Nicole Kobie

As the head of the Freelance Chapter for Women in Journalism, I wanted to flag up this amazing course that some brilliant journalists are running. I've already signed up. I'm so sick of hearing that AI is coming for my job - now I hope I can gain the AI skills I need to fight back.

Bring back fact checking!

I find this so fascinating. It can’t just be someone trying to make it as a freelancer, this must be a research project or something?
pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/d...

Delighted to have had my book reviewed by @peterhemminger.com in my hometown's best magazine, the excellent @albertaviews.bsky.social

Check it out here: albertaviews.ca/the-long-his...

Spot-on.

Once more I ask, if LLMs are so good, why do people have to be bribed or cajoled into using them? www.ft.com/content/f8ca...

I mean, one of our local Evri drivers just dumps all packages together inside the door to our block of flats, no robot necessary. (I am largely fine with this.)

The other one climbs up the stairs, knocks on the door, and talks to us, something no robot can do anytime soon.

Evri to trial delivery robots in Barnsley The dog-like robots will wait with parcels at customers' homes for longer than human couriers.

So Evri says delivery robots are good because they can wait for disabled people to come to the door -- as long as ten minutes!

Imagine buying robot dogs so you don't have to pay couriers well enough to let them wait at the door.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Happy @alcs.co.uk day to all who celebrate.

These policies are not only a hugely effective way to cut carbon emissions, lower air pollution, improve public health and foster stronger communities, but they're also popular among voters.

London needs to catch up.

bsky.app/profile/reut...

How Smart AI Traffic Lights Could Prioritise People Over Cars AI traffic lights system uses deep reinforcement learning, so each decision is assessed as part of its training using pre-decided metrics such as wait times.

Imagine if traffic lights didn't require pedestrians to whack a (probably pointless) beg button but could actually see people and prioritise them? Excellent AI project from @astonuniversity.bsky.social

www.forbes.com/sites/nicole...

Hopefully! Fingers crossed.

Unbelievable...we get chatbots that are wrong 60% of the time and some mythical AGI that promises to save the world. The real logic: the AI industry distracts from the Oil industry and needlessly drives up electricity demand to distract from renewable energy, which could soon manage current needs.

Love this, hate tablets mounted in cars, not least because looking at them makes me carsick

Ændra Rininsland on LinkedIn: #opentowork Hi everyone! I’m seeking a new role and would appreciate your support. If you hear of any opportunities or just want to catch up, please send me a message or…

I'm actively looking for a new role, ideally outside of journalism and fully remote. If you wouldn't mind resharing my LinkedIn post I'd be most grateful. 🙏🏼

www.linkedin.com/posts/aendra...

OpenAI: Impossible to train top-tier AI and avoid copyright As IEEE study shows super lab's neural nets can emit 'plagiaristic output'

Oh wait www.theregister.com/2024/01/08/m...

Microsoft Probing If DeepSeek-Linked Group Improperly Obtained OpenAI Data Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI are investigating whether data output from OpenAI’s technology was obtained in an unauthorized manner by a group linked to Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek, ...

I really feel for AI makers on this one. Imagine doing so much hard work, only for someone else to use your work in an unauthorised way without payment to make their AI system better. I can't imagine what that would be like. Poor lads.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Will we ever get flying cars? 🚗

Join us online on 11 Feb with author Nicole Kobie @njkobie.bsky.social to explore why the futures of tomorrow always seem just out of reach.

Register to attend: bit.ly/3WjN9fa

We often see the future as a sudden breakthrough, but in reality, it unfolds gradually through incremental progress, pushed forward by innovators.

On this episode, we explore what it takes to create the future and why some ideas fail.

🔗 lnk.to/whyy-thepulse

"I’m thinking of how little progress we’ve made in addressing the root causes of the climate crisis, of course, and how adept our elites have become at kicking the can down the road. I’m thinking of how it is in vogue in Silicon Valley to argue that AI will “solve” the climate crisis. And also how, while AI is obviously not the reason wildfires reign over LA every other year, it fairly neatly embodies the ethos that got us here: A technological solution will bail us out, if the problem is worth addressing at all, and in the meantime, we can burn even greater quantities of fossil fuels until we figure it out. This argument is invariably made by rich men who will be best insulated from the fallout of more and worse wildfires."

Truth from @bcmerchant.bsky.social - from "The fires are everywhere":
www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-fires-...

Don’t Shrink the Bus Could Tesla’s Cybercab and similar smaller vehicles replace traditional trains and buses? Unfortunately, the idea of “personal rapid transit” has some big drawbacks.

This by @davidzipper.bsky.social is great. Buses are great. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The cover of "The Long History of the Future: Why Tomorrow’s Tech Still Isn’t Here" by Nicole Kobie shows a giant robot standing amidst a futuristic cityscape and self-driving cars.

My interview with @njkobie.bsky.social about her book "The Long History of the Future: Why Tomorrow’s Tech Still Isn’t Here."

Stream the show (interview starts at 3:48):
wfmu.org/archiveplaye...

Episode links:
www.wfmu.org/playlists/sh...

More Techtonic: techtonic.fm

Don’t be fooled by Elon Musk’s chatty Optimus robots The long history of robotics should teach us to be more sceptical when it comes to autonomous humanoid robots, says Nicole Kobie

Wrote about robots for @newscientist www.newscientist.com/article/2457...

TLDR: if a robot is walking and talking, odds are it's an avatar or really heavily programmed. And when super smart androids do get built, expect a better reveal than delivering canapes and chat at a party.

So I'm not even really on this site (I have yet to decide if I can be bothered) but I already get more interactions than in the other place and so far no one is yelling at me.

Exactly! These people are the worst.

Thanks! When you do, let me know what you think!

Ahhh I’m so excited, can’t wait to hear what you think ♥️

This was a nice welcome to blue sky!