Chris Hayes: The Sirens' Call
A review of The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource, by Chris Hayes
David Wolpert: The Thermodynamics of Meaning
A conversation with David Wolpert, Professor a the Santa Fe Institute about his recent paper on the thermodynamics of meaning.
Blaise Agüera y Arcas: What Is Intelligence?
A review of What Is Life?: Evolution by Computation, and What Is Intelligence?: Lessons from AI about Evolution, Computing, and Minds, by Blaise Agüera y Arcas
Writing and Conversations About AI (Not Written by AI)
Our Ideas
What’s Happening Now in AI Agent Software and Why It Matters
AI agents are evolving with orchestration layers enabling modular, autonomous systems beyond traditional SaaS, reshaping workflows, labor, and software design.
The Rise of AI Agents and What We May Never Understand
David Wolpert warns AI networks may evolve beyond human math, creating unpredictable, emergent intelligence that defies control and comprehension.
The Design Illusion of LLMs
It’s easy to fall prey to the design illusion that because LLMs look sleek, they must be well-designed. But aesthetics alone do not equal design. As Steve Jobs once said, “Design is not just what it looks and feels like. Design is how it works.”
Preserving Human Expertise in the Age of AI
AI's impact on skill development: Balancing productivity gains with long-term expertise. Explore how AI changes apprenticeships, challenges traditional learning, and affects industries. Learn strategies to integrate AI while preserving crucial human skills and mentorship.
The Science
What AI and Biology Reveal About the Future of Autonomous Systems
It’s curious that these two papers, tackling such similar ideas, came out at the same time. Is this coincidence, or does it tell us something about where the study of life and intelligence is heading?
How to Design AI Tutors for Learning
Generative AI promises personalized learning at scale but risks creating dependency. Complementary cognitive artifacts enhance skills; competitive ones replace them. Effective AI tutors balance engagement and autonomy, expanding human cognition without diminishing critical abilities.
Improve Your Prompts with Many-Shot In-Context Learning
Explore Many-Shot In-Context Learning to enhance AI interactions. Learn five strategies from Google DeepMind's research to optimize your prompts for language models like ChatGPT. Improve your AI prompt engineering skills and maximize AI capabilities.
A New Framework for Understanding Emergence in Complex Systems
Explore a new framework for predicting emergent phenomena in complex systems. Learn how concepts like causal, informational, and computational closure offer new insights into emergence, from ant colonies to financial markets. Explore practical applications for your work and life.
Our Research
Generative AI and Human Decision Making
Preparatory material for our workshop on using generative AI for decision-making, generated by NotebookLM.
Artificiality Book Awards 2024
Congratulations to the authors of of the Artificiality Book Awards 2024!
Learning in the Intimacy Economy
Explore the shift from the attention economy to the intimacy economy, where AI personalizes learning experiences based on deeper human connections and trust.
Helen's Books of the Week
As meta-researchers, we consume ideas and research from a variety of sources. Books, in particular, are an important source. And Helen reads a lot of them. Each week she profiles one book in our newsletter—and this is the the full list.
Lectures
Michael Levin on Diverse Intelligence & Synthbiosis
A lecture by Michael Levin, distinguished professor of biology at Tufts University and associate at Harvard's Wyss Institute
Artificiality Keynote at the Imagining Summit 2024
A video recording of our keynote at the Imagining Summit 2024 on October 12, 2024 in Bend Oregon
Montana University System
Artificiality Co-founders, Helen and Dave Edwards, gave a presentaiton on AI & Higher Education for the Board of Regents of the Montana University System.
Conversations
Maggie Jackson: Embracing Uncertainty
A conversation with Maggie Jackson, author of Uncertain
Greg Epstein: Tech Agnostic
A conversation with Greg Epstein about his recent book, Tech Agnostic.
Chris Messina: Reimagining AI
A conversation with innovator extraordinaire Chris Messina about reimagining AI.
D. Graham Burnett: Attention and much more...
A conversation with attention activist and history of science professor D. Graham Burnett about attention and much more...