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Submission + - AI hurts your credibility even if your work is great, study finds (nerds.xyz)

Submitted by BrianFagioli
BrianFagioli writes: New research from Florida International University suggests that simply disclosing AI use can damage a creatorâ(TM)s reputation, even when the creative output itself is identical. In one experiment, participants evaluated the same video game soundtrack but were given different descriptions of the composer. Some were told it was written by Hans Zimmer, while others were told it came from an unknown student. When AI collaboration was disclosed, ratings dropped across the board, regardless of whether the name attached carried prestige.

The study found that reputation offered only limited protection. Participants were slightly more willing to believe a well known composer remained in control of the creative process, but overall perceptions of authenticity and competence still declined. Researchers say the issue is not performance quality but perception. Once AI enters the picture, audiences begin questioning whether the creativity is genuine, suggesting that, at least for now, AI carries a reputational tax.

Submission + - Alcohol Profoundly Changes The Way Your Brain Communicates, Study Finds (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: A few glasses of alcohol are enough to start fragmenting the way the brain works, leading to more localized information processing and reduced brain-wide communication, a new study has discovered.

While plenty of previous research has looked at the ways booze changes the brain, little of it has considered the network-wide effects.

Submission + - NYT: 'AI Literacy' Is Trending in Schools. Here's Why.

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "Computer literacy. Internet literacy. Social media literacy. Mobile literacy. Virtual reality literacy. Every few years," the NY Times reports in 'A.I. Literacy' Is Trending in Schools, "the tech industry introduces a new kind of product, then prods schools to teach millions of students how to use it. The pitch to train schoolchildren on the latest tech has stayed roughly the same since the introduction of personal computers in the late 1970s: improved learning and better career prospects. Since then, campaigns for a host of new tech literacies have come and gone — even as some of the promises failed to materialize. Now tech giants like Google, Microsoft and OpenAI are urging schools to teach the latest topic: A.I. literacy."

But as AI companies are urging teachers to prepare students for an 'A.I.-driven future,' what that means varies from school to school. Some, like Washington Park High School in Newark, are staking out a middle ground by treating AI as if it were a car and helping students develop rules for the road. Mike Taubman, a career explorations teacher who co-developed the school’s new literacy course, compared the class to preparing teenagers for their driver’s license exam. “Where do you want to go, and can A.I. help you get there?” Mr. Taubman asked. Students needed to learn to drive A.I. tools, analyze what’s under the hood, develop guidelines for personal use and design ideal safety policies, he said.

So, is "Are you steering the [AI] technology or is it steering you?" the new "Don’t just play on your phone, program it"?

Comment Re:Buried the lede (Score 1) 111

Basely comment about Claude?

I spent the last few days iterating over code to build an SDR Receiver framework. There are right ways to use AI to produce code, that includes validations and built in unit testing processes. You can take weeks of work down to a few days and you can provide validations for it. It won't be perfect, and it will require oversight, but it can be done.

Oh, and I've been writing this in a language that doesn't have many SDR examples, so no, it ain't _stolen code_.

Comment Re:This is a fundamental problem with education (Score 5, Insightful) 15

by PCM2 (#66003180) Attached to: Code.org President Steps Down Citing 'Upending' of CS By AI

I worked in K-12 education for a long time. And one of the things that genuinely shocked me is how much curriculum is in fact just sponsored by giant corporations.

The especially concerning/scary thing this time is that what the giant corporations want is to make computing seem like "magic." Make a wish into the wishing well that is AI, and what you will receive will be what you wished for ... provided, of course, you keep paying the corporation for the privilege of having your wishes granted.

Never mind having the actual skill, talent, understanding, etc. to make your wishes come true yourself. Just pay, wish, and it will be yours ... and never mind anyone who tells you it used to be possible to get what you want to achieve without paying a giant corporation. Just keep wishing, lean how to wish big, and your wishes will come true.

This seems like the antithesis of how anyone who considers themselves an educator should think.

And the really sad part is they're not just saying this to CS students. They're saying it to writers and journalists, artists, musicians ... basically anyone whose job doesn't involve a hammer, a shovel, or a stove.

Comment Re:Enterprise software is bought with blowjobs any (Score 2) 54

Happens all the time. A friend spent a full year flying back and forth from Southern California, staying in hotels, to meet with a cross-company team to figure out how to use the new software they'd licensed from a Perot company. After the full year (or more), they decided the software just wasn't going to work out, so they scrapped the project and the whole effort was for nothing.

Comment Re:A difference of kind or of degree (Score 1) 54

The interesting model, though, is driving. Most of us think that this has been a complete failure. Musk set out to do it and failed, like many of his other enterprises. What we missed is that in fact there is a company that has delivered "full self driving" [youtube.com] by limiting the problem so it doesn't need intelligence.

There are at least two fully autonomous robotaxi companies operating in San Francisco. Waymo, in particular, has been wildly successful and is winning business away from the likes of Lyft and Uber. It will even give you a ride to the airport now.

Comment Re: Working in Canada (Score 1) 141

by topham (#65997732) Attached to: Vermont EV Buses Prove Unreliable For Transportation This Winter

Windchill temperatures aren't relevant for this discussion. At least not until rate of heat dissipation is a key component.

I got nothing against electric busses done right; but actual temperature is relevant for the discussion, not windchill.

(If the temperature is -30C, and windchill is -50C, your corpse will be found outside at -30, not -50C. The rate it kills you is affected by windchill, but not the final temperature.)

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