us sages only on paper. Today, AI repeats the paradox: It promises knowledge while emptying the act of knowing of its meaning. The trick is to do as Plato did and use this poison as an antidote. Criticize the machine from the machine, write about writing, and think against thought. In the end, the coming philosophy will not be a refuge, but a spur. It is something that will wake us up from the technocratic dream with more pointed questions than those posed by any algorithm.

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