#Compound AI System

[kariniai]

Amazon Bedrock and the Rise of Compound AI Systems

Introduction

Generative AI has become a shared C-Level priority with many enterprises setting goals in their annual statement and numerous press releases. As Generative AI is gaining traction, there is much anticipation around their evolving model performance capabilities. However, as developers increasingly move beyond Generative AI pilots, the trend is shifting to compound systems. The SOTA results often come from compound systems incorporating multiple components rather than relying solely on standalone models. A recent study by MIT Research has observed that 60% of LLM deployments in businesses incorporate some form of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), with 30% utilizing multi-step chains or compound systems.

Rise of Compound Systems

A Compound AI System addresses AI tasks through multiple interconnected components, including several calls to different models, retrievers, or external tools. AI models are constantly improving, with scalability seemingly limitless. However, complex, multifaceted compound systems increasingly achieve the most advanced results. Combining the models with other components allows businesses to build dynamic systems that can address complex scenarios based on user queries at runtime, reduce model hallucinations, and increase user control and trust. Enterprises can design their compound systems based on their performance goals. E.g. In some applications, even the largest model may need to be more performant or too expensive. Still, an ensemble of smaller fine-tuned models augmented with optimized search and retrieve capabilities can give the best results. Github Copilot is an excellent example of this approach. While enterprises are making a shift in compounding AI systems, the emerging challenges are how to design, optimize & operate these systems. The compound systems consist of a data processing loop, query optimization loop, and operations management capabilities, and they can be independently optimized for better performance.

Karini AI Platform powered by AWS Gen AI for Compound AI Systems

AWS provides a broad set of Gen AI managed services such as Amazon Bedrock, Amazon SageMaker, and OpenSearch to build scalable generative AI applications. Amazon Bedrock is the most trusted and scalable fully managed service that offers a choice of high-performing foundation models from leading AI model providers and Amazon via a single API, along with a broad set of capabilities to build generative AI applications with security, privacy, and responsible AI.

Karini AI is a no-code Generative AI platform with a broad set of capabilities to build Compound AI systems purposefully built using AWS services to speed up production-grade application development. AWS customers can use best-of-breed capabilities to build production-grade RAG in a matter of minutes.

Data Processing Loop: Karini AI utilizes Amazon Textract and proprietary technologies to create LLM-ready data and provides built-in chunking algorithms. Customers can choose Amazon Bedrock hosted models or custom models hosted via Amazon SageMaker for chunking. Amazon OpenSearch delivers a secure and scalable vector store.

Query Optimization Loop: Karini AI employs the easy-to-use Prompt Playground to author, test, and compare the model performance of Bedrock-hosted models or custom models using Amazon SageMaker. Enterprises can leverage one of the many built-in chains, such as Q&A, summarization, classification, or Agentic workflows. Multiple ways are available to optimize retrieval using techniques such as query rewrite, query expansion, and context generation. Customers can also customize LLM-driven responses for greetings and follow-up questions.

Operations and Visibility: Karini AI provides built-in observability for tracing RAG chains and understanding low performing conversations. Copilot supports fine-grained feedback collection to gather user preferences and create instruction fine-tuning datasets. The built-in dashboards provide system performance and cost monitoring across model endpoints for Amazon Bedrock and SageMaker-hosted models. Karini AI provides enterprise connectors for significant number of data sources such as Amazon S3, Websites, Google Storage, Azure Storage, and Dropbox to unify data silos into a single vector store and also respects source system role-based access controls during serving.

Here is a quick end-2-end Karini AI Generative AI recipe powered by Amazon Bedrock models.

Conclusion:

Compound AI systems mark a significant advancement in AI technology by integrating various components to solve complex challenges that were once out of reach for traditional AI models. These systems are highly flexible, allowing for tailored responses and greater control over outputs. Karini AI’s advanced platform, coupled with Amazon Bedrock, enables the creation of sophisticated compound AI systems for any use case. By adopting these systems, businesses can enhance innovation, increase the quality and reliability of their AI solutions, and build stronger trust with their customers.

About Us: Fueled by innovation, we're making the dream of robust Generative AI systems a reality. No longer confined to specialists, Karini.ai empowers non-experts to participate actively in building/testing/deploying Generative AI applications. As the world's first GenAIOps platform, we've democratized GenAI, empowering people to bring their ideas to life – all in one evolutionary platform. Contact: Jerome Mendell (404) 891-0255 sales@karini.ai https://www.karini.ai/

[jcmarchi]

The Most Important Algorithm for Transformers

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/the-most-important-algorithm-for-transformers/

The Most Important Algorithm for Transformers

FlashAttention has a new version. Plus some important research milestones and major funding activity in AI.

Created Using Ideogram

Next Week in The Sequence:

Edge 413: Our series about autonomous agents continues with an exploration of semantic memory. We review Meta AI’s MM-LLM research to augment video models with memory and we dive into the Qdrant vector DB stack.

Edge 414: We dive into HUSKY, a new agent optimized for multi-step reasoning.

You can subscribe to The Sequence below:

TheSequence is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

📝 Editorial: The Most Important Algorithm for Transformers

There are few algorithms that have had as much impact on the recent generation of transformer architectures as FlashAttention. Originally developed by researchers from Princeton University, including the renowned Tri Dao, FlashAttention and its successor FlashAttention-2 were able to improve the performance of attention mechanisms in GPUs by minimizing read-writes. Almost immediately after the original publication, FlashAttention was rapidly adopted within the new generation of transformers. There were not many complaints about FlashAttention, but one of the few was that it was unable to take full advantage of new hardware architectures. For instance, FlashAttention-2 is only able to achieve 35% utilization of max FLOPs in H100 GPUs.

But now we have a new version.

Last week, a group of AI researchers from Meta, Princeton University, NVIDIA, and other AI labs published the paper and open-source code for FlashAttention-3. The new version of the method uses several techniques to speed up attention in H100 GPUs, exploiting the asynchrony of the tensor cores. The result is simple: FlashAttention-3 is blazing fast. The new model achieves 75% theoretical max FLOP utilization in H100, which results in practical 1.5-2x performance improvements. The new algorithm is also able to use lower precision numbers, which reduces the memory footprint.

FlashAttention-3 is an exciting development in generative AI algorithms. This method will almost certainly lead to improvements in large context windows in LLMs and better inference performance on modern GPU architectures. Impressive progress!

🔎 ML Research

FlastAttention-3

A group of AI researchers from Meta, Princeton University, Together AI, NVIDIA and others published a paper unveiling the new version of the famous FlastAttention algorithm. FlashAttention-3 takes advantages of the latest GPU advancements achieving 2x the performance of its predecessor and also exceling in long context LLM tasks —> Read more.

Sub-Billion Parameter Models for Mobile

Meta AI published a paper introducing MobileLLM, a sub-billion parameter model optimized for on-device scenarios. MobileLLM uses a specific structure of embedding and attention layers that optimizes its efficiency relative to its size —> Read more.

Generative Teaching for Agents

Microsoft Research published a paper unveiling AgentInstruct, an agentic framework for creating syntethic data. Specifically, AgentInstruct focuses on datasets used for instruction tuning of base models —> Read more.

Evaluating Multimodal Foundation Models

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University published a paper introducing the holitic evaluation of multimodal models(HEMM) framework . HEMM sets the primitives to systematically evaluate multimodal models across different tasks such as basic skills, information flow, and real-world use cases —> Read more.

A Unified AI Database

Microsoft Research published a paper proposing VBase, the foundation for a unified database for vector, relational and scalar data types. The core of VBase is based on a property called relaxed monotonicity that enables the unification of the different data types models —> Read more.

Contamination in Code Generation Benchmarks

Researchers from Cohere published a paper providing evidence of the levels of contamination of code generation benchmarks in major LLMs. The paper also proposes a Less Basic Python Problems, a new benchmark more resilient to contamination —> Read more.

Autoregressive Models for Text-Image Generation

The team bedhind the Generative AI Research Lab(GAIR) published a paper unveileing ANOLE, an autoregressive multimodal model for image and text generation. ANOLE is based on Meta AI’s Chameleon which guarantees a data and parameter efficient fine-tuning strategy —> Read more.

🤖 Cool AI Tech Releases

Claude High Quality Prompts

Anthropic released some features to evaluate and generate high quality prompts for Claude —> Read more.

MInference

Microsoft released some demos of its MInference method for optimizing LLM inference performance —> Read more.

AutoGen Models

Microsoft AutoGen added support for non OpenAI models —> Read more.

🛠 Real World AI

Ad Inference at Meta

Meta shares some details about the AI inference architecture powering its ad serving system —> Read more.

📡AI Radar

Hebbia, a platform that uses AI to analyze large documents, raised $130 million in new funding.

OpenAI and Los Alamos National Laboraty announced a strategic alliance for bioscience research.

Defense AI startup Helsing raised $487 million to expand to countries neighboring Russia.

AI video startup Captions raised a $60 million Series C.

Enso raised $6 million to bring AI agents to SMBs.

Hayden AI, an AI vision platform for smart cities, raised $90 million in a new round.

NeuralFabric, a platform focused on micro-foundation models, unveiled a new small LLM for sustainability.

Fireworks AI raised $52 million to lead the shift to compound AI systems.

OpenAI and Arianna Huffington launched Thrive AI, a new AI health coach.

Groq unveiled new performance improvements to its fast inference LLM-engine

Amazon released a standalone Guardrails API in its Bedrock platform.

Enterprise AI startup Writer unveiled an impressive set of capabilities .

Microsoft and Apple dropped their plans to join the OpenAI board.

Amazon announced a new challenge to advance coding LLMs.

Exein announced a $15 mission Series B for robotic security.

Medal raised $13 million at a $333 million valuation to build a contextual AI assistant.

AI construction startup Buildots raised $15 million from Intel.

TheSequence is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

There are two types of Mech, the Analog, and the Linked.

Analog mechs are the far, far cheaper of the two. Much less specialized, and infinitely more common, able to be found not just in military use, but in Agricultural and Industrial use as well.

To pilot one, all you need it four limbs (Including prosthetics) and good senses, and to score well in the Simulators to get your license.

Analog is a bit of a misnomer, a holdover word from yesteryear, simply meaning "Less sophisticated."

Analog Mechs work by scanning the Brain Activity of the pilot, comparing it to the physical input of the controls, and deciding what to do from there. They're considered old fashioned and less reliable than Linked Mechs, but they're reliable enough for the work they do. They are more easily replaced and retrofitted for different tasks.

They have simpler AI, and to exit one, you simply take the helmet off and open the hatch.

Linked Mechs are a whole other can of worms.

Each and every Linked Mech is custom built and fitted to their pilot, from the heaviest weapon, to the smallest nut, no one is the same as the other.

Linked Mech are Physically plugged into their pilot's nervous system, and they act as one. It can take hours of Decompression and Disconnection to remove a Linked Pilot.

Linked Mechs are truly nothing without their pilots.

Linked Pilots are the most terrifying people you may ever meet.

Their skin is mottled from the Oxygenator-Coolant that runs in their veins, the plugs and ports too deeply entwined in their flesh and body to be removed without serious disruption to their faculties, hairless and sterile from their conditioning and actions when inside their vessel, and that's only the physical differences.

Depending on how long they've been a Linked Pilot, their mental capabilities are affected in different ways.

'Young' pilots are simply too wary - able to pick up on the most minute details, in all five senses.

Their Mechs are still machine.

'Moderate' pilots have some neurological and mental degradation in addition to what they had before. often confused or forgetful outside of their mech, but still very aware of their surroundings, if not their place in time.

Their Mechs act protective of them, like a dog to it's beloved owner.

'Old' Pilots have all the earlier issues, compounded and worsened, and sometimes confusing themself for their mech, even going so far as to entering refill and Refueling areas of the hangars.

Their Mechs act the same, often trying to reach their pilot's quarters and the Cafeteria.

They may refuse to separate at time, feeling more comfortable together than apart.

and then there are the 'Fused' the oldest and rarest caste of Linked Pilot and Mech.

The Pilot and The Mech fused absolutely, inseparable for Neurological, Psychological, and physical reasons.

They are the same. They are one. A perfect fusion of the Biological and Mechanical, Electrochemical Intelligence and the Fissile-Logic Personality, Mirroring each other with every breath and ventilation protocol.

And they are still people.

The Fused still need social interaction and entertainment. They still need variety and novelty, comfort. All the things anyone else would.

Fused are the least common, but are the least likely to die. Too perfectly combined, Too well accompanied.

The Three times a 'Fused' has been separated, The pilot Died, the Mech 'Bricked' itself, like a Jail-broke phone, no matter how it was done.

Fused are the most loyal, true, and caring of all pilots.

Few ever meet the 'Pilot,' the meat within the metal, but the few that do are those most trusted by the Fused person, as the Fused is showing you their beating heart.

If you earn one's trust, and are given this deep, grand honor, I only have one piece of advice.

Do. Not. Break. That. Trust.

[gunpowderdtim]

It's no wonder Out happened when you really think about it. Nastya doesn't like organic life because it's complicated, it can break, sometimes it's even unfixable.

quote from gender rebels

Nastya is in love with Aurora, and in saying that she is saying "you are not organic life, I can deal with you because you are metal and algorithm and predictable" - we can see this in bedtime story when she says she'll tweak Aurora's story creation algorithm

screenshot from A Bedtime Story

Aurora is not inorganic. She is not ai. She is a space moon made of flesh and blood and teeth and bone. She is not an ai. She is a body that was taken and stripped of autonomy, of the right to self identify, of the right to think- to be imperfect and organic.

The metal is a veneer that hides how messy and traumatized and unfixable she is. From the outside she is a starship. From the inside she can still bleed.

And this makes them fundamentally incompatible. But yet, they are in love.

And really, it's no wonder Nastya fell in love with Aurora. Let's take a look at Nastya's home planet, or at least home society:

"Terminals were scattered across the planet. There was one on every street corner, one beneath every lamppost and one in every commune block." "The midwife-machine performs a series of programmed manœuvres to quieten [the baby]. It cradles it and hums at several pitches until it finds one that seems most soothing. Mechanical arms stroke the baby’s flesh even as others start the process of implanting augmented reality interfaces into its nervous system." "The Czar an atrophied frame, never present in the real world and worn to dust by the chemical compounds that kept his brain alive so it could live forever in a perfect virtual paradise. The Rabotnik a copy, a mind preserved unchanging in the instant before its death and placed in an everlasting metal frame." (Cyberian Demons)

Its safe to say the world Nastya was born into, from the very minute she was born, was ridden with technology. She has augmented reality interfaces inplanted into her from birth. It would stand to reason that being taken from this society, wherein technology is everywhere, inside and out, would stand for a bit of a shock.

Aurora too had been augmented by the Cyberia.

While it is stated that the last time Nastya had used the ports themselves was directly before her death — "The last time she had used the ports, her tutor had ripped them out of her as the rebels stormed the palace" — Aurora is laced with Cyberian technology. I'd imagine she has something of a 'bluetooth wireless connection' with Aurora, rather than the physical data transfer of files between the ports and Nastya, it may as well be similar enough.

Imagine being Nastya, going from Cyberia, wherein there is augmented reality contantly, transplanted onto a ship with metal blood, a jonny, and a vampire. To Aurora, where the only bits of augmented reality run through Aurora.

Of course she'd fall in love with her. Aurora is familiarity. Aurora isn't organic. Aurora isn't human.

And of course when the undeniable part of aurora that is organic, that is a flesh moon plated in metal with her brain hooked to machines, when so much has broken and been replaced, when, presumably, aurora is less of an algorithm, nastya leaves with the brand cyberia left on her.

Because Aurora healing, becoming more of herself and less of a starship, is messy, and organic, and human.

and hard for nastya.

‘Think how long she’s been flying you around. Think how many bullet holes you’ve punched through her and how many atmospheres you’ve dropped her through. Think how many alterations and improvements we’ve made, Tim to her guns and Ashes to her storage and Brian to her engines and the Toy Soldier to who knows what. How much do you think is left of her after all she’s brought you through?’ Nastya held up the ancient, battered piece of hull plating. Just visible under the grime and scars of particles of space junk was a fragment of the Aurora’s original logo and serial number. Jonny honestly couldn’t remember the last time he had seen a version that hadn’t been painted by the Mechanisms themselves. ‘So she’s free, now.’ Nastya gestured around at the spaceship they were standing in. ‘This Aurora can take you where you want to go. I’m going to take my Aurora somewhere else.’

Aurora was ship of theseus'd. Aurora was improved. Aurora was no longer cyberian. (both literally, and metaphorically)

So nastya left.

[griffin-girl-r]

You're not mine (Part 3)

Started: 16.11.2023

Finished: 08.09.2024

Edited: 08.09.2024

Age: 15

Word count: 3,925

Pairings: WinterWidow

Warnings: Swearing

Request: Yes (Wattpad)

Note: Special thanks to @mutlifandomloverblog for beta reading and proofreading this for me 🧡

Part 2 , Part 4

—

Night blanketed the Avengers Compound in an unusual hush, the kind that settled deep in the bones.

To outsiders, it might seem like a tranquil evening, a rare gem in the chaotic lives of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. But to a seasoned sailor, it felt like the eerie calm before a tempest, the kind that hinted at an impending storm.

Natasha and Bucky’s relationship had frayed beyond recognition, tension crackling in the air between them.

So it was no shock when they arrived at the compound one night, both seeking solitude in separate corners, each weighed down by their own burdens.

As they moved through the familiar halls, they hoped that the presence of friends would offer a welcome distraction from their racing thoughts, if only for a little while.

—

Natasha lay awake in bed that night, just like Bucky in the next room, listening to the soft, rhythmic breaths of little Tanya as she slept peacefully.

The guilt weighed heavily on Natasha, the voices in her head whispering harsh truths, blaming her for what had happened to Y/N.

And deep down, she knew they were right.

Bucky was right. Tanya was right. Their friends were right.

The only one responsible for her daughter’s disappearance was her.

—

It was deep into the night when Natasha started to surrend to the pull of sleep, her mind tetheering between the reality and the dreams.

It was just then when alarms started ringing, lights flashing heratically to signal that something was happening.

“Alert! Alert!” FRIDAY's voice echoed through the compound "Intruders detected in the west wing. Security systems are compromised." The AI said, providing a detailed update on the situation

Natasha jumped out of bed, shaking her head to wake herself fully, her first reflex was to reach out for Tanya and lift her in her arms.

“Mama...” The sleepy girl whimpered scared, unable to comprehend what was happening around her just yet

“It’s okay, baby.” Natasha breathed out, kissing the top of Tanya’s head

“Tanya!” Bucky shouted over the alarms, bursting inside the room

Natasha watched as Bucky crossed the room in a second, stopping in front of her and Tanya to carress their daughter’s hair.

“Are you okay, baby doll?” Bucky kissed Tanya’s little forehead, ignoring Natasha’s presence

“We need to get her to the safe room, James.” Natasha said, earning a nod from Bucky

From a quick move, Bucky took Tanya into his arms and took off sprinting towards the safe room, Natasha hot on his heels to ensure they aren’t attacked while getting Tanya to safety.

Natasha and Bucky moved fast, faster than they have done in their entire lives.

The urgency of the moment propelled them forward, every step taken with precision and purpose. As they navigated the labyrinthine corridors, Natasha's senses were on high alert, her eyes scanning for any sign of danger. She could hear Tanya's soft whimpers, the only sound she could focus on.

Bucky's grip on Tanya was firm yet gentle, his metallic arm gleaming in the dim light.

He moved with a fluidity that spoke of years of training, his focus entirely on protecting his daughter.

They rounded a corner and came to a heavy steel door embedded in the wall. Bucky placed his hand on the biometric scanner, and after a tense moment, the door slid open with a soft hiss.

They quickly stepped inside, and the door closed behind them, sealing them in the reinforced safe room.

The room was sparsely furnished, designed for functionality over comfort. A small cot was tucked into one corner, and a table with emergency supplies occupied another.

Bucky gently set Tanya down on the cot, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face.

"You're safe now, sweetheart," he murmured, his voice soft but steady. Tanya looked up at him with wide eyes, her fear slowly giving way to trust.

Natasha quickly scanned the room, checking the surveillance monitors mounted on the wall. She watched the feeds, her sharp eyes noting any movement outside their sanctuary.

For the moment, everything appeared calm, but she knew better than to let her guard down.

Natasha turned back to Tanya, her expression softening. She knelt beside the cot, reaching out to hold her daughter's hand. "How are you feeling, honey?"

Tanya's eyes flickered between her parents, her small voice trembling. "I was scared, Mama."

Natasha's heart ached at the vulnerability in her daughter's words. "I know, sweetheart. But we're here now, and we won't let anything happen to you."

"Natasha," Bucky called "We have to go. The others are waiting for us."

Natasha silently nodded before turning back to face Tanya.

"Wait for us here, baby." She planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead "Mama and Papa will soon be back."

And with that, Natasha turned around and started running towards the door, pulling Bucky along by his metal arm.

—

When Natasha and Bucky exited the safe room, they saw Steve, who was already in is suit, running towards them.

"Tony, Nat, Bucky, with me." Steve yelled, as Tony showed up in his armor. "We'll head to the west wing and deal with the intruders directly. Thor, stay with Tanya and make sure she’s safe. Bruce, get ready to go green if needed. Wanda and Vision, secure the perimeter and look for any additional threats. Clint, get to a vantage point and provide cover."

"FRIDAY, give us a layout of the intruders' positions," Tony commanded.

"Displaying now," FRIDAY responded, projecting a holographic map showing red dots representing the intruders moving through the compound.

"Not as many as we expected." Wanda tilted her head to the side, surprised. "Just... One."

Natasha adjusted her Widow Bites around her wrists glancing at Bucky. "Just like old times, huh?" she said with a smirk, trying to ease the permanent tension in between them.

"Let's hope it's easier than the old times." Bucky sighed, his metal arm glinting under the emergency lights.

The team quickly split up, each heading to their assigned tasks with the precision and efficiency born of countless battles together.

As they moved through the hallways, the sounds of shattering glass and blaring alarms filled the air, creating a chaotic symphony.

Yet, they were too familiar with it.

Captain America lead the group through the dimly lit corridors of the west wing, his shield at the ready.

Meanwhile, Thor stood guard over Tanya, his hammer, Mjolnir, crackling with lightning.

Tanya clung to his side, her eyes wide with fear but trusting in the Asgardian's protection.

"Do not worry, little one," Thor assured her with a smile. "No harm shall come to you while I am here. Uncle Thor will protect you, human baby."

—

The living room of the Avengers compound was supposed to be a sanctuary, a place where the heroes could unwind. But as the door burst open, the atmosphere shifted from calm to chaos in an instant.

The intruder, a lithe figure cloaked in crackling energy, face masked, stood defiantly in the center, electric arcs dancing around their limbs, as they looked much shorter than they expected at first.

The team took a quick glance towards the unknown intruder, but they knew not to waste too much time.

“Get them!” Steve shouted, his voice cutting through the tension.

He led the charge, shield raised high, flanked by Natasha, Bucky, Clint, and Tony. They had faced countless foes, but something about this one felt different.

The moment they advanced, the intruder unleashed a torrent of electrical bolts. They zipped through the air, illuminating the room with flashes of blue and white.

The team scattered, dodging the deadly projectiles as they ricocheted off the walls, leaving scorch marks in their wake.

“Stay on your toes!” Natasha shouted, her instincts kicking in.

Natasha lunged forward, Widow bites primed and ready, aiming straight for the intruder’s heart.

Suddenly, with a flick of their wrist, the intruder twisted the air around them, redirecting the projectiles back at Natasha.

A jolt of electricity struck her, sending her sprawling across the floor.

Natasha knew her how powerful her Widow Bites are, but the pain she felt had doubled in intensity.

She could only guess that the intruder overcharged her Bites with electricity.

“Nat!” Bucky yelled, moving to cover her.

"I'm good." The red head groaned.

Bucky turned around and charged in, his metal arm poised to deliver a crushing blow.

But the intruder was quick. Quicker than expected.

With a flicker of energy, she sent a surge through his arm, rendering it useless.

Bucky grunted in frustration, trying to shake the numbness away. Yet, he could not.

Clint notched an arrow, his focus razor-sharp. “I’ve got this!” he declared, releasing the arrow.

But the intruder merely raised their hand, and with a casual flick, the arrow transformed mid-flight, exploding into a shower of sparks that lit up the room.

Clint ducked, narrowly avoiding the debris.

“Enough of this!” Steve barked, frustration boiling over.

He threw his shield with precision, aiming to knock the intruder off balance.

The intruder, anticipating his move, charged the vibranium with raw electricity. As it came hurtling back at him, Steve barely had time to brace himself before the shield collided with his chest, sending him stumbling back.

“Tony, we need air support!” Steve shouted, trying to catch his breath.

“On it, Cap!” Tony replied, rocketing into the air.

His suit hummed with energy, weapons primed for action. But as he soared toward the intruder, they focused their gaze on him, their eyes glinting with mischief.

In an instant, they reached out with their mind, hijacking FRIDAY’s systems.

“Tony, watch out!” Natasha warned, but it was too late.

The suit turned against its owner, firing repulsors wildly in every direction. The room erupted in chaos as explosions rocked the space, sending Tony crashing to the ground amidst a plume of smoke and debris.

As the dust began to settle, the Avengers gathered themselves, panting and bruised. They exchanged glances, realizing the magnitude of their predicament. They were outmatched, and the intruder was only getting started.

Just when it seemed all hope was lost, a booming voice echoed through the compound.

“Enough!” Thor descended from above, Mjolnir crackling with energy.

He unleashed a powerful torrent of lightning toward the intruder, channeling his might in a single, devastating strike.

But in a shocking twist, the intruder caught the lightning mid-air, their eyes glowing with an otherworldly intensity.

With a swift motion, they redirected the energy back at Thor, blasting him through the wall with a thunderous crash.

“Thor!” Steve shouted, rushing to his fallen comrade.

The room was filled with the smell of burnt wood and singed air, remnants of the battle swirling in the aftermath.

As the Avengers regrouped, they observed the intruder intently.

The intruder had been wounded in the fray, a small gash visible on their left side of their body, but even now, they summoned a spark of electricity, channeling it into the injury.

With a quick flicker, the wound began to heal, the skin knitting together as the enemy harnessed the very energy that had attacked them moments before.

“Is everyone okay?” Steve asked, looking around at his team, who were panting and bruised but mostly intact.

“I think so,” Natasha said, slowly getting back to her feet. “But they're strong. We underestimated them.”

“Where did it even come from?” Clint asked, still shaken by the chaos.

Before they could discuss further, the unknown intruder, now mostly healed, turned their back to them.

Without a word, the enemy fled the scene, their figure disappearing into the shadows.

The Avengers stood in stunned silence, the remnants of their defeat hanging in the air.

“What just happened?” Clint gasped, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I don’t know,” Steve replied, his brow furrowed. “But we need to regroup and figure out what we’re dealing with.”

As they caught their breath, the reality sank in.

This was no ordinary adversary.

The intruder hadn’t spoken a single word, yet they had proven their power in an instant.

The quiet before the storm lingered, an ominous reminder that they had only begun to scratch the surface of the challenge ahead.

The Avengers knew one thing for sure: they had to be ready for whatever came next.

—

"That was my new suit!" Tony yelled, pointing at his chest.

"And that was my arm!" Bucky shot back. "I lost it in that battle!"

The meeting room was filled with protests, as the Avengers gathered early in the morning to talk about the previous night's events.

"Can you quit with that joke already?" Natasha groaned tiredly "You sound like little children."

"Agent Hill," Fury interjected, stopping the useless complaining. "Please give our agents a quick rundown on the enemy's powers."

"Of course, Sir," Hill said, turning to the group. "Listen up, guys. From the footage we analyzed last night, we identified five key powers, all linked by one element." She paused, scanning the room. "Electricity."

"No shit." Clint chuckled ironically. "We haven't notived that last night."

"Electrokinesis," Maria firmly started, ignoring Clint, "is the ability to generate and control electricity. This includes shooting bolts, creating fields, or powering devices with their body. You've all seen them do this."

Maria recieved a collective nod.

"Electromagnetism," Maria continued, "controlling magnetic fields, manipulating objects, or flying using electromagnetic propulsion. This is why they’ve evaded our attacks so effortlessly. Steve and Natasha know this firsthand."

Steve put his head in his hands, still feeling embarressed after last night's battle.

"Electric Absorption: the ability to absorb and store electricity, enhancing their powers or releasing bursts of energy." Maria boomed, trying to mock Thor.

"For Mjolnir sake." Thor sighed.

"Technopathy: the power to control or communicate with electronic devices, manipulating technology with their minds or integrating with networks." Maria looked at Tony, earning an eye roll from him.

"It was my new suit." Tony repeated

"Electric Healing," Maria chukled, "the ability to heal or rejuvenate oneself or others using electrical energy, speeding up natural processes."

"That shit was impressive." Clint pointed with his finger towards Maria.

"We will face another attack soon," Fury asserted. "We need a plan to stop them and capture them alive. This won’t end until they get what they want." He fixed a stern gaze on Natasha. "Don’t let me down."

With that, Fury stood and left.

"You’re all dismissed for now," Maria announced. "Stay prepared."

—

The room was abuzz with tension and murmurs after Maria's detailed briefing on the enemy's powers. Each agent's mind was racing, trying to piece together strategies to counter such formidable abilities.

Tony, still slightly agitated about his ruined suit, took a deep breath and turned to the others. "Alright, team, let's get to work. We need to come up with a solid plan. Any ideas?"

"We need to exploit their weaknesses. Every power has a limitation. If they're relying heavily on electricity, we could consider ways to short-circuit their abilities." Steve stepped forward, his face set with determination.

Natasha nodded, mindlessly playing with a pen. "EMP devices. If we can deploy them effectively, we might be able to neutralize their powers temporarily. But we need a backup plan in case that fails."

Bruce, who hadn't been at the compound last night when the attack happened, had been quietly observing everyone, silently trying to absorbe all information before he spoke up.

"Electromagnetism and electric absorption make direct confrontations risky. But if we can overload their absorption capacity, it might destabilize them." The doctor said "We need to carefully calculate the amount of electricity needed to do that."

"And what about their technopathy?" Clint added "They could turn our own tech against us. We'll need manual overrides and non-digital communication methods to stay one step ahead."

"Right." Tony, surprisingly, agreed. "No relying on our usual tech. We'll go analog wherever possible. But we still need to pinpoint their location and predict their next move."

"We analized if any key points with high electricity had been targeted recently before the attack on us and, based on their previous patterns, they do target high-energy facilities." Maria, still present, interjected, "Power plants, research labs, places with significant electrical infrastructure. We should prioritize securing these locations that are nearby."

Steve nodded. "Good point. We'll need to divide our forces to cover as many potential targets as possible. We should also set traps and surveillance in these areas to give us an early warning."

Bucky, who had been silently fuming about the earlier exchange, finally spoke up. "And when we do face them, we need to coordinate our attacks. Distraction and misdirection could give us the upper hand."

Tony took a deep breath. "Alright, team, here's the plan: EMP devices, strategic deployment at high-risk locations, manual overrides for our tech, and coordinated attacks. We'll split into smaller units to cover more ground. Let's get to work and be ready for anything."

"Alright, sunshine." Bucky mockingly smiled at Tony

Tony rolled his eyes but made no move to protest. Instead, he stood up, and left the room.

As the team dispersed to prepare, Maria watched them go with a steely resolve. She knew the upcoming battle would test their limits, but she also knew they were the best hope for stopping this new threat.

And yet, they still had to learn what was the reason behind these new attacks.

With a final nod to herself, she turned to finalize the details and ensure everything was in place for the imminent confrontation.

—

The room began to empty as people filed out, chatting amongst themselves, leaving Natasha standing alone in the dim light.

She saw that Bucky stood up from his seat aswell, preparing to leave, when she caught him by him right arm, her grip firm but gentle, pulling him back to her.

“James, please.” Her voice was soft, almost fragile. “Can we talk?”

Bucky stood there, his jaw clenched, anger flickering in his eyes. He hesitated, the tension between them thick enough to cut.

“What is there to talk about, Natasha?" He sighed. "You've already made your choices, and look where it got us.”

Natasha lowered her gaze, taking a deep breath as the weight of her mistakes settled on her shoulders. “I know I made mistakes. I’m sorry. I should have been a better mother for Y/N.”

Bucky's glare was fierce as his daughter's name got mentioned. He was ready to start an arguement, but as he searched her face, he saw the sincerity in her eyes, leaving him unsure of what to think.

“You can’t just say sorry and expect everything to be fine, Nat." He raised his voice, tears gathering in his eyes. "This isn’t something that just goes away. Not when my daughter is out there, who knows in what condition, probably fighting for her life as we talk.”

Natasha swallowed hard when she heard his words, guilt creeping again in her mind.

Stepping closer, her voice trembled with raw emotion. “I know, James. I don’t expect it to. But I need you to understand… I care about our family. I care about Y/N. More than I’ve ever let on.” She paused for a second. "I was just too scared to allow myself to love her fully after Tanya was born, and now, I regret it deeply."

Bucky’s shoulders sagged, the anger seeping away as he absorbed her words.

After a moment’s hesitation, he pulled her into a hug, their bodies fitting together like pieces of a puzzle that had been lost for too long.

They stood in silence, the world around them fading as thoughts of their daughters, the mysterious intruder, and the dangers lurking ahead filled their minds.

“I can't forgive you. Not yet. We need to bring Y/N back home first. But I promise we’ll figure this out,” Bucky whispered, his breath warm against her ear. “Together.”

Natasha nodded, holding him tighter, finding solace in their shared resolve.

The room felt heavy with unspoken fears and hopes, but in that embrace, they found a flicker of strength to face whatever lay ahead.

—

Fury and Maria were right when they told the team that an attack will soon follow, because not even 3 nights later, the Avengers' headquarters erupted in chaos, debris flying as their relentless foe, returned with a vengeance.

This time, Natasha and Bucky haven't brought Tanya with them. Instead, they left her with Wanda at their house.

They knew a new attack was imminent and they didn't wanted to drag their young daughter in this again.

—

The enemy stood tall, eyes glinting with malice. "You cannot stop me, Avengers! Your time ends now!"

The intruder's voice was powerful, yet it sounded more robotic than human.

The team, weary and battered, exchanged glances filled with concern.

"Oh, so we can talk." Tony spat, trying to ease the tension.

Tony, in his brand new Iron Man suit, turned to Natasha. "We need a plan, Nat. This thing is too powerful."

They knew they couldn't engage in a battle that could drag on forever and end in their defeat.

Again.

They were expecting this new attack, so they couldn't afford to lose time. They needed to act.

And act fast.

Natasha, ever the strategist, responded, "I have an idea, but it's risky. We need to overload their power source. Push it beyond its limits, and it might shut down."

Thor, gripping his hammer, nodded fiercely. "Aye, let's try it. My lightning may be of use in this."

Steve stepped forward, shield at the ready. "We'll channel all our energy into our attacks. Together, we can do this!"

"You have no source of electrical power, Stevie." Bucky laughed.

"Maybe not." Steve smirked. "But my shield can conduct the energy."

Raising their weapons and abilities, the Avengers rallied.

Thor summoned crackling lightning, Thor powered up his repulsors, Steve took position, shield at the ready, and Natasha poised for a precise strike, alongisde the others.

"You think you can challenge me?" The intruder taunted them. "I am beyond your comprehension!"

With a unified battle cry, the team unleashed a concentrated barrage of energy.

The room exploded with blinding light as their powers converged on their enemy.

The intruder struggled, their form wavering under the onslaught. "No! This cannot be!" They shouted in pain.

The energy intensified, breaking through the defenses. The enemy staggered, faltering under the relentless assault.

"Keep pushing!" Natasha urged, gritting her teeth. "We've almost got it! It's working."

With a deafening blast, the enemy convulsed and collapsed, the room trembling with the aftermath.

Silence followed, broken only by the team's heavy breaths, as their victory settled in.

—

Bucky felt a ringing in his ears as pain shot through his entire body.

He let out a loud groan, pushing himself into a sitting position. Looking around, he saw the rest of the team scattered across the room.

"Damn it!" Natasha groaned, following Bucky's lead as she pushed herself up.

"Is everyone alright?!" Steve shouted worried.

As everyone regained their senses, Bucky noticed the intruder lying unconscious in the center of the room and stood up.

With calculated steps, he approached their enemy, kneeling beside them with deliberate movements.

"We'll see who is the bastard who dares to challenge us," Bucky mumbled angrily under his breath as he reached to remove the intruder's mask.

A collective gasp echoed through the room as the mask came off, followed by a stunned silence.

Bucky's eyes widened and a shocked whisper resonated throughout the room.

This couldn't be real.

It just, couldn't be.

"Y/N..."

—

Taglist: @lizlil , @natsxwife , @froufrousnowman , @mmmmokdok , @ravensinthedaylight , @dannipotatoo , @justarandomreaderxoxo , @theunchosenonee , @lovelyy-moonlight , @circe143 , @observeowl , @darkstar225 , @halstead-severide-fan , @daggersquadphantom , @cherlenovix , @youralphawolf72 , @graciegoeskrazy , @superforgottensoul , @marvels--slut , @louxbloom , @aubs444 , @notmeellaannyy , @k4t13l0u1s3 , @easybakeoven7 , @jackiehollanderr , @kaylaromanoff17 , @leoniaaasworld , @finleyfray , @almosttoopizza , @lovebugspots , @makayla-666 , @bby-grl-4-bucky , @redwolf1123 , @liloandstitchstan , @gay-frogs-dancing-around

[feminist-space]

Excerpts:

"The convenience of instant answers that LLMs provide can encourage passive consumption of information, which may lead to superficial engagement, weakened critical thinking skills, less deep understanding of the materials, and less long-term memory formation [8]. The reduced level of cognitive engagement could also contribute to a decrease in decision-making skills and in turn, foster habits of procrastination and "laziness" in both students and educators [13].

Additionally, due to the instant availability of the response to almost any question, LLMs can possibly make a learning process feel effortless, and prevent users from attempting any independent problem solving. By simplifying the process of obtaining answers, LLMs could decrease student motivation to perform independent research and generate solutions [15]. Lack of mental stimulation could lead to a decrease in cognitive development and negatively impact memory [15]. The use of LLMs can lead to fewer opportunities for direct human-to-human interaction or social learning, which plays a pivotal role in learning and memory formation [16].

Collaborative learning as well as discussions with other peers, colleagues, teachers are critical for the comprehension and retention of learning materials. With the use of LLMs for learning also come privacy and security issues, as well as plagiarism concerns (7]. Yang et al. [17] conducted a study with high school students in a programming course. The experimental group used ChatGPT to assist with learning programming, while the control group was only exposed to traditional teaching methods. The results showed that the experimental group had lower flow experience, self-efficacy, and learning performance compared to the control group.

Academic self-efficacy, a student's belief in their "ability to effectively plan, organize, and execute academic tasks"

', also contributes to how LLMs are used for learning [18]. Students with

low self-efficacy are more inclined to rely on Al, especially when influenced by academic stress

[18]. This leads students to prioritize immediate Al solutions over the development of cognitive and creative skills. Similarly, students with lower confidence in their writing skills, lower

"self-efficacy for writing" (SEWS), tended to use ChatGPT more extensively, while higher-efficacy students were more selective in Al reliance [19]. We refer the reader to the meta-analysis [20] on the effect of ChatGPT on students' learning performance, learning perception, and higher-order thinking."

"Recent empirical studies reveal concerning patterns in how LLM-powered conversational search systems exacerbate selective exposure compared to conventional search methods. Participants engaged in more biased information querying with LLM-powered conversational search, and an opinionated LLM reinforcing their views exacerbated this bias [63]. This occurs because LLMS are in essence "next token predictors" that optimize for most probable outputs, and thus can potentially be more inclined to provide consonant information than traditional information system algorithms [63]. The conversational nature of LLM interactions compounds this effect, as users can engage in multi-turn conversations that progressively narrow their information exposure. In LLM systems, the synthesis of information from multiple sources may appear to provide diverse perspectives but can actually reinforce existing biases through algorithmic selection and presentation mechanisms.

The implications for educational environments are particularly significant, as echo chambers can fundamentally compromise the development of critical thinking skills that form the foundation of quality academic discourse. When students rely on search systems or language models that systematically filter information to align with their existing viewpoints, they might miss opportunities to engage with challenging perspectives that would strengthen their analytical capabilities and broaden their intellectual horizons. Furthermore, the sophisticated nature of these algorithmic biases means that a lot of users often remain unaware of the information gaps in their research, leading to overconfident conclusions based on incomplete evidence. This creates a cascade effect where poorly informed arguments become normalized in academic and other settings, ultimately degrading the standards of scholarly debate and undermining the educational mission of fostering independent, evidence-based reasoning."

"In summary, the Brain-only group's connectivity suggests a state of increased internal coordination, engaging memory and creative thinking (manifested as theta and delta coherence across cortical regions). The Engine group, while still cognitively active, showed a tendency toward more focal connectivity associated with handling external information (e.g. beta band links to visual-parietal areas) and comparatively less activation of the brain's long-range memory circuits. These findings are in line with literature: tasks requiring internal memory amplify low-frequency brain synchrony in frontoparietal networks [77], whereas outsourcing information (via internet search) can reduce the load on these networks and alter attentional dynamics. Notably, prior studies have found that practicing internet search can reduce activation in memory-related brain areas [831, which dovetails with our observation of weaker connectivity in those regions for Search Engine group. Conversely, the richer connectivity of Brain-only group may reflect a cognitive state akin to that of high performers in creative or memory tasks, for instance, high creativity has been associated with increased fronto-occipital theta connectivity and intra-hemispheric synchronization in frontal-temporal circuits [81], patterns we see echoed in the Brain-only condition."

"This correlation between neural connectivity and behavioral quoting failure in LLM group's participants offers evidence that:

1. Early Al reliance may result in shallow encoding.

LLM group's poor recall and incorrect quoting is a possible indicator that their earlier essays were not internally integrated, likely due to outsourced cognitive processing to the LLM.

2. Withholding LLM tools during early stages might support memory formation.

Brain-only group's stronger behavioral recall, supported by more robust EEG connectivity, suggests that initial unaided effort promoted durable memory traces, enabling more effective reactivation even when LLM tools were introduced later.

Metacognitive engagement is higher in the Brain-to-LLM group.

Brain-only group might have mentally compared their past unaided efforts with tool-generated suggestions (as supported by their comments during the interviews), engaging in self-reflection and elaborative rehearsal, a process linked to executive control and semantic integration, as seen in their EEG profile.

The significant gap in quoting accuracy between reassigned LLM and Brain-only groups was not merely a behavioral artifact; it is mirrored in the structure and strength of their neural connectivity. The LLM-to-Brain group's early dependence on LLM tools appeared to have impaired long-term semantic retention and contextual memory, limiting their ability to reconstruct content without assistance. In contrast, Brain-to-LLM participants could leverage tools more strategically, resulting in stronger performance and more cohesive neural signatures."

[givemeyams]

It's Raining Cybertronian

Content: Rung X (GN) Reader [Fluff], discontinued - no idea if I will ever finish this

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2.1K

-Rung-

It took all but a nano-second before Rung could register the feeling of free fall. He knew what was coming. He had been ejected from ships before. Watching his transport sizzle past the cloudline, he did not have the strength to turned towards the ground. He just braced for impact - just a few clicks more..

System Reboot.. 3. 2. 1.

He woke up in pain. It wasn't from the impact, it was like some of his armor was melted off. Most likely from a explosion but how?..

Pressure senors were the first to come online. He could feel liquid precipitation against his armor. Dihydrogen Monoxide his internal database supplemented: non-lethal, a chemical compound common on class-M planets, essential for most organic life.

Next his audio and olfactory sensors. Accompanied by the rain, he could hear a cackling of fire. It was close enough that he could smell the burnt metal and plastics. Strange enough, next to him, someone or something was talking in Galactic Standard. "This is y/n of the Dee Ai, requesting cybertronian medical support, I repeat, requesting cybertronian medical support."

Immediately when his optics flickered on, the pacing creature stopped all movement and sound. It was a bipedal organic a third of his size walked towards him. It was hard to tell what species they were when layered in a dense synthetic material, most likely to keep them insulated from the air precipitation and other natural elements.

He immediately tried to get up, only for the small thing to run to him, two servos motioning steadily, "Easy big bot, you were hurt badly," they said.

Sure enough, warnings overloaded his hud. He only managed to get to an upright position when he clenched his side. Like he suspected, most of his body sustains burns, his lower half suffering the most damage. His peds were practically warped by extreme heat.

"I believe you are correct in that assessment," he groaned. He looked around, sure enough there was a smoldering pile of metal behind him. He was under the treeline, though it offered minimal protection against the elements. "Who are you and where am I?"

"Call me Buddy. I'm a cartographer. You are on a Class-M planet, 2nd to the sun, in the Centuro System. I'll have to get back to you on the exact coordinates. How are you feeling?"

Rung's optics shut off trying to parse through his internal diagnostics. It was no use, whatever radiation was affecting him, was also messing with his systems. "In pain," he groaned, "Might be able to override my pain inhibitors."

"Wait, I might be able to help," said the being. Before running to a land base vehicle. A truck built for off world exploration. They came back carrying a machine wrapped in a flexible material. "I have a EM generator here. If you'll allow me, I can put these clamps on the areas that hurt the most."

He just nodded. Ordinarily, he would be curious as to how this organic knew about his biology, it'll have to wait. The creature was talking to him again. "It's going to feel weird but I am going to have to climb on you, speak up if its too much,” they said.

Rung just watch. It was odd. His pressure sensors were reacting both to the water and to the beings scuttering around his chassis. They were much more spritely than he previously thought, moving fluidly against the metal plating. With each clamp, the pain ebbed away and so did the helm ache.

"There, that's the most I can do for now." They said, holding out a servo, "We'll just have to wait until the rain stops until we can do more."

His vents were already circulating un hindered, a cybertronian sigh of relief. "You have done more than enough, Thank you. I heard you sending out a distress signal, have you received anything back?"

They shook their head, "No luck. I think it's the storm. This planet has some weird electrical anomalies. I was out measuring them when you crashed on my ship."

His optics went wide. The burning mass at the center of the clearing was a ship. Their ship. Rung started to panic. "Goodness, I am so sorry. I didn't realize.. you were not hurt were you or anyone else?"

The small creature pinched their nose arch, "Easy there big bot. No one here but me and I'm fine. I'm more dumbstruck than anything else. What happened to you?"

"I don't know. All I remember is taking a shuttle for shore leave and experiencing turbulence. Next thing I know, The exterior hatch was gone and I was jettisoned out." He rubbed his neck, "I know what it may seem but I had no intention of destroying your ship."

They laughed dejectedly. "I believe you, it's just, this isn't the first time my ship turned to scrap for an inexplicable reason."

Rung stared at the being. Were they being serious? "Is this a common occurrence for you?"

"Once I rebuild the Dee Ai again this will be the sixthteenth iteration."

“How much?" If they caught his surprise, they chose to ignore it.

"A story for another time. By the way, what is your name? I can't keep calling you 'big bot' afterall."

He tipped his helm. He would comply, but he actually liked the nickname. "My designation is Rung."

There was excitement in their voice. It made his spark flutter. "It is a pleasure to meet you Rung."

It was curious to watch them makeshift a shelter between the doors of their vehicle. It would have been easier just to shelter inside, but they were determined to keep within audio distance of him. They were considerate, asking multiple times if he was okay. The constant rain was a nuisance but nothing life threatening. If anything, a welcome distraction from his more serious injuries.

Finally, for what seemed like a joor, the being unmasked their head covering. Much to his surprise, he recognized their species. "Forgive me if I am wrong, but are you human?"

Their head tilted. Was that a sign of curiosity? "I am. I am surprised that you know. Do you have any experience with my people?"

"A friend of mine is fascinated about your culture." Rung chuckled at the memory, "actually he would be ecstatic to meet you."

The human was drying what looked like fur at the top of their head. "I don't know about that, depends on what he is interested in."

Rung thought fondly of the drinking establishment. "He runs a bar on the ship. Very expressive and well versed in human idioms that I admit have trouble understanding. As for interest, I believed he called the media 'sit-coms'."

They chuckled at the comment. "That might be a problem. It's been so long since I consumed human media I wouldn't know where to start. Ask me about history, biology, or even psychology then we can have a conversation."

His spark jolted. "Your species has a science for studying the mind?" he could not hold the excitement in his voice.

"Sure, we have whole institutions dedicated to it. There is nothing like human ineffability."

"You say that as if your species is impossible to understand."

The individual sighed, "Without getting too deep, Humans are contradictory in nature. We can be just as caring and compassionate as we can be violent and brutal. We are individualistic yet our survival depends on our cooperation with each other. We have a deep seated fear of the unknown, yet we are natural explorers, having populated nearly all of Earth's continents with nothing but tools made out of sticks and stone."

Did he hear that correctly, their entire planet with basic tools? "Your entire planet? Surely your exaggerating."

They shook their head, "Not at all. Once my ancestors mastered fire, they had everything they needed to survive the harshest environments of our planet."

"I have heard of how resourceful your species could be. I shouldn't be surprised. After all, our civil war ended with your planet." he muttered. "As a psychiatrist by trade, I feel like my woeful ignorance of psychology in other races has hindered advancement in the field."

They shrugged, "You shouldn't beat yourself up about that. It's not your fault that relationships between organic and inorganic lifeforms have always been tentative at best. Honestly, it's usually easier just to avoid the other class of lifeforms most of the time."

"Yet you pulled me out of a fire and continue to talk to me." Rung countered.

"I rather not have someone burn in front of me if I can help it. Besides, what are the chances that, on a random planet, a cybertronian falls from the cloud line, only to land on my ship. Your practically the size of said ship" They laughed, "I can't even be mad at how ridiculous that is. The least I could do is have a conversation."

That's right. It was his fault that they were in this situation. And yet, the small being seemed so at ease. They seem to talk as if he was one of their own. A realization struck him: In all his millions of years, this was the first time he held a conversation with another organic lifeform. A full conversation, not some trading banter or a parsed out order. He was mortified, and here, this human managed to bridge that gap without him realizing it.

He wanted to commit this individual to memory. He had read reports about humans. Their faces bore an uncanny resemblance to cybertronians. He could attest to that, as their glassy optics stared steadily up at his. Familiar yet other worldly. Their body were covered in protective material. Their servos and head only exposed. Their epidermal layer looked soft, no doubt rivaling the mesh of his protoform.

A voice cut through his thoughts, "Are you okay Rung? Your optics flickered for a second."

They noticed that? Right, his glasses were burnt up in the fire. "Apologies, I do that when I am thinking."

They chuckled, "Good to know. So why travel to this end of the universe."

"My captain had declared that he would gather a crew to search for the Knights of Cybertron."

"So why did you sign up?"

Rung was stumped. No one actually ask him that. It was his job, yes, but it was a deliberate choice made of his own will, "At first, I wanted to find Cyber-Utopia too. But now, I don't think I was ready to go back to Cybertron. Not yet."

Their face softened. "That as good of reason as any."

They sat in a comfortable silence. Even then, Rung watched the human. A pang of guilt rippled across him. It was his fault they were stranded, so he made a promise to himself that he will do all that he can to help this individual. To repay their kindness.

The patter of the rain reduced to a light drizzle. Soon enough sunlight was filtering through the treetops. The human moved from under the shelter to stretch their limbs toward the sky. They started laughing. "It's about damn time and we're in luck. There's a Rainbow."

"A Rain-Bow?" He asked curiously. Rung followed their gaze. A multicolored arc of refracted light hugged the nearly cloudless sky. Beautiful. Then again, he looked back at the obvious joy of the human and his spark fluttered. He would have never seen this back on cybertron.

– BREAK –

Within the joor, Ratchet, Rodimus, and Ultra Magnus was on the ground. It was curious to watch the different reactions play out. Ratchet and Ultra Magnus seemed to regard the human with suspicion while the Captain could barely contain his excitement. Even at a distance, he could feel Rodimus EM field flaring. Yet the humans were unperturbed by the mechs towering over them..

Rung lost track of their conversation when the human took the commanding officers to the remains of their ship.

"I can't tell if you have the worst luck ever or that your the luckiest mech alive," Ratchet grumbled as he went to work.

"Thanks I think?"

"No no no. I mean it. Your peds are practically melted off. Radiation poisoning throughout the frame and fuel lines are laced with trace amounts Dark Energon."

"That would suggest that the human’s ship was fueled by that element." Rung shuddered. It was a deadly chemical to all Cybertronians.

"No doubt about it. The miracle is that I never seen such a robust fuel circulation like yours before. Your spark is literally cleansing itself of the radiation."

"If my body was that irradiated, shouldn't I be in more pain," There was an uncomfortable silence. "Ratchet."

The old medic groaned, "Your pain inhibitors are being dulled through a series of makeshift EM clamps. Nothing lethal. The tech is practically archaic, but the clamps are placed on key points along your frame for maximum effectiveness.

He continued, "Combined with the proficiency in welds throughout your body leads me to conclude that this human is quite familiar with our biology. Uncharacteristically so."

"What do you think, Ratchet?"

A long pause. "I think they are dangerous."

[ellynneversweet]

So one of the things I have been thinking about is how charter magic in the old kingdom is a form of literacy. A very complicated form of literacy, full of synonyms and obscure symbols, the ability for the signifier to literally call the signified into existence, and, theoretically, a unique signifier for every conceivable thing. It works, arguably in at least two ways — some very powerful things might have a single signifier but could also be called forth using a long compounded string of signifiers that amount to the same signified item, depending on the skill, power, and knowledge of the charter mage doing the thing (think, say, Chinese written language vs German compound words vs a long and rambly post in English.)

This has some interesting implications. First, language in the OK is probably fairly consistent over time, because the meaning of charter marks do not change, and, while there is mundane written and spoken language, this would make consistency in spelling, meaning, and pronunciation important. You want to describe a subtly different concept? You need a new word.

Second, because widespread literacy has a complicated symbiotic relationship with complex and consistent culture (the existence of schools and the ability to attend them, educated teachers, complete-ish written references that have not been destroyed) periods where charter magic is on the wane should coincide with and maybe accelerate more general loss of civilisational knowledge, literacy generally and peacetime habits. There’s a nod to this in the gestured-at extensive guild and apprenticeship systems we see throughout the books. And, of course, the frequent, loving references to librarians.

Third, it requires active maintenance. It’s very, very difficult to revive a language you don’t know, especially if you have no or little concept of literacy generally. Archeologists with PhDs will spend whole careers attempting it. The state of the kingdom in Sabriel isn’t just the result of the broken charter — it’s the result of the loss of institutional knowledge. Characters might be baptised into the charter, but unless they’re unusually instinctively talented (Elinor arguably is like this, like someone who has a natural ear for languages) they can only do as much as they can find someone to teach them how to do, or how much they can guesstimate themselves (with the risk of burning off their tongues or fingers if they get their estimations wrong).

Just, y’know. Culture is an ecosystem and everyone’s responsible for maintaining it. (This may be a bit of a rant about attitudes towards AI. I am not a complete Luddite, AI is interesting and sometimes useful, but the amount of people who are outsourcing all their thinking to it and thinking they will never have to learn again, because their AI girlfriend will use an AI voice to read them an ELI5 on how to build a bridge built to AI schematics is…concerning.)

[cherthegoddess]

Myth- Ghost in the Tower

Summary:  When eerie glitches and a mysterious death disrupt the Avengers’ peace, they discover a supernatural threat lurking in the compound. With no experience in handling ghosts, they call on Y/N, a renowned hunter known as "The Myth," to help confront the danger. 

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Mutant! Reader Bucky Barnes x Mutant! Reader

Join the taglist here

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: Death Ghost Barely any Dean and in this one This was written with a black reader in mind, but anyone can read it.

A/N: This is the first part there will be more interaction with Dean, Bucky and Y/n coming soon but I wanted to put something out! Please enjoy! If you would like to request any one shots for this series please do!

Main Masterlist l Series Masterlist

Ghost in the Tower

Bucky, Steve and Sam were finally having a quiet morning in the compound. Though rare, it was very much appreciated by the three. The smooth voice of Marvin Gaye played through the room while the three ate their breakfast. “You see this here boys? This is a classic. Nobody’s touching Marvin Gaye!” Sam exclaims to the two. Bucky and Sam couldn’t help but agree. Ever since they met Sam, he’d been trying to introduce the two to new things that weren’t from the 40’s, some things were a miss, but when it came to music, Sam never gave them a bad artist. As the next song came on, it started to slightly glitch, something that never really happened. “Friday, you alright?” Bucky called to her but no response came. Then suddenly Run Rabbit Run! started to play in a deep voice over the speakers. “Sam, this song came out in the 30’s we know this one.” Sam shakes his head in fear. “This isn’t me.” The boys all look at each other. Suddenly the electronics start to move and turn on. A loud shriek exits out of Sam’s mouth. “Oh, hell no!” It then all stops as if nothing has ever happened and Marivn Gaye makes his return once again. “Something isn’t right. I think we should go talk to Stark about this.” Steve says slightly creeped out. “Friday?” Bucky tested to see if the AI was back online. “Yes, Sergeant Barnes?” They collectively sigh. “Can you call Stark in the kitchen?” Friday confirms letting the three know that he would be there in five. 

“What can I do for you three?” Stark asks when he enters. “I think something may be wrong with Friday.” Steve starts. Tony’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean? She’s been working perfectly fine for me? You sure old folks just don’t know how to work these new gadgets.” Bucky’s eyes roll. “Nah man, somethings definitely up. She started playing creepy ass music and all the electronic stuff just started glitching!” Sam is still clearly freaked out by what just happened. “That doesn’t sound right. Let’s check right now. Friday, run a diagnostic test.” Tony calls out to her. “Running tests.” Friday takes a moment before speaking again. “Systems are running steadily. There seems to be no issues.” Tony crosses his arms. As if on cue, all the lights power off and there’s a scream that comes from an nearing hallway. Tony, Steve and Bucky all run towards the noise. “I’m too black for this.” Sam sighs fear evident in his voice. He goes to follow them weary. 

Bucky isn’t quite sure what he was expecting when he reached the person who screamed, but a body wasn’t on the top of his list. Especially with the way that the poor girl was looking as if she was alive sitting at a desk, but it was clear by her slit throat and unmoving eyes, she wasn’t. The person who screamed stood crying on the side of the office staring at her unmoving boss. When Sam finally entered the room he almost gagged, looking away quickly. They all wished the lights that just recently came back on were off again. Steve goes over to the woman who is crying to console her and hopefully get some answers. “Hey, breathe with me. What’s your name?” The girl breathes for a second, her tears calming down a bit. “Lana,” She whispers out. “Can you tell me what happened here?” She nods tears exiting her eyes once more. “I went to go check on Sophie since the lights have been acting super weird all day in the office and then it was super cold all of a sudden, but then I found her like this-” Her voice cracks and she starts crying again. Tony is oddly quiet and Bucky stares at him. “What are you thinking, Stark? Did someone infiltrate us?” Tony shakes his head. “I think we have a ghost.” Tony groans. “Ghosts? Come on, Tony. Ghosts aren’t real.” Bucky says. “Friday, if you’re working, call Fury and tell him we need him ASAP in the conference room. We’re going to need his help. He might have a contact for this. Also can you get someone in here to help us with this unfortunate situation.” She luckily responds. Tony focuses back on the other three. “Ghosts are real. They aren’t the only supernatural thing that’s out there either. Fury knows all about it.”

Bucky sits in shock with Steve and Sam in the conference room as Fury confirms what Tony said was all true. Ghosts, Demons, Angels and things he’s never even heard of exist right under everyone's noses. “Wait so why aren’t we doing anything about this? This is a big deal, Fury. Someone should be on this.” Steve asks. “People are on this, Captain. All over the world there are people’s whose job it is to hunt these creatures down. We deal with the aliens and people, they deal with the rest. And lucky for us, I have someone who works on this type of situation. I’ll give her a call.” The boys look at each other. “Her?” Bucky asks. “Yes, you may have heard of her. She’s known as The Myth.” A blush sweeps over Bucky’s cheeks, remembering the first time they met. He was waiting to see her again. They had been texting a bit here and there but they still had yet to meet up again. He hated that this was the circumstances they had to meet, but he was looking forward to her entrance.

When Y/n got the call from Fury, she was also enjoying her day. She was sitting comfortably at a diner right outside of Chicago, her favorite city. It was her first off day in a couple of months. She had been hunting to clean up for the past few months and she was looking forward to her week off. Now she’s looking at his name across her phone screen. She groans before swiping and answering. “Yes, Fury. You’re interrupting my vacation.” She says taking a bite of one of her fries. “We need you down here.” Fury says in a serious tone. “Another cleaning-” He cuts her off quickly. “No, I think we may have a situation that is under your other jurisdiction.” Y/n sits up straighter. “You’re lying. If you miss me, Nick, you can just say that, you don’t have to make up a supernatural being just to see me.” Fury groans. “Y/n, I’m serious. I think we have a ghost. And it’s already killed one person. Tell me where you are and I’ll send a quadjet.” Y/n calls a waitress over, to get a to-go box, after telling Nick where she is. The waitress goes and gets one. “I need to bring in some others if that's okay. These ghosts aren’t my strong suit. They’re the best in the business.” Y/n warns. “Whatever you need, we just need this problem gone and no more lives lost” Nick responds. “Nick you better be glad I love you like a father because you’re really ruining my week off.” Y/n could hear the eye roll in his voice. “Thank you and I’ll see you in 2 hours.” Y/n hangs up with Fury before quickly dialing another number. “Hey, Dean? How’d you like to meet the Avengers?”

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[materialsscienceandengineering]

Crystallography-informed AI achieves high performance in predicting novel crystal structures

A research team from the Institute of Statistical Mathematics and Panasonic Holdings Corporation has developed a machine learning algorithm, ShotgunCSP, that enables fast and accurate prediction of crystal structures from material compositions. The algorithm achieved world-leading performance in crystal structure prediction benchmarks. Crystal structure prediction seeks to identify the stable or metastable crystal structures for any given chemical compound adopted under specific conditions. Traditionally, this process relies on iterative energy evaluations using time-consuming first-principles calculations and solving energy minimization problems to find stable atomic configurations. This challenge has been a cornerstone of materials science since the early 20th century. Recently, advancements in computational technology and generative AI have enabled new approaches in this field. However, for large-scale or complex molecular systems, the exhaustive exploration of vast phase spaces demands enormous computational resources, making it an unresolved issue in materials science.

Read more.

[jcmarchi]

Gradient’s AI: Revolutionizing enterprise automation for all industries

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/gradients-ai-revolutionizing-enterprise-automation-for-all-industries/

Gradient’s AI: Revolutionizing enterprise automation for all industries

Gradient emerges as a pivotal player in artificial intelligence, offering innovative solutions that automate business operations across diverse industries.

Catering to a broad spectrum of enterprises, Gradient has carved a niche in highly regulated, data-rich sectors like financial services and healthcare.

By leveraging their long-context, domain-specific models – Albatross for Financial Services and Nightingale for Healthcare – Gradient empowers businesses to simplify complex processes, ensuring efficiency and compliance.

In this article, we delve into the unique facets of Gradient’s offerings, exploring how they streamline AI integration, enhance productivity, and pave the way for future collaborations between humans and AI in the enterprise space.

Let’s jump into it. 👇

Target market focus

Can you elaborate on the specific segments within the enterprise AI space that Gradient caters to? For instance, is there a focus on specific industries or company sizes?

Gradient automates business operations within enterprises across every industry, working directly with operational leaders and technical teams. 

While Gradient has a diverse portfolio of customers that range in size and vertical, we’ve seen a lot of success within highly regulated, data-rich industries such as financial services and healthcare. 

Today, most of these customers are leveraging Gradient’s long context, domain-specific models – Albatross for Financial Services and Nightingale for Healthcare – to help power custom AI solutions that simplify their business needs.

Core value proposition

In a nutshell, how would you describe the primary benefit Gradient offers to businesses seeking to leverage AI? Is it the ease of integration, industry-specific expertise, or something else entirely?

At Gradient, our goal is to accelerate AI adoption in enterprise – minimizing the effort required to integrate AI, while maximizing the overall value. Today, most companies face similar challenges in automating their business operations, due to the complexity and fluidity of data processing. 

With Gradient, we solve enterprise automation and power 100% of the AI automation business process for industries like financial services. As a result, our customers can completely remove their teams from labor-intensive processes like KYC automation and instead focus on work that is of higher value to their business. 

Compound AI systems

Your concept of “compound AI systems” is intriguing. Can you delve deeper into how these systems work and what advantages they provide compared to traditional AI solutions?

Enterprise automation shouldn’t be powered by a single AI model but a compound AI system. Empirically, we’ve seen that one model, even with multiple calls, can only get so far. Compound AI systems consisting of multiple agents and other components, like memory and routing, are the key to maximizing performance on enterprise workflows. 

All these different components allow the system to formulate a plan, route to the best expert model to complete each step, and critique its own output, resulting in higher accuracy and more reliability on enterprise tasks.

Data security and privacy

Security and privacy are paramount concerns for businesses considering AI solutions. How does Gradient ensure the safety and compliance of its clients’ data throughout the AI development and deployment process?

Safety, security, and compliance are all top of mind for our team at Gradient, which is why we ensure that our customer’s data stays with their team every step of the way. Gradient offers dedicated deployments in all major cloud providers and on-premise to adhere to some of the most highly regulated industries. 

Our customers also have the ability to choose from a wide range of models, including SOTA open-source models that provide full transparency into the model’s architecture. Last but not least, Gradient is built for enterprise customers, which means it meets the highest standards in regulatory compliance – achieving some of the most reputable certifications, such as SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, and GDPR.

Open-source LLMs and fine-tuning

You offer a platform for personalizing open-source large language models (LLMs). Can you provide an example of a successful use case where a client leveraged this capability to address a specific business need?

Of course! In general, our platform enables enterprise customers to combine their private data with an LLM of their choice to create a custom model. This enhances the capabilities of the model so that it understands its organization and ensures that it’s capable of addressing its specific needs. 

Some of our most recent use cases include extracting unstructured data from clinical notes, claims processing, and KYC. Our team has also developed open-source and proprietary long-context models that have made it possible for customers to tune AI without actually having to fine-tune their models. This enables faster time to value, less risk for our customers, and the need for an experienced technical team.

AI assistant development

Your “AI Foundry” seems like a powerful tool for building custom AI assistants. Could you walk us through the typical workflow for a client developing an assistant through this platform?

The Gradient AI Foundry enables limitless enterprise automation for our customers by leveraging a combination of agentic workflow primitives and custom Gradient LLMs that are fine-tuned to maximize performance across each task. To get started, our customers simply provide their data and objectives to our Foundry. 

The Foundry then creates a self-improving agent that automates the workflow that was just described. Once complete, the Foundry accumulates learnings and knowledge to accelerate other areas of the business where Gradient may be able to support or improve.

Metrics and ROI demonstration

How does Gradient help clients measure the return on investment (ROI) achieved through their AI implementations? Are there specific metrics or success stories you can share?

Gradient helps automate business operations by providing the most comprehensive solution for enterprise automation. Given that Gradient supports a variety of industries (e.g. healthcare, financial services, etc.) ROI and success metrics are generally unique to their respective industry (e.g. improving investment predictions by 20%). 

However, some of the metrics that have consistently overlapped across our portfolio of customers include 1) cost savings 2) reduction in hours spent on manual tasks 3) time saved on AI development, and 4) increased productivity.

Future of work and AI integration

As AI continues to evolve, how do you envision Gradient’s solutions impacting the future of work and how humans will collaborate with AI in the enterprise landscape?

As LLMs become more and more capable, we’ll see agents (and in turn Gradient’s solutions) be able to take on more and more autonomy reliably, transforming the way companies are structured. Teams will be able to delegate the monotonous parts of their work to AI and spend more time on strategic and high-leverage tasks. In this future, every team will work in partnership with AI to supercharge their productivity and impact.

Challenges and differentiation

In the competitive AI for enterprise space, what are some of the biggest challenges Gradient faces? How do you differentiate yourselves from other providers in the market?

At Gradient we are deeply invested in the business value AI drives for our customers and ensure that all our enterprise AI products fully solve the business problem. 

Today Gradient is the only AI platform that can automate the entire enterprise, offering inference and fine-tuning, agent solutions, and a range of models to choose from. Because of the flexibility in our automation system, customers using Gradient are able to support an infinite amount of workflows without extensive development. 

As a result, we’re not only providing the fastest way to help our customers fully automate end-to-end workflows using AI, but we ensure that our customers are finding solutions that establish I from the get go.

Does Gradient participate in any industry events, conferences, or open-source communities? If so, how do you see these engagements contributing to your company’s growth and the broader AI development ecosystem?

Absolutely! We’re a big believer in connecting with our customers and giving back to the open-source community. Whether it’s a local hackathon or a major industry conference, you’ll likely find us there as an active participant or speaker. 

As for the open-source community, we always look for new ways to pay it forward. Most recently, our team released the first 1M Context Length Llama-3 70B and 4M Context Length Llama-3 8B on Hugging Face. 

The response from the community has been extraordinary, which is why we’ve continued to work with other thought leaders on improving and setting the standard for evaluating the quality of long context models (e.g. NIAH, RULER, etc.).

Want to know more about generative AI? Catch the latest insights in our report:

Generative AI 2024 report

Unlock the secrets to faster workflows with the Generative AI 2024 Report. Learn how 56.4% of companies leverage AI to boost efficiency and stay competitive.

[yuk-tepat]

Proto-Nastowic Abstract

Three abstracts of my working file on the Proto-Nastowic language.

The Swira language, spoken by nomadic herders in the northern frontier of Tepat, is one of many “barbarian” tribes ringing Tepat, belonging to the widespread Nastowic language family. This family is named for two of its branches, Nasic and Towic, whose names both mean “people.” Swiric comprises another branch, as does Para-Towic, and the extinct historic language Wepum. Proto-Nastowic is a head-final, head-marking, compositionally polysynthetic language. Phonologically, Proto-Nastowic includes a series of labialized dorsal consonants and distinction between lenis and fortis consonants, and a hierarchy of vowel strength that interplays with stress assignment and other processes. It has an extensive system of personal prefixes, noun-incorporation and verb-root compounding, allowing very long verbal forms (compositional polysynthesis), possessor-raising incorporation, with several applicatives. Word order is flexible with a default of SOV. Nominal modifiers precede heads while verbal modifiers follow, because of basic SOV order combined with internally-headed relative clauses. Most of these features apply in daughter languages as well. However, their well-known pastoral culture evolved later than the protolanguage itself.

The Proto-Nastowic language is the reconstructed ancestor of the Nastowic language family, which includes Swiric, Towic, Nasic, and the extinct Wepum language. It was a polysynthetic, head-final, and head-marking language with extensive verb morphology, including noun incorporation, personal prefixes, and applicatives. Its phonological system featured labialized dorsal consonants, a distinction between lenis and fortis stops, and a vowel hierarchy that influenced stress and phonotactic rules. Proto-Nastowic had a flexible SOV word order, with nominal modifiers preceding nouns and verbal modifiers following verbs. The language likely originated among semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers living north of modern Tepat, with vocabulary reflecting their environment and way of life. Over time, Proto-Nastowic diversified into its daughter languages, influenced by interactions with neighboring linguistic groups.

Proto-Nastowic is the reconstructed ancestor of the Nastowic language family, which includes Swiric, Towic, Nasic, and the extinct Wepum language. It was a polysynthetic, head-final, and head-marking language with an extensive system of verb morphology, including personal prefixes, noun incorporation, and multiple applicatives that allowed highly complex verbal constructions. The language had a flexible SOV word order, with nominal modifiers preceding nouns and verbal modifiers following verbs, likely due to the presence of internally-headed relative clauses. Phonologically, Proto-Nastowic featured a distinction between fortis and lenis consonants, labialized dorsal consonants, and a hierarchical vowel system influencing stress patterns. Its vocabulary reflected the semi-nomadic lifestyle of its speakers, who inhabited the northern frontier of Tepat, transitioning seasonally between mountain and grassland environments. Early Proto-Nastowic lacked terms for agriculture and horse domestication, though later borrowings suggest cultural shifts. As it evolved, Proto-Nastowic diversified into distinct branches, with Towic becoming the most widespread. The language also exhibited contact-induced changes due to interactions with neighboring Taknic and Yuktepatic languages. These influences, along with internal phonological and grammatical developments, shaped the emergence of its descendant languages, each preserving and innovating upon Proto-Nastowic structures.

Which is mine and which is AI?

[fanfictiongirlie]

From Enemies to Expecting - Chapter Two

Steve Roger's Masterlist - Story Masterlist

Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader (First person written though)

Description:

A Boozy Mistake. That's all it was. I hated Steve Rogers. And in turn, Steve Rogers hated me. It didn't matter that I was The Avenger's personal chef, we had never gotten alone.

(Unplanned pregnancy fic with Stevie, similar to my Unplanned series with Bucky)

Chapter Rating: General Audiences

Chapter Warnings: Swearing

"FRIDAY, please tell me Captain Grumpy Pants, isn't nearby?" I ask as I walk through the hall from my apartment to the Avengers person kitchen. I stepped into the kitchen as FRIDAY answered me. 

"CAPTAIN AMERICA IS CURRENTLY IN THE KITCHEN" 

"Gee thanks..." I mutter to the AI system, my smile dropped when I saw him, his smile dropping from his lips when he saw me. He narrowed his eyes into a glare and made a move to leave the room. I was grateful, I did not have it in me to even argue with him. 

It was a little later in the day than when I usually made lunch for the Avengers, but they were all still in bed, dealing with hangovers, so I knew they wouldn't mind, so I wrapped a apron around my waist and put my hair in a messy bun. 

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And so a few weeks went on, I avoided Steve like the plague, and carried on with my job. It was easy enough to avoid him when he avoided me too. 

I woke up earlier than usual, against my will, I groaned, my body ached, I couldn't work out why, though I settled on it being that I had worked myself a little too hard recently. What else could it even be... 

I got myself ready for the day and walked to the Avengers kitchen, breakfast was usually the easiest meal of the day, as long as I made a huge helping of each dish, having Thor, Bucky and Steve was like having three hungry lions at the table for every meal. Every breakfast was the same: Eggs, bacon, pancakes, hash browns, sausages, and a few danishes. 

I smiled happily when the Avengers started filtering into the room, Wanda bright as always comes in carrying both twins, she places them in their little cots with the help of Vision before she skips over to me. 

The kitchen I worked in was perfect for me, it was big enough for three people to stand in before feeling cramped, I had always hated big kitchens, I liked having a small one, it was good for grabbing things quickly. There was a small half wall between the kitchen area and dining area, the half wall also served as a serving place for the food I cooked. 

The dining room was simple, one wall was fully windowed, the wall that was directly opposite the kitchen so I always had a wonderful of the grounds around the compound. There was a huge circular table with multiple seats scattered around it, there was also a few large armchairs dotted in the corners for those who wanted to eat in a cosier chair. Wanda had placed the huge cot far enough away from the window so the twins didn't get too much sun, and far enough away from me so they weren't bothered by my kitchen doings. 

"Girlie!" She says excitedly as she skips round to stand behind me, she wraps her arms around my waist and rests her head on my shoulder, I smile as I breath in her perfume. "I'm going to the shops, do you need anything?"

"Uhhhh" I say, thinking about it for the moment, I didn't have to shop for the food I made, so I didn't need to worry about that, and personally, was there anything I fancied? "I'm good, unless you feel like getting me one of those big bars of galaxy chocolate"

Wanda chuckled softly by my ear, the sound causing a shiver to send down my spine, I was acutely aware of her magic dancing through my body as it eased my aching muscles. She never did more than lighty dance her magic through me, just enough to relax me. I was grateful for it. I don't think I had ever had such a great best friend. 

"Okay chocolate! No period stuff? Uhh cold medicines, that sort of thing?" She asks, I think about it once more, and then feel myself go a little cold. My mind suddenly went a million thoughts per second as I did some mental maths. 

"How about I go with you?" I suggest calmly, I didn't want to raise any alarm from anyone in the room, especially Steve, who was now sitting with Bucky and Sam by the window. She agreed, like she wouldn't. 

So we travelled to the shops together, I took one twin and she had the other as we left the car park and walked into the store together. We placed the twins in one of those double trolleys, cooing at them both as we walked into the shops, they were awake now, looking at us both with wide eyes. 

When we had the things Wanda wanted, and the chocolate bar, I stop walking as she heads to the tills. 

"I'll uhh meet you at the check out, I just need to grab something" I say, she nods and I quickly walk through the door. I grabbed the pregnancy test and hid it as I rushed back to the tills, in fear that someone I know would see me. Wanda was already at the checkouts when I joined her, she looked down at the box I had and looked at me with a raised eyebrow. 

"Is that for you?" She asks. 

"Yeah, don't tell anyone...I'm not sure, but I missed my period, and it's always safe to check" I say rambling slightly, my last period was two weeks before the party, and the party was..four..no five weeks ago. Wanda's worried look suddenly became a sly smirk. 

"Who did you sleep with?" She asks, playfully. 

"You won't believe me" I mutter, feeling my cheeks redden. We stopped our conversation for a moment to hustle the shopping and the twins into the car, and when we climbed in ourselves, she didn't drive, she turned to me with a grin. 

"Okay, tell me" She said earnestly. 

"It was Steve" I mumbled. 

Wanda frowned, her eyes widened slightly, she was clearly shocked. She was the one I complained to about every argument I had with Steve. 

"Steve huh? I thought you hated each other? I mean, you're always arguing."

"We do hate one another" I mutter, I still couldn't remember what had happened that night. "We were drunk"

"So the box is just a precaution?" She asks. 

"I missed a period, and I've been feeling a little not myself recently, could be stress, but I wanted to check...in case" I say, rambling a little as I spoke. I knew Wanda wouldn't mind, she liked when I rambled.

"Do you need any company? You know, when you find out?" She asked as she finally started the car, the twins were asleep in the back, and she didn't want them to nap for too long. 

"No, I'll be alright" I say with a smile, I wasn't sure I wanted to find out at all. I was almost confidant I wasn't pregnant, I was just stressed, but I can't remember if Steve and I used protection, I had searched my room for a used condom, but there was none, so the odds were against me. We got back to the compound and immediately I went back to my rooms, and took it. 

﹒⭒﹒⭒﹒⭒﹒﹒⭒﹒⭒﹒⭒﹒

That night, I walked to the kitchens feeling a little shaky, sure I hadn't exactly eaten much today, so that could be partly the reason I was shaking, but it wasn't. I stepped in, seeing Steve leaning against the wall near my kitchen with a mug in his hand. 

"Is everything okay?" He asks, I roll my eyes, I wasn't in the mood for him and his super sperm today. So I gave him my usual sneer. 

"Why do you care, Rogers?" I snap. 

"Because I'm not a heartless jerk, despite what you might think. Is everything okay?"

I stare at him for a moment, biting my lip to stop myself from crying. He took a step closer to me, the two of us were opposite one another in the small gap between the kitchen and dining part of the room. 

"What's wrong?" He asks, his tone quieter than before. It was almost caring. I shook my head and took a step back. 

"I need to cook dinner, not talk about my issues" 

"Whatever you say, chef" He mutters. I step away from him and get busy in the kitchen, I start by chopping vegetables. Steve didn't leave the room, he stayed sipping his coffee, watching me as I worked. Usually I would snap at him, but I didn't have it in me right now. 

"Fuck" I mutter, having caught my finger with the knife. I huffed and rolled my eyes at myself. Stupid... I reached for the first aid kit. 

"Are you okay?" Steve asks as he suddenly appears by my side. "Let me take a look"

"I'm fine" I mutter. "Working in a kitchen means you're used to sharp blade injuries" I finish cleaning the cut and putting a little blue plaster on it. Steve sighed and took a step back. 

"I just wanted to help"

"I..I didn't ask for help" I answer, not meeting his eyes as I go back to chopping. I sighed as I watched him sit at the dining table, he had a right to know. And here I was withholding the news. I had no idea who he would react, five years of hating one another, five years of horrible snide comments. And now...I still hated him. 

But he did have a right to know, and the room was empty, and would only be empty for maybe ten more minutes. I took a deep breath in, sucking down my pride. 

"Steve.." I mumble, he looks up from his coffee mug. 

"What is it?" He asks, turning his body to face my direction as he folds his arms over his chest. 

"Uhh" I stuttered, meeting his eyes. I had never noticed how blue they were, I wonder if the-no...I needed to tell him...

Steve raised an eyebrow at me, he was frowning. "What is it?"

"Remember the night we promised to never speak of?" I say, my voice a little uneasy. Steve didn't react for a few moments, before his eyes widened a little. 

"Yeah, I remember" He said, his eyes were flickering from mine to anywhere else in the room. 

"Uhh...oh fuck... this is really difficult" 

Steve stood up, towering over me, I made a motion to step further back, not enjoying how close he was to me. 

"Just tell me, for god's sake. You're killing me here."

"Can you maybe not be a dick right now?" I hiss, my chest felt tight, and I knew my face had turned a deeper shade of red. His eyes narrowed at me, I could tell he wanted to argue with me. 

"I'm not being a dick!" He said through gritted teeth. "Just tell me what's wrong, please"

"I'm...uh..." I take in a deep breath, allowing the air to feel my lungs. It didn't make me feel any better. "I'm pregnant"

Steve's eyes went wide, it looked like everything in his world had come to an halt. He swallowed hard and licked his lips, shaking his head. 

"...what? What.. did you just say?"

"I think you heard me..." I say quietly. 

Steve blinked hard and took a seat, he looked pale, and like maybe he was about to be sick. 

"God damn..." He muttered, he looked like he needed a drink, I felt like I needed a drink. Fuck, I wish I could have a drink. "Are you keeping it?" He asks softly. 

"Yes...yeah, I uhh don't...I don't like the idea of termination" I say truthfully, I wasn't against it, but personally for me, I couldn't go through with that. It felt too invasive. Steve was looking at me deep in my eyes, his expression was serious. 

"I'm going to support you." His tone was determined as he spoke, it made me feel a little better, I wasn't sure if he was going to want to be apart of this, but it looked like he did. 

"Uhh yeah, thanks" I say awkwardly. "I have an appointment tomorrow, to check that I'm one hundred percent pregnant, the test said no, but yeah..." I explain, feeling my entire body overheat. I wanted to run and hide myself. 

"I'd like to go with you, if you don't mind..for moral support." 

"Yeah, I was telling you, so you could uh decide if you wanted to come..."

Steve nodded, he looked as shocked as I felt, one because we weren't arguing and two, because I was pregnant. I wasn't sure which was I was more shocked at. 

"I'll be there" He says, in a tone I had never really heard from Steve, but I knew he was promising me. I nodded and turned away, going back to the kitchen to cook dinner for the team. It was pasta night, and they would be mad if food wasn't done on time. I premade the pasta, usually the night before so they get to have fresh pasta for their meal, and then I make a few different dishes, nothing too fancy, just so they had choice. Steve let out a shaky breath, I did want to ask him if he was okay, but it didn't feel like my place to ask him, so I carried on working, only smiling when the team started filtering into the room. 

Chapter Three will be posted June 22nd

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quinquinquincy yiiiikesmish radha-sakhare wintrsoldrluvr dilfjohnnyaf vicmc624 florie1

[blairessoupysoup]

When I left Duolingo I realized I actually DO STILL love learning languages. languages get me so giddy and I love reading direct translations and phrases and having fun taking apart compound words and getting obsessed with grammar and I just fucking love people.

Unsurprisingly though, the funny meme app that spends too much time TELLING you they're important is actually in fact not.

As someone who actually hacked up the money for a premium family plan for a year,, it was actually a hassle just to force myself to open the app to barely do ONE lesson.

Like I join and what I get hit with:

Getting rid of the branching system opting for a confusing bloated linear path

A leaderboard that is for SOME REASON MADE UP OF BOTS???? FOR WHAT REASON???

Those gross 3-star challenges where let me tell you personally, you literally cannot complete them without forking over gems for "additional time" don't believe me try it.

mmm isn't it funny how they removed the comment section that appeared under every question that had real life people who could elaborate more in depth about what Duolingo failed to teach you. hmmmm AI first I wonder why

Remember the funny little costumes you could buy for duo that miraculously disappeared? did anyone who buy them get immediately compensated. No, I didn't. Quietly swept under the rug.

Not to mention just they way they act is sickening from mass firing the staff, to creating half baked courses (im so sorry Navajo) to push out for Indigenous People's Day and then immediately get abandoned.

ALSO major L for corporate artstyle

(it will probably be a mess of a vid and theres a real chance it might not happen but im interested in the concept so just keep that in mind)

[cyle]

As Kwan first explained, modern capitalism only worked because we compelled people to work, rather than forced them to do so.

“…We had to change the story we told ourselves and say that ‘your value is your job,” he told the audience. “You are only worth what you can do, and we are no longer beings with an inherent worth. And this is why it’s so hard to find fulfillment in this current system. The system works best when you’re not fulfilled,” he said, then pausing. “Which brings me back to AI,” Kwan continued, to a thunder of applause and cheers.

“It’s magic,” he said. “It’s probably going to solve cancer. It’s probably going to give us a lot of climate solutions. This is a powerful thing,” Kwan continued. “But I’m really terrified of what this new story we’re going to have to tell ourselves in order to accept this new convenience, this new progress. It’s terrifying,” he added, as a single solitary voice cheered in the now otherwise quiet crowd.

“So imagine what this technology will do within this current system, within this current incentive structure. This is the same system that brought us climate change, income inequality, and the general lack of gratitude and understanding of our worth and the worth of those around us,” Kwan said.

Plus, he noted, if you are feeling anxious about AI, it’s probably because, deep down, you know you’re next. “Even if the jobs aren’t going to be lost, the value of the job will go down, right?… It will slowly be compounded and normalized until we don’t even realize it,” he said.

[mariacallous]

As digital scamming explodes in Southeast Asia, including so called “pig butchering” investment scams, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued a comprehensive report this week with a dire warning about the rapid growth of this criminal ecosystem. Many digital scams have traditionally relied on social engineering, or tricking victims into giving away their money willingly, rather than leaning on malware or other highly technical methods. But researchers have increasingly sounded the alarm that scammers are incorporating generative AI content and deepfakes to expand the scale and effectiveness of their operations. And the UN report offers the clearest evidence yet that these high tech tools are turning an already urgent situation into a crisis.

In addition to buying written scripts to use with potential victims or relying on templates for malicious websites, attackers have increasingly been leaning on generative AI platforms to create communication content in multiple languages and deepfake generators that can create photos or even video of nonexistent people to show victims and enhance verisimilitude. Scammers have also been expanding their use of tools that can drain a victim’s cryptocurrency wallets, have been manipulating transaction records to trick targets into sending cryptocurrency to the wrong places, and are compromising smart contracts to steal cryptocurrency. And in some cases, they’ve been purchasing Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet systems to help power their efforts.

“Agile criminal networks are integrating these new technologies faster than anticipated, driven by new online marketplaces and service providers which have supercharged the illicit service economy,” John Wojcik, a UNODC regional analyst, tells WIRED. “These developments have not only expanded the scope and efficiency of cyber-enabled fraud and cybercrime, but they have also lowered the barriers to entry for criminal networks that previously lacked the technical skills to exploit more sophisticated and profitable methods.”

For years, China-linked criminals have trafficked people into gigantic compounds in Southeast Asia, where they are often forced to run scams, held against their will, and beaten if they refuse instructions. Around 200,000 people, from at least 60 countries, have been trafficked to compounds largely in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos over the last five years. However, as WIRED reporting has shown, these operations are spreading globally—with scamming infrastructure emerging in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and West Africa.

Most prominently, these organized crime operations have run pig butchering scams, where they build intimate relationships with victims before introducing an “investment opportunity” and asking for money. Criminal organizations may have conned people out of around $75 billion through pig butchering scams. Aside from pig butchering, according to the UN report, criminals across Southeast Asia are also running job scams, law enforcement impersonation, asset recovery scams, virtual kidnappings, sextortion, loan scams, business email compromise, and other illicit schemes. Criminal networks in the region earned up to $37 billion last year, UN officials estimate. Perhaps unsurprisingly, all of this revenue is allowing scammers to expand their operations and diversify, incorporating new infrastructure and technology into their systems in the hope of making them more efficient and brutally effective.

For example, scammers are often constrained by their language skills and ability to keep up conversations with potentially hundreds of victims at a time in numerous languages and dialects. However, generative AI developments within the last two years—including the launch of writing tools such as ChatGPT—are making it easier for criminals to break down language barriers and create the content needed for scamming.

The UN’s report says AI can be used for automating phishing attacks that ensnare victims, the creation of fake identities and online profiles, and the crafting of personalized scripts to trick victims while messaging them in different languages. “These developments have not only expanded the scope and efficiency of cyber-enabled fraud and cybercrime, but they have also lowered the barriers to entry for criminal networks that previously lacked the technical skills to exploit sophisticated and profitable methods,” the report says.

Stephanie Baroud, a criminal intelligence analyst in Interpol’s human trafficking unit, says the impact of AI needs to be considered as part of a pig butchering scammer’s tactics going forward. Baroud, who spoke with WIRED in an interview before the publication of the UN report, says the criminal’s recruitment ads that lure people into being trafficked to scamming compounds used to be “very generic” and full of grammatical errors. However, AI is now making them appear more polished and compelling, Baroud says. “It is really making it easier to create a very realistic job offer,” she says. “Unfortunately, this will make it much more difficult to identify which is the real and which is the fake ads.”

Perhaps the biggest AI paradigm shift in such digital attacks comes from deepfakes. Scammers are increasingly using machine-learning systems to allow for real-time face-swapping. This technology, which has also been used by romance scammers in West Africa, allows criminals to change their appearance on calls with their victims, making them realistically appear to be a different person. The technology is allowing “one-click” face swaps and high-resolution video feeds, the UN’s report states. Such services are a game changer for scammers, because they allow attackers to “prove” to victims in photos or real-time video calls that they are who they claim to be.

Using these setups, however, can require stable internet connections, which can be harder to maintain within some regions where pig butchering compounds and other scamming have flourished. There has been a “notable” increase in cops seizing Starlink satellite dishes in recent months in Southeast Asia, the UN says—80 units were seized between April and June this year. In one such operation carried out in June, Thai police confiscated 58 Starlink devices. In another instance, law enforcement seized 10 Starlink devices and 4,998 preregistered SIM cards while criminals were in the process of moving their operations from Myanmar to Laos. Starlink did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

“Obviously using real people has been working for them very well, but using the tech could be cheaper after they have the required computers” and connectivity, says Troy Gochenour, a volunteer with the Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO), a US-based nonprofit that fights human-trafficking and cybercrime operations in Southeast Asia.

Gochenour’s research involves tracking trends on Chinese-language Telegram channels related to carrying out pig butchering scams. And he says that it is increasingly common to see people applying to be AI models for scam content.

In addition to AI services, attackers have increasingly leaned on other technical solutions as well. One tool that has been increasingly common in digital scamming is so-called “crypto drainers,” a type of malware that has particularly been deployed against victims in Southeast Asia. Drainers can be more or less technically sophisticated, but their common goal is to “drain” funds from a target’s cryptocurrency wallets and redirect the currency to wallets controlled by attackers. Rather than stealing the credentials to access the target wallet directly, drainers are typically designed to look like a legitimate service—either by impersonating an actual platform or creating a plausible brand. Once a victim has been tricked into connecting their wallet to the drainer, they are then manipulated into approving one or a few transactions that grant attackers unintended access to all the funds in the wallet.

Drainers can be used in many contexts and with many fronts. They can be a component of pig butchering investment scams, or promoted to potential victims through compromised social media accounts, phishing campaigns, and malvertizing. Researchers from the firm ScamSniffer, for example, published findings in December about sponsored social media and search engine ads linked to malicious websites that contained a cryptocurrency drainer. The campaign, which ran from March to December 2023 reportedly stole about $59 million from more than 63,000 victims around the world.

Far from the low-tech days of doing everything through social engineering by building a rapport with potential victims and crafting tricky emails and text messages, today’s scammers are taking a hybrid approach to make their operations as efficient and lucrative as possible, UN researchers say. And even if they aren’t developing sophisticated malware themselves in most cases, scammers are increasingly in the market to use these malicious tools, prompting malware authors to adapt or create hacking tools for scams like pig butchering.

Researchers say that scammers have been seen using infostealers and even remote access trojans that essentially create a backdoor in a victim’s system that can be utilized in other types of attacks. And scammers are also expanding their use of malicious smart contracts that appear to programmatically establish a certain agreed-upon transaction or set of transactions, but actually does much more. “Infostealer logs and underground data markets have also been critical to ongoing market expansion, with access to unprecedented amounts of sensitive data serving as a major catalyst,” Wojcik, from the UNODC, says.

The changing tactics are significant as global law enforcement scrambles to deter digital scamming. But they are just one piece of the larger picture, which is increasingly urgent and bleak for forced laborers and victims of these crimes.

“It is now increasingly clear that a potentially irreversible displacement and spillover has taken place in which organized crime are able to pick, choose, and move value and jurisdictions as needed, with the resulting situation rapidly outpacing the capacity of governments to contain it,” UN officials wrote in the report. “Failure to address this ecosystem will have consequences for Southeast Asia and other regions.”