Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: LLMs are slot-machines; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/16/jackpot/

#Pluralistic

1/

A vintage photo of two men in front of a slot machine. The men's heads have been replaced by the heads of hooded figures wearing Guy Fawkes mask. The image is sepia toned: the only color is the pay-line of the slot-machine, which is showing three glaring red eyes of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' The slot machine has a sign over the rotor-window that displays the Openai logo and wordmark. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- Frank Schwichtenberg (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anonymous_%E2%80%93_CeBIT_2016_00.jpg CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
A vintage photo of two men in front of a slot machine. The men's heads have been replaced by the heads of hooded figures wearing Guy Fawkes mask. The image is sepia toned: the only color is the pay-line of the slot-machine, which is showing three glaring red eyes of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' The slot machine has a sign over the rotor-window that displays the Openai logo and wordmark. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- Frank Schwichtenberg (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anonymous_%E2%80%93_CeBIT_2016_00.jpg CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
A vintage photo of two men in front of a slot machine. The men's heads have been replaced by the heads of hooded figures wearing Guy Fawkes mask. The image is sepia toned: the only color is the pay-line of the slot-machine, which is showing three glaring red eyes of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' The slot machine has a sign over the rotor-window that displays the Openai logo and wordmark. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- Frank Schwichtenberg (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anonymous_%E2%80%93_CeBIT_2016_00.jpg CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Goodhart's Law (of AI); and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/11/five-paragraph-essay/

#Pluralistic

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A black and white photo of an old one-room schoolhouse, seen from the back of the classroom. A teacher sits behind a desk and a US flag at the front of the class. Beside her, a small girl stands, reading aloud from a book. The image has been altered. In the foreground is a Robin Hood figure, seen from behind, holding a bow, a quiver of arrows on his back. Behind the little girl is the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' An arrow vibrates dead-center in the eye. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- Lee Haywood (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/leehaywood/4659575229/ CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
A black and white photo of an old one-room schoolhouse, seen from the back of the classroom. A teacher sits behind a desk and a US flag at the front of the class. Beside her, a small girl stands, reading aloud from a book. The image has been altered. In the foreground is a Robin Hood figure, seen from behind, holding a bow, a quiver of arrows on his back. Behind the little girl is the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' An arrow vibrates dead-center in the eye. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- Lee Haywood (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/leehaywood/4659575229/ CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
A black and white photo of an old one-room schoolhouse, seen from the back of the classroom. A teacher sits behind a desk and a US flag at the front of the class. Beside her, a small girl stands, reading aloud from a book. The image has been altered. In the foreground is a Robin Hood figure, seen from behind, holding a bow, a quiver of arrows on his back. Behind the little girl is the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' An arrow vibrates dead-center in the eye. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- Lee Haywood (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/leehaywood/4659575229/ CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr  ·  activity timestamp 4 weeks ago

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: AI software assistants make the hardest kinds of bugs to spot; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/04/bad-vibe-coding/

#Pluralistic

1/

A giant junkbot made of, variously, a ladder, a bathtub, a set of rickety stairs, a slippery rug, a pair of scissors. It brandishes a double-barreled shotgun. Its head is the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' It is bearing down on a male suited figure who is in the process of slipping and falling on his ass. His head has been replaced by a hoodie, which casts his face into shadow. He has lost control of a laptop that is about to fall to the ground. It displays a Windows Blue Screen of Death. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
A giant junkbot made of, variously, a ladder, a bathtub, a set of rickety stairs, a slippery rug, a pair of scissors. It brandishes a double-barreled shotgun. Its head is the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' It is bearing down on a male suited figure who is in the process of slipping and falling on his ass. His head has been replaced by a hoodie, which casts his face into shadow. He has lost control of a laptop that is about to fall to the ground. It displays a Windows Blue Screen of Death. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
A giant junkbot made of, variously, a ladder, a bathtub, a set of rickety stairs, a slippery rug, a pair of scissors. It brandishes a double-barreled shotgun. Its head is the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' It is bearing down on a male suited figure who is in the process of slipping and falling on his ass. His head has been replaced by a hoodie, which casts his face into shadow. He has lost control of a laptop that is about to fall to the ground. It displays a Windows Blue Screen of Death. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Which jobs can be replaced with AI? and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/06/unmerchantable-substitute-goods/

#Pluralistic

1/

A hand-grenade whose pull-ring has a circular tag with the number 1 in the center of it dangling from it. Next to it, in dripping letters, is the phrase 'Customer service department - take a number,' over the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' Behind the scene is a confusion of gears and mechanisms. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- KBetik (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grenade_cover_old.jpg CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
A hand-grenade whose pull-ring has a circular tag with the number 1 in the center of it dangling from it. Next to it, in dripping letters, is the phrase 'Customer service department - take a number,' over the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' Behind the scene is a confusion of gears and mechanisms. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- KBetik (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grenade_cover_old.jpg CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
A hand-grenade whose pull-ring has a circular tag with the number 1 in the center of it dangling from it. Next to it, in dripping letters, is the phrase 'Customer service department - take a number,' over the glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' Behind the scene is a confusion of gears and mechanisms. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en -- KBetik (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grenade_cover_old.jpg CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en