“AI Revolution!” When the Hype Goes Too Far
“Artificial intelligence” has become such a fashionable phrase, a marketing cliché that is often completely devoid of meaning. We are all excited about the possibilities this kind of technology brings, but sometimes… the results can be comical and even dangerous.
122Will Artificial Intelligence Take Programmers' Bread?
Could artificial intelligence put programmers out on the street in the foreseeable future? Today it is a particularly promising time to enter the profession, but will that still be true once algorithms get better at writing code? The question came up loudly with the launch of GitHub Copilot, yet it runs much deeper and is far more interesting. We have gathered plenty of arguments for and against, and we leave the answer to you.
123Truth or Dare?
Where did the professions whose job is to create content for an audience begin, and where have they ended up? Who still fights for the truth, and should that matter to us today? Where did influencers come from, and why is it important to understand their place at the end of this long chain of professions?
124China's Social Credit System: Orwell's 1984 or the State of the Future?
You can hear terrifying things about China's social credit system. People start with 100 points, and if they drop below 35, life is practically over for them—they can't find a job, and their friends aren't supposed to talk to them… But is that really how it is? We set out in search of objective information in the rift between heavy-duty propaganda machines…
125Robots in Power
“There’s no one to vote for”—we say it and hear it so often. Clearly the Western model of democracy, and our own feeble variety of it, is in crisis… Could the moment have come for artificial intelligence to change things? Is it time to start a revolution with the new Bulgarian Robot Workers’ Party?
126Snap, Post, Forget: How the Camera Phone Is Eating Our Memories
Today photography is more accessible than we ever imagined it could be. We snap constantly, whatever and wherever we happen to be, post it on social media and… forget. All of this has changed not only our attitude toward photography, but also the way we perceive the places we visit. The world around us. And in the process, it has robbed us of many precious details.
127NFTs: Paying Millions for… Nothing
$69,346,250… for a file containing 5,000 images. More than $2 million to buy a tweet… Has the world gone mad, or are we witnessing a fundamentally new technology that lets us buy and sell unique assets?
128Blockchain Keeps Us Connected…
Bitcoin has been in the headlines for quite a few years now… but do we know what the technology behind it actually is? What else could blockchain be good for? For example… helping to create a new form of democracy?
129GPT-3: A Cozy Chat with Artificial Intelligence
GPT-3. Behind this rather dry computer acronym hides a highly promising technology that takes quite a decisive step forward in the way we perceive artificial intelligence. It is the most powerful new-generation language model, which appeared less than a year ago and showed that neural networks are now capable of creating meaningful, emotional texts, sometimes sounding downright like art. And they can even write… computer code on their own!
130Web 3.0: What Will the Internet's New Era Bring Us?
We're living in the age of Web 3.0, they say… But isn't there just one web, one internet? In fact, the global network has already gone through two massive transformations that we never stopped to think about while we were caught in their whirlpools. And now, researchers say, a third is coming, bringing yet another sweeping change…
131Digital Minimalism: How to Break Free from Information Addiction
Imperceptibly, gradually and seemingly irreversibly, we have become dependent on technology. Or more precisely, on the information it floods us with, much of which we don't need and which is toxic and draining. The system known as “digital minimalism” offers a way to rein in this creeping dependence. But is it the universal solution?
132The Cat and the Quantum Computer
Quantum computers have been one of the most talked-about technology topics of recent years, and the biggest companies in the IT world are locked in a furious race to build working prototypes. More and more people say that they are the next step of the technological era. Yes, the subject is rather complicated, especially when you try to explain it in plain language, but let's give it a go!
133The Deep Lie: Could Deepfake Technology Start a War?
Deepfake technology makes it possible to create a video starring real people that is nonetheless completely fake. Could it lead to war? And how did neural networks suddenly become capable of producing the perfect forgery?
134Artificial Art: Are Computers Learning to Create?
Is it mostly a marketing trick, or will artificial intelligence soon paint like a master? Can we teach a computer program to create music, or literature? For a long time we were certain that this is one of the things that set people apart from machines—the lack of imagination, of artistry, of the ability to express oneself through art. But is that really so?
135TL;DR
TL;DR: Nobody has time to read long, complex texts anymore. Or do they? Do we need them to keep our brains from “blowing up” and to stay human?
136When Musk Puts a Chip in Our Brains…
“It’s very important that artificial intelligence not be ‘other.’ It must be ‘us.’ That’s the only way we survive,” says Elon Musk. To get there, he has launched Neuralink, an ultra-ambitious project whose goal is for us to merge with machines: a tiny chip in the brain that makes us part of the global network. Is this fantasy, or the only chance for the human species to survive?
137Inside the Bubble of the Like-Minded
All the big websites look after us almost like parents: they pick the most suitable content for us and save us time and effort. But this is turning into a serious problem for society. The filter bubble makes us more closed to other opinions and more aggressive, drags many of our ugliest traits into the spotlight, and robs us of the nuance and beauty of communication.
138Fake Hero
Miquela is smiling and fashionable. A long-legged, olive-skinned Latina coquette. Time magazine ranked her among the 25 most influential people online. Just one small detail… she doesn't actually exist. She is the most recognizable face among digital humans—a new phenomenon on the internet that deserves far more attention.
139News or Blame? The Robot in the Newsroom
Every day we already read articles written by a robot. Today the most valuable resource isn’t oil, or money. It isn’t gold, it isn’t even power. At the epicenter of the computer revolution, everything is information. Zdravko wants to be a journalist; Zhelyazko is an artificial intelligence. Who does the future belong to?
140A Robot Wearing a Martenitsa?!
The Digital Stories project comes into the world on the very day of the martenitsa. Because nothing is lovelier than the coming of spring. And because…
