Keeping it short as we wind down 2024, but we do want to leave you and the year with this: we noticed something of a tech story arc as we find ourselves heading into this age of fakes and bear with us. First, a few articles we need to share:

Om Malik’s brilliant summation/warning in his Musings on Media in the Age of AI.

The rise of Synthetic Humans: Digital Twins Living and Breathing Online, or as MIT put it, These creepy fake humans herald a new age in AI.

Finally, Fake Meat Dangers. Never mind that they don’t lessen the carbon footprint and often, au contraire: they’re also somewhat bereft of nutritional value and rife with carcinogens to a point that’s way beyond meat.

From the beginning, one of the chief mantras of tech was to fake it till you make it. Not everyone makes it, but as we barrel into an era where fakes in their various forms are becoming almost de rigueur in order to make it, as we’ve said before, products tend to be released before they’re fully vetted – and tested in the wild – which tends to lead to unforeseen consequences, as in the case of fake meats. LLMs: hallucinations? New Anthropic study shows AI really doesn’t want to be forced to change its views; and Robot taxi riders in San Francisco targeted with a new form of harassment.

Tech is a constantly shifting landscape and there’s no stopping it from pushing forward, but to the founders out there, we can only suggest that you do try to use your powers for good instead of evil, intended or not. Consider the vulnerabilities, qua, how bullet proof is your security? And what are the consequences should your tech fall into the hands of bad actors? The dangers they especially pose in this age of fakes are potentially all too real.  Onward and forward.