AI becomes way too human

December 1, 2024

AI becomes way too human: A startup called Altera lets its AI-powered agents run wild in Minecraft. What happened? The bots made friends, created jobs, debated taxes and spread the parody religion Pastafarianism, all with zero direct human input. “A Minecraft Movie” is coming out in April 2025, and it’s going to be a blockbuster. (Now, that was a good one!)

Tags: AI (artificial intelligence), Altera, Minecraft, movie, spread

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Your next phone will work around the world

If it’s one thing you can bet on, there’s always newer, better and faster tech begging you to open your wallet. With that said, you probably haven’t heard about BlueBird yet from AST SmartMobile out of Texas. They’re working with AT&T to launch the world’s first space-based cellular broadband network.

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Hiring or looking for a job? Upgrade your LinkedIn profile to stand out

When most people find themselves unemployed or are looking for a career change, they head to a job board. But have you heard of LinkedIn? It’s a social media platform with a twist.

LinkedIn also offers excellent options for those looking to hire employees who don’t want to wait for a sea of faceless applications to pour in. It provides prospective employees unique ways to stand out and gives companies a fresh way to look for new talent. Tap or click for smart things you should be doing with your LinkedIn profile.

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Trailer: 'Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey'

Netflix’s new docuseries revisits the infamous 1996 murder mystery. It includes interviews with JonBenét’s father and unpacks the embarrassingly bad investigation, media circus, and, of course, the ransom note.

122 days

To build the Colossus data center in Memphis. That’s fast! It’s the powerhouse behind Elon Musk’s startup xAI, packed with 100,000 Nvidia GPUs for processing. Musk plans to launch his own AI app next month to compete with OpenAI, Google and Meta.

Audio AI Fugatto generates sound from text

🔊 Swiss Army knife for sound: That’s what Nvidia is calling Fugatto, its new AI audio generator. People are, of course, creating bizarre sounds from text prompts, like turning the sound of a train into a string orchestra. Its creators think it could spark new music genres like the electric guitar did. What do you think?

100 miles

How far a Chinese ship dragged its anchor, cutting two Baltic Sea internet cables. Investigators suspect they cut the critical data cables on purpose, in part because it’d be nearly impossible not to notice dragging an anchor that far. The carrier left a Russian port a couple of weeks ago, packed with fertilizer. Both countries say, “Nope, not us.”

485 years old

Age of a bronze cannon discovered in Arizona. It might be the oldest firearm ever found in the U.S. Researchers think it belonged to Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado but was never fired. The cannon is just 40 pounds and 42 inches long. Wonder if Francisco had a complex about that …

1,000-plus

Fake news sites tied to China that were just blocked by Google. The Glassbridge network was trying to pass off communist propaganda as “journalism.” One firm ran over 600 sites. The real question: Why did it take Google this long to spot and remove them?

56% fewer

Job postings out there for software developers. AI tools are taking the place of entry-level developers. The tech boot camps (paywall link) that used to help up to 90% of people get jobs are now helping only 50%. One analyst says it’s the worst hiring period for entry-level tech jobs in 25 years. Tell your kid to major in something else.

20 drivers stranded

When GPS directions led them to a snowy, unpaved road. Drivers were trying to avoid traffic on an Oregon interstate. It took hours for rescuers to clear a path. Always double-check your GPS directions. I changed my GPS so instead of hearing, “You have reached your destination,” it says, “Whoomp, there it is!”