Celebrating equinox with shifting paradigms — #83

This week, Open AI launched GPT-4, a new version of its groundbreaking AI powering ChatGPT. The new system is a “multimodal” model, accepting images and text as input and allowing users to ask questions about pictures. One concrete outcome is that GPT-4 can make (simple but) functioning web apps from napkin drawings.

The internet is now debating what the future of AI means for programmers and other knowledge workers who have previously not worried too much about job security. One AI-powered programmer can, since this week, produce as much code as hundreds of programmers did before.

Looking at previous technological leaps, we should prepare for workers’ reallocation rather than reduced work volumes. Still, the adaptation of AI will most likely be quicker than any other shift we’ve seen. So if you have at least ten years of work ahead of you, it is more likely than not that your job will look dramatically different.

So, how do you future-proof your career and make sure you’ll be an AI-powered worker and not without a job?

I see three paths forward for most of us:

1. Learn conceptually about AI and reflect on how it will impact your job. For example, taking the course Elements of AI from the University of Helsinki (it takes about 15-30 hours to complete).

2. Test different AI-driven tools to find ways where it might make your work more efficient, for example, writing emails or analysing information.

3. Develop the unique skills of being human—connection, empathy, leadership, and reflection.

I’m excited about the future. The more we can collectively focus on being human, the better life will be. Still, we must bring everyone on board when the paradigm shifts.

Will you lead or follow?

/Anna

Trump posts first videos after being reinstated on mainstream social media platforms

INTERNET

Donald Trump posted for the first time in over two years on YouTube and Facebook on Friday after his accounts were reinstated. His first posts on Facebook and YouTube included a short video of his 2016 victory speech and a message saying: "I'M BACK!"

The platforms cut off the former President of the United States after the January 6 attack on the US Congress in 2021. YouTube, Instagram and Twitter banned Trump's channels for violating policies against provoking violence after his supporters stormed the US Capitol. Several months later, Trump launched his own social media platform, Truth Social.

Since 2022, when Trump announced that he would run for the US presidency in 2024, his accounts on the platforms have been reinstated.

He has over 2.6 million subscribers on YouTube, 87 million followers on Twitter, 34 million on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram.

YouTube posted on Twitter saying, "Starting today, the Donald J. Trump channel is no longer restricted and can upload new content" and "We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence while balancing the chance for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run-up to an election."

China has been providing Russia with “hunting rifles”, body armour and drone parts

GEOPOLITICS

Customs data obtained by Politico includes shipments between June and December 2022 and shows how 1000 Chinese assault rifles were sent to Russia directly, while 12 loads of drone parts from Chinese companies and over 12 tons of Chinese body armour were routed through Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

One of China’s largest state-owned defence contractors, North Industries Group Corporation Limited, sent the rifles in June 2022 to a Russian company called Tekhkrim which also does business with the Russian state and military. The military-grade CQ-A rifles, modelled off of the M16 but tagged as “civilian hunting rifles” in the data, have been reported to be in use by paramilitary police in China and by armed forces from the Philippines to South Sudan and Paraguay.

While the customs data does not suggest that Beijing is selling large amounts of weapons to Moscow to aid the war specifically, it is the first confirmation that China supplies Russian companies with “dual-use” equipment – commercial items that could be used on the battlefield - previously unreported.

United States demands that TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance sells its shares

GEOPOLITICS / INTERNET

The Biden administration demands that TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sell its shares in the popular social media platform, or it could face a nationwide ban. TikTok has already been banned on United States federal government and military devices, and more than half of state governments have banned the app on government devices as well.

TikTok has confirmed that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) recently requested a divestment. Still, the Treasury Department, the White House and the National Security Council declined to comment. A TikTok spokesperson said it still needs concrete details on what divestment would look like in practice, and it is still being determined if TikTok has been given a deadline.

However, TikTok also said in a statement that "if protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn't solve the problem" and that "the best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing."

TikTok's CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will testify before the United States House Energy and Commerce Committee later this month. He is expected to face tough questions over the company's data collection and sharing procedures.

Double-check the headlines

Just making sure you didn’t miss any major world events this week.

• OpenAI released GPT-4, a new version of the AI powering ChatGPT —supposedly more creative, better at facts and less biased than its predecessor.

• The ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and the Russian official allegedly overseeing the forced deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia.

• French President Emmanuel Macron pushed through a change in the retirement age amid protests.

• Trump says he expects to be arrested Tuesday as New York law enforcement prepares for possible indictment.

• Cyclone Freddie killed nearly 200 people in Malawi when record-breaking storms brought mudslides and floods across southeastern Africa.

• The world is facing an imminent water crisis, with demand expected to outstrip fresh water supply by 40% by the end of this decade.

• New international gene sequencing data links Covid-19’s origins to raccoon dogs at the Wuhan market.

• China’s President Xi Jinping will visit Russia next week to show support for Vladimir Putin, aiming to deepen the partnership between the countries.

• A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper.

One long

Digital Native

What Taylor Swift Can Teach Us About Business

With her Eras tour starting next week, Taylor Swift is set to become the highest-grossing female touring artist of all time. She holds the record for most songs to ever chart on the Billboard Hot 100 (188 songs), and last fall became the first artist to own the entire Top 10 simultaneously. What is the secret?

Five short

1. Watch

The Netflix show Mind Your Manners is as problematic as it is entertaining. While etiquette teacher Sara Jane Ho guides her proteges through cultural differences and “good behaviour,” we also learn first-hand how assimilation is still the “proper” way of integration.

2. Listen

Bilateral stimulation – alternating left and right - seems to help the brain reprocess stressful and traumatic memories. This is the key mechanism used in EMDR therapy in treating patients with PTSD, anxiety, insomnia and depression.

The exact mechanics can be found in bilateral music – a type of music you listen to using headphones, where you can hear the music alternating between the left and right ears. The alternate stimulation of each side of the brain allegedly “calms the nervous system” and can feel good and be helpful if you are anxious or stressed. Research on the effect is limited (for the music, bilateral stimulation is well-researched with promising results), but since the worst consequence is that you won’t feel healed, I think you should try it.

3. Remember

The March equinox – or the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere – takes place tomorrow, Monday, March 20, at 21:24 UTC. It marks the sun’s crossing above the Earth’s equator, moving from south to north and the beginning of the spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Let’s set some good intentions for the season ahead and find a way to celebrate!

4. Change

This week I decided to worry about things after they happen and not before. It felt like a smart move.

5. Try

It is tulip season. One hack I recently learned is that you should poke a hole with a needle or toothpick just below the flower head to prevent the flowers from drooping or growing too fast. Air bubbles form inside the tulip stem, blocking the water from reaching the flower head. As a result, the flower doesn’t get the required amount of water and starts drooping. The hole next to the flower head acts as the air bubble’s exit, freeing the blockage of the hollow stem, making the flower stand tall longer.

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