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Tag: ChatGPT

Zombie VCs: the Era of the Walking Dead Funds

Zombie VCs: the Era of the Walking Dead Funds

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Image by Izzy Loney from Pixabay

VCs ask founders a lot of questions. It’s a big part of their job. They’re deploying other people’s money and just as founders have an obligation to make money for their investors, venture firms have an obligation to bring preferably significant returns to theirs.

Founders need to ask investors questions, too. The most important one (or two): are you still deploying funds/when was the last time you made an investment?

PitchBook recently reported that the number of VCs in US deals peaked at 18,504 in 2021 and fell to 9,966 last year. Read More...

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love ChatGPT

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love ChatGPT

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The reference is to Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

We were a bit under the weather this past week, and unable to do our usual research due to the raging headache associated with this flu. So, it was suggested that why didn’t we use some iteration of ChatGPT to compose this week’s editorial?

Well, we did keep up with some articles, and here are just a few re Generative AIs: Read More...

Software Is Cheating the World

Software Is Cheating the World

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Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

For some time now, the members of the tech synod have been considered to be the smartest guys in the room. They seem to just know what’s best for the world on all fronts and never mind that there is a difference between science and computer science.

For example, a Mexico-based startup will next week launch sulfur particles into the stratosphere in a “rogue” move to create a “mini-volcano” effect it says could help cool the planet…But experts in geoengineering say the launches set a dangerous precedent for private companies or governments to interfere with the planet’s atmosphere,” MSN reported (Climate change activist goes rogue releasing ‘mini volcanoes’ to cool atmosphere (msn.com)).

Well, consider volcanoes. Massive volcanic eruptions spew billowing clouds of chemicals into the atmosphere and block out the sun, as these ‘scientists’ are attempting to do – which tends to lead to failing crops and starvation. Read More...

Web 2 Oh, It’s Not Over Yet: The Era of the Fakes

Web 2 Oh, It’s Not Over Yet: The Era of the Fakes

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Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Despite all of the discussion about Web 3, it has been eclipsed of late by Generative AIs such as ChatGPT, which, according to many an article we’ve seen, is going to make a lot of white-collar workers redundant, as the Brits say. Artificial Intelligence Passes MBA Exam (given by a Wharton professor, FYI) and New ‘Robot’ Lawyer to Represent Defendant in US Court. ChatGPT even passed the US Medical Licensing exam. As we know, it’s also being used to write news articles, tweets and who know what else in startup land, giving new meaning to the term, ‘fake it till you make it.’

When we first got wind of the Generative AI, knowing that it was scraping the internet and well aware of the rampant censorship that has been and is being practiced by the social networks, all of whom have had a stranglehold on the conversation for quite some time, including the pre-Musk Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, we knew this would be a problem. And lest we forget, the programs tend to be written by programmers who have a certain bias, or whose C-Level has a certain bias, and in case you missed it:  The damage done to the credibility of AI by ChatGPT engineers building in political bias is irreparable. The AIs will always have human biases, because it’s humans who are creating it.

Generative AI isn’t the only thing that’s faking it. Getting more sophisticated and no doubt soon to hit that same tipping point are the Deepfakes, both visual and audio. For how many years has Big Tech been capturing your face and voice?  “With no barriers to creating AI-synthesized text, audio and video, the potential for misuse in identity theft, financial fraud and tarnish reputations has sparked global alarm,” the Japan Times reported. Read More...

AI’s Achilles Heel You Hadn’t Considered

AI’s Achilles Heel You Hadn’t Considered

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Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

Those of us who work in technology – which is most of us here – can’t help but glom onto or at least test the shiny new thing that comes along. It’s in our DNA. The problem is that tech tends to jump in feet first without realizing the possible consequences, dystopian side, or even fully examining the product.

Apologies if we sound a bit repetitive here, but read on. We do have a point to make, that no one else seems to be considering.

BuzzFeed To Use ChatGPT’s AI For Content Creation, Stock Up 200%+ (forbes.com). Okay, it’s ‘BuzzFeed’ which is ‘clickbait’ by any other name.  As Forbes further reported, “Investigative reports on The Byte shared that media website CNET was using AI technology, under articles penned by the anonymous “CNET Money Staff”. The AI was created by CNET resources, and only used for a very small number of posts before human oversight detected significant misstatements of facts, errors and plagiarized content, according to multiple news sources.” The result: CNET pauses publishing AI-written stories after disclosure controversy. Read More...

Are We Truly Prepared for Generative AI?

Are We Truly Prepared for Generative AI?

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

We’ve been postponing covering ChatGPT as it is still relatively early days, although elements of it – re AI – have been there for quite some time. OpenAI’s ChatGPT is a definite disruptor, even more than Facebook was in its day, when it heralded the Age of Social, but this time, sans Mark Zuckerberg’s ego and/or iron-fisted control. Yet, or as far as we know. But when was the last time we stopped and considered the dystopian side of the shiny new thing before we realized that, say, our privacy and personal data would be gone, perhaps forever, or worse, thanks to, say, a communications assist?

 

As a writer, we will tell you that, while AI may correct our typos, since we key so quickly, great. As for its grammatical suggestions or recommendations for completing a sentence or thought? AI is clearly not an original thinker and is wrong 90+% of the time – without exaggeration. Read More...