My brother visited recently, and as a teacher he needs to keep up with AI because all of his students are using it. He’s noticed that previously terrible writers can now write perfectly. He’s also found that AI summaries of homework material are largely similar to what he would have done himself, but it cuts out all the thinking that actually beds the knowledge in.

A friend summarised their feeling about it as ‘do your own homework’. AI has its place in assisting and supporting, but when it starts entirely replacing original and critical thinking we’re in trouble.

Anyway there’s a bit in here about AI alongside the other content stuff.

Content of this week

I have seen things

• I’ve been doing a bit of work with Big Heritage and love this video from their Western Approaches site. I put it into the ‘ironic naff content’ bucket—a counter-measure to all the high-octane glitzy content we’re bombarded with, and acknowledging that quite a lot of us like museums actually.

• ‘Intellectual brain rot’. Maybe avoid the wanking bit.

• Theatre kids scare me but I try to keep tabs on what content works aside from filming famous actors. This week I’ve got incredible sets, knees and how to make a not-boring BTS.

• Facebook isn’t dead. Just show them archival footage of a devastated Berlin because it’s full of Second World War-obsessed boomers, or local history, or hidden archaeology. It feels like social media painting by numbers (here is a cool thing, take it or leave it) but it still works.

The bullet point bit

• Microsoft published some research on the 40 jobs most and least at risk from AI—predictably manual jobs are safe, knowledge jobs are not safe. I scoffed at historians being included, considering how many sources aren’t even digitised, the constant churn of reintepretation and the skill of applying that knowledge. It seems to be because they mapped common purposes of using AI to a load of different jobs, but lost a lot nuance.

• Ofcom have published updated research on media habits (YouTube is replacing TV basically) as well as research on how people in the UK access, use and think about their online and media lives. 3/10 adults use AI but nobody trusts it, teenagers can tell when a social media post is an ad, and THIRTY SEVEN PERCENT of 3-5 year olds use social media. What the FUCK.

• Now people actually know what the Online Safety Bill means in practice there’s been a backlash and a huge surge in UK users signing up to VPNs. Last week I wondered whether the titties and dongs in museum collections would fall foul of it, but I should have said vulvas and vaginas. The Vagina Museum has had to alter their website to get around the blocks.

• Speaking of internet age blocks, YouTube is now going to be included in Australia’s version. Kids will still be able to access it but won’t be able to create accounts and interact with content. If the UK and Australia work out the kinks in this, expect similar legislation in your country soon.

Personal stuff I do for me and you can just skip this if you like

🎮📖 what I’m consuming as a consumer

I haven’t consumed anything this week. Just living, laughing, loving, staring at the wall.

🐕 Keith

Here he is