Peter Drake

Middle-aged women: Where do you buy clothes? Comfy, professional, attractive, low-maintenance.

Asking for a frustrated friend.

#Violet is once again suggesting that we all just stay in bed. #DogsOfMastodon

The first two (pro-genAI) talks at #axecon were not well-received, but @annaecook@mastodon.social knocked it out of the park.

https://www.deque.com/axe-con/sessions/accessibility-in-the-end-of-deterministic-design-again/

#accessibility #a11y

Chapter 4 of @emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social 's The AI Con mentions the 2019 Obermeyer study, which found that a health care needs prediction system discriminates against Black people. The reason: the system was trained on past health care *expenditures*.

#ai

Thought-provoking ideas in chapter 2 of @emilymbender@dair-community.social and @alex@dair-community.social's The AI Con:

- Weizenbaum's ELIZA was meant to show that producing language does NOT imply thought.

- Babies don't learn language from passive exposure, so whatever LLMs are doing is fundamentally different.

- The notion of AGI is tied to the old racist notions associated with IQ tests. (I've thought of the G in AGI as meaning "not limited to a particular task", but rating relative intelligence has this issue.)

#ai

Here are the new Portland City Council committees, along with contact information for the members for you to provide input.

https://www.portland.gov/council/news/2025/1/16/portland-city-council-establishes-eight-policy-committees

Local policy is a smaller needle and easier for you to move!

#pdx #portland #pdxpol