If you search for a specific phrase in quotation marks, Google News will spam you with social media garbage instead of news that's relevant to your search. If you remove the quotation marks, Google News will spam you with actual news stories, but ones unrelated to your desired content, as it simply looks for the words you're searching for anywhere in the article. In other words, you can search…
You know that scene in Forrest Gump where Forrest sees Lieutenant Dan on the shore and is so distracted by him that he jumps off and swims to shore, allowing the boat to crash into the dock? Yeah, that's Google News now. In this metaphor, Forrest is Google and Lieutenant Dan is AI. As a journalist, I have used Google News for many years to catch up on topics in which I am interested. I am always…
I don't know why, but creative thinking and planning with clarity and ambition are always helped by motion. Go for a walk. Hike on a trail. Take a road trip. Fly to another country. The act of moving helps you unstick yourself, and breaks you out of the doldrums and hesitancy that can hold you back. If you want to get things moving in your life, then get moving.
Maybe 12 years ago or so, I enjoyed newsgroup-like mailing list thing with three other guys who were all former co-workers of mine. Basically, we just swapped funny current events (what we'd now call memes) we would write profane limericks, and generally share offensive, NSFW nuggets that weren't really acceptable to post on social media. It was a super smart group, and the whole thing was a lot…
I’ll start with the punch line: Good writing is an expression of individuality, and a communication of life experience and human thought. AI can’t do it. AI will never be able to do it. The AI chatbots that people use to write for them tend to write bland, average prose. Worse, they use phrases, make sentences, somewhat randomly choose canned constructions that are “off.” We can tell it’s “off,”…
The machine gun was invented to make war less lethal. The inventor, Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling, patented the Gatling gun in 1862. By turning a crank, one operator could fire 200 rounds a minute. Gatling was inspired by the American Civil War, which started in April 1861 and ended in April 1865. Three-quarters of a million Americans died in that war, give or take 100,000, according to estimates…
We're just talking apes, after all. Our ancient ancestors, living in nature with handmade tools, survived in part by learning everything they could about threats, food sources, the location of shelter, and how to maintain a fire. "Content creators" were just people talking -- sharing knowledge, telling stories. Millennia into the Neolithic Age, information was still scarce, with only a tiny…
You hear it all the time. The media lies. The media favors the powerful. The media are communists, fascists, or part of a global conspiracy. The media this. The media that. Trouble is, there is no "the media." Take a few seconds to consider this label, and it reveals itself to be a ridiculous concept. Every conceivable perspective on Earth is represented by some organization, group or person…
It’s OK for blog posts to be short.
AI is eating the world. Most content online is AI-generated. And most human-generated content is helped by AI. While AI has its uses, it's nice to hear from actual people once in a while. Dave Winer, one of the original bloggers, and the guy who co-invented podcasting along with Adam Curry in 2003, defined a blog like this: "A blog is the unedited voice of a person." He explained: "The lack of…
Social algorithms are expertly updated and optimized every day to draw you in, literally take your time, and consume more of your attention. So the "news," current events and viral videos it shows to you are brilliantly designed to affect you emotionally. For news and current events, anger and fear are the easiest emotions to engender. If a billion things happen a day, showing you the 10 worst…
I've been blogging since the 90s. My posts have always evolved. In the beginning, I blogged to share the crazy shit I encountered as a tech journalist. Most of those posts were funny or ironic. There was no other place for people to find out that stuff. Then the information landscape changed. The internet got better. Social emerged. Eventually, just about anybody could find out about just about…
How one man’s vibe-coding session evolved into a reckless global experiment where nobody’s accountable. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com .
First they came for your eyes. Now they want your heart. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com .
As we slouch toward a world of AI-made fake everything (and the distrust that follows) it’s time to spell out exactly how you’re using AI. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com . (Disclosure: The words and image in this post were made without AI.)
Superintelligent hosts Mike Elgan and Emily Forlini explore the link between churning homemade butter and the craving for authenticity in the new world of fake AI everything. They talk about Google’s new Gmail AI features as the most recent example of companies pushing everyone to use AI for communication. The hosts allow themselves to be influenced by influencer and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri,…
Perfection and polish now signal cheap AI. To communicate with authenticity, you’ll need to show up as yourself. Read my column at Computerworld.com .
Chinese parents using AI to shame their adult children into marriage aren’t weird. They’re just ahead of the curve. Read my column at Machine Society .
I asked Gemini to read Book One of Meditations and concisely list the virtues Marcus Aurelius advocated. Here they are: Maintain a noble character and control your temper. Embody modesty and manliness. Practice piety, generosity, and simplicity in diet while avoiding the habits of the rich. Invest liberally in good education and teachers. Endure pain, work hard, desire little, and ignore slander…
Most people now get their news from social sites — and that’s a big problem. Here’s the solution. (Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com .)
Using digital twin technology to simulate real people can be powerful. But when it’s used to represent the views of people (leaders, celebrities, customers, or the public), people tend to oppose the idea. When they interact with prominent people, they want to interact with the real people. When their views are considered, they want to be asked rather than represented by a digital twin. This might…
Host Leo Laporte is joined by Daniel Rubino, Sam Abuelsamid, and me! We do a post-mortem on Black Friday. We dig into record online sales, shaky in store traffic, and the tricks retailers use to turn inflated prices and AI shopping tools into “record breaking” headlines. From defense tech stumbles at Anduril to China leapfrogging the US on “open” AI models, the we point out how a shortage of shame…
Check out the latest episode of Intelligent Machines with Leo Laporte, Paris Martineau, and me, Mike Elgan. In this episode, we push the conversation to the edge: Could the future of AI be sitting right on your desk instead of hiding in giant data centers? We dig into Nvidia’s new Blackwell chip and HP’s ZGX Nano—tiny but powerful machines that could let people fine-tune advanced AI models at…
This interview, conducted by Bill Kennedy, was surprisingly detailed, candid and biographical. Check it out! Also: Go here to subscribe to the Ardan Labs podcast .
American federal agencies and private companies are now allowing weaponized foreign disinformation to spread and grow. Read my newsletter post at Machine Society .
Everyone should be clamoring for tools and features that block AI content. And for content companies, blocking AI slop is your new Job One. Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com .
In this episode of Superintelligent, we dove headlong into the spectacle of the Meta Connect event, where Mark Zuckerberg and team set out to convince us that the future is wearable, voice-activated, wrist-twitching and dorky. Yes, we’re talking about the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses and their neural band companion—the gadget duo supposedly destined to replace keyboards and smartphones. The demo…
This episode of Superintelligent urgently explores the impact of social platforms on our daily lives. We opened against the backdrop of a tragedy — the assassination of political influencer Charlie Kirk. Watch, listen and subscribe on the Superintelligent website .
Yes, it is. So, what are the implications of these changes? Read my opinion column at Computerworld.com .
This week on Superintelligent, we tackled the spectacular rise of “Blame AI!” culture, where everyone from politicians to pop stars can now attribute any inconvenient fact, viral video, or even White House trash-bag scandal to AI-generated fakery. We explored how ordinary cultural events—like a K-pop musical hit or a Will Smith Instagram—that seem “too perfect” now get hit with AI accusations,…