Episode 91: AI Doppelgangers, Google Outage, and Vaccine Apps
Release Date: 12/22/2020
The Killing IT Podcast
Check out the bonus Killing IT content on MSP Radio's Business of Tech podcast! Today's a great day to subscribe to that: https://www.businessof.tech/subscribe/ -- -- -- Topic 1: The Current State of Mergers, Acquisition, and MSP Consolidation Mergers and Acquisitions are alive and well in the MSP channel. Jay McBain from Canalys predicts a growth of M&A of 50% in 2024. In addition to MSPs themselves, he says that we’ll see some major vendors acquired as well. The promise of these larger organizations is always that they’ll bring efficiency and profit. So far, that hasn’t...
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Topic 1: Chat GPT 1 year later. AI Article Summary: Elon Musk creates his own AI company called X.AI, while Satya Nadella of Microsoft invests in OpenAI and accelerates plans to incorporate AI into Microsoft's products. OpenAI releases ChatGPT as a "low key research preview," which becomes a hit. Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, faces challenges with its own chatbot and struggles with the decision to go open-source. Microsoft introduces its own chatbot in Bing, surpassing Google's efforts. Geoffrey Hinton, a prominent AI scientist at Google, decides to quit and reflects on the rapid advancements...
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We're Baaaaaack! The Killing IT team returns . . . with a fun and educational Q4 show. Topic 1: Overworking Have you heard the term Over Employment or Overworking? These are folks who manage to hold down two or three full time jobs using apps and BS. Are these just eager, hardworking "gig" folks, or are they thieves who are simply more interested in making money than earning an honest living? A few links: They even have their own web site. Topic 2: Catch up on Artificial Intelligence Wow! What a year. Are we in the middle of a singularity? ow much is this like the early...
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Topic 1: How much will AI change our business in the next twelve months? ChatGPT now has over 100 million users. Government wants to regulate it. We’re past the hockey stick moment. --- Topic 2: Oh Dear God - Minority Report crack for Ryan: Movie clip reconstructed by an AI reading mice's brains as they watch Researchers have put together a 30-second movie clip based on a group of mice's brain activity data that was recorded while they watched the footage --- Topic 3: How dead is the metaverse? KP: Not every “cool” technology has a big future. It will find its...
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Topic 1: The Arms Race is Here...AI is Definitely Moving Fast, but Will It Break Things? ChatGPT is now integrated in Bing as “Prometheus.” That sounds ominous. But Bard is also coming. And now Ernie. And Claude. Soon there will be AI bots generating “conversations” and disrupting the search industry on all sides of the globe. Is that a good thing? Sample alternative tools - ...And also, apparently writing software is about to become a less-lucrative career path. --- Topic 2: Revisiting the Cabana... Four years ago, we set out to change the way our industry discussed...
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Topic 1: Score 1 for the Good Guys in the Cyber Wars In a significant development in the fight against ransomware, the FBI announces that they have shut down a notorious cyber gang after infiltrating their system months ago and secretly giving decryption keys to ransomware victims. Topic 2: Ummmm … This is Some Seriously Scary Big Brother Stuff Scientists have announced that they are able to see people through walls using WiFi technology. And not just the “heat blob” from Hollywood movies … but detailed movements and positions. On a scientific note, this is cool. On a security /...
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Topic 1: Sorry: Let’s talk jobs. December: Total new jobs UP 235,000. That is despite the fact the enterprise companies (500 employees+) reduced jobs by 151,000 ← Great summary stats Spotify 600 (6% of workforce) Twitter 3,700 (50% of those who lasted this long) Salesforce 7,000 (10% of workforce) Microsoft 10,000 (5% of workforce) Tesla 10,000 (10% of workforce) Google 12,000 (6% of workforce) Amazon 18,000 (1% of workforce) Oh, and . . . Apple 0 (0% of workforce) - Minor adjustments at retail locations See also the big Layoff-Tracker Service at TrueUp -...
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Topic 1: Small companies are “labor hoarding” while large companies are laying off. Keeping employees at any cost! Topic 2: Understanding the Dynamics of the Tech Workforce in 2023 Data Point 1: Tech Layoffs are Happening … But Not Because Tech is Suddenly Less Valuable Data Point 2: Tech Jobs are Less Attractive to Young Professionals Data Point 3: Shifting Preference for Generalists vs. Specialists … Plus a Mainstream Rise of “Business IT” Contributors Amazon layoffs delivered by email. ← Low class or just modern times? Topic 3: Cal Newport on the Digital Workplace: We...
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Topic 1: Algorithms Need Management Training, Too! From Wired Magazine. Human beings excel at avoiding responsibility for difficult decisions. Management and personnel decisions are often difficult. Therefore, they are great candidates for turning decision-making over to the bots. What could possibly go wrong? Topic 2: Microsoft drops $1 Billion on ChatGPT I should have bought more Microsoft stock yesterday. :-) Looking to the true “next level” of product development. Microsoft was an early investor in ChatGPT Topic 3: Apple to drop Broadcom chip and make their own. Is this...
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Topic 1: Generative AI is Fun … Until the “Other” Guys Start Doing It Too China is aggressively building their own versions of generative AI platforms (with some obvious / inevitable filters) that do essentially the same thing as ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion. The question is whether they will be able to out-race us to the auto-content future … and whether that is a problem. Topic 2: LastPass - Lessons for the Channel Should we be worried? What do we expect from vendors? What’s reasonable and realistic? Is this worth discussing as a larger topic of always-on monitoring and...
info_outlineHeading straight on toward year end . . . and Episode 100.
Stay tuned for a December 29th Year-end special. But today's show is also good.
Topic 1: AI may help you find your doppelganger.
The YouTube video below has a look at the technology involved in AI doppelganger research. You can see right away that this dataset can be used to "crowdsource" the improvement of this technology.
Related Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1nz5Bkpmcw
Mentioned in passing: Google's AI singing blobs.
https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/blob-opera/AAHWrq360NcGbw?cp=e30
Topic 2: Google went down . . . and the world went down with it.
Well, for a short while. Below is a commentary (not news) about the use of technology to track us and control us. We discuss how accurate this is, and the lessons we hope to learn from the analysis.
Commentary:
Topic 3: Life after the pandemic: What we're learning from Vaccine Apps
Tracking might be good or bad. "Vaccine Passport" apps may be used for ways they are not intended. Aside from fighting the pandemic, there are some obvious questions about privacy, HIPAA, and personal liberties.
We discuss. And remind you that there's tech that you might be able to integrate into your service offerings.
Related Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/technology/coronavirus-vaccine-apps.html
:-)