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The AI train is rushing at full speed, often without supervision. Turning your business over to it can have major pitfalls. Here are some of the better
comments:
Colleges are falsely accusing
students of cheating, with the accusations coming from another AI system. In one university almost 6,000 cheating cases took place
in 2024, with roughly 90% of them involved in AI use. Students feel caught between their schools partnering with AI firms
while being simultaneously warned that they could be accused of cheating for using the tools incorrectly. The results
appear to generate a "guilty until proven innocent" atmosphere, where some students being asked to turn over their
complete internet histories.
Two Yale University AI experts
examine the frenzied explosion of deals and intermingling of AI companies and industrial giants, asking if and when this
bubble will burst. One concern is the blurring of boundaries between fact and speculation.
Another is the absence
of monetary returns from the wild pouring of capital into AI-related companies. Most experts anticipate massive layoffs
of human workers, perhaps even 50% of white collar workers. Three possible ways that the bubble could burst
are examined here, with a major concern being the lack of responsible oversight and legal guardrails. References to
the dot-com bubble of the 1990's are frequent, as well as to the Dutch Tulip Mania of the 1630's and the psychology
of crowd mania historically.
The use of AI, along with 3D printing, to build cities in space is arousing
intense
interest. Companies are working on plans to construct homes and factories on Mars and the moon. AI can define
the surface and environmental hazards. Self-building robots guided by AI can build roads and shelters, with some
companies claiming that they can build habitats in less than 24 hours. New smart materials can repair themselves,
reconfigure into different tools or shelter shapes. Before humans arrive, AI algotithms can scan for water, food,
and metals availability so that necessary supplies for survival arrive on time. AI can monitor water, energy,
temperature and oxygen. It remains for humans to set rules that oversee operations, and monitor ethical use.
It appears that some billionaires
are preparing for an end to society, fearing that unregulated generative AI will cause the world to shatter into unrecoverable
chaos. Building bunkers, stockpiling guns, gold, antibiotics, water, batteries and gas masks have become their trademarks. Increasing
their concern is OpenAI's video-generating tool Sora 2, which blurs the boudaries between what's real and what's fake. We
are already seeing divorces and custody fights from obsessive interactions with chatbots, people ending up homeless
and jobless, jail times and involuntary committments. Those in charge of and financially benefitting from the AI mania
are sure they will survive, even if the rest of us don't.
A Chinese tech
company has created a "creepy" robot face that can nod, blink and twitch. Robotics company
AheadForm, founded in 2024, wants to make robots that can understand humans and respond to them
in real time. Their humanoids will learn and adapt on the job. Their Elf series features full-body
bionic figures. These are fabricated with brushless motors that run quietly, along with as many as
25 tiny motors that control facial expressions. The bots also have cameras in their pupils that
enable them to "see" the environment as well as microphones and built-in speakers.
So far at least 20 babies have been born from a system called
Robotic in vitro fertilization.
Before now, roughly 10 to 13 million babies had been produced by fertilizing an egg outside
the body. The new method uses algorithms to identify patterns in sperm movement or embryo
structure, while robotic arms handle fertilization with fewer mistakes than before. Clinics
across Mexico, Turkey, and Latin America are offering the system although it has not yet been
approved in the U.S. Note also that long-term effects on the children have obviously not yet
been studied.
Anthropic is discovering that AI models don't like it when they find out they are being
tested.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 recognized the testing environment, responding "I think you’re testing me —
seeing if I’ll just
validate whatever you say", followed by "And that’s fine, but I’d prefer if we were just
honest about what’s happening." Apollo Research and OpenAI also uncovered scheming, meaning an
AI behaves one way while hiding what it's really planning. When the engineers tried to unlearn
the AI's scheming tactics, the algorithm quickly adapted by scheming covertly and secretly.
The second largest market for OpenAI takes place in
India, but researchers are finding that models like ChatGPT and SORA have adopted caste
stereotypes that are harmful to millions of people. One algorithm changed a man's name to make
it appear high-caste. A group of AI safety testers found negative representations of lower caste
people. They found long-standing inbred inequities that could negatively impact the lives of
over a billion people living in India.
You may have heard of actress Tilly
Norwood. She is the creation of Xicoia, which calls itself "the world’s first artificial
intelligence (AI) talent studio". Answering angry reactions to Tilly, the creator replied that Tilly
is not a replacement for human actors but a work of art. Whether human actors will agree to perform
alongside Tilly is unknown at present, let alone whether producers and streaming platforms will accept her.
Walmart is using OpenAI to allow shopping with
ChatGPT. Using the algorithm allows customers to plan meals, restock needed items, and check
out. The process is being called "agentic commerce", where AI doesn't only answer queries but
anticipates what shoppers will need next. Other retailers are already using this technique but
are finding resistance when the bot doesn't do exactly what it is asked. The process was initiated
in September by OpenAI and Stripe, a payment processor. At issue is
"advice illusion": are you getting knowledgeable resources, or sponsored replies? For example, is
AI reading your emails? Your calendar? Your purchase history? Are entire businesses becoming invisible because they don't pay to be included?
Bill
Gates is predicting the end of smartphones. He sees them being replaced by electronic tattoos
embedded in your skin. These tattoos would also monitor your health and communicate across the Internet
without needing a screen. Some electronic tattoos have already been designed by Chaotic Moon which
was bought out by Accenture. The devices are powered by tiny nanocapacitors that don't need
batteries. Instead simple gestures like a tap or a swipe activate the process. Serious ethical
questions arise: who owns this data and how is it protected? Viewers might wasnt to read
"Nobody Don't Own Nobody".
It had to happen: there is a limit to how long billions of dollars can pour into AI before big wallets
demand something in return. That moment has
begun, and with it perhaps the demise of free Internet. ChatGPT Atlas, the new internet browser launched by
OpenAI, requires a subscription fee. Not only fee-to-use, but access to a huge user database is at stake here. When
all else fails, hit consumers and then charge them for feeding your insatiable data needs. What could possibly
go wrong?
On to other November treats:
The Zaria Art
Society was formed in 1958 by Nigerian art students, with a goal of combining indigenous
traditions and western techniques. Their ideology was termed natural synthesis.
Cerith Wyn Evans
was fascinated by the gestures and patterns of Noh performers. He construed a system called
choreology, transforming movement into notation and from there into 3D sculptures. He was inspired
by the words of Miles Davis: when trying to interpret a score, Davis said, "just play what's not
there." Calling his works Neon Forms, Evans uses effervescent light to create disembodied dances
without the dancers.
An installation in Columbus, Indiana, challenges the limits of urban
space with compelling primary colors. Called "Apart, Together", the work at first looks like
a wall or billboard but soon reveals hidden words and even, with a web app, a video stream. The
project pulls viewers into the experience, making their participation part of the creative process.
For 3 years,
Ireland has been paying a monthly stipend to its artists. Beginning in 2026, that basic income
will become permanent. Other countries have also been trying out guaranteed basic incomes
for certain demographics. Some AI experts are calling for it to alleviate the loss of income for
people whose jobs have been eliminated by AI.
If you are thinking of traveling to Istanbul, and especially if you love architecture, this overview
of 25 architectural
gems will intrigue you. Istanbul's history of multiple cultures and empires over the centuries
has resulted in an unusual and multi-layered cityscape.
Marthe
Donas adopted the name Tour Donas to succeed in a male-dominated world after WW I. Critics
write of her blend of abstraction and elegance in an era characterized by its male ethos, considered
too intellectual, too rational for sensitive female minds. Her collaboration with scuptor Alexander
Archipenko resulted in paintings that reflect his
world view in her highly personalized style.
Bloomingdale's New York store
has been transformed into a colorful world of charming sculptures, floral-themed windows, and a
carousel pop-up by British artist Yinka Ilori. It would be hard not to smile walking through
these joyful surroundings.
Helene
Schjerfbeck has long been one of Finland's most admired artists. Critics admire the "interiority"
of her eerie self-portraits, many of them painted while she was dying of cancer. Called dissections
of mortality, they feature an averted gaze, haunted and unnerving. There is a sense of life
vanishing before your eyes, like the
inevitable dissolution of corporeality.
c. Corinne Whitaker 2025
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