This monthly AI reading group / online meet-up is conducted on MS Teams and open to all – you don’t need any technical knowledge, and can approach the topic from a critical or optimistic perspective. Run by Kevin Walker. Get in touch with questions or suggestions.
Next session: Fri 30 May 2025 1400 GMT we will discuss this article >> MS Teams meeting link <<
- 25 Apr 2025: Challenging The Myths of Generative AI
We discussed this article. ‘We can’t stop the bus, but we can steer it,’ writes Anthropic’s Dario Amodei. Myths and metaphors – let’s untangle the difference. ‘Myths and metaphors aren’t just rhetorical flourishes; they are about power,’ writes Eryk Salvaggio, the author of this article. A mythology of technology ‘aims for simple, graspable explanations at the… Read more: 25 Apr 2025: Challenging The Myths of Generative AI - 28 Mar 2025: Exploring Artificial Wisdom
This article from 2020 exposed its age, and its focus on aging (specifically geriatric medicine). For example, they note ‘clinical decision-making requires more than intelligent thinking – it requires wise thinking that incorporates ethical and moral considerations.’ Accordingly, the authors scientific framing: ‘Human wisdom is a scientific construct supported by empirical research during the last… Read more: 28 Mar 2025: Exploring Artificial Wisdom - 24 Feb 2025: Is Botto’s art any good?
The article we read was transcribed from a live event. And around the same time as this reading group, I attended another live event, a private view of a selling exhibition of the works of Botto – semi-autonomous AI artist created by human artist Mario Klingemann – who spoke on a panel at the PV.… Read more: 24 Feb 2025: Is Botto’s art any good? - 28 Jan 2025: Natural Selection Favors AIs over Humans
Here is a summary of our discussion of this article. In its form, I held up this article as a good example of a structured argument (like a dissertation or PhD thesis) – it sets out its aims and argument very clearly, breaks the argument down into coherent sections, and carefully details the evidence for… Read more: 28 Jan 2025: Natural Selection Favors AIs over Humans - 18 Dec 2024: The manliness of AI
After looking at an artistic approach to AI, then computer vision, in this session we focused on language – as used by Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. Liz Jackson, a humanities scholar, laments how LLMs promote not only a masculine way of communicating, but (unsurprisingly) a very Silicon Valley-startup style: favouring langauge that is… Read more: 18 Dec 2024: The manliness of AI