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QFM033: Machine Intelligence Reading List September 2024
Everything that I found interesting about machines behaving intelligently during September 2024
This month kicks off with several articles focusing on prompt engineering and AI reasoning. The Introduction to Anthropic’s Prompt Engineering Interactive Tutorial introduces readers to prompt creation techniques for Anthropic’s Claude model, while Notes on OpenAI’s new o1 chain-of-thought models explores new OpenAI models designed to improve complex reasoning. Building LLMs from the Ground Up: A 3-hour Coding Workshop takes a hands-on approach, guiding developers through the process of building, training, and understanding LLMs, providing a grounding in the structure and logic underpinning LLMs.
Next we take a look at how AI is being integration into professional services. Automating the Back Office: How AI is Transforming Professional Services shows how AI is reshaping back-office operations in legal and financial sectors, automating tasks and addressing staffing needs. Similarly, The three fates of work in the age of AI suggests that while AI may replace some roles, it may also create opportunities for more fulfilling work by freeing up time for complex tasks. AI and the Technological Richter Scale expands on this by comparing technological advances to seismic shifts, evaluating AI’s transformative potential and societal impact.
Ethical and regulatory issues again feature prominently. In AI: A Means to an End or a Means to Our End?, Stephen Fry argues for strict AI regulations, drawing parallels to the historical control of financial systems. Yuval Noah Harari on whether democracy and AI can coexist suggests that AI’s influence on information networks could threaten democratic processes and urges careful governance to balance AI’s potential benefits with its manifest societal risks.
Can AI be funny? Perhaps not on its own, but AI OR DIE: The First 100% AI Sketch Comedy Show (EP01 — Flutes & Horses) illustrates a unique use case: an (almost) entirely AI-generated comedy show. This project presents AI not only as a tool for automating repetitive tasks but also as a contributor to creative fields, challenging traditional ideas of authorship and originality in entertainment. Note: some of this…
