What went wrong with WeWork? Why are we increasingly discussing artificial intelligence in courtrooms? What are chickens discussing? Another exciting week in the summary of the Digitized editorial team.
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Reality resembles science fiction movies: Japanese scientists have deciphered chicken speech, and humanoid robots will soon be flying into space. Meanwhile, on Earth, conflicts caused by the popularization of AI tools: UODO is scrutinizing Open AI, writers accuse artificial intelligence of theft and lack of respect for copyright, and the United States has launched the largest antitrust lawsuit in history against Google. ChatGPT has a new, formidable rival named Claude. Amazon has invested in Anthropic, a startup founded by a former ChatGPT developer.
It's hard to keep up with all the changes. Support is offered by free courses organized by the best universities in the world. We have prepared a selection of those that will help deepen knowledge in the field of new technologies.
It's also worth taking care of your well-being, not necessarily personally. A happiness manager can do this for us - we describe this increasingly popular profession from both a practitioner's perspective and a skeptically inclined scientist.
It's impossible to escape the topic of artificial intelligence. However, it turns out that this is nothing new. Even the Greek gods were interested in this issue.
China, on the other hand, is interested in everything and maybe we should be worried about it? You can read about it in the Digitized Reading Room.
Welcome!
USA sues Google. The largest antitrust lawsuit of the 21st century has begun.
The game of artificial intelligence. American writers accuse OpenAI of theft
OpenAI under the scrutiny of the Polish UODO. Does ChatGPT process data in violation of the law?
AI and climate. Activists want Big Tech to disclose emission data
Project Gutenberg provides 5000 audiobooks generated by AI
Amazon limits the number of publications in Kindle. All because of AI
NASA invests in humanoid robots. They are to replace astronauts in space
Elon Musk's Neuralink approved for human brain implant trials
Japanese researchers have deciphered chicken language
Intel bets on AI - artificial intelligence will be included in new processors
Amazon invests in OpenAI's biggest rival, Anthropic
How to lose 99% of the peak valuation of a company in 4 years and find yourself on the brink of bankruptcy? It's simple. Just create a false vision of business conquest of the world, and then sell it to investors with a few daring moves. Exactly as WeWork founder Adam Neumann did.
At the beginning of August, WeWork published internal financial reports for the first two quarters of 2023. They paint a rather pessimistic picture. The favorite startup of American investors, at its peak valued at 47 billion dollars, is currently on the brink of bankruptcy. Even the company's board, in an official press statement, directly informed about such a possibility.
You can read about it in Jakub Rusak's text
One of the non-obvious stimuli for the development of artificial intelligence were new discoveries in the field of neurology and progress in knowledge about the functioning of the brain. The fact that the brain operates on the basis of a network of connected neurons transmitting electrical impulses was an inspiration for researchers and constructors of artificial brains. The mathematical model of the neural network was first described in 1943 by neurophysiologist Warren McCulloch and logician Walter Pitts. To prove their thesis, they built their test neurons from electrical circuits.
And why it started with Hephaestus, wrote Konrad Budek
More and more companies, especially large and international ones, have people in their teams performing the role of a happiness manager, which is translated into Polish, not without irony, as a "happiness officer". Seven years ago, the media was full of descriptions of this new, intriguing profession. Many TedEx presentations revolved around this topic. However, this does not mean that work is to take over the therapeutic function or even work for our happiness. Such narratives are disturbing, because when this does not happen, we may feel even more frustrated. Dr Wahl believes that many corporations create happy family narratives, offering various benefits, including in the form of all forms of "well-being" training, and then they are still able to lay off their employees without the slightest scruples.
Happiness Officer - pros and cons in Ewa Pawlik's text
Machine learning, big data and databases, artificial intelligence, internet of things, algorithms, programming languages, large language models - behind each of these terms is modern technology that will shape the job market and change everyday life in the coming years. Understanding these concepts may also be an indispensable element of expanding professional competencies or a completely new career idea.
However, to achieve these goals, specialized academic knowledge is necessary. In the modern information age, access to it is easier and more democratic than ever in human history. You don't have to graduate to acquire it - all you need is a computer, an internet connection and at least a moderate knowledge of English to reach almost unlimited resources. Where to look for them? And how to verify their reliability and truthfulness?
Jakub Rusak has developed a practical guide to free courses
This week we invite you to a trip to China as part of the Digitized Reading Room. To get there, you no longer have to leave Poland. Sylwia Czubkowska writes about it in a detailed account of a several-year journalistic investigation:
Without unnecessary questions, the gigantic Tencent began to invest in Poland. Tencent is the first Chinese company valued at over 500 billion dollars. The company has been mentioned in the same breath as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple, the biggest tech giants. In China, it owns the WeChat app, which the Chinese use not only to communicate with each other but also to pay for purchases, order taxis, make doctor's appointments, and pay bills. When in December 2019 the first rumors of a mysterious virus causing lung disease began to reach the society of the People's Republic of China, it was the WeChat algorithms that took over all information related to the pandemic, censored it, and blocked its sharing. But Tencent is primarily a Chinese giant in the gaming industry, which has had huge international ambitions for years and is very active in the takeover market. It owns shares in gaming companies from around the world, including the most recognizable brands. Among them is Riot Games, the creator of League of Legends, in which the Chinese company has a complete set of shares. In addition, the corporation has minority packages in Epic Games (40%), Ubisoft (5%), and Activision Blizzard (5%).
Giorgio Parisi, an Italian scientist specializing in pandemic-related issues, noticed that scientists like him have almost completely lost public trust. In the times of the Covid-19 pandemic, this doubt translated into specific numbers - the numbers of fatal victims. A side effect is also the online hate that affects specialists discussing this topic. How did social media lead to this crisis? Why are we more likely to follow the advice of online influencers than certified doctors?
In an official statement, Google announced that it is redirecting users' attention from Google Podcasts to podcasts on YouTube Music. The latest research has shown that as many as 23% of listeners from the United States use this platform most often, and only 4% of respondents indicated Google Podcasts as their source. Apple observed similar trends. The king is dead, long live the king?
More about the changes that will sooner or later reach Poland
According to the latest forecasts from ABI Research, the augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technology sector is on the verge of a revolution - by 2028, the number of AR/VR sets delivered is expected to increase more than fivefold, reaching 69 million units.
Recruitment of qualified cybersecurity specialists is a major problem for companies in Poland, according to a KPMG report. The study showed that more than half of the respondents experience difficulties in hiring and retaining competent staff in this area.
The company Creandum published a report on the salaries of startup founders. The study was conducted among 650 entrepreneurs from 47 European countries, and the aim was to provide data on the average earnings of founders at various stages of their companies' development.
The EU candidate for climate commissioner wants global taxes on fossil fuels - reports "Financial Times". The money collected in this way would be used to further fight to improve the climate situation.
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