Peter Williams
@peterwilliams97.bsky.social
Artist, dog-lover and avid reader.
Reposted by Peter Williams
I'm losing sleep over this quagmire we're in. Students are using AI to complete their work without thinking, and it gives them the *illusion of competence* (just like "very clear lectures" do). It's really urgent we find a way to teach them to work with AI effectively for learning support.
January 13, 2025 at 11:55 AM
I'm losing sleep over this quagmire we're in. Students are using AI to complete their work without thinking, and it gives them the *illusion of competence* (just like "very clear lectures" do). It's really urgent we find a way to teach them to work with AI effectively for learning support.
Reposted by Peter Williams
Regarding technology's impact on people and society, beware of rebound effects.
For instance, "faster" communication tools (email, slack) have led to more volume with decreased quality and we spend more, not less, time communicating.
People and society adapt to tools, reaching a new equilibrium
For instance, "faster" communication tools (email, slack) have led to more volume with decreased quality and we spend more, not less, time communicating.
People and society adapt to tools, reaching a new equilibrium
January 12, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Regarding technology's impact on people and society, beware of rebound effects.
For instance, "faster" communication tools (email, slack) have led to more volume with decreased quality and we spend more, not less, time communicating.
People and society adapt to tools, reaching a new equilibrium
For instance, "faster" communication tools (email, slack) have led to more volume with decreased quality and we spend more, not less, time communicating.
People and society adapt to tools, reaching a new equilibrium
LLM vs LLM.
Note how Claude identifies the high memory weakness in the ChatGPT Advent of Code solution.
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
Note how Claude identifies the high memory weakness in the ChatGPT Advent of Code solution.
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
Peter Williams on LinkedIn: Masters vs Machines: LLMs in Advent of Code.
I am back doing the 2024 Advent of Code. This time I'm trying LLMs out on the problems and comparing their solutions to mine.
Read on to find out if LLMs have…
www.linkedin.com
January 4, 2025 at 2:50 AM
LLM vs LLM.
Note how Claude identifies the high memory weakness in the ChatGPT Advent of Code solution.
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
Note how Claude identifies the high memory weakness in the ChatGPT Advent of Code solution.
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
Preparing for an AI boss. www.linkedin.com/posts/peterw...
Peter Williams on LinkedIn: Programmer Meets AI Judge
Artificial Intelligence is reshaping how we evaluate work, especially in fields like programming. Recently, I had my Python code for a coding challenge…
www.linkedin.com
December 30, 2024 at 6:44 AM
Preparing for an AI boss. www.linkedin.com/posts/peterw...
Reposted by Peter Williams
This is a disaster in the making. What advice has Treasury been giving Chalmers?
www.smh.com.au/polit...
www.smh.com.au/polit...
Bitcoin, ether, dogecoin – Chalmers says the future may be crypto
Derided by critics as a waste of electricity, cryptocurrencies are the way of the future, its backers say. Australia’s treasurer believes they will have a role.
www.smh.com.au
December 28, 2024 at 2:18 AM
This is a disaster in the making. What advice has Treasury been giving Chalmers?
www.smh.com.au/polit...
www.smh.com.au/polit...
Reposted by Peter Williams
Most governments have shown zero interest in making sure new technologies raise rather than lower overall standards of living. Instead, politicians in both parties are busy seeking campaign contributions from the modern makers of income inequality. So that job - tech for people - falls to us.
December 29, 2024 at 1:02 AM
Most governments have shown zero interest in making sure new technologies raise rather than lower overall standards of living. Instead, politicians in both parties are busy seeking campaign contributions from the modern makers of income inequality. So that job - tech for people - falls to us.
Reposted by Peter Williams
This is an excellent illustration of the challenges presented by "alignment". Whose values and concerns are to be reflected in the alignment? It is, and always will be, a political decision. Language models are political models.
Let me say this again: the AI my W. Indian student used to correct her syntax (Claude I think) also removed every mention of Franz Fanon from her work! I suspect this is because an engineer somewhere decided Fanon's ideas are controversial? WTF!
Paging @ruha9.bsky.social & @alondra.bsky.social!!
Paging @ruha9.bsky.social & @alondra.bsky.social!!
December 28, 2024 at 7:17 PM
This is an excellent illustration of the challenges presented by "alignment". Whose values and concerns are to be reflected in the alignment? It is, and always will be, a political decision. Language models are political models.
Reposted by Peter Williams
Private health insurance is a dud. That’s why a majority of Australians don’t have it | Grogonomics www.theguardian.com/...
Private health insurance is a dud. That’s why a majority of Australians don’t have it | Grogonomics
The private insurers are reportedly seeking a 5-6% premium rise next year. That’s rich – especially when you consider 65% of policies don’t cover everything
www.theguardian.com
December 25, 2024 at 6:33 PM
Private health insurance is a dud. That’s why a majority of Australians don’t have it | Grogonomics www.theguardian.com/...
Reposted by Peter Williams
If you've never donated to Wikipedia, now's the time. Elon Musk is attacking it because it's one of the only sources of honest, curated information that he can't control.
www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-ta...
www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-ta...
Elon Musk takes aim at Wikipedia
The billionaire has become one of the most prominent supporters of President-elect Donald Trump.
www.newsweek.com
December 25, 2024 at 3:54 AM
If you've never donated to Wikipedia, now's the time. Elon Musk is attacking it because it's one of the only sources of honest, curated information that he can't control.
www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-ta...
www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-ta...
Reposted by Peter Williams
Good software is far more nuanced than just how many devs work on it.
Skype hired good devs and won the video calling desktop market. It got to 1,000+ devs and then… this startup with 50 devs washed the floor with them for mobile chat + calls. It was called WhatsApp.
Skype hired good devs and won the video calling desktop market. It got to 1,000+ devs and then… this startup with 50 devs washed the floor with them for mobile chat + calls. It was called WhatsApp.
December 21, 2024 at 6:17 AM
Good software is far more nuanced than just how many devs work on it.
Skype hired good devs and won the video calling desktop market. It got to 1,000+ devs and then… this startup with 50 devs washed the floor with them for mobile chat + calls. It was called WhatsApp.
Skype hired good devs and won the video calling desktop market. It got to 1,000+ devs and then… this startup with 50 devs washed the floor with them for mobile chat + calls. It was called WhatsApp.
Reposted by Peter Williams
Reposted by Peter Williams
From a 9th or 10th century schoolgirl’s letter to her teacher.
Wonderful thread on the student’s world and women’s writing.
Wonderful thread on the student’s world and women’s writing.
"Mistress Felhin, give me leave to keep vigil this night with mistress Adalu, and I affirm and swear to you with both hands that I shall not cease either reading or singing on behalf of our Lord the whole night through. Farewell, and do as I ask." (transl. Stofferahn 1999) /5
December 22, 2024 at 9:21 PM
From a 9th or 10th century schoolgirl’s letter to her teacher.
Wonderful thread on the student’s world and women’s writing.
Wonderful thread on the student’s world and women’s writing.
Reposted by Peter Williams
If you read nothing else about AI this week, read this - absolutely fascinating, ties together a whole bunch of recent developments in the field
Wrote my own notes here but really this piece defies summarization, you should absorb the whole thing simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/19/...
Wrote my own notes here but really this piece defies summarization, you should absorb the whole thing simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/19/...
New AI Snake Oil essay: Last month the AI industry's narrative suddenly flipped — model scaling is dead, but "inference scaling" is taking over. This has left people outside AI confused. What changed? Is AI capability progress slowing? We look at the evidence. 🧵 www.aisnakeoil.com/p/is-ai-prog...
December 19, 2024 at 6:13 PM
If you read nothing else about AI this week, read this - absolutely fascinating, ties together a whole bunch of recent developments in the field
Wrote my own notes here but really this piece defies summarization, you should absorb the whole thing simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/19/...
Wrote my own notes here but really this piece defies summarization, you should absorb the whole thing simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/19/...
GhatGPT-o1 underwhemled me on Advent of Code.
www.linkedin.com/posts/peterw...
www.linkedin.com/posts/peterw...
Peter Williams on LinkedIn: (Links are in the comments.)
The biggest question on knowledge workers'…
(Links are in the comments.)
The biggest question on knowledge workers' lips this year is which part of our jobs will be replaced by AI.
I am doing the 2024…
www.linkedin.com
December 19, 2024 at 9:31 AM
GhatGPT-o1 underwhemled me on Advent of Code.
www.linkedin.com/posts/peterw...
www.linkedin.com/posts/peterw...
Reposted by Peter Williams
GitHub added a permanent free tier for GitHub Copilot today, including access to both GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet. My notes here: simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/18/...
A new free tier for GitHub Copilot in VS Code
It's easy to forget that GitHub Copilot was the first widely deployed feature built on top of generative AI, with its initial preview launching all the way back in June …
simonwillison.net
December 18, 2024 at 9:08 PM
GitHub added a permanent free tier for GitHub Copilot today, including access to both GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet. My notes here: simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/18/...
Reposted by Peter Williams
Our energy retailer just wrote to us with the good news that we would be switched to a smart meter, unless we objected.
Of course we objected. The moronic/greedy implementation of "time of day" tariffs charges you for the peak day in every month. Unless you live a very regular life, that's crazy.
Of course we objected. The moronic/greedy implementation of "time of day" tariffs charges you for the peak day in every month. Unless you live a very regular life, that's crazy.
December 18, 2024 at 6:21 AM
Our energy retailer just wrote to us with the good news that we would be switched to a smart meter, unless we objected.
Of course we objected. The moronic/greedy implementation of "time of day" tariffs charges you for the peak day in every month. Unless you live a very regular life, that's crazy.
Of course we objected. The moronic/greedy implementation of "time of day" tariffs charges you for the peak day in every month. Unless you live a very regular life, that's crazy.
Reposted by Peter Williams
Tim Apple knows how to play the game, but also, this is a tell about how tariffs are going to work.
December 17, 2024 at 11:39 PM
Tim Apple knows how to play the game, but also, this is a tell about how tariffs are going to work.
Reposted by Peter Williams
"Impossible to sell people's belongings without breaking into their houses", burglars say.
‘Impossible’ to create AI tools like ChatGPT without copyrighted material, OpenAI says
‘Impossible’ to create AI tools like ChatGPT without copyrighted material, OpenAI says
Pressure grows on artificial intelligence firms over the content used to train their productsBusiness live – latest updatesThe developer OpenAI has said it would be impossible to create tools like its groundbreaking chatbot ChatGPT without access to copyrighted material, as pressure grows on artificial intelligence firms over the content used to train their products.Chatbots such as ChatGPT and image generators like Stable Diffusion are “trained” on a vast trove of data taken from the internet, with much of it covered by copyright – a legal protection against someone’s work being used without permission. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 18, 2024 at 3:02 PM
"Impossible to sell people's belongings without breaking into their houses", burglars say.
Reposted by Peter Williams
peak capitalism is creating an apocalyptic traffic jam in the middle of nowhere
September 5, 2023 at 1:06 AM
peak capitalism is creating an apocalyptic traffic jam in the middle of nowhere
Reposted by Peter Williams
In my book ‘Despotism On Demand’ I term this retail business model ‘flexible despotism’
Large retail brands inc Urban Outfitters, Lush, Gymshark & Uniqlo are recruiting “freelance” shop assistants through gig apps, lacking most employment protections & sometimes having to apply for new shifts each day, to staff their stores during the festive period www.theguardian.com/business/202...
UK retailers accused of recruiting young shop workers without rights over Christmas
Lush and Gymshark among chains using apps promoted by TikTok influencers to take on gig economy assistants lacking basic protections, say unions
www.theguardian.com
December 15, 2024 at 1:41 PM
In my book ‘Despotism On Demand’ I term this retail business model ‘flexible despotism’
Reposted by Peter Williams
Tech critics are used to being disingenuously denigrated, but Casey Newton’s screed against AI skeptics illustrates a deeper problem with tech journalism.
It needs to be confronted if some of the most powerful people in the world are ever to be properly held to account.
It needs to be confronted if some of the most powerful people in the world are ever to be properly held to account.
Dismissing critics has “real and dangerous” consequences
Casey Newton’s diatribe against AI skeptics illustrates a broader issue in tech journalism
disconnect.blog
December 11, 2024 at 3:44 PM
Tech critics are used to being disingenuously denigrated, but Casey Newton’s screed against AI skeptics illustrates a deeper problem with tech journalism.
It needs to be confronted if some of the most powerful people in the world are ever to be properly held to account.
It needs to be confronted if some of the most powerful people in the world are ever to be properly held to account.
Reposted by Peter Williams
In 2005, the average rent is estimated to have been $759 per month. It is now estimated to be $1,521.
ipropertymanagement.com/research/ave...
ipropertymanagement.com/research/ave...
Average Rent by Year [1940-2024 ]: Historical Rental Rates
Find average rent by year nationwide, by square foot, and by state, as well as rent-to-income rates and rent inflation by year.
ipropertymanagement.com
December 11, 2024 at 5:25 PM
In 2005, the average rent is estimated to have been $759 per month. It is now estimated to be $1,521.
ipropertymanagement.com/research/ave...
ipropertymanagement.com/research/ave...
Reposted by Peter Williams
Well, well, well. ANU’s Genevieve Bell kept working a lucrative side gig with Intel even after she took the University’s top job www.afr.com/work-and-car...
ANU boss Genevieve Bell on Intel salary until last month
Genevieve Bell, who asked staff to take a 2.5 per cent pay cut, has also been on Intel’s payroll since she arrived at ANU in 2017.
www.afr.com
December 10, 2024 at 12:08 PM
Well, well, well. ANU’s Genevieve Bell kept working a lucrative side gig with Intel even after she took the University’s top job www.afr.com/work-and-car...
Reposted by Peter Williams
This latest case, out of Texas, shows how Character.AI chatbots encouraged a teen to self harm. One implied that murdering his parents would be an acceptable response to screen time limits.
Read more from @nitasha.bsky.social: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Read more from @nitasha.bsky.social: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
December 10, 2024 at 6:58 PM
This latest case, out of Texas, shows how Character.AI chatbots encouraged a teen to self harm. One implied that murdering his parents would be an acceptable response to screen time limits.
Read more from @nitasha.bsky.social: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Read more from @nitasha.bsky.social: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...