Ruben

Currently building @gethitom | the voice-only AI personal assistant for your emails

[Ruben @rubytucki]

Any others you may be aware of?

[Ruben @rubytucki]

Do you know what the Cobra Effect is?

It's got to do with incentives and British Raj in Delhi.

There are many examples of these.

Let me explain what it is and give you some examples.

🧵

[Ruben @rubytucki]

Here's another example

Mexico City Driving Restrictions

To cut air pollution, authorities banned cars on certain days by license plate number. Instead of driving less, many families bought cheap, older, higher-polluting cars, worsening emissions.

[Ruben @rubytucki]

What are other examples of the Cobra Effect?

In Paris they made it more difficult for owners to evict old people from a flat for no payment. Whilst you think you're protecting the old people, what actually happens IRL?

Owners rent less to old people...

[Ruben @rubytucki]

This cautionary tale is now known as the Cobra Effect: a situation where incentives encourage exactly the opposite behaviour to what was intended. Economists use it to illustrate how metrics and rewards can distort behaviour.

[Ruben @rubytucki]

When the government realised this perverse incentive, they cancelled the programme. With no more payouts, breeders released their snakes. The cobra population ended up higher than before.

[Ruben @rubytucki]

During the British Raj, officials were alarmed by the number of venomous cobras in Delhi. To fix the problem, they offered a bounty for each dead snake. Initially it worked: lots of cobras were killed. Then a new problem emerged. Locals began breeding cobras for the bounty.

[Ruben @rubytucki]

Love this ad 🤣
Thanks to Shlomo Creative Market for sharing it
#genius what you can do outside the law

[Ruben @rubytucki]

@heyrimsha @heyrimsha what's your take on this versus @magicschoolai ?

[Ruben @rubytucki]

@adeelorama @magicschoolai incredible achievement! Could you share where are the rest of your 50% located? This would be a strong and useful data point for the international partnership role you're hiring for (see my email) @adeelorama

[Ruben @rubytucki]

@heyrimsha What’s your take on the value of https://t.co/Gjw1Uwzwlj in this context?

[Ruben @rubytucki]

Has anyone got a good architecture and infrastructure experience on building a fluid TTS and STT voice ai agent? If so, I'd love to pick your brain!

[Ruben @rubytucki]

Curb cub effect?

[The Brain Prize @BrainPrize]

Did you know that neuroscience played a key role in AI’s development?
Artificial Intelligence: From Mind to Machine explores how brain research led to artificial neural networks, machine learning, and modern AI.
Watch the full documentary: https://t.co/jj55CE1nbm

[Ruben @rubytucki]

. @SophiePrestonHa 💚 for this video, honestly.

Could we make you a free account to test @gethitom, a tool dedicated to do voice-answering of emails without needing to go on ChatGPT and copy/pasting? perfect for #dyslexic

No models train on your info.

[The Reform Daily @ReformDaily_]

🗣️Labour MP caught using AI on a train to answer constituents!

Sophie Preston-Hall:
“As someone very dyslexic, I use ChatGPT to polish spelling & grammar - not to replace my thoughts

✅ Polishing words = fine.
❌ Replacing thinking = a problem”

#AI

[Ruben @rubytucki]

The last thing you f****ng should do is text whilst driving. 5-15% of all car accidents is from people texting. When we receive an urgent email or WhatsApp, we want to answer though.

We're onboarding a second cohort of @gethitom users if you'd like to join

[Ruben @rubytucki]

Did you know Americans spent 96,000,000,000 - yes 96 billion hours driving every year, and 40% of those alone!

And texting whilst driving increases chances of accident by 2300% 🚗 ⌨️

Here's a list of ideas of what can be done during this time. The last one is new to the list.

[Ruben @rubytucki]

You could also call a friend you haven't spoken in a while

[Ruben @rubytucki]

You could listen to some music from @arianagrande or @edsheeran or @taylorswift13

[Ruben @rubytucki]

You could also just listen to a podcast from
@StevenBartlett or @EstherPerel

[Ruben @rubytucki]

You should probably relax your brain and do nothing, avoiding road rage