I’ve been a freelance journalist for 10 years, usually writing for magazines and websites about cinema. I presented a morning show on Radio Kraków twice a week for about two years. It was only one part of my work, but I really enjoyed it. It was about culture and cinema, and featured a range of people, from artists to activists. I remember interviewing Ukrainians about the Russian invasion for the first programme I presented, back in 2022.
I was let go in August 2024, alongside a dozen co-workers who were also part-time. We were told the radio station was having financial problems. I was relatively OK with it, as I had other income streams. But a few months later I heard that Radio Kraków was launching programmes hosted by three AI characters. Each had AI-generated photographs, a biography and a specific personality. They called it an “experiment” aimed at younger audiences.
They are.
Had an argument with a more junior member of my team on Friday. I described the ethical, environmental, and CS-domain-related objections I have to LLMs. His response was that “it’s just another tool in the toolbox” (my opinion: yes and no, and I could write a doctoral thesis on the “no” part)
For a little while, the US considered using nuclear weapons for geologic purposes. It was never operationally implemented because it’s an objectively horrible idea, but at the time, nuclear stuff was the hot new tool in the toolbox.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare
AI is also terrible, just in a less tangible way.
Thunderbirds International Rescue had a nuclear mining episode IIRC.