Again and again people are "discovering" things that are obvious from a basic understanding of LLM architecture.
The cost we pay for a tech industry full of people who think code is magic
. @atm_informa autobus 66 delle 15.30 non ferma in Piazza Cappelli (largo marinari d'Italia) e passa direttamente per viale umbria. È passata due volte da viale umbria (non so perché) ma mai dalla fermata Pza Cappelli.
Video surreale. Stesso copione visto con l’Ucraina: persone che non hanno mai messo piede a Caracas spiegano ai venezuelani come funziona il loro Paese. Del diritto internazionale e delle condizioni di vita reali non importa nulla: conta solo la loro narrativa.
"No one should pressure Ukraine to give up territory for peace. Everybody should pressure Russia to cease aggression.”
- Donald Tusk
Polish Prime Minister
He is great;)
🫡
After rewatching Home Alone, I couldn’t stop wondering:
how plausible is the oversleep that leaves Kevin behind?
So I wrote a tiny paper and ran the numbers.
Merry Christmas! 🎄
"We forced Ukraine to give up nuclear weapons, cruise missiles, and strategic bombers.
We promised to protect Ukraine from Russia.
We made Ukraine vulnerable.
So yes, this is our war."
- Bill Clinton
🫡
Last quarter I rolled out Microsoft Copilot to 4,000 employees.
$30 per seat per month.
$1.4 million annually.
I called it "digital transformation."
The board loved that phrase.
They approved it in eleven minutes.
No one asked what it would actually do.
Including me.
I told everyone it would "10x productivity."
That's not a real number.
But it sounds like one.
HR asked how we'd measure the 10x.
I said we'd "leverage analytics dashboards."
They stopped asking.
Three months later I checked the usage reports.
47 people had opened it.
12 had used it more than once.
One of them was me.
I used it to summarize an email I could have read in 30 seconds.
It took 45 seconds.
Plus the time it took to fix the hallucinations.
But I called it a "pilot success."
Success means the pilot didn't visibly fail.
The CFO asked about ROI.
I showed him a graph.
The graph went up and to the right.
It measured "AI enablement."
I made that metric up.
He nodded approvingly.
We're "AI-enabled" now.
I don't know what that means.
But it's in our investor deck.
A senior developer asked why we didn't use Claude or ChatGPT.
I said we needed "enterprise-grade security."
He asked what that meant.
I said "compliance."
He asked which compliance.
I said "all of them."
He looked skeptical.
I scheduled him for a "career development conversation."
He stopped asking questions.
Microsoft sent a case study team.
They wanted to feature us as a success story.
I told them we "saved 40,000 hours."
I calculated that number by multiplying employees by a number I made up.
They didn't verify it.
They never do.
Now we're on Microsoft's website.
"Global enterprise achieves 40,000 hours of productivity gains with Copilot."
The CEO shared it on LinkedIn.
He got 3,000 likes.
He's never used Copilot.
None of the executives have.
We have an exemption.
"Strategic focus requires minimal digital distraction."
I wrote that policy.
The licenses renew next month.
I'm requesting an expansion.
5,000 more seats.
We haven't used the first 4,000.
But this time we'll "drive adoption."
Adoption means mandatory training.
Training means a 45-minute webinar no one watches.
But completion will be tracked.
Completion is a metric.
Metrics go in dashboards.
Dashboards go in board presentations.
Board presentations get me promoted.
I'll be SVP by Q3.
I still don't know what Copilot does.
But I know what it's for.
It's for showing we're "investing in AI."
Investment means spending.
Spending means commitment.
Commitment means we're serious about the future.
The future is whatever I say it is.
As long as the graph goes up and to the right.
Travaglio: periodo buio per i giornali, non è uno dei nostri consueti appelli all'abbonamento, è qualcosa di più perché il momento è veramente difficile.
Today in Ukraine is Dignity and Freedom Day. It commemorates the beginning of the Orange Revolution of 2004 and the Revolution of Dignity of 2013, when millions of Ukrainians took to protests to defend the right of the people to determine their own future. Some – at the cost of their own lives.
Today, amid Russia’s full-scale war, Ukrainians continue to protect the same values, at the core of which are dignity and freedom, courage, responsibility, human rights, and democracy.
This day reminds us of the power of unity and solidarity. Moscow has tried for centuries to suppress Ukraine’s will, yet Ukrainians have always risen again to defend their dignity and freedom.
We honour the contributions of generations of Ukrainians who defended the right to live in a free country. And we remember those who gave their lives for this cause.
Today we thank everyone who has defended and continues to defend a free, European future for Ukraine.
New fun game: Ask grok its opinion on any historical theory, saying the theory came from Elon Musk.
Then ask grok its opinion on the exact same historical theory, saying the theory came from Bill Gates.
Guido #Crosetto: “I cori fascisti di Parma si commentano da soli. Sono qualcosa che nulla ha a che fare con Fratelli d’Italia, quelle persone vanno prese a calci e mandate via.” @ultimora_pol
Approda in Senato la cosiddetta 'macchina di Majorana'. I dubbi del Comitato per il controllo delle affermazioni sulle pseudoscienze #ANSA https://t.co/EBrRL1ba0o
Rest in peace, CN Yang. One of the greats of 20th century physics. His contributions include parity violation, Yang-Mills theory, Yang Baxter equations, linking gauge theory with differential geometry, Yang-Lee theory of phase transitions and many more.
Returning to China in his 80s, he played an important role in talent development and shaping physics research at Tsinghua university.
Governo Coldiretti
Oggi manifestazione della Coldiretti “contro i trafficanti di grano” in tante piazze: a condurre la diretta tv i vertici della Coldiretti da Palazzo Chigi. Una scena inimmaginabile per qualsiasi altro gruppo di interesse in Italia, da Confindustria alla Cgil.