Curated Commons // Edition 126
Welcome to the 126th edition of Curated Commons! Thank you for subscribing (if you haven't yet, what are you waiting for?).
Happy reading ($ indicates potential paywall).
Most important skill of future - talking to an AI?
The Atlantic has a very interesting piece on what many say will be a key skill of the future - the ability to prompt AI systems to do what you command. And given these are black boxes, understanding their peculiarities, a la exploiting algorithmic inefficiencies/blind spots, has potential - Read here ($)
When architecture meets tech
Fascinating approach where solar panels, that look like Terracotta tiles are being used at ancient Pompeii sites - Read here
Non Playable Characters. In Real Life. All of us.
This piece brings up such an important point - how the ability to shoot a video, add a snarky comment and share with thousands of strangers online, has potential to convert all of us humans to NPCs, non playable characters in online games. - Read here
Is ChatGPT a ‘blurry’ JPEG of the web?
This is a really good read on Large Language Models and how they are at best a blurry, lossy compression algorithm. - Read here ($)
“If MSN and Habbo Hotel had a baby…”
This blast from the past tech reference is about a new ‘metaverse’ app that’s growing wildly in Asia - Bondee. - Read here
The SEC hates Whatsapp
Or maybe loves it. 12 big banks have cumulatively paid over $2Bn in penalties so far because they allowed traders to use Whatsapp and did not retain the messages. Now the SEC is looking further - Read here ($)
Social engineering an…algorithm
Humans have company. In falling prey to social engineering in its various forms. And when it comes to Large Language Models, it takes the form of prompt injection attacks. Bing Chat was at the receiving end this week - Read here
Twitch has had a deepfake porn scandal
Our messed up future is here already, and deepfake porn is one such terrible outcome. As a popular Twitch streamer puts it… - Read here
“The New Gatekeepers”
Ben Evans has a new deck out, and needless to say, it’s definitely worth checking out and thinking through - Read here
What’s with Japanese companies?
They are not just empathizing with employees, but actually putting money behind it. Didn’t they get the shareholder primacy lesson from corporate America? - Read here
The retreat of the individual investor?
A whole new category of retail investors played around quite a bit with equity markets in the US in the pandemic boom. Is that slowing now? - Read here ($)
What’s in a job title? $4 Bn, apparently.
A new study shows that companies apparently save billions of dollars by getting creative with employee titles. - Read here
More Interesting Reads:
Another media house tries to go for an AI author. Backfires. - Read here
Online groups, but for helping source Insulin. Because, well, market and regulatory failure. - Read here
Satya thinks AI can be Microsoft’s hammer to beat the Google search nail. Good interview - Read here
There’s now a tool for figuring out the human who ‘created’ the AI-created images - See here
We should all be asking more questions, even stupid ones - Read here ($)
Batteries on some electric vehicles are powerful enough to power homes! - Read here ($)
A fascinating medical detective story - Read here
Apparently some customers return as many as 80% of their apparel purchases! No wonder online retailers in India are overhauling their returns policies - Read here
Can cheese combat climate change? - Read here
And finally
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