 |
|
|
|||||
Hello! Thank you, as always, for reading Plugged In. A quick scheduling note: Starting next week, this newsletter will land in your inbox on Fridays instead of Wednesdays. See you then. Back in December, a Meta executive catalyzed a doozy of a kerfuffle by saying the company expected AI-generated profiles to exist on its platforms kind of in the same way that accounts do. Theyll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform. . . . Thats where we see all of this going, VP of generative AI Connor Hayes told the Financial Times. The reaction was . . . not great (Futurisms headline: People Are Disgusted by Facebooks Plan to Deploy AI-Powered Users). Hayes specified that Meta expected this development to happen over time, and though it didnt sound the least bit appealing to me, I also thought it wasnt an immediate threat. But in recent days, a bevy of AI-generated people have overwhelmed my Facebook feed. They are, Im sure, a cruder manifestation of the idea than the AI members Hayes was talking up. But their presence has left me even warier of Meta willfully reimagining a social network around synthetic personalities. The posts in question come from a variety of AI slop Facebook pages I didnt ask to follow. The page names, such as Nature and Animals, The Newstoday, and Dogs World, have little or nothing to do with the topics of the posts. And those topics are, well, bizarre. How bizarre? Something like half the posts Ive seen involve AI-generated images of senior citizensas old as 120showing off birthday cakes theyve baked themselves. Most of the others relate to talented craftspeople who have fashioned elaborate sculptures out of materials as diverse as wood, ice, and vegetables. A smattering are then-and-now shots of happy people in photos taken decades ago and in 2025. A few show distressed wild animals getting rescued by humans. Much of the imagery is obviously synthetic; some of it is a tad more subtle. But all of it is meant to tug at the heartstrings, often in nakedly manipulative ways. A pretty high percentage of the cake bakers and craftspeople explain that their accomplishment has gone unacknowledged. Sometimes they look downright morose about the lack of love. Thats presumably meant to get Facebook members clicking, which they dosometimes to the tune of thousands of comments and tens of thousands of likes. Along with inserting these posts into the feeds of users who didnt request them (like, for instance, me), Meta tries to goose engagement via its Meta AI bot. An image of a bearded gent who carved a crib for his grandchildonly to discover that Nobody Likes It :(is accompanied by suggested questions such as Why is it unliked? and Babys reaction to crib. None of the answers the AI generates are of even the slightest value, creating a perverse feedback loop in which Meta is feeding one form of bad AI into another to generate even more slop. Which is not to say that I didnt find this material briefly transfixing when it first found its way into my feed. Craving more understanding of what was going on, I clicked on some of the posts to read the comments. An alarming percentage of them showered the purported posters with birthday wishes, compliments on their artistic creations, and general good vibes. Either the Facebook members who left the comments had been fooled orworsethey were happy to be happy about the accomplishments of AI-generated characters going through slight variations on a handful of maudlin scenarios. I did savor the delightfully cynical comments from those members who saw through the whole thing. So what? snapped one member in response to a post involving one particular cake-baking centenarian. Im 199 years old and I made my cake with peach cream and filling and I started decorating cakes when I was 6 months old. After a few days of this, I got worried that engaging with these posts at all had something to do with them being thereespecially when the onslaught not only continued, but intensified. Maybe Facebook took me as liking them (though I never, you know, clicked the Like button) rather than merely being a victim of my own morbid curiosity. So I started using the Not Interested option to tell its algorithm I didnt want to see these kinds of items. A day later, they seem to be gone, though Im not ready to declare them eradicated. At its bestas when group moderators take their jobs seriouslyFacebook is still wonderful. It might even live up to Mark Zuckerbergs platitudes about its mission being to connect the world. These AI posts have nothing to do with that. Stripped of its humanity and stuffed with generative AI, Facebook is the junkiest digital junk food imaginable. And the worst part is that the bad contaminates the good. As AI-generated fake then-and-now photo comparisons began showing up, I started skimming right past similar ones posted by people Im following. Only after slowing down and assessing them more carefully did I realize they were their real family members, not more empty calories. I felt like Id been left to moderate my own feedwhich, come to think of it, is an official Facebook policy these days. Maybe Meta will somehow institutionalize AI profiles in a way that adds value and leaves no member confused. But I cant help but wonder: Instead of welcoming AI-generated members onto its platforms, might the company be better off doing everything in its power to guarantee that the only people youll run across are, indeed, actual people? Youve been reading Plugged In, Fast Companys weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if youre reading it on FastCompany.comyou can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. Im also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. More top tech stories from Fast Company Uber will now pair Austin riders with Waymo self-driving carsAustin riders can be matched with a Waymo all-electric Jaguar I-PACE. Read More Mozillas new message: Were the only browser not backed by billionairesMozillas new CEO outlines coming browser features and her hopes for regulatory action. Read More TikToks airport theory dares you to arrive just 15 minutes before your flightA viral trend has travelers cutting it dangerously close, claiming you can breeze through security in minutes. Some make it. Others? Not so much. Read More Trumps crypto reserve is a payoff for loyalistsA crypto stockpile rewards supporters while creating volatility for the government. Read More AI Chatbots have telltale quirks. Researchers can spot them with 97% accuracyA new study shows that different LLMs have distinct writing stylesmaking AI-generated text easier to detect. Read More Elon Musks bumbling X posts are inadvertently teaching everyone how government worksThanks to replies from journalists and experts, Musks X feed has become an accidental crash course in civics and a variety of topics. Read More
Category:
E-Commerce
Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Companys work-life advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions.Q: My boss is playing favorites, what should I do?A: So much of adult life can feel like you’re perpetually stuck in high school: gossip and office politics, making friends, and who the boss favors. If you feel like your boss is playing favorites, the first step is evaluating why you feel this way as objectively as possible. The more specific you are about the problem, the more specific you can be about how you address it. A vague feeling of I think you like Sam more than me, doesnt have much of a solution. Do other employees get more opportunities to work on high-profile projects? Do other employees seem to get more leeway to make mistakes? Are your colleagues getting promoted or praised and you arent? Does your boss just seem to like your colleagues more or have formed a friendship with them and not you? Once you pinpoint whats wrong (and it may be more than one thing), you can address the issue directly. Your feelings of being left out and overlooked are totally valid and worth bringing up. What you shouldnt do however is pit yourself against your colleagues. If you view it as a competition, you will lose. Your work is to improve your situation, not destroy someone elses. A rising tide lifts all boatsor at least it should. Whatever the issue, approach it as a problem you and your boss will solve together, not an accusation. If your colleagues are getting more opportunities So much of my workplace advice boils down to the same thing: Have a conversation with your boss. It’s the most obvious move, but also the thing that so many people avoid. If you want more opportunities to work on high-profile projects, set up a meeting with your boss and tell them exactly that. Dont frame it as something they owe you. Instead, come to the meeting with some ideas of what youd like to do. Explain how it fits into the companys goals, as well as your career goals. It wouldnt hurt to also have some examples of why you are ready for this new level of responsibility, too. Presented like this, even if your boss says “no,” they will be pressed to give you a reason and likely a time frame for when you can take on more. If your colleagues are getting promoted and praised When your coworkers are getting praise and promotions, it can feel particularly hard to not view it as a competition. But again its best to focus on yourself and your work. Follow all the advice for getting a promotion: Work above your current title and make sure your boss knows about your accomplishments.If you are doing all of those things but your colleague with the same title just got a bump up and you didnt, you can be more explicit in your next check-in. Try something like I feel my work is at the senior associate level. Can you help me understand what it would take for me to get to that level? If your colleagues get more leeway to make mistakes This is tricky, as you likely dont know all the factors behind what causes mistakes at work. Pitting your failures against someone elses isnt likely to end well. Instead, focus on getting feedback on your work and owning up to your mistakes if you make them. If your colleagues make mistakes that impact your work, deal with them as constructively as possible and outline your problem-solving to your manager. If your colleagues are allowed to make continuous mistakes, there will eventually be repercussions. If not, its a red flag for a toxic culture that you likely dont want to be a part of. Your boss just seems to like your colleagues more This is both a professional and a personal problem and the type of problem that can make you feel the most like you’re back in high school. Some people just click more than others. You can be a friendly colleague and just not form a close personal relationship with someone. You can do the work I mention above to try to change the way your boss views your work, but you cant really call a meeting to say You like Dave more than me. If there is an unprofessional level of favoritism or personal relationships between your boss and your colleagues, you can try to delicately raise it with your managers boss, or HR if you feel comfortable. But tread carefully.If you just feel like you want better relationships at work and its not clicking with your manager, look elsewhere. Make friends in other departments or start a project with someone on another team. Not only will it make you feel less alone, it might help your boss see how valuable you are. Want some more advice on favoritism at work? Here you go: What to do when your boss favors a colleague over you How to deal with a boss who plays favorites How to deal with favoritism at work
Category:
E-Commerce
President Donald Trumps bowling-ball attitude to international relations and business was in evidence again this week as he announced a landmark $100 billion deal with Taiwanese computer chip manufacturer TSMC to bring more production capacity to the United States. The agreement with TSMC plans for five new factories to be built in the U.S., signed alongside TSMC CEO C.C. Wei in the White House on March 3. We must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here, Trump said as he announced the deal. Its a matter of national security for us. The move to onshore production of the chips that are powering the AI and broader tech revolution may well shore up U.S. national security. But those watching the dealalongside the stock market, which reacted by lowering the price of TSMC sharesworry that the agreement trades strengthened U.S. national security for weakened Taiwanese security. TSMCs additional $100 billion investment is likely to further expand the U.S. presence in global advanced chip manufacturing, which is currently dominated by Taiwan, says Ray Wang, a Washington D.C.-based analyst focusing on U.S.-China tech competition and the semiconductor industry in Asia. Thats good news for the United States. But onshoring the production of advanced computer chips that help power the AI revolution isnt necessarily good news for Taiwan. TSMC’s newly announced investment in manufacturing, packaging, and R&D in the United States will likely diminish Taiwans strategic importance for the U.S. and broader global economy in the long run, says Wang. For years, Taiwan has managed to fend off the threat of a Chinese invasion of the small island nation because of its strategic importance as the key global factory for computer chips. Its an advantage that the Taiwanese dubbed their “Silicon Shield.” Indeed, just days ago, the countrys economy minister, Kuo Jyh-huei, described Taiwans semiconductor industry as its sacred mountain protecting the country. Yet that sacred mountain looks a little more surmountable now. Ultimately it reduces U.S. dependence on Taiwanwhich reduces Taiwanese leverage over the U.S., says William Matthews, senior research fellow for China and the world in the Asia-Pacific program at Chatham House. Losing that leverage is a dangerous move, Matthews says, not least because of the way the United States has taken a more transactional approach to international relations, even with its allies, under Trump. From that point of view it reduces the incentive in Washington to defend Taiwan from China, explains Matthews. Unlike Ukraine, there isn’t an ongoing war, but Trump’s approach to the mineral deal is indicative of his attitude to international partnershipstransactional and potentially extractive while minimizing costs to the U.S. The Taiwanese economics minister said earlier this month that no deal with TSMC would be signed without the express agreement of the government, suggesting that TSMC hasnt yet granted the ability for U.S. plants to build the highest-spec chipsfor now. The Taiwanese government has said it will retain the most advanced tech but that doesn’t mean that it will do so forever, or that the U.S. won’t leap ahead with access to more advanced chip production on U.S. soil, warns Matthews. And at that point, theres little reason for the U.S. to defend Taiwan should the worst happen. That said, Wang, the tech competition analyst, isnt certain that its a zero-sum game. This additional investment could also strengthen U.S.-Taiwan relations economically and technologically, first potentially reducing the risk of being targeted by tariffs under the Trump administration and serving as a good start for future collaboration between the two governments, he says. But Matthews worries that it further isolates Taiwan geographically and could result in real worries in the Asia-Pacific region, where China has long threatened to invade Taiwan. The risk for Taiwan is that China’s approach is not one that prioritizes a war outside specific circumstancesthe declaration of formal independence or action taken by Taiwan or the U.S. that puts eventual unification in jeopardy, says Matthews. Instead, Matthews foresees there could be a long game of increasing grayzone activities like joint air and naval patrols, cyberattacks, and cable cutting, with an aim of wearing down Taiwan’s resolve. Such asymmetrical actions that come below the point of outright military intervention make it less and less likely that Trump would intervene now that much of the chip production the U.S. relies on Taiwan for has been onshoredbut ratchets up the tension nonetheless. It also gives China time to muster forces furthermuch as happened in Ukraine with Russia. All of this means that if and when China does take the step to occupy Taiwan, the costs of U.S. involvement will be much greater, says Matthews. If all goes to China’s plan, the U.S. will decide not to get involved in a conflict it could lose, and will be even less inclined to do so if the material incentive of protecting Taiwan’s chip sector is gone.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||