A Real Relationship
/It is only when we no longer compulsively need someone that we can have a real relationship with them. -Anothony Storr
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
AI Definitions: Facial recognition
/Facial recognition - This AI technology uses statistical measurements of a person’s face to identify them against a digital database of other faces. For instance, Clearview AI was trained on billions of images. These AI-powered systems are used to unlock phones, verify passports, and scan crowds at events for malicious actors. It’s used by many US agencies including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. It has a serious problem with false positives and a history of unintended harms and intentional misuse based on racial and gender bias.
More AI definitions here
What Counts
/It is not what you accomplish but how you behave that counts.
23 articles about AI & Data Science from October
/AI Definitions: Constitutional AI
5 Practical Examples of ChatGPT Agents for Data Scientists
Designing a Successful Agentic AI System
Stop Deploying General-Purpose AI Models For Everything
Why Geospatial AI Will Still Need Human Insight
AI Definitions: AI model collapse
7 newer data science tools you should be using with Python
AI Definitions: "AI assistance"
AI Definitions: AGI (Artificial General Intelligence)
How to run an R data visualization chatbot you can talk to
Here are five quality tips for using NotebookLM to make a data scientist's day a little easier.
DeepSeek has dethroned Meta’s Llama AI models as the favorite of developers
Is vibe coding ruining a generation of engineers?
10 Command-Line Tools Every Data Scientist Should Know
AI is enabling a new category of personal software. Welcome to the era of home-cooked applications
Making exploratory data analysis easier yet still effective
An approach to deep learning models inspired by predictive coding using two models
Here’s how to pick the right tools for machine learning projects
AI Definitions: Ethical Debt
/Ethical Debt - The result of not considering societal harms and unintended consequences. This can happen in the fast-moving production of AI tools. The people who incur it are rarely the people who ultimately pay for it. Related: Technical Debt
More AI definitions here
When people are Free
/When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. -Eric Hoffer
21 Recent Articles about AI & Robotics
/AI and digital twins to serve increasingly complex robot management – Computer Weekly
How robotics could turn e-waste into a tech goldmine – The Next Web
Amazon Testing New Warehouse Robots and AI Tools for Workers – Wall Street Journal
Black Harvard alumni invent hair-braiding robot – The Grio
AI drones are America's newest cops – Axios
Chinese AI robotics tech outpaces U.S., rest of world - The Washington Post
Foundation models could revolutionize dexterity in robots - McKinsey
‘I love you too!’ My family’s creepy, unsettling week with an AI toy – The Guardian
Humanoid robots were a sci-fi dream. Suddenly they’re everywhere. - The Washington Post
The future is bot versus bot - Axios
AI helps traditional Japanese fish-killing method get a robotic upgrade – Semafor
MIT's new AI can teach itself to control robots by watching the world through their eyes — it only needs a single camera – Live Science
I Pitted an AI Robot Massage Against the Real Thing – Wall Street Journal
Beijing hosts China’s first fully autonomous 3-on-3 AI robot soccer match – Associated Press
New tiny robots promise to fix underground water pipe leakage without excavation – Interesting Engineering
Robot industry split over that humanoid look - Axios
Amazon is reportedly training humanoid robots to deliver packages – The Verge
‘Nobody wants a robot to read them a story!’ The creatives and academics rejecting AI – at work and at home – The Guardian
I Tried the Robot That’s Coming to Live With You - Wall Street Journal
America's manufacturing future still needs foreign robots - Axios
Using generative AI to diversify virtual training grounds for robots – MIT News
The Gradual Effect of AI on Creativity
/"When people use A.I. in the creative process they tend to gradually cede their original thinking. At first, users tend to present their own wide range of ideas, but as ChatGPT continues to instantly spit out high volumes of acceptable-looking text users tend to go into a 'curationist mode.' The influence is unidirectional, and not in the direction you’d hope: 'Human ideas don’t tend to influence what the machine is generating all that strongly,' Nataliya Kosmyna, a research scientist at M.I.T. Media Lab, said. ChatGPT pulls the user 'toward the center of mass for all of the different users that it’s interacted with in the past.'" - Kyle Chayka writing in the New Yorker
AI Definitions: Deep Learning
/Deep Learning – A popular type of machine learning that’s especially useful when the data is a mess—such as with natural language processing. This method of training computers uses neural networks. The word “deep” means that the composition has many “blocks” of neural networks stacked on top of each other, and the trick is adjusting the blocks that are far from the output, since a small change there can have outsized effects on the output. It is the dominant way to help machines sense and perceive the world around them. It powers the image-processing operations of firms like Facebook and Google, self-driving cars, and Google’s on-the-fly language translations. Deep learning algorithms need vast amounts of data to perform tasks that humans learn easily with a few examples.
More AI definitions here
Résumé virtues & Eulogy virtues
/Résumé virtues are professional and oriented toward earthly success. They require comparison with others. Eulogy virtues are ethical and spiritual, and require no comparison. Your eulogy virtues are what you would want people to talk about at your funeral.
Time is limited, and professional ambition crowds out things that ultimately matter more. To move from résumé virtues to eulogy virtues is to move from activities focused on the self to activities focused on others.
Arthur C. Brooks writing in The Atlantic
An AI Ticking Time Bomb
/U.S. companies are up against a ticking time bomb: Thanks to AI, hackers are on the verge of launching fully automated cyberattacks that can move faster, smarter and more personally than ever. OpenAI and Anthropic have both already found evidence of nation-state adversaries and cybercriminals using their models to write code and research their attacks. -Axios
AI Definitions: Constitutional AI
/Constitutional AI - This type of AI is similar to reinforcement learning with human feedback (RLHF for short). Rather than use human feedback, the researchers present a set of principles (or “constitution”) and ask the model to revise its answers to prompts to comply with these principles.
More AI definitions here
19 Articles about AI & Coding
/With ‘Vibecoding,’ A.I. Can Help Anyone Build an App - New York Times
Want to Build an App? Here’s How ‘Vibe Coding’ with AI Can Help You Do It in Minutes. – Entrepreneur
Researchers looked at 90 AI coding assistants and identified 10 design dimensions. – Austin Henley
You Still Need to Think – Calvin French-Owen
Is vibe coding ruining a generation of engineers? – Venture Beat
AI and Home-Cooked Software – Karan Sharma
Big Tech Told Kids to Code. The Jobs Didn’t Follow. (podcast) – New York Times
“Vibe coding” has turned veteran developers into AI babysitters – Tech Crunch
GenAI May Code, But Can it Think Like a Data Scientist? – Analytics India Magazine
Vibe Coding and The Illusion of Progress - Productify
6 Weeks of Claude Code - Puzzmo Blog
Vibe Coding Community Spotlight - You Ware
I Know When You're Vibe Coding - Alex Kondov
Vibe code is legacy code – Val town Blog
AI Has Flipped Software Development - Luke W
Vibecoding a high performance system – Andrew K Chan
AI's elusive coding speedup - Axios
How AI Vibe Coding Is Destroying Junior Developers' Careers – Final Round AI
Why Dropbox’s Drew Houston still does his own coding - Semafor
Addicted to Love
/Breaking up is hard to do. Literally. A Rutgers brain study shows getting over romantic rejection is similar to kicking an addiction. One of the study authors says, "When you've been rejected in love, you have lost life's greatest prize, a mating partner." Researchers examined the brains of more than a dozen volunteers who had each recently been dumped but still loved the person who had rejected them. It turned out that reminders of the beloved activated brain regions in the lover associated with addiction to cocaine and cigarettes. These same areas affect emotional control, rewards, addiction cravings, a sense of attachment, pain and distress. This brain system becomes activated in an attempt to win the person's affections again, according to the researchers. Details are in the July 2010 issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology.
Perhaps the lesson here is that it's important to become addicted to someone who is good for you.
Stephen Goforth
AI Definitions: ChatGPT
/ChatGPT - This OpenAI chatbot remembers what you've written or said, so the interaction has a dynamic conversational feel. GPT-4 can use both images and text as inputs. It can write and explain code. It doesn’t do sourcing but can browse the internet with Bing. There is a limited free version or pay $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus.
More AI definitions here
Breaking up is hard to do
/The time immediately after a bad relationship is filled with promise. It's as if you've rid yourself of something that was weighing you down and keeping you from reaching your full potential. You fell light and clear and free. But this honeymoon with yourself is short-lived and you’re soon in a new relationship fraught with the same old problems. This pattern continues until you finally realize that most of the issues are your own, and that to be truly free, you must break up with yourself.
Andrew Boyd, Daily Afflictions
22 Webinars this week about AI, Journalism & Media
/Tue, Oct 28 - Tips and Tools for Uncovering Online Scams
What: In this webinar, investigative journalists from around the world will gain practical strategies and tools for tracking, verifying, and reporting on online scams. Whether you’re new to the topic or looking to deepen your expertise, this session will provide advice for impactful reporting on one of the world’s most urgent issues.
Who: Antonio Baquero is a journalist based in Barcelona. He joined OCCRP in 2020 and is an investigative editor covering Europe and beyond; Damien Leloup is an investigative reporter for Le Monde, with a strong focus on tech and the tech industry, and collaborative projects; Damien Leloup is an investigative reporter for Le Monde, with a strong focus on tech and the tech industry, and collaborative projects; Hera Rizwan is a reporter with BOOMLive India. She investigates cyber scams, online fraud, digital threats, and the intersection of technology with society; yakerario Omari is a Nairobi‑based fact‑checker and investigative journalist with experience in open source reporting, data research, and digital verification. She currently works at Code4Africa; Craig Silverman, an award-winning investigative journalist, digital investigations/OSINT trainer, and public speaker. Cofounder of The Indicator and GIJN Digital Threats Online Course Lead Trainer.
When: 9 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Global Investigative Journalism Network
Tue, Oct 28 - Politics & Protest: Writing in Times of Crisis
What: This session examines how writers, educators and researchers document and interpret protest, balancing rigour, representation and safety. We will surface practical frameworks, ethical guardrails and classroom strategies for engaging civic texts without harm.
When: 10 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsors: African British Journals
Tue, Oct 28 - Ask. Discover. Cite. How Academic AI is Redefining Discovery
What: Join us for an illuminating session on Primo Research Assistant, the AI-powered research companion developed by Ex Libris (part of Clarivate). This intelligent tool allows users to ask questions in natural language and receive a composed answer based on trusted academic content, highlighting the most relevant sources, while also suggesting related questions to guide further exploration - perfect for today’s students’ discovery needs.
Who: Michael Gonzalez, University Librarian, University of Technology Sydney; Sue Stevens, Head of Library Systems, Cardiff University; Katy Aronoff Director, Solution Consulting.
When: 11 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Library Journal
Tue, Oct 28 - How Publishers Can Win at Social in 2026
What: We explore the current state of social media and break down exactly what publishers need to do to stay ahead. We’ll also explore how AI and automation are unlocking new levels of scale, helping lean teams punch above their weight and consistently drive traffic without burning out.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: New England Newspaper & Press Association
Tue, Oct 28 - How to Create a World-Class Substack
What: We’ll show you how to create a world-class Substack publication.
Who: Russell Nohelty is a USA Today bestselling author, and speaker. He runs Wannabe Press and is the Co-founder of Writer MBA and The Future of Publishing.
When: 1:30 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Author Learning Center
Tue, Oct 28 - Generative AI in Education: What Every Teacher Should Know
What: Explore how teachers and educators can use generative AI to plan lessons, engage learners, and personalize instruction while also navigating ethical challenges. You’ll learn how tools like ChatGPT are being used in real classrooms, what the latest research reveals about AI for personalized learning, and how to apply AI thoughtfully and effectively in your own teaching to improve student outcomes.
Who: Candace Walkington is the Program Director, Learning Sciences at SMU; Jason Taylor is an Admissions Outreach Advisor who helps students enroll in SMU’s MS in Learning Sciences program.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: SMU Simmons School of Education & Human Development
Tue, Oct 28 - Influencer Collaboration for Newsrooms: Strengthening Community Trust
What: This session will walk you through strategies and frameworks to help you build stronger collaborations with trusted messengers, influencers, and community partners. You’ll come away with actionable ideas and exercises you can adapt to your own newsroom.
Who: Liz Worthington, Director of Product Strategy at the American Press Institute and a former journalist and editor
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Indiegraf
Tue, Oct 28 – Ask-Me-Anything Info Session: Advancing Democracy Newsroom Cohort
What: Are you a U.S.-based newsroom that wants to deepen its practice of solutions journalism, trust and transparency building and audience and community engagement? Learn about the upcoming Advancing Democracy Newsroom Cohort and how you can get support by joining an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) session
Who: Bridget Thoreson of Hearken; Joy Mayer of Trusting News[ Jaisal Noor from Solutions Journalism Network.
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Solutions Journalism Network
Tue, Oct 28 – Courageous Conversations are coming to PBS LearningMedia
What: Join us as we introduce the resources, showcase highlights, and share strategies for using courageous conversations to build media literacy skills, engage students in dialogue, and offer space for diverse perspectives in the classroom.
Who: From Ocean State Media (previously Rhode Island PBS) Colleen Kenyon, Renee Gilbert, and Sarah Trudeau.
When: 7 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Media Education Lab
Wed, Oct 29 - Women in AI Series 2025 - Artificial Intelligence in Journalism
What: We will discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on media literacy and how news organizations can use the technology more responsibly to reach their audiences.
Who: Christen Smith is Pennsylvania editor for The Center Square newswire service and co-host of Pennsylvania in Focus, a weekly podcast on America's Talking Network.
When: 8 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: IEEE
Wed, Oct 29 - Figuring Out Fair Use
What: Strategies and recommendations for making wise fair use decisions and the foundations on which those decisions are made.
Who: Sara Wolf is an associate professor of technology and media at Auburn University.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Niche Academy
Wed, Oct 29 - Words that Work — Making the Case for Local News
What: We will gather to learn about Press Forward’s new toolkit for newsrooms, which was built from national survey data, focus groups, interviews and extensive message testing by the strategic communications firm Beekeeper Group. You will hear valuable insights to help you intentionally craft your messaging and wording to your audience — whether it be funders, donors or your local community — to strengthen your fundraising strategies.
Who: Alex Dickinson, Beekeeper Group; Marika Lynch, Press Forward.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Lab Link
Wed, Oct 29 - AI on Campus: Emerging Governance Models
What: We’ll explore possible AI governance models to replicate, ways to centralize or unify AI campus efforts, and strategies for making AI a supportive tool rather than a threat.
Who: Taylor Swaak Senior Reporter The Chronicle of Higher Education.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Chronicle of Higher Ed
Wed, Oct 29 - Turning Federal Contract Cancellations into Solutions Stories
What: Explore how to use Big Local News tools to uncover the local impact of federal contract cuts and report on innovative community responses.
Who: Rosie Cima, Senior Data Journalist, Big Local News.
When: 4 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsors: Solutions Journalism Network & Advancing Democracy
Thu, Oct 30 - Covering Immigration & Protecting Your Rights
What: We will share practical guidance on navigating the legal challenges that may arise when covering immigration. The session will conclude with a Q&A, giving attendees the chance to ask questions and discuss specific challenges they may encounter.
Who: Jennifer Nelson, director of pre-publication review & journalist support at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
When: 10 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Virginia Press Association
Thu, Oct 30 - What’s Working in Local Media: 2026 Trends from 6-Million Readers
What: This data‑driven session will be packed with actionable insights from over 250 news sites and 6 million readers powered by BlueLena’s technology‑enabled strategic consulting. We’ll reveal exactly what’s working in local newsrooms—and what’s holding them back—as we head into 2026.
Who: Daniel Williams, Founder & CEO, BlueLena.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: E&P (Editor & Publisher)
Thu, Oct 30 - What’s it Like Reporting News Today?
What: A conversation about the complexities and considerations it takes to deliver the highest quality journalism in today's charged information ecosystem.
Who: Christa Case Bryant, editor of The Christian Science Monitor.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsors: Christian Science Monitor & Sooth.fyi
Thu, Oct 30 - Immigration reporting: From political scorecard to democratic principles
What: We’ll first hear from a researcher who studies Latino politics and how identity informs political attitudes. Then we’ll talk in breakout groups about how journalism could evolve, and leave with concrete ideas and recommendations.
Who: Trusting News Executive Director Joy Mayer; Stella Rouse, director of the Hispanic Research Center and professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Trusting News
Thu, Oct 30 - Solutions Journalism Training: The Environment & Religion
What: This is a climate solutions journalism training open to journalists, students, scholars and scientists interested in public engagement through media.
Who: Rebecca Randall, SCF’s vice president and an accredited solutions journalism trainer.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Science Communicators of Faith
Thu, Oct 30 - AI, EI, Oh! The critical role of emotional intelligence in the advancement of AI
What: The essential importance of understanding this critical relationship between emotional intelligence and AI and the exact right mix of skills your organization needs to thrive.
Who: David Cory Founder and CEO, EITC (Emotional Intelligence Training Company).
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: MHS
Fri, Oct 31 - Inside the Investigation: Shelter police
What: We will share details of an investigation into a long-running pattern of misconduct and impunity among police in New York City's homeless shelters along with concrete tips and resources that other journalists can use in their reporting.
Who: Sammy Sussman who is part of The New York Times’s Local Investigations Fellowship.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Fund for Investigative Journalism
Fri, Oct 31 - Money, Movement, and Misdirection Tracking Global Business Footprints
What: This is a session on tracking the people, money, and networks behind international businesses. From offshore entities and layered ownership to foreign disclosures and regulatory loopholes, this session will walk through practical strategies for identifying who really controls a company, tracing its presence across jurisdictions, and uncovering political or financial ties, even when records are scattered or incomplete.
Who: Anna Massoglia, Sunlight’s director of investigations.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Sunlight Research Center
The purpose of art
/The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. -Pablo Picasso, born Oct. 25, 1881
17 Recent Articles about Using AI
/I Tried an AI Web Browser, and I’m Never Going Back – Wall Street Journal
Designing a Successful Agentic AI System – Harvard Business Review
How to Use AI Chatbots and What to Know About These Artificial Intelligence Tools - CNET
Wikipedia says traffic is falling due to AI search summaries and social video – TechCrunch
How to use ChatGPT to shop and find the best deals - The Washington Post
Introduction to Generative AI – Google Courses
5 NotebookLM Tips to Make Your Day a Little Easier – KD Nuggets
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Pulse to proactively write you morning briefs - TechCrunch
I didn’t believe the hype about Google Mixboard — now I’m obsessed – Tom’s Guide
Next Time You Consult an A.I. Chatbot, Remember One Thing - Wall Street Journal
I discovered ChatGPT’s best new feature: Quitting things for you - The Washington Post
CHATGPT resurrected my dead father – The Atlantic
Unstructured Input in AI Apps Instead of Web Forms - LukeW
Google Injects Gemini Into Chrome as AI Browsers Go Mainstream – Wired
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Pulse, a paid feature that generates personalized subject matter briefs for users overnight - TechCrunch
Wine, Cheese and ChatGPT: Ladies’ Night in San Francisco - New York Times
Stop Deploying General-Purpose AI Models For Everything
/Ensuring safe A.I. is another reason developers should stop deploying general-purpose models for everything. To date, the industry has been unable to guarantee that generative A.I. systems will stick to their safety instructions. Studies have documented instances in which generative A.I. deceives its human operators, tries to use blackmail if its self-preservation is threatened and responds in a way that could lead to murder. More specialized systems like AlphaFold and Waymo’s driving systems won’t misbehave that way because their operating parameters are much narrower. - Gary Marcus writing in the New York Times