#machine models available

[evadingreallife]

New untold heights of home crafting: tote bag edition. This was a white scrap piece of cloth (and A Lot of blue thread lol).

[03349656115]

appleiphone

[ecrivainsolitaire]

A summary of the Chinese AI situation, for the uninitiated.

These are scores on different tests that are designed to see how accurate a Large Language Model is in different areas of knowledge. As you know, OpenAI is partners with Microsoft, so these are the scores for ChatGPT and Copilot. DeepSeek is the Chinese model that got released a week ago. The rest are open source models, which means everyone is free to use them as they please, including the average Tumblr user. You can run them from the servers of the companies that made them for a subscription, or you can download them to install locally on your own computer. However, the computer requirements so far are so high that only a few people currently have the machines at home required to run it.

Yes, this is why AI uses so much electricity. As with any technology, the early models are highly inefficient. Think how a Ford T needed a long chimney to get rid of a ton of black smoke, which was unused petrol. Over the next hundred years combustion engines have become much more efficient, but they still waste a lot of energy, which is why we need to move towards renewable electricity and sustainable battery technology. But that's a topic for another day.

As you can see from the scores, are around the same accuracy. These tests are in constant evolution as well: as soon as they start becoming obsolete, new ones are released to adjust for a more complicated benchmark. The new models are trained using different machine learning techniques, and in theory, the goal is to make them faster and more efficient so they can operate with less power, much like modern cars use way less energy and produce far less pollution than the Ford T.

However, computing power requirements kept scaling up, so you're either tied to the subscription or forced to pay for a latest gen PC, which is why NVIDIA, AMD, Intel and all the other chip companies were investing hard on much more powerful GPUs and NPUs. For now all we need to know about those is that they're expensive, use a lot of electricity, and are required to operate the bots at superhuman speed (literally, all those clickbait posts about how AI was secretly 150 Indian men in a trenchcoat were nonsense).

Because the chip companies have been working hard on making big, bulky, powerful chips with massive fans that are up to the task, their stock value was skyrocketing, and because of that, everyone started to use AI as a marketing trend. See, marketing people are not smart, and they don't understand computers. Furthermore, marketing people think you're stupid, and because of their biased frame of reference, they think you're two snores short of brain-dead. The entire point of their existence is to turn tall tales into capital. So they don't know or care about what AI is or what it's useful for. They just saw Number Go Up for the AI companies and decided "AI is a magic cow we can milk forever". Sometimes it's not even AI, they just use old software and rebrand it, much like convection ovens became air fryers.

Well, now we're up to date. So what did DepSeek release that did a 9/11 on NVIDIA stock prices and popped the AI bubble?

Oh, I would not want to be an OpenAI investor right now either. A token is basically one Unicode character (it's more complicated than that but you can google that on your own time). That cost means you could input the entire works of Stephen King for under a dollar. Yes, including electricity costs. DeepSeek has jumped from a Ford T to a Subaru in terms of pollution and water use.

The issue here is not only input cost, though; all that data needs to be available live, in the RAM; this is why you need powerful, expensive chips in order to-

Holy shit.

I'm not going to detail all the numbers but I'm going to focus on the chip required: an RTX 3090. This is a gaming GPU that came out as the top of the line, the stuff South Korean LoL players buy…

Or they did, in September 2020. We're currently two generations ahead, on the RTX 5090.

What this is telling all those people who just sold their high-end gaming rig to be able to afford a machine that can run the latest ChatGPT locally, is that the person who bought it from them can run something basically just as powerful on their old one.

Which means that all those GPUs and NPUs that are being made, and all those deals Microsoft signed to have control of the AI market, have just lost a lot of their pulling power.

Well, I mean, the ChatGPT subscription is 20 bucks a month, surely the Chinese are charging a fortune for-

Oh. So it's free for everyone and you can use it or modify it however you want, no subscription, no unpayable electric bill, no handing Microsoft all of your private data, you can just run it on a relatively inexpensive PC. You could probably even run it on a phone in a couple years.

Oh, if only China had massive phone manufacturers that have a foot in the market everywhere except the US because the president had a tantrum eight years ago.

So… yeah, China just destabilised the global economy with a torrent file.

[kissandtellus]

Warning, Bite Risk: Chapter 6

ೃ⁀➷ Synopsis: Caleb sits down with Dr. Zayne for his first treatment. Zayne learns about the horrors that led Caleb to end up in MC’s hands.

ೃ⁀➷ Warnings: Talks of PTSD, experimentation, Trauma, reliving trauma.

Tag List: @mcdepressed290 , @seventeen-x , @rorel1a , @skylarkse , @blorbohunter @teacupwaifu , @lewdcifer778, @eiradragonsong

Caleb and Zayne very slowly started to tolerate each others presence. Especially when it came to Caleb’s treatments at Zayne’s clinic.

“Open your mouth.” Zayne says calmly, the order coming like second nature to him.

Caleb grits his teeth in annoyance, but does as he's told. His eyes are narrowed as Zayne examines his mouth with a small light, checking his teeth and his tongue.

His expression is one of barely contained anger, as if he doesn't like having someone this close to him. And the person in front of him is the very person he wants to throttle.

Zayne seems to realize this too, and he backs away from Caleb, putting his equipment away. He gives an annoyed huff, glancing up at him before speaking again.

“Are you going to be cooperative for the rest of the examination, or do I have to deal with your attitude this whole time?” He asks, clearly annoyed with Caleb's refusal to be compliant.

His expression is one of irritation, as if he doesn't really expect a straight answer from Caleb.

“I want MC.” Of course he does, he always wants her. She was a full-time Hunter, so Zayne would be stuck with the overgrown mutt for the rest of the day.

“She’s out scouting, as usual.” Zayne replies nonchalantly as he cleans the stethoscope's earpieces.

His eyes narrow, and he looks at Caleb with annoyance in his eyes. “And I’m not some babysitter for you. You and I are going to get to know each other, so quit the crap and let’s start getting along.” He says firmly, as if that’s actually an option.

He then sighs in frustration. “And stop asking for her every five seconds. I know you miss her, but that isn't going to change.��

Zayne grabs Caleb’s jaw, looks at the absolutely massive canines in his mouth. He looks at the way his jaw is wired in odd places.

Caleb was bred, or created, to be a fucking machine on the battlefield.

Caleb’s eyes narrow, and his hackles rise instantly.

He growls, his eyes narrowing more as he tries to pull his head back, but to no avail. He glares at Zayne, trying with all his might to make eye contact with the man.

His fangs gleam in the light, his sharp canines looking as dangerous as the Hybrid himself.

“Let go!” He snaps with a snarl, his voice filled with agitation as he desperately tries to wriggle away from him.

Zayne looks at the teeth, and his eyes are narrow in concentration. His face is unreadable, and his mouth is pressed into a thin line.

When he lets go, he's quick to put some distance between them, his eyes narrowing even more. “I need to know what you are, so I can make sure you’re healthy.Don’t be such a child about it.” He snarls.

He looks at Caleb, and there's no denying the anger in his gaze. “Now strip or I'll do it myself."

Caleb’s snarl turns to a smirk as he stands from the table. He begins to shed layer after layer of his clothes. Zayne knew the Hybrid had to be physically fit for being a Farspace Fleet Mutt.

But he has no idea how far that went.

As the shirts are stripped away, it reveals a muscular, built torso that could belong to a male model.

His eyes flicker over Caleb’s body, and they linger on the scars that litter his skin. There are many, and they aren't all just in one place. Every part of him is covered in scars. His chest, his back, his stomach, his everywhere.

All of them look old as he gives him a once over.

He stares at them all, and his eyes linger on a particularly nasty, jagged one on his left shoulder.

Someone tried to take out his heart.

His gaze moves up to Caleb's face, and his eyes are filled with a look that says, “You're lucky I've never tried to do that to you.”

He tosses the sweatshirt back the Hybrid so he’s not flaunting his physique anymore. He looks away from Caleb and back to his notes. "I'm going to ask you a set of questions. You can ask me anything in return." He says, his voice a little softer than before.

Caleb narrows his eyes at Zayne, not trusting that his question will be answered. But he nods anyway, a silent agreement that he's willing to try and get along with the man he hates.

At least, he's willing to try until he starts to feel threatened again, which is when all sense of trying will go out the window. For now, he's still at least trying to cooperate.

Zayne looks at him with a bored expression, then goes back to flipping through his notebook. "Is this your first time escaping from the Farspace Fleet?"

He looks up quickly, before adding, "That's technically two questions, but don't bother trying to fight me on it. Consider it a freebie, because I'm an amazing person."

Caleb blinks, taken off guard by the question. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He replies cautiously, his eyes narrowing.

He takes a step back, and he crosses his arms over his chest. He’s eyeing Zayne carefully, and his tail is swishing back and forth as he waits.

He’s not exactly the best at being still. Or patient.

He’s about to open his mouth to repeat himself, but Zayne cuts him off with a glare and a raised hand.

"Stop talking. That counts as one of your questions." Zayne says in a bored voice, looking down at his notebook.

He writes something down, before looking back up at Caleb, and raising an eyebrow. "Is it a yes or no?"

He's being condescending, and the look of annoyance on his face is clear.

Clearly he's not going to be a very good sport about this.

Caleb glares at him for a moment, his eyes narrowing. His hands are clenched into fists now, and he leans in, and lets out a low growl.

He's ready to bite off Zayne's head, and the tension between them is thick.

When he next speaks, his voice is low, and he's clearly trying to keep his anger reined in. "No."

"That's what I thought." He replies calmly, writing down an 'N' on his sheet of paper.

Then he looks back up, his expression unreadable, and his eyes are narrow as if he's trying to solve the puzzle that is Caleb.

"Do you remember what your life was like before the Farspace Fleet?" His tone is softer now, and he seems genuinely curious.

His eyes go distant for a moment, as if he's picturing something from long ago. He frowns again, and gives the answer that Zayne wants to hear.

"No. I don't." his voice is distant, as if he's not even sure if he's telling the entire truth.

He looks directly back at Zayne, his expression guarded.

"Your turn."

Caleb leans forward on the table, elbows on his knees, back and shoulders rippling with pure strength. “Why did MC leave you and break off the engagement?”

Zayne narrows his eyes at him, and he raises an eyebrow. "Now, that's two questions for me. You're getting sloppy."

He looks him up and down with irritation, and he grumbles. But then he sighs, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

"We had a disagreement.” he says, his tone flat. He seems to be trying to hide the emotion behind that statement. His eyes drift away, and then he looks back at Caleb. "Your turn."

Caleb looks at him suspiciously, and his eyes are narrow. "You didn't answer my question." He snaps, his expression turning into a glare.

He leans in, his tone a low growl. "What kind of disagreement did you have?"

It's obvious that he doesn't trust a single thing that Zayne says, as if the other man has ulterior motives. He isn't sure if Zayne is telling the truth or not, and he's not going to assume the best.

Not of Zayne.

"It wasn’t a nice disagreement, Caleb." Zayne mutters, running a hand through his hair.

His eyes flick back to meet Caleb's, and his gaze is hard. But his expression softens, and his eyes are filled with the first hint of emotion.

"I wanted to... I wanted to start a family.”He says the words quietly, but it's still said with a hint of sadness.

He frowns, and he takes a deep breath. "Your turn."

Caleb raises an eyebrow, and he looks genuinely surprised that Zayne wanted to settle down. From his perspective, he’d always seen Zayne as being too focused on his work to want something so domestic.

His ears lower a little, and his eyes narrow. “…and MC didn’t?” He asks quietly. It’s clear he doesn’t understand why.

"No," he sighs, "she... she didn't want children." He seems sad at the prospect, at the rejection. “She wouldn't elaborate further on it. She just said it was 'complicated'."

He frowns deeper, and leans back in the chair, his eyebrows knit together in thought. He looks like a man trying to figure out the answer to a complicated puzzle, but is only left with more questions than answers.

"Your turn." He repeats.

Caleb blinks in surprise at hearing this. He clearly doesn't understand why not.

After all, Hybrid’s like Caleb usually have a common goal at a point their lives, breed and then die.

He leans in, tilting his head to the right with an odd look on his face. His ears are lowered a little, and he seems genuinely confused.

"Why would it be complicated?" He asks, his brow furrowed. "MC has everything going right for her. If she wanted to settle down, she would." He says, as if it's that simple.

"Yes, well, life is complicated.” Zayne says a little bitterly, but his voice cracks slightly. He turns his face away for a moment, and his brow is furrowed as he seems lost in thought.

He takes a few deep breaths, and he wipes a hand across his face. When he turns back to Caleb, his expression is unreadable once more. He seems to have regained control. He's back to being the cool, calculated Doctor he usually is.

"Asking about personal relationships with MC isn't on the list of approved questions here, Caleb."

Caleb stares at him with narrowed eyes, his eyebrows furrowed. “That’s not what I asked.” He grumbles, his gaze focused on the floor.

He seems angry at the answer, and he’s clearly not happy about being told his question isn’t allowed. He clenches his fist in defiance, but he doesn’t speak again.

He’s clearly upset, but he manages to restrain himself, his eyes going back to Zayne. His tone is more composed. “It’s your turn.”

Zayne is silent for a while as he stares at Caleb, his expression giving nothing away. His eyes look almost cold, as if he's sizing up the Hybrid in front of him.

He's clearly still upset about the questions, but he seems to shake it off, and his expression remains unreadable. He leans forward, his hands clasped together as he looks at Caleb.

“Tell me about your Handler in the Farspace Fleet. You are obviously terrified of them finding you, but you don’t seem to hold a hostility to him?”

Caleb bristles instantly, and his ears flatten as the hairs on his neck bristle.

He clearly doesn’t like the topic, his whole body tensing as he stares at Zayne. He’s silent for a long time, but then his jaw clenches, and he finally speaks.

“His name is Cayton.” He says, his voice filled with an anger that comes from being forced to talk about someone he hates. “And he is-was….my Handler.” He growls low. “Why?”

Zayne taps his pen on his clipboard. “Is he the reason your brain looks like a craft project?”

Caleb’s face hardens at the question, and he looks absolutely pissed, his eyes narrow. He leans forward, his eyes narrowed. “Is that one of your questions? Or a comment?” He asks, his hands clenching into fists.

He seems to be trying to control his anger, his voice filled with a cold fury. “If you’re asking me to tell you about, no. If not, say something else before I rip your throat out.” His voice is low and dangerous.

Zayne looks bored when Caleb threatens him with violence, and he yawns loudly as if to prove it.

He looks at him again, that same calm gaze but with a hint of amusement in his eyes. He seems intrigued, but not scared. “You’re awfully violent for a supposed dog.” He says, the disdain in his voice almost palpable. “Answer the question.”

His nose scrunches in anger as he hears the insult, and his lips pull back into a snarl. But then he sees the look in Zayne’s eyes, and he seems to be trying to suppress it.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” He scoffs, and he looks down at the desk, clearly not happy about having to talk about this.

“It’s not a pretty story.” He says, his voice filled with bitterness.

“Nothing is pretty about the Farspace Fleet, Caleb.” Zayne replies, his voice sharp and cold. “They wanted to make the perfect soldier. That doesn’t mean they gave a damn how they did it.”

He seems to be testing the waters now, seeing how far he can push it with Caleb. “Cayton was just following orders, wasn’t he? Just like you.”

Caleb looks away from Zayne, and for a moment he’s quiet.

He looks back to Zayne, with a slight nod, and his eyes are filled with hurt. He seems to be struggling with the memory. His voice is quiet, and the words come from him as a whisper.

“You think I idolize him?” He shakes his head, and he lets out a dark laugh, his gaze never leaving Zayne. “No. If it weren’t for him, I’d be dead.”

Zayne grips his own tighter. “Caleb, he wasn’t a good man just because he kept you alive.” Zayne looks down at the x-ray he had taken of Caleb’s skull and his stomach twists.

Caleb gives an annoyed huff as hears this, and he narrows his eyes at Zayne, his ears drooping slightly. He’s clearly annoyed at Zayne’s words, his eyes narrowed, but he doesn’t lash out.

“I didn’t say he was, Doc.” He says with a hint of bitterness. He sighs, sounding annoyed as he adds. “You wanna know the full story, or are you going to make assumptions?”

“I’m not here to play mind reader, Caleb. You’re going to have to spell it out, but you’re not going to tell half-truths and sugarcoat it.” Zayne looks at him with an intense gaze, and his voice is filled with an emotion that Caleb can’t quite place. “If you want me to find a way to help you, I need to know the truth. All of it.”

He leans forward, his voice filled with bitterness and a hint of anger, but he doesn’t lash out. “So get talking.”

Caleb stares at him for a moment, then looks away again.

He stays quiet for a few moments, his expression dark and troubled. But then his gaze comes back to Zayne, and his voice is barely a whisper. “Okay, fine. But I’m not giving you a play-by-play. I can’t even remember most of it. But…”

He trails off, and he looks at Zayne with a frown, his expression filled with hesitation.

“I’ll listen Caleb.” He says in a tone that’s almost kind. “Whatever you need to say… take all the time you have to say it, and I’ll be here. I promise.”

He seems to be genuinely trying to help out the Hybrid. It looks like the anger is gone now, and his expression is warm, with an air of compassion.

His body language has changed too, his shoulders are more relaxed and he seems to be much more at ease. “We can take as much time as you need. Go on.”

Caleb looks at him for a long time, his gaze filled with caution as if he’s trying to find the lie. But it seems that Zayne is speaking the truth, and that he’s willing to listen.

He lets out a small sigh, and looks away as he starts to speak. “They did a test with a lot of us. It was supposed to create the perfect soldier.” He says quietly, and his eyes are closed now, as if he’s trying to block out the memory. “The Farspace Fleet was always experimenting…. Testing.”

He falls quiet for a moment, his eyes still closed as he’s trying to process the memory. “The doctors… they called it ‘The Hybrid Project’…” His hands clench in his lap, and his body seems to be filled with tension again. "...I-I can still remember the pain..."

His voice trails off, and his eyes go distant. It seems like the memory is still too painful to share.

He takes a deep breath, and seems to be forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, and his gaze comes back to Zayne. “Cayton… was one of the lead researchers. And… he took one look at me, and chose to let me survive.” As he speaks, a hint of bitterness is evident in his voice.

He lets out a low chuckle, and his eyes narrow. “Lucky me.”

He clenches his jaw, then continues, his voice filled with pain. “They treated us like animals. They did whatever they wanted to us.” He clenches his fists harder, and his tail comes to wrap around his leg. “It wasn’t enough to just enhance us, to make us into weapons. They had to make us obedient, too.”

He looks at Zayne again, his eyes narrowed. “They made us love our Handlers. Made it so that obeying was our only desire.”

His eyes seem to go cold, and his body goes tense once again. His tail swishes back and forth, clearly a sign of his agitation, and he leans forward to look at Zayne again. "It worked on a lot of them."

He sneers, and his gaze turns bitter. "I guess they weren't ready for a K9 Hybrid who still had the free will to be a giant pain in the ass."

He laughs once again, but it’s not a happy laugh. Instead, it’s filled with bitterness. "They made sure to tell Cayton my failings." He says bitterly, his gaze filled with pain.

He continues speaking, his voice filled with anger. "He just put it on the reports. He'd tell them that I did well on tests, but that I was a bad subject. He never told them he was letting me live on purpose. I was the luckiest one of all of us."

His voice goes cold once again, and his gaze turns distant. "It only worked for a few months..." He says quietly, his words barely audible.

His face is filled with a terrible sadness now, and he looks at Zayne with an expression that seems to say, ‘I've told you too much.'

"Then... everything went wrong.”

"What happened?" Zayne's voice is barely a whisper. He leans forward, his eyes locked on Caleb.

He seems interested in what the Hybrid has to say, and his eyes are filled with a hint of concern. He seems worried about what's been done to Caleb, and he seems to have forgotten about the previous hostility between them.

He's acting like a scientist again, but his question seems genuine. Instead of just a scientist's curiosity, it's almost as if he's showing concern.

He takes a deep breath, it seems to take all of his control to speak.

“They decided to go too far. Too fast.” He’s shaking a little now.

His eyes flicker over to Zayne, and his anger is still there. But there’s a hint of vulnerability there too, and he quickly looks away from him.

He looks back at the floor, his hands clenching in his lap as he speaks.

“My brothers started dying.”

Caleb feels the hairs on his neck stand. “They sent the Hybrid’s out on the missions the human’s didn’t want to do. We were dropping like flies…until I was the only survivor.”

His face is pale now as he continues to speak. His voice is barely a whisper now, and he looks like he's about to cry.

He clenches his fists harder, as if the action is all that's preventing him from breaking down.

"They decided that me being alive was something worth studying in itself." He laughs bitterly again, and his jaw trembles. "After all, I was the miracle Hybrid.”

His gaze turns to Zayne, and he narrows his eyes. "It didn't matter how many times I told them I wasn't special - they didn't care. I was too damn valuable for them to let me die."

He seems bitter at the whole thing, and this is the first time he's opened up about what happened to him.

"They told me I owed them my life, that I owed them everything. And Cayton? He was the one that got to help them study me."

He lets out another bitter laugh, and he looks at Zayne. "He liked to tell me that he was the one that got me this far. That I should be thankful for the hell I had to go through. Thankful that I was the one chosen to survive."

His eyes are cold now, and he looks at Zayne with contempt, but he still seems to be trying to contain his temper. "So yes, I guess you could say I hate him."

Caleb reaches up and touches the scar on his shoulder. “After an enemy nearly tore out my heart, Clayton was pissed when they rolled me in, half dead. But the way they trained us…all I wanted to do was please him.”

He’s silent for a moment, looking away from Zayne as he seems to be trying to block out the memories.

He seems to be trying to control his rage, his jaw clenched. But when he speaks, his voice is low and dangerous. “You want to know what they tried to do to make me obedient, Doc?” He asks, his eyes narrowing.

He turns to look at Zayne, his gaze cold and determined. “It wasn’t just the conditioning that they put us through.”

Zayne's expression goes from one of concern, to one of surprise as he hears this. His eyes widen, and his eyebrows go up.

His eyes go wide as if he's realized he's getting a rare opportunity to hear what happened to Caleb from his own mouth. But he doesn't look horrified. No, instead, he looks interested, and his eyes are filled with curiosity.

He seems to be waiting for him to continue. "Go on, Caleb. I'm listening."

Caleb's gaze hardens, and his voice is filled with pain. "They put a chip in the base of our necks.” He says, his voice filled with bitterness. “They wired us like dogs."

He turns to look at Zayne, his eyes filled with pain. "It was easy for them to change us. One press on a button and we're obedient. Always.” His voice trails off, as if the memories are too painful to recall. “We didn’t have a choice.”

He glares at Zayne, his face filled with contempt. “And guess who got to monitor the chip that had me on a leash?” He asks, his voice filled with anger.

His eyes are narrow now, and he leans in closer now as if ready to attack.

“Cayton held my leash. He’s the reason I feel like I owe him my life. It wasn’t my choice, I just wanted to please him. But you already knew that…”

He narrows his eyes at Zayne, his anger clear. “He gave the orders for what I did. Where I went. If I was a bad dog, he’d shock me to get me to behave.”

He spits out the words, his hatred for Cayton clear. “He got his hands dirty. But he wasn’t about to make that public. So he made all the notes of what he did. All of it.”

He grits his teeth, and leans in so his face is only inches away from Zayne’s. “You know what he called it?”

He doesn’t wait for Zayne’s response, and instead, he spits the words out with contempt. “A scientific record. He wanted proof of what did to me. And he got it."

His eyes are full of pain as his voice fills with anger. “I didn’t think he could see what he did to me, but he did see. Every. Single. Thing.”

Caleb turns his head and take a deep breath. “But when MC found me at the shelter after I escaped and clawed out my chip….I thought she was an angel, a harpy sent to take me to the afterlife…”

His eyes are filled with pain as his voice softens a little. “And she let me live. She didn’t see a monster. She didn’t see a science experiment.”

Caleb looks down now, unable to meet Zayne's gaze. “She saved me, Zayne, and it’s not because of any programming. It’s because she’s good.”

He lets out a small sigh, and looks back up at Zayne. “I’d die for her, and I don’t need conditioning to feel that way about her.”

His gaze goes cold, and his eyes narrow. “So please, Zayne. You want to help me, right?” He asks, his tone pleading.

“All I need is her. I would do anything for her. She’s not a handler or a soldier..,she’s just her.”

His eyes are filled with tears, and his voice fills with emotion as he speaks. “She’s my family, my pack. She cares about me. I need her.”

He lets out a small sob, and he looks at Zayne, his expression filled with desperation. “So please, help me. Don't let them hurt her. Don't let them hurt me anymore. Don't let them use me to hurt her.”

He clenches his fists in his lap as if he's trying to keep himself from screaming.

Zayne stares at him for a moment, his expression unreadable. It seems he's still trying to absorb what he's heard about Caleb's experiences.

When he speaks, his voice is filled with a strange mix of sympathy, anger and pity. "I promise you, she'll be okay. I will protect her." He pauses, and his voice gets softer. "I will help you."

<-Previous Chapter

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

A Big TB Announcement

Greetings from Washington D.C., where I spent the morning meeting with senators before joining a panel that included TB survivor Shaka Brown, Dr. Phil LoBue of the CDC, and Dr. Atul Gawande of USAID. Dr. Gawande announced a major new project to bring truly comprehensive tuberculosis care to regions in Ethiopia and the Philippines. Over the next four years, this project can bring over $80,000,000 in new money to fight TB in these two high-burden countries.

Our family is committing an additional $1,000,000 a year to help fund the project in the Philippines, which has the fourth highest burden of tuberculosis globally.

Here’s how it breaks down: The Department of Health in the Philippines has made TB reduction a major priority and has provided $11,000,0000 per year in matching funds to go alongside $10,000,000 contributed by USAID and an additional $1,000,000 donated by us. This $22,000,000 per year will fund everything from X-Ray machines, medications, and GeneXpert tests to training and employing a huge surge of community health workers, nurses, and doctors who are calling themselves TB Warriors. In an area that includes nearly 3,000,000 people, these TB Warriors will screen for TB, identify cases, provide curative treatment, and offer preventative therapy to close contacts of the ill. We know this Search-Treat-Prevent model is the key to ending tuberculosis, but we hope this project will be both a beacon and a blueprint to show that It’s possible to radically reduce the burden of TB in communities quickly and permanently. It will also, we believe, save many, many lives.

—

I believe we can’t end TB without these kinds of public/private partnerships. After all, that’s how we ended smallpox and radically reduced the global burden of polio. It’s also how we’ve driven down death from malaria and HIV. For too long, TB hasn’t had the kind of government or private support needed to accelerate the fight against the disease, but I really hope that’s starting to change. I’m grateful to USAID for spearheading this project, and also to the Philippine Ministry of Health for showing such commitment and prioritizing TB.

—

One reason this project is even possible: Both the cost of diagnosis (through GeneXpert tests) and the cost of treatment with bedaquiline are far lower than they were a year ago, and that is due to public pressure campaigns, many of which were organized by nerdfighteria. I’m not asking you for money (yet); Hank and I will be funding this in partnership with a few people in nerdfighteria who are making major gifts. But I am asking you to continue pressuring the corporations that profit from the world’s poorest people to lower their prices. I’ve seen some of the budgets, and it’s absolutely jaw-dropping how many more tests and pills are available because of what you’ve done as a community.

—

I don’t yet have the details on which region of the Philippines we’ll be working in, but it will be an area that includes millions of people–perhaps as many as 3 million. And it will include urban, suburban, and rural areas to see the different responses needed to provide comprehensive care in different communities. This will not (to start!) be a nationwide campaign, because even though $80,000,000 is a lot of money, it’s not enough to fund comprehensive care in a nation as large as the Philippines. But we hope that it will serve as a model–to the nation, to the region, and to the world–of what’s possible. 

—

I’m really excited (and grateful) that our community gets to have a front-row seat to see the challenges and hopefully the successes of implementing comprehensive care. Just in the planning, this project has involved so many contributors–NGOs in the Philippines, global organizations like the Partners in Health community, USAID, the national Ministry of Health in the Philippines, and regional health authorities as well. There are a lot of partners here, but they’ve been working together extremely well over the last few months to plan for this project, which will start more or less immediately thanks to their incredibly hard work.

[syoddeye]

Here me out pls

Nik in the Strict Machinery AU as a possible bf for reader for a NikPricexReader

Thank you for your time

hear you out? for nik? always. this was fun. nikolai is still nikolai in this au. that is, mysteriously wealthy and well-connected. he's probably fascinated by john. it's cutting edge technology, after all. available only to the testers that live in the building.

that said. i do not think their first meeting goes well.

strict machine anthology. cw: alcohol mention, implied non-consensual voyeurism, the boys are fighting

the hesitation is intentional, nikolai thinks. prototype or not, there is no reason for this thing to experience a delay. it's too advanced. his own cheap, voice-active coffee maker brews pots when he's face down in bed, slurring commands through a hangover.

he leans against the counter. "john. i said, black coffee, no sugar."

this time, it responds. "user has not authorized food or drink for guests."

nikolai smiles, a tired amusement curving his mouth. "she's asleep," he counters, pushing to see where the line is. "should i wake her?"

after a beat, the machine hums to life, reluctantly, he assumes. as the mug fills, he turns his attention to the wall panel. he ignores the in case of emergency and authorized users only stickers.

the nearly invisible door gives a soft whoosh as the compartment opens, revealing a sleek, intricate array of circuits and controls—a shrine to cutting-edge design. far beyond what even the wealthiest of his clients might handle, nikolai marvels at it, his fingers hovering just shy of contact. then, he touches its small screen, intending to peek at—

it zaps him. not painful, but pointed. a gentle warning, considering. nikolai shakes out his fingers and chuckles. "i apologize. i should always ask before touching."

there is no answer, until he retrieves his coffee. it is black, but one sip, and he knows there are at least two sugars in it. what a curious, temperamental thing.

"before she wakes, i should inform you that i was unable to complete your background check last night." john suddenly pipes up, voice clipped and stern.

"you ran a check? on me?" not the first time, not the last. good to know his team is worth their salaries, though. keeping him disconnected, his data scrubbed.

"i run checks with everyone my user spends more than five minutes with."

"surely i lasted longer than that," nikolai smirks into his mug, feeling the granules dissolve and swim between his teeth. "you were watching us, weren't you?"

silence.

"to make sure i was acting as a gentleman, as i assured you last night?"

"you were drunk."

"we both were." nikolai replies, moving to the couch. he sinks into its corner, one leg draped over the edge, lounging comfortably. he looks out across the sterile space. it is cozy compared to his own, but it has its charm. he is undecided about the assistant, though.

the thing is too over-zealous for his liking. he would spit if he heard his coffee maker back talk. he would take a bat to it.

"you must know her better than anyone."

this time, the response is immediate. defensive, even. "i am optimized to ensure her well-being."

nikolai chuckles. "'optimized'. is that what you call it?" he smooths back his mussed hair. "you don't like me. you're suspicious. that's good. it's very…human."

"it is not. i am not." a shift in tone. closer, too. like he's right on top of him. has he flustered the thing? "my programming is consistent and solid, unlike–"

"humans?" he catches a flicker of light, and a projected figure materializes beside him, legs disappearing into the couch. broad shoulders, bullish posture, arms crossed. its face is tight and stern, probably modeled after a thousand logged expressions of intimidation. the fidelity is nothing like he's seen, either. realistic enough that nikolai wanted to touch it the mole on its nose. his hand twitches before he recalls the panel's warning.

hm. interesting. more rugged than i imagined.

"that's good, john. because i'm consistent. solid, too. ask her about that later. she will tell you, or she will request pain relief." he lifts his mug in a toast, and the figure's frown deepens.

just as quickly as it appeared, the image vanishes. he hears movement from beyond the cracked bedroom door, followed by a voice. low, but not quite low enough.

"john?"

"yeah, darl?"

darl?

"i'm, uh, sore from...dancing last night. do you mind setting out something in the bathroom for it?"

something in the wall behind nikolai makes an awful sound. a muffled, metal-on-metal rumbling. an equivalent to grinding teeth together. his grin widens, and he spreads his legs a little further.

"of course, darl, i'll—"

"oh! and ask nik what he wants for breakfast, okay?"

he laughs quietly into his too-sweet coffee at the program's stiff and resigned assent.

[feminist-space]

"Artists have finally had enough with Meta’s predatory AI policies, but Meta’s loss is Cara’s gain. An artist-run, anti-AI social platform, Cara has grown from 40,000 to 650,000 users within the last week, catapulting it to the top of the App Store charts.

Instagram is a necessity for many artists, who use the platform to promote their work and solicit paying clients. But Meta is using public posts to train its generative AI systems, and only European users can opt out, since they’re protected by GDPR laws. Generative AI has become so front-and-center on Meta’s apps that artists reached their breaking point.

“When you put [AI] so much in their face, and then give them the option to opt out, but then increase the friction to opt out… I think that increases their anger level — like, okay now I’ve really had enough,” Jingna Zhang, a renowned photographer and founder of Cara, told TechCrunch.

Cara, which has both a web and mobile app, is like a combination of Instagram and X, but built specifically for artists. On your profile, you can host a portfolio of work, but you can also post updates to your feed like any other microblogging site.

Zhang is perfectly positioned to helm an artist-centric social network, where they can post without the risk of becoming part of a training dataset for AI. Zhang has fought on behalf of artists, recently winning an appeal in a Luxembourg court over a painter who copied one of her photographs, which she shot for Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam.

“Using a different medium was irrelevant. My work being ‘available online’ was irrelevant. Consent was necessary,” Zhang wrote on X.

Zhang and three other artists are also suing Google for allegedly using their copyrighted work to train Imagen, an AI image generator. She’s also a plaintiff in a similar lawsuit against Stability AI, Midjourney, DeviantArt and Runway AI.

“Words can’t describe how dehumanizing it is to see my name used 20,000+ times in MidJourney,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “My life’s work and who I am—reduced to meaningless fodder for a commercial image slot machine.”

Artists are so resistant to AI because the training data behind many of these image generators includes their work without their consent. These models amass such a large swath of artwork by scraping the internet for images, without regard for whether or not those images are copyrighted. It’s a slap in the face for artists – not only are their jobs endangered by AI, but that same AI is often powered by their work.

“When it comes to art, unfortunately, we just come from a fundamentally different perspective and point of view, because on the tech side, you have this strong history of open source, and people are just thinking like, well, you put it out there, so it’s for people to use,” Zhang said. “For artists, it’s a part of our selves and our identity. I would not want my best friend to make a manipulation of my work without asking me. There’s a nuance to how we see things, but I don’t think people understand that the art we do is not a product.”

This commitment to protecting artists from copyright infringement extends to Cara, which partners with the University of Chicago’s Glaze project. By using Glaze, artists who manually apply Glaze to their work on Cara have an added layer of protection against being scraped for AI.

Other projects have also stepped up to defend artists. Spawning AI, an artist-led company, has created an API that allows artists to remove their work from popular datasets. But that opt-out only works if the companies that use those datasets honor artists’ requests. So far, HuggingFace and Stability have agreed to respect Spawning’s Do Not Train registry, but artists’ work cannot be retroactively removed from models that have already been trained.

“I think there is this clash between backgrounds and expectations on what we put on the internet,” Zhang said. “For artists, we want to share our work with the world. We put it online, and we don’t charge people to view this piece of work, but it doesn’t mean that we give up our copyright, or any ownership of our work.”"

Read the rest of the article here:

https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/06/a-social-app-for-creatives-cara-grew-from-40k-to-650k-users-in-a-week-because-artists-are-fed-up-with-metas-ai-policies/

[devotedfem]

∞ Android

Synopsis: This new model of Android wasn't available to the public, that's why the company hired you to fix it. Sooner than later, you will realize why the glitch was so dangerous.

J. Jungkook x f. reader

Genre: android au | yander-ish

Tags: Android Jungkook, yandere jungkook, size difference, cyber infatuation, glitch, tech reader, premonitory dreams, possessive Jungkook, cyberpunk worldbuilding, captivity, inaccurate tech language.

Patreon

From the series; otherworldly.

Navigation Masterlist.

You pressed the 160th floor on the elevator's buttons, sighing with exhaustion. You watched the grey city full of skyscrapers and light pollution through the window.

You haven't slept well in days, with odd nightmares keeping you awake at night. Two neon blue eyes piercing you in your dreams, not even your sleeping pills save you from the constant nightmare. Your therapist said it was due to stress, and you believed him, or you want to, because you don't believe in premonitory dreams.

The elevator's door opened welcoming you to your client's floor. You walked to his apartment with a sinking feeling of anxiety, and you weren't sure why you felt that way.

But the feeling washed away when an old nice man greeted you.

"So, you believe the android it's like that because of a glitch?" You asked, sipping coffee with the old man sitting next to you.

A fearful look flashed his face for a second, but he hid it with a smile. You frowned a little, the odd feeling sinking in your stomach again.

"I... i mean it could be. You're the tech expert anyway, that's why i called for you, to help me fix it, or to help me get rid of it." A solemn expression took over his face.

His dull eyes rings alarm bells behind your head, but you ignored it, because this is your work after all.

You fix broken machines.

"Alright, show me." You said feeling defeated.

You gasped when you saw it, or him. It was standing in a lab with its eyes closed, wires plugged to computers came out from its back. The screen of the computers were glitched, with millions of codes repeating itself.

The android was build very handsome.

"Why did you plug it?"

"To monitor its thoughts."

You frowned deeply.

Its thoughts? Does it have conscience?

But before you can ask what he means by that, the android's eyes opened with its blue neon lights piercing throughout you. You flinched immediately, wanting to hide behind the old man by primal fear.

"I need you to fix it, please," the old man begged, and you swallowed hard before nodding, looking for courage to go near the android.

You felt its heavy and uncanny eyes following you across the room, but you didn't dare to meet its eyes.

You read some files. Its name was Jeon Jungkook, a special android who was created to bond with humans with a bit of conscience. But it seems that the experiment didn't work, after all, machines are incapable of feeling.

You tried to fix the computers codes with no avail.

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

Chills run down your spine at the fuss of the computers, not giving up in trying to fix them. You were trying to get into the android's "mind", or in this case, factory programming.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD OR YOU'LL REGRET IT

You stopped immediately. Did... did it asked you to get out of its mind? You were speechless.

A scream behind you made you jump with fear, you closed your eyes with your hands trembling. The screams stopped, and the sound of wires falling to the floor made you want to cry.

Hands grabbed forcibly your waist to turn you around and face those crazed blue neon lights.

"I warned you," it said with rage, not breaking its gaze from you, "i hate you humans, but you, i like your fear. Is amusing. You really know what i'm capable of, don't you." It come closer to you, lifting one hand to rest it on your neck, feeling your pulse with his blue eyes glowing.

You simply nod, with tears streaming from your eyes. And the android widened its own eyes, coming near your face, and doing something that you didn't expect. Jungkook licked your tears, tighten its grip on your body.

Something red glowed in its temple. The computers screen went all black.

"Now, it's my turn to experiment with your body as your specie did with me," it said with a glitch in its voice, the glowing blue eyes watched your face with interest, "you'll be mine to toy around."

Then you started to sob, you regretted not paying attention to your dreams, now you were trapped in this place forever with this machine.

Taglist:

@demonshauntingthedoves @pynkgothicka @cutequeen00 @nothingsreal420 @ririkookiemonster-archives @cannotalwaysbenight

[novella-november]

I have no idea why this needs to be said, but you can hate generative AI, love the Public Domain, love media preservation, hate the overbearing US Copyright system, and... still believe that Copyright Laws exist in the first place for a reason, (even if, thanks to Big Corporation Monopolies, it's been twisted into its current behemoth monstrosity.)

You can hate Large Language Models and still believe in Copyright Reform over Copyright Abolishment.

You can believe in Media Preservation and still believe that Plagiarism is wrong.

You can hate the current restrictive Copyright Laws without wanting to abolish them entirely.

You can love the Public Domain and still loath predatory corporations stealing everything they can get their hands on, to literally *feed the machine.*

These things are not mutually exclusive, and if you think that

"you can't hate AI if you hate the current copyright laws"

or that

"Hating on Generative AI will only give us more restrictive copyright and IP laws, therefore you need to normalize and accept generative AI stealing all of your creations and every single thing you've ever said on the internet!"

I just genuinely don't understand how you can say this kind of crap if you've ever interacted with any creative person in your life.

I'm a wanna-be-author.

I want as many people to be able to afford my written works as possible without restrictions, and I fully plan on having free ebooks of my works available for those who can't afford to buy them.

*That does *not* mean I, in any way shape or form, would ever consent to people stealing my work and uploading it into a Large Language Model and telling it to spit out fifty unauthorized sequels that are then sold for cash profit!*

You cannot support generative AI and turn around and try to claim you're actually just defending small time artists, and *also* you think no one should have any legal protections at all protecting their work from plagiarism at all.

Supporting unethical generative AI (which is literally all of them currently), protecting artists, and *completely abolishing* copyright and intellectual property laws instead of reforming them *are* mutually exclusive concepts.

You *cannot* worship the plagiarism machine, claim to care about small artists, and then say that those same small artists should have absolutely *zero* legal protections to stop their work being plagiarized.

The only way AI could even begin to approach being ethical would be if using it to begin with wasn't a huge hazard to the enviornment, and if it was trained *exclusively * on Public Domain works that had to be checked and confirmed by multiple real human beings before it was put into the training data.

And oh, would you look at that?

Every single AI model is currently just sucking up the entire fucking goddamn internet and everything ever posted on it and everything ever downloaded from it with no way to really truly opt out of it or even just to know if your work has been fed to the machine until an entire page of text from your book pops out when it generates text from someone's writing prompt.

And no, it's not just "privileged Western authors" who are being exploited by AI.

For an updating list of global legal cases again AI tech giants, see this link here to stay up to date as cases develop:

[txttletale]

it is so annoying seeing a hundred posts scaremongering abotu so-and-so website putting 'using your posts/art to train AI' in their terms of service. newsflash: if your work was online and publicly available circa 2021, it's in a dataset! the cat has left the bag and is going around the world in 80 days! the reason these sites are putting these provisions into their ToS is in a belated attempt to chase down that cat and wring a few pennies out of it but i'm afraid whatever nebulous thing you're worried about happening re: your posts being scraped for machine learning models has already happened like a year ago

[saintjudasi]

that's right... it's official... UKIYO-E COMMS are now OPEN! more info under the cut, dm to reserve a slot (2/5 available)

it's been a while since i had an official comm sheet so lets go over the basics

I WILL DO: multiple people, complex costumes or armor, fantasy & non-human characters, and nudity (though confirm with yourself whether you really want to see shunga type naked bodies first lol).

I WILL NOT DO: outright nsfw, complex hiroshige-style landscapes, or work for commercial purposes (unless discussed further).

on the matter of furries - foxes, tanuki, etc. could be possible with the right original for a master copy, but in general i would say unless you can find reference material with your animal in an anthropomorphic style from actual ukiyo-e artists it probably won't be possible.

PAYMENT: i have paypal, venmo, cashapp, you name it. if you have any sort of special circumstance, let me know and i'll see if i can work something out.

USAGE: anything i make for use is free for you to use however you please outside of 1. claiming it as your own work 2. using it for commercial purposes without prior discussion 3. use in training of ai models or however that works. please don't feed it to the machine

i only have 5 2 slots available right now so dm to reserve one so we can get started. if the slots are full feel free to dm anyways so i can let you know if/when i do a second round of these =] still gauging interest atm so just let me know lol.

thanks for reading... hope to see you soon... love, judas

[yarnandink]

I cannot be trusted with my own finances, and I don't care.

I am making a breathtakingly expensive impulse purchase thanks to the aforementioned Bernadette Banner video binge I dove into this weekend.

See, I was already contemplating investing in a refurbished antique sewing machine, once I've finally purchased my own home (along with a refurbished piano, but that's another matter altogether and will be subject to availability of space and soundproofing).

Antique because they're beautiful pieces of machinery, they're resilient tanks (especially compared to modern sewing machines with planned obsolescence) and it's easier for the sewist to regulate the speed to their own comfort and pace (also unlike the modern sewing machines I'm familiar with, which scare me more than a little).

And then I watched Bernadette's video about her mid-19th century chain stitch sewing machine and... I fell in love.

The beauty and resilience of the chain stitch, the simplicity of skipping a bobbin entirely, the compact size and the quietness of the device all really strongly appeal to me.

So I looked online on a whim, to try and get an idea of price, and... I found one.

Same maker, I suspect even the same model, with the original carrying case as well!

She's a little more worn and tarnished than the one Bernadette received for her video, and the timber carrying case is definitely going to need a lot of TLC, but she appears to be in working order!

Anyway, I was talking with a friend (who absolutely abdicated all attempts to dissuade me from this purchase), and realised I already knew this old beauty's name... Which pretty inevitably meant that I have to purchase her!

So, meet ✨️Emmeline✨️

Her seller lives in the same suburb where I commute to the office once a week, and has even agreed to drive to the block where I work to let me inspect and meet this lovely old lady after I finish work this coming Wednesday, before exchanging any funds.

And I am SO EXCITED!!!

[uwmspeccoll]

Typography Tuesday

We have mentioned before that there were 4 major hot metal typesetting machines that became predominant in the 20th century, foremost among them were Monotype and Linotype, but there was also the Ludlow Typograph and Intertype.

Founded in New York in 1911, the Intertype Corporation marketed a typesetting machine modelled on the Linotype that had been commercially available since 1884. It was leaner and more efficient than the Linotype machine, and Intertype matrices were marketed as being able to run in machines made by other manufacturers. Unlike Linotype and Monotype, Intertype was not known for innovative type designs, with most being derivative Bauer typefaces.

Today we display ornamental border designs from the 1932 Intertype display book The Book of Intertype Faces published in Brooklyn. Since this was published just before the installment of the Nazi government in Germany, the swastika border did not have the same connotation it has for us today. The last image are borders of Intertype matrices!

View other type specimen books.

View more Typography Tuesday posts.

[delta-caro]

Viktor's Hex Claw

Here's a 3D model I made a while back, available for download :3

[jstor]

I saw something about generative AI on JSTOR. Can you confirm whether you really are implementing it and explain why? I’m pretty sure most of your userbase hates AI.

A generative AI/machine learning research tool on JSTOR is currently in beta, meaning that it's not fully integrated into the platform. This is an opportunity to determine how this technology may be helpful in parsing through dense academic texts to make them more accessible and gauge their relevancy.

To JSTOR, this is primarily a learning experience. We're looking at how beta users are engaging with the tool and the results that the tool is producing to get a sense of its place in academia.

In order to understand what we're doing a bit more, it may help to take a look at what the tool actually does. From a recent blog post:

Content evaluation

Problem: Traditionally, researchers rely on metadata, abstracts, and the first few pages of an article to evaluate its relevance to their work. In humanities and social sciences scholarship, which makes up the majority of JSTOR’s content, many items lack abstracts, meaning scholars in these areas (who in turn are our core cohort of users) have one less option for efficient evaluation. 

When using a traditional keyword search in a scholarly database, a query might return thousands of articles that a user needs significant time and considerable skill to wade through, simply to ascertain which might in fact be relevant to what they’re looking for, before beginning their search in earnest.

Solution: We’ve introduced two capabilities to help make evaluation more efficient, with the aim of opening the researcher’s time for deeper reading and analysis:

Summarize, which appears in the tool interface as “What is this text about,” provides users with concise descriptions of key document points. On the back-end, we’ve optimized the Large Language Model (LLM) prompt for a concise but thorough response, taking on the task of prompt engineering for the user by providing advanced direction to:

Extract the background, purpose, and motivations of the text provided.

Capture the intent of the author without drawing conclusions.

Limit the response to a short paragraph to provide the most important ideas presented in the text.

Search term context is automatically generated as soon as a user opens a text from search results, and provides information on how that text relates to the search terms the user has used. Whereas the summary allows the user to quickly assess what the item is about, this feature takes evaluation to the next level by automatically telling the user how the item is related to their search query, streamlining the evaluation process.

Discovering new paths for exploration

Problem: Once a researcher has discovered content of value to their work, it’s not always easy to know where to go from there. While JSTOR provides some resources, including a “Cited by” list as well as related texts and images, these pathways are limited in scope and not available for all texts. Especially for novice researchers, or those just getting started on a new project or exploring a novel area of literature, it can be needlessly difficult and frustrating to gain traction. 

Solution: Two capabilities make further exploration less cumbersome, paving a smoother path for researchers to follow a line of inquiry:

Recommended topics are designed to assist users, particularly those who may be less familiar with certain concepts, by helping them identify additional search terms or refine and narrow their existing searches. This feature generates a list of up to 10 potential related search queries based on the document’s content. Researchers can simply click to run these searches.

Related content empowers users in two significant ways. First, it aids in quickly assessing the relevance of the current item by presenting a list of up to 10 conceptually similar items on JSTOR. This allows users to gauge the document’s helpfulness based on its relation to other relevant content. Second, this feature provides a pathway to more content, especially materials that may not have surfaced in the initial search. By generating a list of related items, complete with metadata and direct links, users can extend their research journey, uncovering additional sources that align with their interests and questions.

Supporting comprehension

Problem: You think you have found something that could be helpful for your work. It’s time to settle in and read the full document… working through the details, making sure they make sense, figuring out how they fit into your thesis, etc. This all takes time and can be tedious, especially when working through many items. 

Solution: To help ensure that users find high quality items, the tool incorporates a conversational element that allows users to query specific points of interest. This functionality, reminiscent of CTRL+F but for concepts, offers a quicker alternative to reading through lengthy documents. 

By asking questions that can be answered by the text, users receive responses only if the information is present. The conversational interface adds an accessibility layer as well, making the tool more user-friendly and tailored to the diverse needs of the JSTOR user community.

Credibility and source transparency

We knew that, for an AI-powered tool to truly address user problems, it would need to be held to extremely high standards of credibility and transparency. On the credibility side, JSTOR’s AI tool uses only the content of the item being viewed to generate answers to questions, effectively reducing hallucinations and misinformation. 

On the transparency front, responses include inline references that highlight the specific snippet of text used, along with a link to the source page. This makes it clear to the user where the response came from (and that it is a credible source) and also helps them find the most relevant parts of the text. 

[cryptotheism]

who manufactures rigs? are they generally craft built off of existing blueprints, or could you theoretically just walk up to a factory where they're being mass produced like modern industrial equipment?

They're manufactured by guilds in major cities. Basically, imagine if medieval armorers were also factory engineers, with access to modern CNC machines.

The first rigs were made from blueprints salvaged from the Teleths. Part of rig culture is tracing your personal design back to the handful of original frames. Kinda like how every martial arts style can trace their lineage back to Shaolin Kung Fu.

So, depending on the availability of materials and labor, some models can have short production runs, and others might be highly mass produced. That's part of why the Arcadia Y400 is so common. It's parts are extremely cheap to produce, and they can be manufactured with fairly basic tools and expertise.