Category: Technology

  • Eternally You – performing the god-like act of resurrection

    Hitting TV screens in the UK right now is a new BBC Storyville documentary, Eternally You, ‘delving into world of startups using AI to create avatars of the deceased.’ The Guardian ran a 5-star review of it, which I do think it deserves. As they outline: Joshua Barbeau […] uses it to talk to his…

  • Not OK, Computer?

    “The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.” – AI Training Statement / https://www.aitrainingstatement.org/ Over 11,000 artists, writers, actors, musicians and others in the creative industries have signed the above statement, expressing their opposition…

  • God-Like in Frome

    Delighted to be invited to Frome on 22nd of November to give a talk about the book, as primer for a discussion on human flourishing in an age of ‘intelligent’ machines. If you’re around the West Country, be lovely to see you there! Ticket includes complimentary glass of something, and there’ll be other refreshments too.…

  • Talk in Reading – Monday 15th October

    I’ll be in Reading tomorrow evening (Monday 14th) speaking about the book and helping lead a discussion about the issues around AI and our relationship to machines, and one another. Info here about the event! And you can hear my segment on BBC Radio Berkshire this morning here: I’ll have some copies of the book…

  • Honey, you look thirsty

    Interesting piece in The Conversation this week about relationships with AI chat-bots… and the market models that they are using that invariably tap into human desires. The idea of an AI partner was well explored in the film HER. But what’s missing from that is any dimension of value-extraction. This is not how things are…

  • ‘No god in the machine’

    Really good edition of The Guardian’s ‘long read’ released as an audio piece last week: ‘No god in the machine,’ written by Navneet Alang and read by Narinder Samra, based on an article published in August. It’s a very well crafted overview of the AI space, and the ‘tech solutionism’ that I’ve been talking about…