Tag: AI

Weeknotes #106: Happy Lunar New Year

AI experiments, personal reflections, life updates, and intriguing challenges explored.

Week commencing Monday, 27 January 2025

A sea view at Seaview

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 5/7. (86%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 58,567

The weeknotes are a bit different this week as I spent some time reading and playing with a number of AI tools, specifically using my own material—like these weeknotes—to see what the models might do with them.

Let’s talk about AI

  • Once again, there’s a lot of chatter about AI. The Chinese DeepSeek models made a big splash this week and caused US technology stock prices to plummet. It’s so overhyped.
  • Unrelated, I am experimenting with Google’s Notebook LM, using last year’s weeknotes and a collection of old blog entries from 2002/3. Even though the app says my data is not used to train the AI, I figured it’s public anyway. This is where the real power of AI will come to most people: when it can be used on their own data.
  • – I asked for a cast of characters, which came out OK, but I guess it’s a surprise for people I know IRL called Frank who the AI assumes are the subject of a drag musical. For clarity, they are not the same.
  • – Related, the AI says my weeknotes highlight “a lifestyle that values social connections, shared experiences, and cultural engagement”. I think that’s mainly because I don’t write about the hours I sit at my desk typing product requirements for work.
  • – I was pleased it said that the overall tone of the weeknotes is generally positive and reflective, but it’s missing so much information about me it made me think about how I am characterised online.
  • – In another task, the AI couldn’t distinguish between me and my father when writing about countries where I have worked.
  • In response to this, I asked ChatGPT if it knew who I was. It basically regurgitated materials I have online, which (I think) is good. Other AIs, including DeepSeek, didn’t come back with anything.
  • Google Notebook LM will produce what it calls an Audio Overview which, for me, was like somebody had created a podcast about my life as viewed through those blog entries. It was uncanny. And, yes, I think it’s very much like the fortune reader whereby much of the generic stuff sounds really personal but isn’t, but it was unnerving listening to a podcast about yourself; there was enough reality alongside the generic to make it seem like it knew more about me. It was capable of referencing cultural changes between the early 2000s and today, which made the analysis seem very real. A bit like listening to my own obituary. I can’t decide if I liked it or not.
  • There are a lot of interesting capabilities. I wonder how much longer before I decide to pay for access to more powerful models and tools?

Life

  • I am trying to arrange broadband for a place in Spain while not speaking Spanish nor understanding the format of many things. It’s more stress-inducing than I imagined.
  • On Wednesday, we passed into the Lunar New Year of the Wood Snake. At my Tai Chi class, we all wished each other a happy new year.
  • This week, I learned the government has a Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce. The taskforce met 16 times between 1st October 2020 and 25th November 2021. The bridge is still closed. Pretty terrible such vital infrastructure isn’t funded so it can be repaired.
  • Our first visit to the Isle of Wight for 2025. Delighted by how lovely it was.

Media

AI-sourced views on HS2 Northern leg cancellation

Some of the text on this page was written by 'AI' using gpt-3.5-turbo. I have corrected some US spellings to UK spellings in the response as the prompt for British English seems to have partially ignored

Back at the start of the year, I shared a piece of generative AI that I had created to try to understand how a mainstream tool worked in a specific, more technical context. I think it’s great but, at this stage, it was a generalist.

One of the limitations of the models used is that they have been trained on data to a fixed point in time and many are not able to look-up new data or information against the wider knowledge of the internet. Poe is a collection of AI tools and I noticed a bot had been released that is capable of conducting a web search.

So, with this week’s news that HS2 is to be scrapped I thought I’d try out the this AI to see what it came up with. I am quite impressed with both the output and the referencing but it is limited to a couple of sources. In particular, the references to the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) are to a single 185 word statement. Nonetheless, I thought interesting new capabilities from AI.

The Prompt

Summarise responses to the cancellation of HS2 to Manchester. Use British English.

The AI generated response

The cancellation of the HS2 leg to Manchester has generated various responses. Here is a summary of the key reactions:

Disappointment and Concern

  • Many individuals and organisations have expressed disappointment and concern over the cancellation [1].
  • The Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) described the decision as “extremely disappointing” and a significant blow to the UK construction sector [3].
  • Former Prime Minister David Cameron criticised the cancellation, stating that it was the wrong decision and would make it harder to build consensus for future long-term projects [2].

Impact on Plans and Confidence:

  • The cancellation has raised concerns about the impact on people who had made decisions based on the HS2 plans, such as moving or selling their homes [1].
  • The CPA warned that the decision could undermine confidence and impact future investment in the construction sector [3].

Alternative Funding and Projects:

  • Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to use the £36 billion of savings from scrapping the HS2 line to fund other transport schemes [2].
  • The government’s commitment to completing the HS2 line to Euston and diverting funding to other projects aimed at boosting transport infrastructure in the north has been highlighted [3].

Learn more:

  1. Tell us: will you be affected by the scrapping of the HS2 leg to Manchester? | HS2 | The Guardian
  2. LIVE: HS2 Manchester link cancelled by Rishi Sunak – updates and reaction – Manchester Evening News
  3. CPA Response to Cancellation of the Manchester Leg of HS2 | Construction Plant-hire Association

Follow-up

Interestingly, WordPress (which is used to maintain this site) now includes an AI assistant that can review what has been written on this blog. I generated a review of this page. One of the pieces of feedback was, “Include diverse perspectives by including reactions from a wider range of individuals and organisations”. It amused me that an AI was, effectively, telling another AI to do better.

Generative AI

Some of the text on this page was written by ‘AI’ using text-davinci-003

Yesterday, while on a break between meetings, I asked one of the currently popular AI tools to write something about how advertising might be impacted by AI technologies with a focus on the space I am currently working in: addressable advertising for broadcasters and pay TV operators. I also asked it to highlight some associated risks.

I asked a very open-ended question so I was not expecting anything specific about any individual technology. I tried a few times to see what alternatives were suggested. In general, what I got back was wonderful marketing speak: better targeting for advertisers, more relevant ads for viewers and more money (because of both of those things) for broadcasters. If I was starting a new ad tech company then I’d probably use this text. But I didn’t learn anything. Responses from the current models are very generic. I’d love to try the same question on an industry-specific data set trained with fewer buzz words and generalisations.

The prompt:

Write three paragraphs explaining why AI will improve advertising technologies with a focus on technologies for video and connected television. In the first paragraph outline the benefits for advertisers. In the second paragraph explain the impact on broadcasters and viewers and in the last paragraph outline some risks associated with AI and advertising. Use British English.

The response:

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in advertising technologies has the potential to revolutionise the way brands, broadcasters, and viewers interact. For advertisers, AI technologies offer the potential to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns by making them more personalised, targeted, and cost-effective. AI-enabled technologies allow advertisers to identify the right viewers, track their behaviour and preferences, and deliver customized ads that are tailored to their interests. AI can also help advertisers better understand the impact of their ad campaigns, identify potential opportunities for improvement, and optimise the ads for maximum performance.

The introduction of AI in video and connected television advertising technologies also has the potential to enhance the viewer experience. AI-based technologies can be used to deliver personalised, targeted, and interactive ads that are tailored to the viewers’ interests. This can help broadcasters create more engaging and entertaining advertising experiences for their viewers, as well as offer brands the opportunity to create more immersive and compelling ad campaigns.

However, there are some risks associated with the use of AI in advertising technologies. For example, the use of AI could lead to the emergence of new forms of advertising that are intrusive and manipulative. AI-based technologies could also enable companies to track and analyse consumers’ behaviour in order to deliver ads that are tailored to their preferences. This could lead to the creation of a ‘surveillance economy’, in which companies have access to an unprecedented amount of personal data. In addition, AI could be used to create ‘fake news’ and other misleading content, which could undermine the trust and credibility of brands.

Source: https://platform.openai.com/playground/p/tcPXeuzqQmIXTsTrsT1y0Q20?model=text-davinci-003.

And She Said, “Life in plastic has been fantastic”

But really, the job I’d really want, is writing the answers to the daft questions people ask.

Earlier, on Facebook:

Voice recognition systems – Amazon’s Alexa or any other – must be one of the most fascinating areas of computing to work on. There are a lot of very smart brains working on artificial intelligence systems that enable Alexa to answer the millions of questions asked of her every day.

But really, the job I’d really want, is writing the answers to the daft questions people ask. “”Alexa, what’s the first rule of Fight Club?” or “Alexa, do you really want to hurt me?” Anybody who job means they get to write “.. and happy birthday to Barbie whose life in plastic has been fantastic for 58 years” must be having a blast.

Mashable has a story today about a woman who asked Alexa about any connections to the CIA – at which point the system appears to crash. Obviously proof that all conspiracy theorists are correct.

The person with that fun job was swift off the mark. Now, somebody’s waved their neuralyzer & Alexa’s been updated and claims to work for Amazon. If it was me, I’d update Alexa’s sense of time and stop responding to my happy ‘good morning’ at 10pm with an equally up-beat ‘good morning’ and make her grumpy and tired.

Or maybe that would be a bit too human.