Ben Werdmuller helps leaders at newsrooms, non-profits, and mission-driven organizations to navigate their biggest technology challenges.
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I read this the other day and haven't stopped thinking about it. Mostly I worry about the children who have to grow up in this kind of environment. To my mind it's tantamount to child abuse. What happens to them later? Do they stay inside this
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I strongly believe in this: "Artists and writers must have solidarity across creative industries: if you wouldn’t feel comfortable with your own work being replaced by algogen, then you shouldn’t use generated content of other creative mediums." On top of it being an ethical affront across
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Management consultants are to blame, for sure, but so are politicians for taking the bait. We know that there's big oil and gas money pushing against real solutions to climate change - anyone who's in that space needs to be vigilant against it. One aspect of this
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This runs the gamut, but generally sits where I am: AI itself is not the threat. How it might be used in service of a profit motive is the threat. Harry Josephine Giles worries about the digital enclosure movement - making private aspects of life that were once public - and I
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This is a great post from Matt: in response to a leak, he re-posted the full leaked content and added transparent context. Exactly how it should be done. I wish, like many, that this wasn't the reality for Tumblr. But it's likely that it'
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While empowering artists is obviously a good thing, this feels like an unwinnable arms race to me. Sure, Nightshade can produce incorrect results in image generators, but this will be mitigated, leading to another tool, leading to another mitigation, and so on. For now, this may be a productive kind
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I just don't think advertising is an appropriate way to support this kind of journalism - or, potentially, any kind. This is more evidence, but it's also worth knowing that the private equity firm that owns G/O Media has not been a good steward. Non-profits
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"Speaking as a science fiction writer, I'd like to offer a heartfelt apology for my part in the silicon valley oligarchy's rise to power. And I'd like to examine the toxic role of science fiction in providing justifications for the craziness." #Technology
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On models for journalism: "I wonder if the big problem is that we focused on scale when we should have been focused on nailing down the audience. If we focused on millions when we should have focused on building ourselves a liveable wage. And if we put too much
I’ve been thinking a lot about supporting shared, informal reflection at work. In software development, we do a lot of what I’d call formal reflection. These usually take the form of retrospectives after a development sprint, where the team gets together to discuss what went right and wrong,
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Over time, I think it's becoming more and more likely that Zuckerberg will step down. I strongly suspect he'll be replaced by Adam Mosseri, whose Instagram and Threads products have been doing very well for Meta (in contrast to Zuckerberg's metaverse shenanigans). In any
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At least in Washington State, car manufacturers may record and intercept the text messages of drivers who have connected their devices to their cars via Bluetooth or cable. That data can then be resold or provided to law enforcement without a warrant. #Technology [Link]