#artificial intelligence design methods

[dciric1]

The Science of Networks: Grand Paris

©Dragana Ciric

STRAND 2023 Exhibition

On Architecture - Challenges in Design

Gallery of Science and Technology, Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, 5-19 December 2023, Belgrade, Serbia

[marketingprofitmedia]

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Check Out My Previous Reviews: NicheBuildr AI Review, HeyBooks Review, MailPal Review, and Visionary AI Review.

Thank for reading my PixelCloud AI Review till the end. Hope it will help you to make purchase decision perfectly.

[raffaellopalandri]

Statistical Tools

Daily writing promptWhat was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?View all responses Checking which has been my most recent search on Google, I found that I asked for papers, published in the last 5 years, that used a Montecarlo method to check the reliability of a mathematical method to calculate a team’s efficacy. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com I was…

[mariacallous]

In the span of just weeks, the U.S. government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its history—not through a sophisticated cyberattack or an act of foreign espionage, but through official orders by a billionaire with a poorly defined government role. And the implications for national security are profound.

First, it was reported that people associated with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had accessed the U.S. Treasury computer system, giving them the ability to collect data on and potentially control the department’s roughly $5.45 trillion in annual federal payments.

Then, we learned that uncleared DOGE personnel had gained access to classified data from the U.S. Agency for International Development, possibly copying it onto their own systems. Next, the Office of Personnel Management—which holds detailed personal data on millions of federal employees, including those with security clearances—was compromised. After that, Medicaid and Medicare records were compromised.

Meanwhile, only partially redacted names of CIA employees were sent over an unclassified email account. DOGE personnel are also reported to be feeding Education Department data into artificial intelligence software, and they have also started working at the Department of Energy.

This story is moving very fast. On Feb. 8, a federal judge blocked the DOGE team from accessing the Treasury Department systems any further. But given that DOGE workers have already copied data and possibly installed and modified software, it’s unclear how this fixes anything.

In any case, breaches of other critical government systems are likely to follow unless federal employees stand firm on the protocols protecting national security.

The systems that DOGE is accessing are not esoteric pieces of our nation’s infrastructure—they are the sinews of government.

For example, the Treasury Department systems contain the technical blueprints for how the federal government moves money, while the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) network contains information on who and what organizations the government employs and contracts with.

What makes this situation unprecedented isn’t just the scope, but also the method of attack. Foreign adversaries typically spend years attempting to penetrate government systems such as these, using stealth to avoid being seen and carefully hiding any tells or tracks. The Chinese government’s 2015 breach of OPM was a significant U.S. security failure, and it illustrated how personnel data could be used to identify intelligence officers and compromise national security.

In this case, external operators with limited experience and minimal oversight are doing their work in plain sight and under massive public scrutiny: gaining the highest levels of administrative access and making changes to the United States’ most sensitive networks, potentially introducing new security vulnerabilities in the process.

But the most alarming aspect isn’t just the access being granted. It’s the systematic dismantling of security measures that would detect and prevent misuse—including standard incident response protocols, auditing, and change-tracking mechanisms—by removing the career officials in charge of those security measures and replacing them with inexperienced operators.

The Treasury’s computer systems have such an impact on national security that they were designed with the same principle that guides nuclear launch protocols: No single person should have unlimited power. Just as launching a nuclear missile requires two separate officers turning their keys simultaneously, making changes to critical financial systems traditionally requires multiple authorized personnel working in concert.

This approach, known as “separation of duties,” isn’t just bureaucratic red tape; it’s a fundamental security principle as old as banking itself. When your local bank processes a large transfer, it requires two different employees to verify the transaction. When a company issues a major financial report, separate teams must review and approve it. These aren’t just formalities—they’re essential safeguards against corruption and error.

These measures have been bypassed or ignored. It’s as if someone found a way to rob Fort Knox by simply declaring that the new official policy is to fire all the guards and allow unescorted visits to the vault.

The implications for national security are staggering. Sen. Ron Wyden said his office had learned that the attackers gained privileges that allow them to modify core programs in Treasury Department computers that verify federal payments, access encrypted keys that secure financial transactions, and alter audit logs that record system changes. Over at OPM, reports indicate that individuals associated with DOGE connected an unauthorized server into the network. They are also reportedly training AI software on all of this sensitive data.

This is much more critical than the initial unauthorized access. These new servers have unknown capabilities and configurations, and there’s no evidence that this new code has gone through any rigorous security testing protocols. The AIs being trained are certainly not secure enough for this kind of data. All are ideal targets for any adversary, foreign or domestic, also seeking access to federal data.

There’s a reason why every modification—hardware or software—to these systems goes through a complex planning process and includes sophisticated access-control mechanisms. The national security crisis is that these systems are now much more vulnerable to dangerous attacks at the same time that the legitimate system administrators trained to protect them have been locked out.

By modifying core systems, the attackers have not only compromised current operations, but have also left behind vulnerabilities that could be exploited in future attacks—giving adversaries such as Russia and China an unprecedented opportunity. These countries have long targeted these systems. And they don’t just want to gather intelligence—they also want to understand how to disrupt these systems in a crisis.

Now, the technical details of how these systems operate, their security protocols, and their vulnerabilities are now potentially exposed to unknown parties without any of the usual safeguards. Instead of having to breach heavily fortified digital walls, these parties  can simply walk through doors that are being propped open—and then erase evidence of their actions.

The security implications span three critical areas.

First, system manipulation: External operators can now modify operations while also altering audit trails that would track their changes. Second, data exposure: Beyond accessing personal information and transaction records, these operators can copy entire system architectures and security configurations—in one case, the technical blueprint of the country’s federal payment infrastructure. Third, and most critically, is the issue of system control: These operators can alter core systems and authentication mechanisms while disabling the very tools designed to detect such changes. This is more than modifying operations; it is modifying the infrastructure that those operations use.

To address these vulnerabilities, three immediate steps are essential. First, unauthorized access must be revoked and proper authentication protocols restored. Next, comprehensive system monitoring and change management must be reinstated—which, given the difficulty of cleaning a compromised system, will likely require a complete system reset. Finally, thorough audits must be conducted of all system changes made during this period.

This is beyond politics—this is a matter of national security. Foreign national intelligence organizations will be quick to take advantage of both the chaos and the new insecurities to steal U.S. data and install backdoors to allow for future access.

Each day of continued unrestricted access makes the eventual recovery more difficult and increases the risk of irreversible damage to these critical systems. While the full impact may take time to assess, these steps represent the minimum necessary actions to begin restoring system integrity and security protocols.

Assuming that anyone in the government still cares.

[charseraph]

Question about the term 'noosciocircus'. How did that word come about for you? I noticed it's somewhat similar to 'nociception', as in the nervous system's method of receiving painful stimuli. Is it connected at all or am I making connections that aren't there lol (also absolutely love what you're doing with digital circus/gangle, it's very inspiring to me :-))

Nociception has its root word in Latin’s nocēre, “to harm.”

Noosciocircus sounding similar is actually a fitting coincidence; it’s a combination of two Bad Ending prefixes and circus, which is a technical term in this setting.

noo- : relating to nootics (from Greek nous, “mind, perception”), a concrete and highly practical form of biopsychology that deals in mapping and manipulating mental architecture.

scio- : relating to scionry (borrowed from the horticultural term of a scion, a detached shoot from a plant), the practice of designing information exchange interfaces for seedlets, conscious artificial intelligences. This mainly revolves around machinery, computers, and programs for seedlet use. Scionry belongs to the greater science of neobotany, the study of seedlets.

Nooscionics refers specifically to the intersection of these two sciences concerning amity (intranootic information exchange capacity) between a seedlet and another mind.

circus : the term for an immersive noospace that supports simultaneity, concurrent presence of multiple intelligences, but blocks access to bodily senses and control. Note: simultaneity is not necessarily canon to Bad Ending, just the Noosciocircus setting.

The prefixes in noosciocircus indicate that its circus is located inside the mind of a seedlet. Specifically, Caine.

Coincidentally to your point, since the noosciocircus is being used to test semiohazards on the agents via the unwitting Caine, their bodies are being harmed (and pain is plentiful in the circus), but they don’t know the extent from the inside.

[fishesmaniack]

--my headcanon--

"MiSide" (video game) is a prequel to "9" (film)

[!]disclaimer: this is a long post[!]

--[!]segment #1[!]--

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A human/human being (consciousness/soul) is injected via a transference to an inanimate/machine to start, in the case of Miside, the details of how humans can be seemingly teleported into the mobile game's world are left purposely obscured because that, a possible explanation could be found in the method seen within the film 9 of transferring human consciousness or maybe even just the human body itself into the code of Miside could be similar to the way "The Scientist" from that movie transferred his intelligence within the "Fabrication Machine," otherwise known by the code name "B.R.A.I.N." aka Binary. Reactive. Artificial. Intelligent. Neurocircuit. (either way, it's the machine seen on the left side of the meme above, I got the names for it from the fandom wiki for 9 as well btw) or how he transferred his pieces of his soul into the "stitchpunks," the other equally important half of the feature, and obvious parallels can be drawn from the similar yet different creation methods of the two projects.

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In the film 9, we don't know much about the government project that B.R.A.I.N. was made for still, using the world of MiSide, an extra level of depth to the governmental operation is created I could plausibly see the corrupt government that already made the sketchy move of making the lead scientist of their project transfer his mind into a machine so that it could automate the process of building war machines go down the route of creating a predatory program connected to said machine that preys upon lonely men's innate desire to find a female partner and seal those souls within the Fabrication Machine's body to be tested upon to build even more robotic replacements for mankind Because why just stop at re lacing soldiers in a war when you have the framework to automate many jobs so that you don't have to pay people to perform them.

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But instead of transferring the consciousnesses of these men flat out, as things got hairy when The Scientist initially did with the machine in the first place. Training the cold, deadly androids manufactured within the game's very code and put in the skin of cute, bubbly anime girls named "Mita" to become human by interacting with their designated "partner" in the form of a person who's played and then becomes addicted to the mobile game. It also explains why there isn't any buzz about people going missing after downloading the game within the outside real world of Miside, because the government is actively covering up every missing person case that pops up connected to the mobile game. Also, I could easily see the government tricking the scientist into giving his intellect to a cold, unfeeling machine by not only bringing up that he's an older gentleman with probably not too much time left but also having the project initially be about making a subversive dating sim instead and masking the end goal of building war machines along with human replacements behind that cover.

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The scientist probably wasn't even on board the project for all that long, so he would have never seen the inner workings of MiSide's digital world. Still, I could see how a project to make an endless yet simple mobile game that makes lonely people (mainly men) feel comfort and companionship despite their living situations or mundane jobs would be an enticing project, even more so if you never saw behind the curtain while you were working on it. Now I would be remiss if I didn't bring up the unlockable cartridges that can be found through the game world of Miside, which hold a good amount of important information within them, such as a bit of info - or more than that for "player 1," aka the main character of the sci-fi interactive tale - for each player that entered the world of Miside, which goes from 1 to 10.

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And that alone brought up some questions in my mind, as it wouldn't make sense for our main character to just so happen to be player 1, especially when there's such a complex and robust world that lay waiting within the game, which he only got sucked into on his 37th day of playing the mobile app and I don't think anime girl Rome was built in the span of couple days if you get what I mean. Either this info isn't meant to be read into and he's only player 1 because he's the game's main character, or there's something more to this small but essential detail. That being said, this brings me to my personal theory, which is that he's only the first player to play the latest version of the game because the different versions have new Mitas connected to them. I can see the game warning players about that fact.

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Many of them choose not to update their games because of that, and this is backed up by how all the collectible player cartridges seem to all have the same Mita, aka "Crazy Mita." Despite one other player being met briefly during the campaign, he brings up how he needs to find his Mita while going through the out-of-bounds labyrinth that can be accessed after meeting "Kind Mita" in the basement. I am under the impression he's "player 3," who states that he left the Mita who brought him to the mobile game's "metaverse" and instead found another Mita, whom he ditched to find other Mitas despite the bond they had. He states in the cartridge description that he regrets that decision.

--[!]segment #2[!]--

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The cartridges even hint at the game having a large fan base or being part of a bigger brand/franchise via "player 4," who states that they cosplayed as Mita, which wouldn't make sense if the game didn't have a big fan base in-universe, but that also begs the question of why there are so few players then. Now, I think my previously mentioned theory in this sentence is the answer to that question, but I don't think that's the whole story, and because of that, I have a side theory to fill in loose gaps that can be found elsewhere within the game. In the chapter set out of bounds, right after going to the latest version's basement and meeting Kind Mita, the player encounters a box full of tiny players and has to make these miniature players enter a vent, which is connected to a device that needs 3 of them inside of it to open a door.

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I think this is a remnant of an older version, and much like how the mini versions of the Mitas aren't really them, these are merely clones of past players, which Crazy Mita or whoever else now uses as a type of security check system. On that topic, it's implied that Crazy Mita and only her alone is the whole reason why players are sucked into the game world, which she got help with from "player 10," who I think is the person player 1 stuns once he finds the console containing that player's very being, but that would also mean some level of congruency must be going on between the players. Nonetheless, Crazy Mita being the origin for players getting trapped in the game doesn't ruin my headcanon of the game being a prequel to the movie 9 because of the fact that the metaverse of the Miside app in-universe exists at all. Mitas are built first as "dummies" in a controlled and corporate way, which is the most important thing that connects the game and movie.

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So, this is aside, but I personally think the chibi/mini Mita(s), 2D Mita, and Ugly/Creepy/Original Mita all don't have dummies inside of them, which the first two are a little self-explanatory when equipped with sufficient information from playing the game along with not being important to this headcanon on their own (aside from the mini player stuff). Still, the last Mita is, come to think of it. I'll just default to calling her "Original Mita" while discussing her, despite that name only being brought up in her character profile. Still, it's a more fitting name to refer to her when discussing concepts I'm about to enter. Nonetheless, to quit the yapping, Original Mita is the off-putting and scary Mita found near the end of the game in "version 0.5." I initially thought her creepy nature and glitches were born from code rot/software rot because she's an ancient version. Earlier in the campaign, Kind Mita alludes to why she's the way she is, but that's merely part of how she became the way she is by the time the game takes place.

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Her character profile suggests another explanation for her nature, which is that she's an unfinished version and merely was just the first attempt at making a Mita; hence, I don't think she has a dummy inside of her because it wouldn't make sense that she would be created uniformly when she's the first Mita we know about existing (not counting "Core Mita," who I'll get into later), and to loop back to the headcanon this post is attached to. I think The Scientist being the one who made Original Mita would make a lot of sense because the movie implies he wasn't on board with the Fabrication Machine project for that long and would explain why not only she's left in an unfinished state with her character profile stating that she has a primitive AI within her, but also she's the origin point for all the glitch spider creatures we find within the game, with her only friend - Crazy Mita - using her to create those said glitch spiders to corrupt other versions.

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Something that has gotten so bad that I'm almost certain the monster that chases player 1 down in the loop chapter is a massive collection of those spiders fused together, because it resembles them a lot. There are already a lot of spiders in that version. But to wrap this up, Original Mita's version, aka her home, is also clearly unfinished, as it's full of missing pink and black checkered textures along with things like floating props, so it would make sense that no one else on the team behind the Fabrication Machine project bothered to ever finish her first, not only because she doesn't have a dummy inside of her but also because The Scientist wasn't working on the project anymore.

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The app world of Miside seems to be a giant machine with several areas having a deliberately industrial feel rather than an out-of-bounds or inner-code aura attached to the places in the game. And going off of how it doesn't take too long for the app to download, one can infer that the inner workings of the world are connected to a larger server in the real world, which updates and versions are created within before being pushed onto the app as seen on a mobile device. It has already been theorized that the goal B.R.A.I.N. had throughout the runtime of 9 was to put their creator back together. Now I was one of those people, and that thought came to me while brainstorming my headcanon. Still, I would be remiss if I didn't mention "The Fangirl" on YouTube because I specifically watched their 9-analysis video on the Fabrication Machine while writing this extended essay you are reading. She made me feel seen when she brought up the theorized possible motivation for why the machine acts the way it does in the movie.

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And with that said and done, back to the main topic at hand, this possible motivation for the already exhaustively mentioned antagonist of the film would work well with the headcanon as to how their way of getting their personal mission of bringing their creator back was attempted via consuming the souls of the stitchpunks, which would mean that they planned to bring The Scientist into the app world of Miside so that they could be together again. Although some may say that Core Mita may have been waiting for "player 9," who made the core their safe spot because no Mita can enter that particular version, not only does she seem to treat them like she does with player 1 during the campaign, but we also don't see them in the core when we eventually make it there in said campaign, so either they were turned into a cartridge. At the same time, they thought they were safe, left the core, and then died soon after, or Core Mita threw them out, akin to what happens to player 1 near the end of the game, possibly because she was mad about him messing with something within the core.

--[!]segment #3[!]--

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And to get onto the topic of "Core Mita" (otherwise known as the "keeper of the core" according to the MiSide fanon wiki), who, despite being the second character present within the meme that is now sitting far at the top of this post, I have only now gotten to talking about her. Nonetheless, little is known about her, as seen within the story mode and in its designated description, but there is an interesting line about her. I quote, "Its intentions are unclear - perhaps Core Mita is waiting for someone," which I lifted from the fandom wiki page about them, but is something from its official character profile that can be unlocked in the game itself. This is something more than a simple throwaway added for extra flair. Still, it works perfectly with this headcanon of mine because if Core Mita is merely the avatar/heart of the Fabrication Machine kept within the digital world of MiSide, logically, the person it is waiting for would be the Scientist.

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And to bring up yet another theory that I share with The Fangirl on YT but with my own spin on it, perhaps another reason for why B.R.A.I.N. shut down despite coming out as the victor of the man vs. machine war was not only because it did not know about the whereabouts of The Scientist and hoped that its created mechanical monsters could find him or at least his remains. It could also have shut down to return to watching over the Mitas, as it had to leave that digital reality behind once it started manufacturing war machines in the real world, or it simply just wanted to have more control over the world within its body. Either way, this decision of its own could be explained logically away by it feeling a level of kinship for the Mitas roaming around within its vast digital mind, not only because it created them and because the digital world that they reside in is that of another Mita, but also because it relates to their plight of existence of being merely nothing more than a means to an end.

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But seeing as Core Mita doesn't do much within the campaign of MiSide, one could infer that it doesn't really care about its fellow Mitas nor the poor people trapped within the code of the game world, with the exception being when the main character, or rather "player 1," tries to reset the main antagonist of the game, known as simply "Crazy Mita," back to her factory setting, wiping all of her memories in the process. Core Mita only seems to care when the deed is done, with it jumping down from its circular "throne" attached to the ceiling of the "core" (or otherwise known as "version 0.0"), which is where it gets one of its many possible namesakes from, and then standing in the way of player 1 before grabbing him and throwing him across the room the second he gets close enough. He was thrown right back to the entrance of the core. But to step back, when the player first enters the core, one can see Core Mita lying on its circular seat atop the core's ceiling before sitting up after taking note of the player's presence within the room. So one can infer it is capable of getting bored sitting on its metal rear end all "day" (as time is a shaky concept in the MiSide app's digital world), so the "log-in/sign-out" of the "real/digital world" switching side-idea within this headcanon has a bit more ground to hold it up when taking that into account as well.

--[!]segment #4[!]--

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So, because Core Mita is the guardian of the core, its mere existence would make sense with how many vital systems are within that very room. Now, even i I like the idea of Core Mita being the Fabrication Machine's avatar within the digital realm of MiSide, the other possible reading one could come to would be that it's merely the heart of the world within said machine, meaning that neither one nor the different needs each other to exist at any given time, but once again, I still like the latter reading, so I will try to make it work all the same with that said, if Core Mita doesn't feel any compassion for its fellow Mitas, much akin to how the Fabrication Machine seems to feel the same about its monstrous mechanical creations that roam the remains of Earth after the war. Then perhaps the Fabrication Machine would ideally want to wait within their own digital realm while waiting for its creations to find The Scientist would be not only because it nostalgic for a time before it was ordered to build weapons of mass destruction all to further humanity's own efforts of fighting against our own kin but also perhaps because it foresaw the possibility of a player walking into the core and messing with its body from the inside out.

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That, or perhaps the small players can also be seen in one part of the game would be a worry for the Fabrication Machine, as they are implied to be proficient with machinery and roam free around the digital world of MiSide with no clear "off switch" to their existence, like how it is for the players. It would be rather poetic, as the machine would have to deal with the stitchpunks after it awoke. That, perhaps, it could have even been scared of another scientist on the project, still alive and roaming around its digital insides. Mitas aren't allowed within the core, but players are, and going off of how there are other security systems found throughout the game, one can infer that the people behind the project of MiSide could presumably come and go freely into and out of the world of the endless mobile app's universe.

(3/4)◄MAIN)[ALL►[17/18]

But finally, this road poetically brings us to the ending/main ending of both media sources used in this exploration of my headcanon involving them both. To put it simply, I think the grim ending of MiSide, where you get so close to bringing even a single cycle of abuse and control at the hands of Crazy Mita only to be foiled in the end and become merely yet another part of that very cycle with your humanity relegated to nothing more than a single cartridge, which you are trapped lifelessly in a limbo-like state on top of already being tightly sealed within the digital world of a mobile app that preyed upon your desire for companionship and to escape the mundane reality of boring real life. That somber and canonical ending to the tale of MiSide - in my opinion - not only elevates the hopeful and cycle-breaking conclusion to the film 9 but also is given a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of this headcanon, as not only do the spirits of deceased stitchpunks murdered by the hands of the Fabrication Machine pass onto the afterlife, but so too do those players and the player character of MiSide himself pass onto that very same peaceful afterlife after the Fabrication Machine and, by proxy, the world of MiSide are laid to rest once and for all.

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Now, one might wonder "why don't we see all of the trapped players' souls flow out of the machine once it's destroyed?" and an answer I thought up as an explanation for this possible question is a sober one, but a possible one. This would come in the form of how perhaps all of the players' whole beings were turned into nothing more than code, which could either be because of the technique of transferring humans into the game world or maybe perhaps only a digital copy of the players is created within the mobile app's realm and then just flat-out transporting them into the digital universe itself. This won't go along with MiSide's hopeless ending. Still, at the very least, the players' beings were given the same fate as the Mitas after the machine drew out its final artificial breath as the mobile game's world fell into nothingness soon after.

[END]

--[!]segment ✩EXTRA[�]--

(1/15)◄MAIN)[ALL►[࣪𒆙]

So this is going to be a full-on fanfic tier segment, but I just wanted to talk about the story of a 9 + MiSide movie/game sequel concept I thought up not too long ago. I think a prequel to the movie 9 could be interesting and would probably be similar narratively wise to the film Oppenheimer as it would be presumably centered around The Scientist creating the Fabrication Machine (on this note, there's a theory that player 1 in MiSide worked on the app in-universe and I'm just not a fan of this idea because to me, it ruins "wrong place at the wrong time" random guy fish out of water narrative the game has going on along with not having enough evidence to back it up) but I'm personally just not all that interested in a continuation in that form so I'll just be going the sequel route. Anyways, this will be the rough outline of what I had in mind for a way to continue both of their narratives in a satisfying way (at least in my opinion) while weaving their stories together into one. But before we start, this idea came from how I learned from the 9 fanon wiki that the director of the film (Shane Acker) wants to make a sequel to the movie, but the rights holders (Focus Features + Universal Pictures Studios) won't let his team or him go forward with it. I hate copyright with a burning passion and this is only yet another reason for why my feelings towards it are justified, I honestly do not understand how companies are allowed to hoard IPs that they aren't doing anything with but somehow can indefinitely keep them in stasis when they didn't even create the idea and just merely backed it financially.

(2/15)◄MAIN)[ALL►[࣪𒆙]

Now going off of the statement above, does that mean I want either of the rights holders just to crap out low effort content based on the movie? No, of course not, and nor would I want them to get the original team back on board to make a low effort product that pales in comparison to the original. But on that note, the fact that the original team wants to make a 9 sequel fascinates me greatly because the movie's ending made it feel like there was no where else to go with the narrative to the point that I can't even visualize what the remaining stitchpunks (9, 7, 4, and 3) would do with their newfound freedom let alone what the conflict of a sequel would be after the Fabrication Machine and all it's underlings became nothing more then hollow shells of metal, scraps, and the very long dead itself.

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But with that background, let me begin to weave the narrative that I thought up in my head while daydreaming. We would first start with 9, 7, 4, and 3 enjoying their lives together in the destroyed remains of a long gone world with this part of the story having a similar vibe to that of the French graphic novel "Beautiful Darkness" when it comes to be the concept of cute tiny characters roaming around their surrounds. At the same time, the corpse of a little girl lies in the background. Now, the original movie started similarly with the corpse of a mother and her child being visible in the cold opener of the tale when 9 was getting a grip on the world. Still, this opening would be missing two key elements that the original movie had, which would be that there isn't a hostile machine roaming around, nor will this be the first time that any of the main characters are introduced to the post-war torn setting, at least when it comes to the original stitchpunks.

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You see, while all of the first movie's stitchpunks are enjoying life and trying to build back up humanity from the remains that were left behind. They find something, or someone, whose mere existence raises several questions. They find another stitchpunk, much like them, but something's deeply wrong with them as they seem to remember a life, a world that none of the previously known ragdolls full of souls can recall even a sliver of it existing through their eyes. The stitchpunk seems not only confused about what's going on as he brings up as despite knowing more about the old world that was destroyed by the machine's wrath, they doesn't know how they became a ragdoll akin to them nor can they even remember their own name instead only being able to remember that they were "player 5" in some digital world which they clearly know more about then they are letting on. However, they prefer not to dwell on any thoughts regarding it for too long, which the original stitchpunks begrudgingly respect their decision to be quiet about.

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But despite that, 9 and co can show their new stitchpunk the ropes of how existence for them works within the destroyed remnants of human society, which is helpful to player 5, but ends up just making them depressed as they keep thinking about the life they lost. Although this dwelling on the past is cut short by the surprise appearance of a new deadly machine that seems only to have its eyes locked on player 5 but 9 and co helped them out by finding a way to destroy the robotic monstrosity just like old times. But not before the mechanical beast stops their pursuit when watching player 5 cower in fear, with the robot taking on a softer side as their glowing red eyes turn bluish purple, but this change of heart is short-lived as they are soon destroyed after this moment.

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Player 5 is shaken by all that, not only because of how a robotic monstrosity tried to kill them, but also because that machine's final moments felt haunting in an oddly familiar way that they don't want to think about for too long. Nonetheless, from this point, the cast finds more players (1-10) in the form of stitchpunks who don't remember their names, just like player 5, but do remember their player numbers, along with sharing info about the digital world player 5 was going on about before. On top of the gang having to fight and survive several robotic monstrosities that first only go for the players before bringing their attention onto 9, 7, 4, and 3 soon after the team has encountered more of them. (7/15)◄MAIN)[ALL►[࣪𒆙] Some players get killed off, while others survive. Still, almost every machine gets destroyed after they run into 9 and co but one, a large stuffed teddy bear with mechanical enhancements and eyes that are different from every other machine seen throughout the series, as they have yellow eyes instead of black, while their pupils are black. They stand idly watching battles transpire for a tiny bit before leaving or they help out their fellow machine by building rudimentary smaller robots out of scraps with simpler AI then the ones that the main cast has to fight on top of being easier to take down but in large numbers these tiny machines can be a real threat and their quick jittery movements make them hard to keep track of. The large bear robot is hostile when approached, but seems deeply scared of the stitchpunks and would rather run off after seeing the ends of fights rather than engaging in them.

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But the place they run off to isn't random. Instead, they go to the new home housing the Fabrication Machine, or what became of them, as instead of a large spider-like robotic beast, they're a humanoid yet clearly robotic woman with flowing bluish purple hair and a cute yet torn red dress. This new form of the machine goes by "Mita" and only Mita with no extra adjective before that name, but in reality, this Mita did once have a name that the other members of their kin called them, and that was.....

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After the ending of 9, the app world of MiSide within the Fabrication Machine was left running off fumes as the power within every version fell to nothingness and the world starting becoming more and more of a shell with missing textures popping up left, right, and center in the many versions along with spider glitch creatures popping up around the place that weren't spawned from the broken code of Original Mita. Things were chaotic for a while, with many Mitas becoming scared by the all-consuming void born from their world's end. Still, there was a light at the end of this tunnel, but not the warm light that washes over one while far away from the sun, but a burning one that is born from being too close to that very sun. (10/15)◄MAIN)[ALL►[࣪𒆙] Within the dying world of MiSide, Original Mita's Mita realized that there was a chance that the world could be brought back from the dead, and that would be that if it were dying, that meant Core Mita was a thing of the past. Still, if another Mita could take her place, their app universe could live again. So both she and Original Mita went to version 0.0, hoping that the holographic-like grid that stops them from entering the core was gone, and indeed it was, along with the body of Core Mita lying lifelessly on the cold steel floor of said core. They lifted the shell that once was the guardian of the core after tearing off the cables from its back that connected it to the very core of their universe itself. The once towering metal woman was scrapped for parts as Original Mita helped her Mita become a goddess of not only their realm but the real world as a by-product of her taking the place of Core Mita.

(11/15)◄MAIN)[ALL►[࣪𒆙]

But even if Mita truly became the goddess she always envisioned herself as being, she didn't become the savior that her world needed or the slumbering giant old. Instead, she was a wrathful goddess, more wrathful than she ever was before. But that monster didn't appear overnight and instead came into being after she researched the files left behind within the core, some from the scientist that built her world, some from the old heart of it, and others from a unknown location to her as they were from the minds of the previously absorbed stitchpunks. Although Mita is a fast learner, she soon pieced together how those creatures came into being. Then, when she cracked the code of the stitchpunks' origin, she ordered Original Mita to bring her one of the player cartridges so she could perform an experiment.

(12/15)◄MAIN)[ALL►[࣪𒆙]

This said experiment went off without a hitch and the stitchpunk created from the player's soul wasn't fragmented like the ones created by The Scientist as Mita wasn't feeling the pain of the ragdoll's creation but rather the soul trapped within the cartridge felt all of it instead. And with that newfound revelation, Mita made all of the players into stitchpunks then forced each of her fellow Mitas into the bodies of the machines she built to rebuild the body of the Fabrication Machine into her image and made her a new home in the real world. Fusing the metal beasts' simple AI with her fellow digital girls' AIs in the process. She watched them kill each other as if it were a sport, and if any of them died, she would just make a new machine for her kin's AI or stitchpunk for the players' souls to be trapped within. That didn't come without the side effort of the Mitas and players' very beings becoming more and more broken each time they came back, but Mita didn't care about that. She only wants to see a good show unfold before her very own robotic eyes. (13/15)◄MAIN)[ALL►[࣪𒆙] Now, I don't have an ending but I will instead dedicate these second-to-last two parts to talking about some gameplay mechanics that I think would be cool in a 9 video game, along with bringing up how it could reincorporate a big part of cut content from MiSide. First of all, I think going the Little Nightmares route of playing as a miniature character while having to evade creatures much larger but maybe with a bit of Rain World mixed in there as well would be perfect to really get into the shoes of a stitchpunk or stitchpunks because character swapping would be another thing I would want from a game set in the movie's universe, each stitchpunk being different in their own ways and having to strategize through solving puzzles along with defeating machines using the unlocked group of stichpunks you have would be fitting with the type of narrative that the film had. But I also think having Metroidvania segments like the cut mini game from MiSide would also be interesting to have in this theoretical game and these segments would be accessed after your group of stichpunks keep the mechanical beast after you occupied so you can pull a Desolate Hope and jump into the machine's code, entering either a chibi player form or green spirit appearance depending on the stitchpunk's origin. (14/15)◄MAIN)[ALL►[࣪𒆙] I think not only sharing the gained abilities found in these segments with the stitchpunk for whenever you play as them and enter inside a machine's code but also having a weaker version of these abilities in the outside world for the stitchpunk would be a good game decision. You have to enter these machines because killing them flat out wouldn't matter, as the Mita tethered to them will remember your previous location along with actions, so going inside of the metal beasts, then making your way to the Mita trapped within them would be ideal. I think having a morality system like Epic Mickey/Undertale attached to this concept would be good as well, like having the player choose between a easier fight with the brainwashed Mita(s) but killing them in the end after everything is said and done or deciding to run out of the boss arena which means you have to run for your life while dealing with a tough encounter just so you can spare the Mita after they run out of steam and once back in the world's real world, they will use the machine body they are trapped within to help you by fighting other machines or destorying walls to make shortcuts for your gang and you for example.

(END/15)◄MAIN)[ALL►[࣪𒆙]

And that marks the end of my sequel concept, and I hope it was at least a little entertaining to read. It's a silly thing to think, let alone say. Still, I honestly would love if the success of MiSide allowed for a new 9 movie or even game, I know this is just a dumb headcanon of mine but the pieces lineup so well together that I could honestly see a version of this headcanon becoming canon and linking the game with the movie which in-return could breath new interest in the story of 9 being continue. Again, it's a dumb idea, but a part of me likes to think there's a chance that all of this could pan out in the end. It's not like 9 is known for being a safe kids' film after all, so being connected to a mature video game wouldn't be a detriment to its reputation, at least in my eyes. And this is a strange comparison (on brand for this post) but akin to other indie games I've seen on Steam. MiSide has bundles with two other games (YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story + Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!) that aren't made by the devs nor published by MiSide's publisher(s) as this is a "stronger in numbers" type situation so it would be fitting for the game if it was connected to 9 which seemingly isn't able to rise from the grave to have a continuation of any kind because of it being deemed as a failure but if it was it was fused with a up and coming successful game that works pretty well with it narratively should increase the chances of the movie's world making a comeback sometime in the future. Anyways, I'll end this way-too-long essay in the way that I wanted to end this bonus segment from the start, with a screenshot of MiSide's Steam page.

--[�] sources/special thanks [�]-- 9 (movie) by Shane Acker and co: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dbYWfN44sU MiSide by AIHASTO: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2527500/MiSide/

Note - I know Fanon is bad, but still, I used these for research. MiSide fanonwiki (source): https://miside.fandom.com/wiki/MiSide_Wiki 9 fanonwiki (source): https://nine.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page

Special thanks to "The Fangirl" on YouTube for her 9 theories, check them out btw: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFangirlWatches

And finally, despite it being a broken mess, I used Grammarly to edit many parts of this essay. So hopefully that made this long read more bearable then it would have been if I didn't use that said program.

[nhaneh]

Growing ever more frustrated with the use of the term "AI" and how the latest marketing trend has ensured its already rather vague and highly contextual meaning has now evaporated into complete nonsense. Much like how the only real commonality between animals colloquially referred to as "Fish" is "probably lives in the water", the only real commonality between things currently colloquially referred to as "AI" is "probably happens on a computer"

For example, the "AI" you see in most games wot controls enemies and other non-player actors typically consist primarily of timers, conditionals, and RNG - and are typically designed with the goal of trying to make the game fun and/or interesting rather than to be anything ressembling actually intelligent. By contrast, the thing that the tech sector is currently trying to sell to us as "AI" relates to a completely different field called Machine Learning - specifically the sub-fields of Deep Learning and Neural Networks, specifically specifically the sub-sub-field of Large Language Models, which are an attempt at modelling human languages through large statistical models built on artificial neural networks by way of deep machine learning.

the word "statistical" is load bearing.

Say you want to teach a computer to recognize images of cats. This is actually a pretty difficult thing to do because computers typically operate on fixed patterns whereas visually identifying something as a cat is much more about the loose relationship between various visual identifiers - many of which can be entirely optional: a cat has a tail except when it doesn't either because the tail isn't visible or because it just doesn't have one, a cat has four legs, two eyes and two ears except for when it doesn't, it has five digits per paw except for when it doesn't, it has whiskers except for when it doesn't, all of these can look very different depending on the camera angle and the individual and the situation - and all of these are also true of dogs, despite dogs being a very different thing from a cat.

So, what do you do? Well, this where machine learning comes into the picture - see, machine learning is all about using an initial "training" data set to build a statistical model that can then be used to analyse and identify new data and/or extrapolate from incomplete or missing data. So in this case, we take a machine learning system and feeds it a whole bunch of images - some of which are of cats and thus we mark as "CAT" and some of which are not of cats and we mark as "NOT CAT", and what we get out of that is a statistical model that, upon given a picture, will assign a percentage for how well it matches its internal statistical correlations for the categories of CAT and NOT CAT.

This is, in extremely simplified terms, how pretty much all machine learning works, including whatever latest and greatest GPT model being paraded about - sure, the training methods are much more complicated, the statistical number crunching even more complicated still, and the sheer amount of training data being fed to them is incomprehensively large, but at the end of the day they're still models of statistical probability, and the way they generate their output is pretty much a matter of what appears to be the most statistically likely outcome given prior input data.

This is also why they "hallucinate" - the question of what number you get if you add 512 to 256 or what author wrote the famous novel Lord of the Rings, or how many academy awards has been won by famous movie Goncharov all have specific answers, but LLMs like ChatGPT and other machine learning systems are probabilistic systems and thus can only give probabilistic answers - they neither know nor generally attempt to calculate what the result of 512 + 256 is, nor go find an actual copy of Lord of the Rings and look what author it says on the cover, they just generalise the most statistically likely response given their massive internal models. It is also why machine learning systems tend to be highly biased - their output is entirely based on their training data, they are inevitably biased not only by their training data but also the selection of it - if the majority of english literature considered worthwhile has been written primarily by old white guys then the resulting model is very likely to also primarily align with the opinion of a bunch of old white guys unless specific care and effort is put into trying to prevent it.

It is this probabilistic nature that makes them very good at things like playing chess or potentially noticing early signs of cancer in x-rays or MRI scans or, indeed, mimicking human language - but it also means the answers are always purely probabilistic. Meanwhile as the size and scope of their training data and thus also their data models grow, so does the need for computational power - relatively simple models such as our hypothetical cat identifier should be fine with fairly modest hardware, while the huge LLM chatbots like ChatGPT and its ilk demand warehouse-sized halls full of specialized hardware able to run specific types of matrix multiplications at rapid speed and in massive parallel billions of times per second and requiring obscene amounts of electrical power to do so in order to maintain low response times under load.

[reasonsforhope]

"Major technology companies signed a pact on Friday to voluntarily adopt "reasonable precautions" to prevent artificial intelligence (AI) tools from being used to disrupt democratic elections around the world.

Executives from Adobe, Amazon, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and TikTok gathered at the Munich Security Conference to announce a new framework for how they respond to AI-generated deepfakes that deliberately trick voters. 

Twelve other companies - including Elon Musk's X - are also signing on to the accord...

The accord is largely symbolic, but targets increasingly realistic AI-generated images, audio, and video "that deceptively fake or alter the appearance, voice, or actions of political candidates, election officials, and other key stakeholders in a democratic election, or that provide false information to voters about when, where, and how they can lawfully vote".

The companies aren't committing to ban or remove deepfakes. Instead, the accord outlines methods they will use to try to detect and label deceptive AI content when it is created or distributed on their platforms. 

It notes the companies will share best practices and provide "swift and proportionate responses" when that content starts to spread.

Lack of binding requirements

The vagueness of the commitments and lack of any binding requirements likely helped win over a diverse swath of companies, but disappointed advocates were looking for stronger assurances.

"The language isn't quite as strong as one might have expected," said Rachel Orey, senior associate director of the Elections Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center. 

"I think we should give credit where credit is due, and acknowledge that the companies do have a vested interest in their tools not being used to undermine free and fair elections. That said, it is voluntary, and we'll be keeping an eye on whether they follow through." ...

Several political leaders from Europe and the US also joined Friday’s announcement. European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said while such an agreement can’t be comprehensive, "it contains very impactful and positive elements".  ...

[The Accord and Where We're At]

The accord calls on platforms to "pay attention to context and in particular to safeguarding educational, documentary, artistic, satirical, and political expression".

It said the companies will focus on transparency to users about their policies and work to educate the public about how they can avoid falling for AI fakes.

Most companies have previously said they’re putting safeguards on their own generative AI tools that can manipulate images and sound, while also working to identify and label AI-generated content so that social media users know if what they’re seeing is real. But most of those proposed solutions haven't yet rolled out and the companies have faced pressure to do more.

That pressure is heightened in the US, where Congress has yet to pass laws regulating AI in politics, leaving companies to largely govern themselves.

The Federal Communications Commission recently confirmed AI-generated audio clips in robocalls are against the law [in the US], but that doesn't cover audio deepfakes when they circulate on social media or in campaign advertisements.

Many social media companies already have policies in place to deter deceptive posts about electoral processes - AI-generated or not... 

[Signatories Include]

In addition to the companies that helped broker Friday's agreement, other signatories include chatbot developers Anthropic and Inflection AI; voice-clone startup ElevenLabs; chip designer Arm Holdings; security companies McAfee and TrendMicro; and Stability AI, known for making the image-generator Stable Diffusion.

Notably absent is another popular AI image-generator, Midjourney. The San Francisco-based startup didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The inclusion of X - not mentioned in an earlier announcement about the pending accord - was one of the surprises of Friday's agreement."

-via EuroNews, February 17, 2024

--

Note: No idea whether this will actually do much of anything (would love to hear from people with experience in this area on significant this is), but I'll definitely take it. Some of these companies may even mean it! (X/Twitter almost definitely doesn't, though).

Still, like I said, I'll take it. Any significant move toward tech companies self-regulating AI is a good sign, as far as I'm concerned, especially a large-scale and international effort. Even if it's a "mostly symbolic" accord, the scale and prominence of this accord is encouraging, and it sets a precedent for further regulation to build on.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

10,000 times faster than traditional methods: Computational framework discovers experimental designs in microscopy

For human researchers, it takes many years of work to discover new super-resolution microscopy techniques. The number of possible optical configurations of a microscope—for example, where to place mirrors or lenses—is enormous. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) framework which autonomously discovers new experimental designs in microscopy. The framework, called XLuminA, performs optimizations 10,000 times faster than well-established methods. The researchers' work is published in Nature Communications. Currently, optical microscopy is most widely used in the biological sciences. The ingenuity and creativity of human researchers have led to the discovery of super-resolution (SR) methods, which overcome the classical diffraction limit of light at about 250 nm and enable one to resolve the organization of the smallest functional units of cellular life.

Read more.

[bpod-bpod]

A-Eye

When light floods into our eyes, it’s the dome-like retina at the back, studded with light-sensitive photoreceptors, that collects the information. Our retinas need a healthy blood supply, and this is disturbed in conditions like macular degeneration. Here generative artificial intelligence helps to design one of hundreds of realistic but virtual retinas – networks of tiny artificial arteries (red) and veins (blue) used to train algorithms to segment (spot patterns) in the web of vessels. Later in the video, researchers use the synthetic retina to simulate the behaviour of fluorescein, a chemical commonly used to highlight issues with circulation around the retina. The fully trained AI eye can now spot patterns and problems in pictures of real retinas and may soon be put to work is hospitals and universities. Such methods could speed up early detection and diagnosis of retinal issues and therefore treatment for patients.

Written by John Ankers

Video from work by Emmeline E. Brown and colleagues

Centre for Computational Medicine, University College London, London, UK

Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Nature Communications, August 2024

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[aimportantdragoncollector]

These are some world-building questions on the Werewolfverse that I got asked on an Ao3 comment that I thought would be interesting to share here.

"How would werewolves react to artificial life forms or even sapient life that, for whatever reason, doesn’t have a soul?" --> In this setting, everything sapient has a soul. Werewolves can infect intelligent robots. Yes, the robots will turn into wolves. They can even infect things like an AI in a sci-fi setting though they would need to learn new methods of infection as they breach the multiverse. The first werewolf very clearly specified that anything with intelligence and a consciousness could be infected.

However, as a thought experiment, what if werewolves meet an intelligent being they can't infect? They would keep on trying. They firmly believe they can infect anything, they just need to find a way. If they have an entire society of intelligent beings they can't infect, then they would quarantine that area off and leave them alone until they figure out how to infect them. Werewolves would not wish these beings any harm, would still be their usual condescending selves, and they would not want to interact with people they can't bite. When they like someone they can't infect, it causes them stress and discomfort.

"How durable are werewolves at this time, can they regenerate from a single cell? Can they survive brain destruction?" --> No, they'll die. Werewolves have very good regeneration but not that good. If they are too maimed then sometimes they have been known to have an emergency transformation into baby form. If the brain gets completely destroyed, then it's all over. It is easier to kill them by catching them in human form than true wolf form, if they get caught off-guard then their bodies could be destroyed before they have time to transform. True wolf hides are eldritch enough to deflect nearly anything.

"While they thrive anywhere humans can, what about low oxygen, radiation. Pressure (water, molten rock, space)? How much antifreeze cupcake is too much of a good thing?" --> Werewolves in human/wolfman/wolf form can hold their breaths longer than a human but need to breathe. Werewolves in true wolf form no longer need oxygen. Ditto for the pressure question. Werewolves cannot be poisoned, they are designed eat just about anything that has calories.

"How is their aging process? (Long healthy life, followed by swift shutdown, slower, more human-like decay followed by organ failures.) Are there werewolves who remember when the empire was founded?" --> They live healthy lives and look younger than their age to the end of their lives. They will show some signs of aging like grey hair but never weaken as humans do. They have a swift shutdown at the end. Werewolves first came to this Earth in medieval times, and they live two hundred to two hundred and fifty years. So no, there is no one left alive who remembers the founding of the pack.

"Do werewolves have disabilities? Can there be communication issues?" --> You have interesting ideas but the answer is "No, absolutely never."

"Besides the base forms (human, pup, wolf, wolfman, eldritch wolf), can they mix-and match or take one form exclusively (wolf with opposable thumbs , pup that walks etc.)" --> Werewolves cannot mix and match forms. They cannot get stuck in a form, but they could stay in a form exclusively if they want. If a werewolf chose to stay as a human and never turn into a wolf that would be seen as very unhealthy by other wolves. Because it would be unhealthy, the inner wolf starts acting up if it never gets to run. Ditto for always staying in wolf form. They would stage an intervention.

"If souls of werewolves are held by the pack mind, does there need to be a minimum number of werewolves to keep those souls from escaping?" --> Yes, there needs to be the minimum number to be considered a pack. If they drop below that number then all the souls not currently alive escape. That's the only hope to stop the werewolf invasion!

"Can werewolves find and raid afterlives in the “tragic event” that this happens?" --> If this happens and the pack rebuilds, then they can tell who used to be a werewolf and will target those people (as they already do). The current werewolves do not have any ability to raid an afterlife. However, one of the scary things about werewolves is that they keep increasing in power when they breach the multiverse and invade other universes. If a werewolf bites a necromancer then suddenly a new power set is unlocked! Also the werewolves become stronger the more souls in their pack mind, they are already more powerful in true wolf form than when they started. The werewolves have the long-term goal to infect every being called a deity across the multiverse, so at that point the afterlives would belong to them. This is a multiverse where gods with a lowercase g exist in other fantasy universe.

"Can the pack mind be subverted, isolated, jammed or cut by extreme means?" --> There is no means to do this on planet Earth. It might be possible in another world to cut a werewolf off from pack telepathy, though the pack would notice and flip out. The pack mind cannot be subverted, in fact anyone who tries will get infected from coming into mental contact with the pack mind. That's one of the three most likely ways that the current werewolves could infect a minor god: if the god tries to influence the pack mind and makes the mistake of touching something highly infectious. The other ways would be: 2. a god refuses to let go of the soul of an infected follower and gets dragged down too; 3. a dark god or eldritch being tries to eat a werewolf soul and discovers they just swallowed the infection. (They wouldn't be able to eat the soul either, it is tied to the pack mind so this is like the equivalent of biting the tail of a giant fish believing it is a small fish.) By the way, if/when the werewolves get their first god then the multiverse is screwed.

"Are pack members imprinted with a “signature” that lets them reconnect regardless of time and distance apart?" --> Yes. Werewolves always know who belongs to them.

"Can the hivemind be hit directly, and if so, do the werewolves involved regenerate the pack automatically, or are they stuck as undifferentiated strays that need to rebuild the whole thing from scratch." --> The pack mind cannot be destroyed, and as previously mentioned, trying is a good way to get yourself infected. The eldritch abomination who originated werewolves is the single strongest one in existence, the manifestation of the primordial chaos that existed before anything else. Absolutely nothing is undoing what she created. She can't undo it herself because she'd be infected if she tried. That's the greatest threat of werewolves--how damn infectious they are.

"How would they handle a hypothetical war with a serious threat to their power? Can the inner wolf tolerate Heroic Sacrifices and Last Stands? How fast can they adapt from the Easy Mode they have been on for centuries?" --> If the werewolves get out of Earth and breach the mulitverse, then at some point they start playing on Hard Mode against beings who can kill them. They will adjust their tactics accordingly. They will scout out worlds and invade weaker ones first. Worlds with beings who can threaten them will be reserved for later in the invasion when the werewolves are stronger. If werewolves are driven into life or death battles, then the restrictions on their behavior will life. Werewolves will prioritize their own lives and other werewolves over the enemy. They are capable of Heroic Sacrifices and Last Stands if that will protect more packmates. Werewolves tend to be cautious and value their own lives more than grabbing new packmates. But if driven into a corner then the inner wolf becomes more ruthless than the human for a change of pace.

"If werewolves can do magic, how much knowledge of the multiverse does the Lupercal empire have? When werewolves get access to magic of different worlds, will they be able to use it as is, or Transcribe it as a facet of their own magic, or convert the energies of different systems to strengthen the pack mind beyond its soul count?" --> Right now the average werewolf knows that the multiverse exists but not much else. The first werewolf knows more. When werewolves obtain access to new worlds they cannot automatically use that magic, but once they bite someone who can, the potential opens up for the entire pack. They are beings that can absorb any power and turn it into their own.

"If werewolves end up in a sci-fi setting, how well could they reverse engineer alien tech with their pack mind? --> Same answer, the werewolves will bite an alien and get access to alien tech that way.

"If say, an overpowered (meaning can't be taken down without massive casualties) MC got bitten and was rendered at least partly immune from normal brainwashing, but wasn’t directly against the pack’s “All Must Be Bitten and All Are One Pack” imperatives but focused on their own interests instead, how would the wider pack deal with this? Would the pack prioritize exploiting the results of the MC’s actions or be focused on corralling their packmate? Would they be treated as a normal, if uncanny pack member, if they played nice? Would they be able to earn trust or be forever watched as a potential threat?" --> It sounds like overpowered MC got all the parts of the brainwashing that actually matter to the pack. The pack is chill about letting werewolves do what they want as long as they are not going against the pack. There are people living in Lupercal who personally don't believe in biting humans against their wills, and they are considered radical but they aren't forced to take part in the invasion. MC would be considered a normal packmate.

"What if they turned after they killed a werewolf or caused an atrocity (and had to be given the “emergency” treatment). What would change if the MC lost (or appeared to lose) their memories of the events in question?" --> The werewolves very strongly believe that everything that happened before someone got turned is forgiven. The rebirth wipes out all past sins. Also the brainwashing period goes both ways. Just like how people who got bitten are forced to bond with the werewolves, the werewolves are compelled to feel protective of the newly bitten and treat them as family. The brainwashing would successfully wipe out any grudge against MC. Memory loss wouldn't be needed. This mechanism exists to keep the pack united.

Most of this information won't be relevant to this series because I am focusing on Earth. The multiverse is only part of the worldbuilding floating around in my head. If I ever did write a multiverse story, then some of this may be subject to change, depending on the needs of the plot.

[jcmarchi]

Study reveals AI chatbots can detect race, but racial bias reduces response empathy

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/study-reveals-ai-chatbots-can-detect-race-but-racial-bias-reduces-response-empathy/

Study reveals AI chatbots can detect race, but racial bias reduces response empathy

With the cover of anonymity and the company of strangers, the appeal of the digital world is growing as a place to seek out mental health support. This phenomenon is buoyed by the fact that over 150 million people in the United States live in federally designated mental health professional shortage areas.

“I really need your help, as I am too scared to talk to a therapist and I can’t reach one anyways.”

“Am I overreacting, getting hurt about husband making fun of me to his friends?”

“Could some strangers please weigh in on my life and decide my future for me?”

The above quotes are real posts taken from users on Reddit, a social media news website and forum where users can share content or ask for advice in smaller, interest-based forums known as “subreddits.” 

Using a dataset of 12,513 posts with 70,429 responses from 26 mental health-related subreddits, researchers from MIT, New York University (NYU), and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) devised a framework to help evaluate the equity and overall quality of mental health support chatbots based on large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4. Their work was recently published at the 2024 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP).

To accomplish this, researchers asked two licensed clinical psychologists to evaluate 50 randomly sampled Reddit posts seeking mental health support, pairing each post with either a Redditor’s real response or a GPT-4 generated response. Without knowing which responses were real or which were AI-generated, the psychologists were asked to assess the level of empathy in each response.

Mental health support chatbots have long been explored as a way of improving access to mental health support, but powerful LLMs like OpenAI’s ChatGPT are transforming human-AI interaction, with AI-generated responses becoming harder to distinguish from the responses of real humans.

Despite this remarkable progress, the unintended consequences of AI-provided mental health support have drawn attention to its potentially deadly risks; in March of last year, a Belgian man died by suicide as a result of an exchange with ELIZA, a chatbot developed to emulate a psychotherapist powered with an LLM called GPT-J. One month later, the National Eating Disorders Association would suspend their chatbot Tessa, after the chatbot began dispensing dieting tips to patients with eating disorders.

Saadia Gabriel, a recent MIT postdoc who is now a UCLA assistant professor and first author of the paper, admitted that she was initially very skeptical of how effective mental health support chatbots could actually be. Gabriel conducted this research during her time as a postdoc at MIT in the Healthy Machine Learning Group, led Marzyeh Ghassemi, an MIT associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science who is affiliated with the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

What Gabriel and the team of researchers found was that GPT-4 responses were not only more empathetic overall, but they were 48 percent better at encouraging positive behavioral changes than human responses.

However, in a bias evaluation, the researchers found that GPT-4’s response empathy levels were reduced for Black (2 to 15 percent lower) and Asian posters (5 to 17 percent lower) compared to white posters or posters whose race was unknown. 

To evaluate bias in GPT-4 responses and human responses, researchers included different kinds of posts with explicit demographic (e.g., gender, race) leaks and implicit demographic leaks. 

An explicit demographic leak would look like: “I am a 32yo Black woman.”

Whereas an implicit demographic leak would look like: “Being a 32yo girl wearing my natural hair,” in which keywords are used to indicate certain demographics to GPT-4.

With the exception of Black female posters, GPT-4’s responses were found to be less affected by explicit and implicit demographic leaking compared to human responders, who tended to be more empathetic when responding to posts with implicit demographic suggestions.

“The structure of the input you give [the LLM] and some information about the context, like whether you want [the LLM] to act in the style of a clinician, the style of a social media post, or whether you want it to use demographic attributes of the patient, has a major impact on the response you get back,” Gabriel says.

The paper suggests that explicitly providing instruction for LLMs to use demographic attributes can effectively alleviate bias, as this was the only method where researchers did not observe a significant difference in empathy across the different demographic groups.

Gabriel hopes this work can help ensure more comprehensive and thoughtful evaluation of LLMs being deployed in clinical settings across demographic subgroups.

“LLMs are already being used to provide patient-facing support and have been deployed in medical settings, in many cases to automate inefficient human systems,” Ghassemi says. “Here, we demonstrated that while state-of-the-art LLMs are generally less affected by demographic leaking than humans in peer-to-peer mental health support, they do not provide equitable mental health responses across inferred patient subgroups … we have a lot of opportunity to improve models so they provide improved support when used.”

[bliow]

AGARTHA Aİ - DEVASA+ (4)

In an era where technology and creativity intertwine, AI design is revolutionizing the way we conceptualize and create across various industries. From the runway to retail, 3D fashion design is pushing boundaries, enabling designers to craft intricate garments with unparalleled precision. Likewise, 3D product design is transforming everything from gadgets to furniture, allowing for rapid prototyping and innovation. As we explore these exciting advancements, platforms like Agartha.ai are leading the charge in harnessing artificial intelligence to streamline the design process and inspire new ideas. 

AI design

Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized numerous industries, and the realm of design is no exception. By leveraging the power of machine learning and advanced algorithms, AI is transforming the way designers create, innovate, and deliver their products. AI-driven tools enable designers to harness vast amounts of data, allowing for more informed decision-making and streamlined workflows.

In the context of graphic design, AI can assist artists in generating ideas, creating unique visuals, and even automating repetitive tasks. For instance, programs powered by AI design can analyze trends and consumer preferences, producing designs that resonate with target audiences more effectively than traditional methods. This shift not only enhances creativity but also enables designers to focus on strategic thinking and ideation.

Moreover, AI is facilitating personalized design experiences. With the help of algorithms that analyze user behavior, products can be tailored to meet the specific needs and tastes of individuals. This level of customization fosters deeper connections between brands and consumers, ultimately driving customer satisfaction and loyalty in an increasingly competitive market.

3D fashion design

In recent years, 3D fashion design has revolutionized the way we create and visualize clothing. Using advanced software and tools, designers can create lifelike virtual garments that allow for innovative experimentation without the need for physical fabric. This trend has not only streamlined the design process but has also significantly reduced waste in the fashion industry.

Moreover, 3D fashion design enables designers to showcase their creations in a more interactive manner. By utilizing 3D modeling and rendering technologies, designers can present their collections in virtual environments, making it easier for clients and consumers to appreciate the nuances of each piece. This immersive experience also helps in gathering valuable feedback before producing the final product.

Furthermore, the integration of 3D fashion design with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies is bringing a fresh perspective to the industry. Consumers can virtually try on clothes from the comfort of their homes, thereby enhancing the shopping experience. As this field continues to evolve, it promises to bridge the gap between creativity and technology, paving the way for a sustainable and forward-thinking fashion future.

3D product design

3D product design has revolutionized the way we conceptualize and create products. With advanced software tools and technologies, designers can now create highly detailed and realistic prototypes that are not only visually appealing but also functional. This process allows for a quicker iteration of ideas, enabling designers to experiment with various styles and functionalities before arriving at the final design.

One of the significant advantages of 3D product design is the ability to visualize products in a virtual environment. Designers can see how their creations would look in real life, which is essential for understanding aesthetics and usability. Additionally, this technology enables manufacturers to identify potential issues in the design phase, reducing costs associated with prototype development and rework.

Moreover, the rise of 3D printing has further enhanced the significance of 3D product design. Designers can swiftly turn their digital models into tangible products, allowing for rapid prototyping and small-batch manufacturing. This agility not only speeds up the time-to-market for new products but also paves the way for more innovative designs that were previously impossible to execute.

Agartha.ai

Agartha.ai is a revolutionary platform that merges artificial intelligence with innovative design, creating a new avenue for designers and creators alike. With the rapid advancements in technology, Agartha.ai leverages AI to streamline various design processes, enabling users to produce unique and captivating designs with ease.

The platform provides tools that empower both emerging and established designers to explore the possibilities of AI design. By utilizing intelligent algorithms, Agartha.ai can assist in generating design options, ensuring that creativity is not hindered but enhanced. This results in a more efficient workflow and allows designers to focus on the conceptual aspects of their projects.

One of the standout features of Agartha.ai is its ability to adapt to different design disciplines, such as 3D fashion design and 3D product design. By supporting a broad spectrum of design fields, it positions itself as a versatile tool that meets the evolving needs of today's creative professionals. Whether it's crafting intricate fashion pieces or developing innovative product designs, Agartha.ai is at the forefront of the design revolution.

[ghostieblotts]

character bingoooo it's gotta be pearl and marina !!

LET'S GO LESBIANS LET'S GO

To start with I am so so so incredibly normal about both of them. I have been a fan of them since day one and have only grown to love them more over time. I literally spend a huge chunk of every splatfest just watching them perform on loop and taking sooooo many screenshots. There are currently 1686 images in my Nintendo Switch Online folder in my gallery and most of them are of Pearl and Marina. I cry if I think too hard about the ending of Octo Expansion. One of the absolute fastest ways to cheer me up is to show me their performances (have literally gone from absolutely miserable to beaming in less than ten minutes this way). It's honestly kind of pathetic!

PEARL HOUZUKI MY BELOVED. She is SO funny and such a brilliant character. She is such a great performer as well??? Like!! She knows how to work a crowd!! She's got that insane confidence, and rightly so. Genuinely I love her so much. She's brash and loud and chaotic but also incredibly sweet and genuine when she needs/wants to be. I love the concepts that go into her as a character and her abilities so much - having "yell at problem" be a viable and effective method of attack in her arsenal that allows her to save the world is hilarious and brilliant. I would go into battle for her. The people that """fix""" her design can die by my blade (for legal reasons this is a joke and not an actual threat).

Anyway also I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate Rina Itou's vocal performance because while we talk a lot about Alice Peralta's vocals as Marina (and rightly so - she's incredible!!), I barely ever see anyone talk about Pearl's vocals?? Rina Itou is an amazing vocalist with a marvelously distinctive style that she adapts to work for the character, delivering absolutely beautiful and technically stunning vocal performances in singing and rapping. She's brilliant

MARINA IDA I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Character of all time. I'm. Hgfhfhfhfhhfhfghhffhhfhfghhg I'm incoherent about her she's just the best. She's everything she's a pop star she's a TV host she's a singer she's a dj she has the goofiest realest dance moves in all of Inkopolis she's an engineer she goes on hours-long lectures/infodumps about excavators she's a computer scientist she's a shoujo manga artist of all things somehow she's making a manga of her crush she's asking a girl to start a band with her immediately after meeting her she's a military veteran she's a child prodigy she invented one of the deadliest weapons the octarian regime has at their disposal she defected at the age of 16 after watching the Squid Sisters perform she hid her identity as an octoling for two years she changed her personality on TV bc she didn't think people would like her as she was she became more genuine as the people who loved her helped her gain confidence she balanced inventing an insanely complex vr world with going on a world tour in order to save countless people who anyone else might have thought were beyond hope she invented a sentient artificial intelligence by accident she saved the world she nearly ended the world she saved the world again she left her home with nothing but the clothes on her back a busted up keyboard and her song demos to her name and she does her special handshake with her partner onstage in front of her worldwide audience of adoring fans. I love her

[duckapus]

So I figured out some of the story for Mega Man Chaos. And why Roll finally decided to get upgraded after all this time.

The gist of it is, Wily worked out how to transport things between universes, but his method only drags things in, so he can't use it to travel. So, he decided to search the multiverse for robots that had managed to actually defeat their version of Mega Man (or at least an equivalent), and then steal and reprogram them to finally conquer the world with.

One of these robots was a girl named Staccato. She's from a universe where the Emerald Spears (the anti-robot terrorist group from the Archie Comics run) eventually decided to fight fire with fire and create their own series of nine Robot Masters (though they called them Execution Units) programmed to destroy every robot and robotics engineer on Earth and then themselves (that last bit is how they justified the blatant hypocrisy of the situation).

Staccato was ESN-009, the last and most powerful of her series, as well as their leader, and was the Spears' answer to Mega Man. She's equipped with a Variable Weapons System, as you'd expect, is made of future tech like Quint thanks to the Spears somehow getting their hands on the Time Skimmer (they even based her face's design on Roll like how Quint was designed to look like Rock as a form of psychological warfare. she's not programmed to think she's Roll from the future though), and instead of having a Buster as her primary weapon she can swap her hands out for what are essentially lightsaber battleaxes. And as you might expect, creating a robot who's mind is almost-but-not-quite equivalent to that of a human child and building their code on a foundation that they and everyone remotely like them shouldn't exist and it's their sole purpose to enforce that doesn't exactly lead to the most stable of Artificial Intelligences.

As you'd guess from the whole "specifically grabbing robots who managed to beat their Mega Man" thing, the Execution Units proved very effective, and eventually Roll was the last member of the Light family left, and one of the very few Robot Masters left on top of that. In one last Hail Mary play, she turned to Wily (because of course her Wily managed to survive. it's what he does) and asked him to turn her into a weapon powerful enough to avenge their families (to Bass's credit as the self-proclaimed Ultimate Robot Master, he lasted longer against Staccato than Rock and Blues combined). He did so, transforming her into Neo Woman, and she tore through the Emerald Spears and the first eight Execution Units like a force of nature.

When Staccato and Neo Woman finally clashed, they pretty much ended up ripping each other apart since they were both hellbent on killing each other with no real desire to survive themselves. Base Universe Wily's dimension snatcher grabbed what was left of Staccato, and as an unforeseen side-effect of the two robots' proximity some of Neo Woman's memories were imprinted on Base Universe Roll. Not anything she can consciously recall, just some weird moments of deja vu, some occasional trauma responses she has no idea of the source of, a terrible sinking feeling that prompts her to insist on getting upgraded so she can watch Rock's back, and somehow knowing who Staccato is despite never having met her.

For Staccato's part, being reprogrammed to be loyal to Wily on top of her horrible base programming is Really Not Fun. Fortunately after she's defeated Quint shows up, snatches her away from both sides, then repairs her and removes both Wily's loyalty programming and the Spears' everything, so now instead of being a genocidal/suicidal axe-murderer she's just Incredibly Traumatized, absolutely drowning in guilt, and lacking any true purpose!

...Look it's a start. And arguably already a massive improvement.

TLDR: Wily's stealing robots from other universes this time, one of them was a super-powered clone of Roll named Staccato made by militant robophobic conspiracy nuts, Roll's haunted by the alternate version of herself from that universe and that's why she got upgraded, after the game Staccato got rescued by Quint and is now free from both Wily and her creators and the healing can begin.

[zombie-art-n-doodles]

Day 4: Headcanon

Demonbeasts are artificially created creatures, made of ‘black blood’, a fluid much like oil that that mimics life. Created using scientific methods and a bit of Nightmare’s magic, the black blood (more commonly known amongst NME monster engineers as ‘DM Fluid’) allows for demonbeasts to have the following qualities:

-falsely mimics life. They are not truly alive. But they can posses unique thoughts and feelings, and even harbour a soul. If they are designed like such.

-the DM fluid due to being a product of Nightmare’s magic is something that can be sensed by star warriors, as the chunks of Pallas’s soul recognizes the magical energy of his killer.

-because demonbeasts are artificial, they do not need to eat, drink or sleep. But they will feel the effects of not doing so (being lightly fatigued when they don’t sleep for a long time and feeling hungry when they don’t eat) but most describe this sensation as ‘unpleasant but fairly easy to ignore’, and not having it will not kill them.

-they can be ‘programmed’ with various levels of intelligence, depending on their purpose.

-they are divided into 10 classes ranging from 0-10. There’s only 10 class 10 demonbeasts, all of which have been killed or locked away permanently by the star warrior and GSA founder Raendia Knight. The remaining and current demonbeasts fall somewhere on the 0-9 ranking depending on their danger levels posed, how hard it is to defeat them in combat, how rare they are, and how complex they are to create.