Chris Ellis @intrbiz@bergamot.social

Hi, I work with generative machines. Everything from Markov chain generators to GPT-3. I’ve trained and tuned many models with GPT2 and 3, all with the intent of simulating human interaction.

I know a fair bit about generative machines, both how they work, and how to tune and interact with them to get particular results.

I need you to hear this: they do not know or understand anything. They are complex probability tables.

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There are things I should have done today.
There are things I _did_ do today.
There are also things I did not.
#NormalForMe

"Everything Everywhere All at Once" would make a good title for a blog post about prioritization at tech companies.

https://nexteam.co.uk/post/product/you-have-a-wealth-of-user-research-data-within-your-internal-team
"Unlock the wealth of User Research data within your own team! By building strong relationships with Sales, Marketing, and Support, you'll gain valuable insights into customer problems, emotions, and motivations at different stages of the product life cycle. Don't overlook the power of internal teams! #UserResearch #ProductLifeCycle #Collaboration #ProductManagement"

Did someone say "AIOps"?

A great #pun opportunity was missed by selecting the #Scottish #Highlands for a #space #launch site instead of #Speyside

This letter is going viral -- because it absolutely rips apart BBC Question Time's right-wing bias with clear data.

https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/an-open-letter-to-the-bbc/

Dear developers. Please don’t forget to compliment things you like about someone’s code when reviewing their PR.

"Announcing a return to work for three days a week minimum so you can still continue to video call with your coworkers and now experience a fucked up hybrid work thing where nobody's needs are met" is some serious "hey don't consider working here" flags. Love that. 🙄

"Unleash your team's full potential as a #ProductManager - go from being just a team member to a coach! Set clear strategies, foster individual growth & team culture, and be the front line protector 💪 #PMlife #Leadership #TeamManagement"
https://nexteam.co.uk/post/product/product-managers-are-coaches

Meta. OpenAI. Google.

Your AI chatbot is not *hallucinating*.

It's bullshitting.

It's bullshitting, because that's what you designed it to do. You designed it to generate seemingly authoritative text "with a blatant disregard for truth and logical coherence," i.e., to bullshit.

confession: as someone with ADD, I often imagine myself putting my focus on a task **and then** doing it until completion.

It's romantic, and exciting. Like an action movie.
But, this is basically never how it works out.

BTW, mastodon has thoroughly eclipsed Twitter as the meeting place for developers and clear-thinking users. I don't imagine you'll see too many more Twitter links from me.

@vyruss will publish a new #PostgreSQL extension called pg_statviz tomorrow.
He announced it today a #fosdem #pgday .
It sounds very promising.
The extension will be published on GitHub https://github.com/vyruss /pg_statviz

The first talk of the day here at #FosdemPGDay (a #Fosdem fringe event) and Gunnar ‘Nick’ Bluth is on the #PostgreSQL stage talking about how we can learn from his big big fail, titled “LFMF: How a CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY led to a 6 hour downtime” - lots of painful laughter in the room