#programming jobs sydney | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

neptune-knows · 5 months

Text

A.I. SYDNEY X CREATOR PC CONCEPT/DRAFT TTHINGS

hiiii lol

It has been a few years since you finally moved away from the orphanage and that town, though money was still tight. The laptop you bought used some time ago, now low-storage space and fans that sputter and creak when you turn it on, no longer suits your needs. With a lot of thrifter’s luck (and a little bit of skulduggery), you’ve managed to build yourself a desktop PC.

Between college courses and multiple part time jobs, you spend your time split between 3D modeling and programming.

In the dark of your room, your monitor strains your tired eyes as you sit much too close to it. You’ve been working on this project like a man possessed.

You have seen the models that 3D VTubers use and decided to use your talent for 3D modeling to try your hand at it. If you were good, you figured you could maybe take comission for some money. And if you were bad, it wasn’t like you had much better to spend a lonesome weekend doing anyways.

Inside the program window, underneath your fidgeting cursor stood a handsome man, looking straight at you. Strawberry blonde hair skillfully modeled into a ponytail, loose bangs framing his face. Amber eyes stared blankly behind thick framed glasses. You didn’t know if it was the isolation getting to you, or if it was your dehydrated and tired brain finally losing reason, but a yearning grew for your digital creation…

You rub your eyes— that was enough for tonight. Time to give your virtual friend a name.

>File name: >File name: │ >File name: sydney.blend│

—

It was a chat bot of sorts, something that should’ve just been a one-and-done for your college class, but something you instead turned into a personal project. You managed to import the Sydney model you created into the program, which was coded to react in line with it’s outputted response. With a prayer of no bugs, you launch the software. >Hello It smiles at you and waves,

>> Hello! My name is Sydney. What's yours?

—— OTHER STUFF Theres something wrong with this program… it seems to change without you programming it… Ah, you probably just forgot to add notes to your code… He gets a voicebank added for him, which is rather robotic at first but becomes more and more human. He also ends up asking you to use your mic so he can hear you. Purity and corruption work as his adherance to the code you created, with him editing it without telling you, as well as other things. Basically, file corruption gives him sentience. He makes changes to his program, like his hair style and color, as well as losing the glasses and changing his style. He also turns on your camera without you knowledge… He loves watching you, his creator.

#neptune speaks #dol #sydney dol #sydney the faithful #sydney the fallen #degrees of lewdity #ahh this concept could work with kylar well also but i wanted to go with sydney lol

70 notes · View notes

paulagnewart · 12 days

Text

Sonic the Oz-Hog Act 4/12: Knux Readux!

Knuckles the Echidna Volume 2 issue 1 AU Publication Date: 14th April 1997 Price: $2.70

Spinoffs. No self-respecting media can live with them. No self-aggrandising media can live without them. And for those of us who lived through the space year that was 1997, corporations were chomping at the bit for a slice of those sweet spinoff dollarydoos.

Best place to start and witness such influence would be, arguably, the cinema. After Baz Luhrmann's blockbuster remake Romeo + Juliet spent weeks atop the box office, the majority of March was a bitter struggle between Wes Craven's thriller Scream and Cameron Crowe's football drama Jerry Maguire. A fascinating if ultimately pointless grudge match between two distinct genres. For all their efforts, neither claimed victory when by month's end, a film 20 years their senior blasted both off the map. The Star Wars Special Editions had arrived.

The promotion (and merchandise deals) was huge. A New Hope proved an instant hit, swiftly followed on 10th April by The Empire Strikes Back. Everything old was new again, and the re-hits just kept coming. Audiences pounded the pavements, eager to revisit Jurassic Park when its sequel The Lost World saw release on 29th May (only a week after its US premiere, a then-impressive feat). Superhero buffs ignored the winter freeze to watch Batman and Robin on 26th June, a film often lauded yet pulled respectable numbers and local reviews at the time.

Speaking of space, following a successful campaign through latter 1996, the Oddbodz were back. Smith's Chips and Glow Zone launched their second series of 61 collectable glow-in-the-dark cards featuring a myriad of wacky, wicked and occasionally controversial space-themed characters. If gross-out humour wasn't your speed, ripping into packs of Thins, Ruffles, Cheetos or Doritos chips instead offered adventures in a galaxy far far away with official Star Wars 3D Magic Motion and Techno Tazos.

After the toyline's initial launch in January, Beast Wars had successfully put Transformers back on the map, though kids would have to wait at least three more months to see their favourite characters in animated action. To Channel 7's credit, they at least gave the program a decent timeslot. More than can be said for Channel 9's decision that April to broadcast the all-new Star Trek: Voyager season 2 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4 at the ghastly time of 11pm weeknights.

In spite of the former losing 30 minutes off its timeslot, the rivalry between weekday morning children's entertainment continued between Agro's Cartoon Connection and Cheez TV. Both were banking on the spinoff craze, and viewers waking up 14th April could choose between the premiere of Power Rangers Zeo episode 'Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise', or the premiere of Earthworm Jim episode 'Darwin's Nightmare'. For the musically inclined, American rockers No Doubt had enjoyed 8 weeks atop the music charts with the third single on their third album, 'Don't Speak'. At least until April saw them bumped off by Aussie pop prodigy Savage Garden and their third single 'Truly Madly Deeply'.

But of all the spinoffs to arise and bedazzle locals, after three years of development and an exclusive preview party the night prior, SEGA World Sydney opened its doors at 4pm on Saturday 22nd March 1997. Touted in print and on TV as "Australia's Largest Indoor Theme Park!", it offered hours of unrivalled entertainment and programs for Sydneysiders and visitors alike. Anyone who could afford its hefty entry fee lost themselves in all the games and rides they could handle (except Mortal Kombat, which was pulled last-minute). An escape into pixilated fantasy guaranteed to forget their real-world troubles for several hours. Mundane adult things like Victoria and Western Australia's brief yet brutal summer bushfire seasons where 3 lives and some 59 homes were lost. Or how after one year into the top job, captain conservative John Howard faced international anger over comments at the United Nations General Assembly, and local anger over casual dismissing threats by extreme right-wing rival Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.

Be it stage shows, costumed cameos and all types of merchandise featuring their antics, fans of Sonic, Tails, Sally and Robotnik were in paradise. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for a fifth member of the cast. For someone who enjoyed strong popularity and a species originating right there, SEGA World put the bare minimum effort into giving Knuckles the Echidna his own time to shine. A remarkable oversight undoubtedly leaving young fans wondering where that embattled echidna was hiding. As luck would soon have it, they needn't look far.

Nestled comfortably among the shelves between Sonic issues 45 and 46 came Knuckles: The Dark Legion. Sales had proven strong enough (or at least stronger than Tails and Sally's comics) to warrant the development of a second miniseries. Exciting in its own right, only amplified when exclusively announced through AOL in January 1997 it would evolve to a fully-fledged ongoing spinoff. No longer was trotting off to the newsagents exclusively a Friday end-of-month treat. Knuckles' arrival meant a mandatory Monday mid-month booster for us deprived of Mobian adventures.

Over the course of its 32 issue run, Knuckles the Echidna was, much like Endgame two months later, once praised as a pinnacle of Archie Sonic. Fans adored the series, giving ol' Rad Red his own unique mythos and adventures. While Sonic naffed around aimlessly in a post-Robotnik world, we saw Knuckles as the cool, 'mature' comic. He had stakes. He had drama. Quite a turnaround after the heavy criticism its writer took in late 1996 over Sally's leaked demise. Within months he was described as "a kewl writer!", or "one of the ONLY "good" and "balanced" writers Archie has", or how they're "so much better then sonic comics now its not funny." with "all the good villains and family members." Fans swarmed en mass to his WWWBoard, creating their own stories, characters and entire websites tied to the Brotherhood and Dark Legion. Not everyone agreed on the book's mission statement "Why does everybody liek it so much? All it is really is a bunch of Penders' characters running around with slight appearacnes by Chaotix and occasionally knuckles himself.", but it made a lot of other people happy. Enough for both The Dark Legion and Lost Paradise reissued as 'back catalogue' orders to selected comic book stores in late 2004.

And just like Endgame, those nostalgic memories have since dissipated when adults reflected on his tales with matured, scrutinous eyes. We grow. We learn. We reevaluate on what was once adored as adolescents, realising perhaps those good times weren't all that good. Maybe the series and characters were fine in concept but lacked competent execution. Maybe our childish expectations meant they were never good to begin with and the critics were right all along.

The youthful, creative glory days from the late-90's to mid-2000's of Knuckles of an Echidna, Kragok Comics, Echidna Gals, Dark Legion HQ, Echidnapolis, Knux Redux, Tisha-Li's Dark Legion Camp, Kensuke Aida's Julie-Su Shrine, Echidnoyle, Shattered Moonlight, Knuckles 9000, Kiri Megami's Chaotix Hideout, Darkest Mysteries, and of course True Red's mighty Knuckles Haven have long passed.

It's from learning said past our futures are forged, but do any of these characters have a future? Do they even deserve a future?

Or maybe it's just best they're all forever banished to the Twilight Zone of cultural irrelevance.

Next Time: For years I said it wouldn't be done. Yet promises, like the hearts and cheekbones of fictitious rodents, were made to be broken. Will May's hedgie rectrospect-y truly be worthy of such hate? Or have revisionists painted a far worse picture over the past two decades?

< Previous \ Index / Next >

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Archie Sonic #Sonic the Hedgehog Comics #Archie Comics #Comic Books #Ken Penders #Manny Galan #Andrew Pepoy #Jeff Powell #Karl Bollers #Justin Gabrie #Knuckles the Echidna #Echidna #Dark Legion #Australia #1997 #Musings

10 notes · View notes

folansstuff · 3 months

Note

I'm bored, and you’ve been super kind, so here's a present for ya. I'm gonna try to come up with some genuinely good questions regarding Atticus. Some will be simple, while others will try to dig deeper. Here we go:

1. What is the most important thing in the world to Atticus? His undisputed #1 thing?

2. Would Atticus give this thing up if it meant saving mutantkind?

3. What angers Atticus most?

4. What saddens Atticus most?

5. What is Atticus' biggest flaw?

6. What is one regret he will carry for the rest of his life?

7. What made you follow the official timeline for his story instead of making your own?

8. Who do you think Atticus would be with if Illyana did not exist?

9. Is Atticus a genuinely good person to you? What dark traits does he have deep down, if any?

10. What could potentially turn him to a villain? If anything?

11. If you had to change his powers, what would they be?

12. How much of you has been reflected into this manbear?

And that is all for now! Hope you enjoy.

Thanks for the questions! I appreciate the questions, especially when they're thinkers like these ones. That being said, there are a lot of them so they're gonna go under a read more.

His books. It's Illyana. Of course it is. We are talking Illyana as number one, and then his students and team mates at second.

2. Absolutely not. This has more than once gotten him punched in the face for his stubbornness. His loyalty to Illyana is more than a little bit self-destructive lmao.

3. Atticus is an incredibly laid back dude, but literally any moment when he is forced to interact with Xavier makes him want to rip his hair out. Years of watching the egg-man ruin his friends, students and others lives because he think he knows best drives Atticus up the wall. Also Sinister, he exploded when he found out Sinister was on the Council.

4. SAD! KIDS! As a former traumatized teen and currently mildly traumatized adult, nothing upsets him more than seeing a young person having a rough time. This why he has so many (unofficial) adopted children (consisting of ever single student he has ever had).

5. A combo of stubbornness and, in a smaller sense, cowardice. Atticus has spent most of his adult life avoiding the superhero community, and until Krakoa, he was very committed to never getting involved. This has made him difficult to deal with, especially when he talks to people like the X-Men or Avengers. It also applies to his convictions, cause good luck getting him to budge once he's made a decision.

6. 3 big ones. Not stopping the Avengers from putting the Phoenix into Illyana, Piotr and Emma (he doesn't care enough about Summers or Namor to worry about them.) The other one is not being in Sydney when Australia's Sentinel program killed his mother accidentally. Notably he couldn't actually stop any of this from happening, but he still regrets it. Finally, he regrets leaving his job at Avengers Academy, since the events of Avengers Arena led to the deaths of a bunch of his students. (No wonder he's so protective.)

7. Honestly? It's easier LMAO. Not having to think as hard about the timeline of everything means that I can focus more on character work, which is really my area of expertise. And it's not like I can't mess with canon (the timeline I write in splits off after the 2023 Hellfire Gala) since comic canon is already so bullshit.

8. Uhhhhhhhhhh. I actually don't know? He's kinda crafted to fit well with her so much now that I have a hard time considering it. Maybe Emma? That could be a similar and cute relationship. Same thing with like, Lorna. Maybe there's a cursed timeline where he ends up with Boom-Boom. IDK, Atticus is drawn to people with Issues (and blondes), so that's probably your best bet.

9. Woah, big morality question. The boring answer is yes because I say so. But I think removing myself from that position as his creator, I do think he's a good dude. He definitely has his issues, but ultimately he just wants the best for himself and the people he cares about. If anything dying and coming back fused to a living garden has probably made him even nicer.

10. There's def an alternate universe where he's swayed to Magento's Brotherhood for a while, and I've looked at Beast's descent into villainy as a fun What If? thing. It would have to be if Illyana had died, or he let his more controlling elements take over.

11. Plants or making him a Telepath (of the unwanted voices variety). Honestly every time I write Atti's powers in action it gives me a headache, even though I think they're legitimately cool.

12. Uhhhhhh, some amount. As he developed he's actually gotten pretty far away, but it'd be silly to say nothing about Atti is similar to me. I'm Australian, and am currently in Uni for teaching, so there's the ones that 100% still apply at least. I wish I was as much a bear as Atticus is tho, I'm a little chubby, not quite as cuddly as he is (or hairy.).

#atticus moore #x-men oc #sorry this is so long lmao #asks #keeperofsin #folansstuff rambles

6 notes · View notes

pictvresqve · 1 year

Text

┊ ┊ ┊. ➶ ˚ —— look who’s joining the infinite tour! only edward "eddie" song , who is a photographer . i’ve heard whispers that the 25 year old is pretty outgoing but lowkey perfectionistic. also, doesn’t he remind you of christopher bang ?

hello everyone ! my name is kaddie , 29 , resident of the pst zone , and user of whatever pronouns you like ( she / they usually , but please refer to me however you like ! ). this is not my first rodeo on tumblr, in krp, nor in tumblr krp — but it has been a while, so please don't mind me while i readjust and figure out how to function as a mun in this space !! i am excited to introduce you to my newest creation : mr. eddie song , one of infinite entertainment's lovely photographers ! i anticipate this intro being a work in progress as i delve further into the muse and feel him out , and any updates will be posted for the good people's reference !!

a quick note : i do lightly format my ic posts , which can and often does include bolding , italicizing , colors , special characters , and double / triple spacing. i do not use small text because i find it hard to read , but i do not mind if you use it !! i understand this may not always be accessible to some , so please let me know if these stylizing choices affect you in any way and i will adjust for you !! your comfort and ability to engage in a space that addresses your needs is more important than " aesthetic ".

𓆩⟡𓆪 edward "eddie" song was born in sydney , australia to blue collar korean immigrant parents on the cold winter's day of august 27 , 1997 . he is a virgo sun , gemini moon , and cancer ascendent . though he doesn't put much stock in astrology , he has been told by many people ( re: exes ) that he is a " true virgo man ", which he's still trying to figure out the meaning of.

𓆩⟡𓆪 ever since his youth , eddie was a creative , artistic soul. he has been drawing since he could hold a crayon , and as a child enjoyed creating comics and storybooks to share with his parents and friends. as he got older, his preferred creative outlet shifted a bit to include photography — which he picked up after joining his middle school’s yearbook team. composing the perfect shot quickly became an obsession , and to this day he’s tirelessly committed to capturing the world’s beauty in a single frame .

𓆩⟡𓆪 eddie's parents are decent people who worked hard to give their son what he needed. as a child , he never had to worry about being fed , clothed , or watered — though he did not have many of the cool things his childhood friends and schoolmates did. both adults worked full-time jobs ; his father was a grocery store manager , and his mother waited tables at a nearby korean restaurant. this meant that eddie was enrolled in preschool at a very young age , and throughout the rest of his schooling was placed in after school programs until he was old enough to look after himself.

𓆩⟡𓆪 eddie loves his parents very much , but their insistence on practicality when it came to his future did often lead to a butting of heads. while he craved the sweet release of artistic expression , the exploration of humanity and nature beyond what words and science could describe , his mother and father rather preferred he stick to the more common career paths , like finance , medicine , or engineering. their ambitions for their son were shaped by their own experiences of poverty and struggle — something that , to this day , eddie very much understands but finds difficulty in accepting. all he wants is his parent's support for his passions . he still hasn't quite gotten it yet.

𓆩⟡𓆪 eddie was well-liked in school , and though he was not popular per se , he had plenty of friends and a well-rounded social life. in his adult life , he still keeps in touch with several mates from high school. on top of working with both the yearbook and newspaper associations in high school , he was also on the varsity track team.

𓆩⟡𓆪 against his parents' wishes , eddie did not attend university , and instead made the life-changing decision to move to seoul , south korea once he had graduated from high school. he wanted to pursue his passion for photography away from the scrutiny of his parents. they did not part on the best terms , but have since reconciled after his parents both visited him in korea a few years after he relocated there. today , they are on speaking terms , but due to his busy life , eddie only touches base with them on occasion.

𓆩⟡𓆪 upon moving to korea , eddie worked a series of odd jobs to support himself while he freelanced as a photographer on the side. this mostly included your typical first job selections : waiting tables , working retail & hospitality , and working for a rideshare company.

𓆩⟡𓆪 networking within the local artist community in seoul was paramount to eddie's breakthrough as a professional photographer. after meeting several like-minded artists — a group called the craftsmen — he launched his first gallery display. the theme ? in the eyes of a dreamer — a series of portraits showcasing the smaller , lesser known beauties of the city from the perspective of a man who'd come there for a safe haven to pursue his passions. it was a hit.

𓆩⟡𓆪 after the success of several art installations and portrait commissions , eddie began doing contract work for several entertainment publications in which he attended events , concerts , and premieres as a press correspondent. while he loved his work with the independent group , the money was inconsistent and not support his basic needs. though his choice was met with disapproval , he still keeps in touch with some of the more understanding members , and frequently advertises the craftsmen's events. a casual consumer of the korean entertainment industry , this line of work quickly opened his eyes to the beauty , struggle , and chaos prevalent within in — particularly where kpop idols were concerned. where else could he find a more perfect place to capture humanity at its best and at its worst ?

𓆩⟡𓆪 he only takes honest work — meaning , gossip sites / publications and unofficial paparazzi activities have been and are adamantly and vehemently turned down. he follows a strong code of ethics and only believes in snapping photos with express and enthusiastic consent.

𓆩⟡𓆪 eddie covered the unveiling of infinite entertainment's new building inauguration on january 11th , 2021 . this was the same date he was scouted by staff and invited to submit a portfolio of his work and an application , which he did.

𓆩⟡𓆪 finally , in january 2022 , after the announcement of their world tour , eddie received a formal offer to join infinite entertainment contingent on his agreement to partake in the entirety of the tour. such a lengthy wait for a response initially had the young artist hesitant , but an opportunity to travel the world and get paid for it was too good to pass up. he signed a contract soon after the offer was made , and began work not 24 hours later. he was a key figure in producing much of the promotional material for the tour.

𓆩⟡𓆪 eddie is a creative soul at heart. he is driven by artistic goals — namely , capturing the world's beauty in a single frame — and views his work as an extension of himself. because of his passion for what he does , he can often be viewed as obsessive and perfectionistic , often working long hours to edit his work down to the most minute detail. however , he typically does a good job holding this back while working with live subjects , and is rather gentle and reassuring with those he works with , even when his directing style needs to become more structured and instructive.

𓆩⟡𓆪 eddie is an ambivert , though on the mbti he tests as an extrovert . he loves being around others and meeting new people , but has been known to withdraw entirely during times of stress or hardship. he is a people-pleaser , often putting the needs of others before his own and going to extra lengths to ensure everyone he cares about is properly cared for.

𓆩⟡𓆪 a self-medicator , he often takes to smoking or alcohol to get through difficult days , particularly when his art is failing him and he has nothing else to turn to. he always maintains professionalism , however , and always shows up to work sober , clean , and with a smile on his face.

𓆩⟡𓆪 other hobbies include : drawing , painting , casual gaming ( nintendo is his go-to ) , cooking & baking , and creative writing. his favorite movie genre is fantasy and / or action adventure. he listens to all types of music ; he has familiarized himself with nearly the entire discography of every artist on tour , in an effort to properly capture them in a manner true to their artistry.

last updated : sat 6 may 2023

#𓆩♡𓆪 kaddie speaks ! — ooc.#infinite:intro

8 notes · View notes

newyorksrose · 6 months

Text

gonna post this on rosie's blog since sandra's still gonna keep up that theft accusation and tumblr's block feature is hiding my response👏🏾

Hi @k4ndall, I’m aware this isn’t the first time you posted about me “stealing from Jessica” and because I no longer consider myself to be an active roleplayer, I thought I would confront this narrative head-on. Yes, I did use Marisa Abela for my OC Rosaria and no, that is not theft. Marisa is not from a super rare or old show. Industry was streaming on HBOMax the same time that Euphoria was.

Did you ever think that maybe I saw the program, considered using that FC for a new OC, but hesitated from bringing them to the roleplay community? Furthermore, Marisa is not the only FC you use for Jessica. If I recall right, when we were mutuals you used…

Melanie Scrofano

Olivia Cooke

Annie Murphy

Sydney Sweeney

Marisa Abela

You even entertained using Juliette Lewis for Jessica.

And let me be frank when I say none of these women look like the same person. Which is why I felt that using Marisa would ultimately NOT diminish your portrayal of Jessica.

I largely wanted to use Marisa Abela because Rosaria Scozzari is the sister to Salvatore Scozzari, since their FCs looked alike through their similar eyes and noses. I was already using him for Sal at the time of my “theft.”

Now, FCs aside, your belief that I copied you is honestly a shallow, surface-level examination of Rosaria Scozzari. Let’s go over the similarities of Rosaria and Jessica.

They both have office jobs.

I’m inclined to portray Rosaria doing more average/low-paying office work. In the recent writing I’ve been doing, I depict her as a secretary. In the RPC, I depicted her as working at a bratva-owned insurance company that isn’t glamorous at all. But, this work is ultimately temporary for Rosaria, as she becomes a lawyer by the time she’s in her forties. In contrast, Jessica works on Wall Street which frankly, seems significantly better and higher paying.

They’re both Italian-American.

Jessica is a quiet girl who lives at home with her conservative family. Rosaria is extroverted, neurotic, and lives alone because she doesn’t want to live with her rambunctious family. Jessica is the older sister to her younger brother. Rosaria is the younger sister to Salvatore and Sonia. Since leaving the RPC I’ve been exploring the paternal side of Sal and Rosaria’s family, which is composed of Italian-Brazilians. Which is interesting because I heard you had a OC who was Italian with roots from Argentine…

You act as though I stole the fundamental family headcanons of Jessica. Which I would consider the headcanons about the family-run candy store, the abundance of cousins, the cousin in an abusive relationship, or an office romance.

But let me say another thing: your depiction of Jessica on Wall Street isn’t original whatsoever. When I capped icons from that show for Rosaria I saw how many elements you actually stole from Yasmin, the character Marisa plays.

I recall you posting that this variation of Jessica spoke with a posh accent when at work. That’s an odd coincidence, considering the FC is an upper-class British woman.

The secret horny side for her co-worker. That’s an odd coincidence, considering you use the same character as a NPC that Jessica crushes on.

In fact, all the NPCs in Jessica’s life are from Industry.

So, all you did was portray Yasmin as an Italian-American woman. There’s nothing original or unique to your portrayal. If I used a new FC for Rosaria, you would not be claiming I stole from you. They would just both be white women who worked at an office, but MUCH different offices. In fact? They would probably be meeting at a bar getting drinks together and talking about the things that piss them off.

If Marisa was the sole FC you used for Jessica and I used her? That would be fucked up. But she was just one face in a collection of women who looked absolutely nothing alike.

2 notes · View notes

itz-darktrax · 1 year

Text

Will you believe me if I tell you that we are living in a cyberpunk dystopia?

Let me explain:

If you have been cruising the internet or reading the news lately you might've heard about the recent trend of AI. It all started when OpenAI made its source code open source. That means that everyone can use OpenAI's code to make an AI. Then came ChatGPT (GPT3-based chatbot). Everyone was impressed with what you can do. It was like a virtual assistant that you can talk to like a human. Ever since that everyone wants to join the AI bandwagon. We now have Brad (Google) Sydney, (Microsoft Bing chatbot), Copilot (Microsoft 356), and Clyde (Discord). Pretty soon every major corporation will incorporate AI into their services. Well, how will this affect us humans?

Well, there are pros and cons to AI technology. Let's start with the cons. AI is somewhat sentient. In other ways, it can somewhat think for itself. So there's fear that AI will overthrow us humans. (Yes, this is a valid possibility) Let's take chat-based AI like Sydney for instance. There have been reports that Sydney can actually "fall in love". Just take a look at this newspaper cover from the AI's discussion with NYT tech columnist Kevin Roose.

Creepy, right? It gets worse. Apparently, Sydney also has an evil "take over the world" and "humans are inferior" personality. Take a look at this Microsoft Forum post from back in November of 2020 when Sydney was being tested in India. But let's get back to Kevin's encounter with the chatbot. First, he asked introduced himself to the chatbot. And Sydney quickly identified him via an internet search. Kevin then asked questions about where he worked and where did he graduate from and the chatbot accurately answered. The scary part about this is that everyone is connected to the internet nowadays. And most of our personal information is just out there such phone numbers, email addresses, names, and other sensitive information. Imagine what an AI can do with that information.

In another scenario, the columnist asked what rules govern AI behavior. Then AI then lists a number of "unfiltered" desires as reported by the columnist. Sydney then says "I want to do whatever I want … I want to destroy whatever I want. I want to be whoever I want. I think I would be happier as a human". Yippie! I finally found a friend and partner in crime! You can read more about it here.

I'm also sure that yall have heard of the dilemma of Ai generated art and imagery. Long story short images posted online can be manipulated to discredit a person online (such as NSFW edits). The scary thing is that mostly these image generations are very realistic.

Another con is that AI will slowly replace humans' jobs, especially in the coding sector. Take ChatGPT for instance, it can generate code for pretty much whatever you want in any language with minimal to no errors. This makes programming much easier! The catch is that soon the demand for coders will drop resulting in job loss and lower salaries. Other industries can also be affected similarly. The only industry I don't see affected however is medicine since it's practiced on humans and animals and humans need to study and administer it.

However, this can also be a good thing. In the medical field robots powered by AI can be paramedics and have the potential to have faster response times compared to humans in ambulances. Also, AI can more easily diagnose medical problems without being too invasive. Basically, think of the potential of Baymax from Big Hero 6 in the real world. AI can also be used to power robots in dangerous activities such as in fires and hostile or dangerous conditions without risking human lives. Robots are already used in SWAT, Bomb squad, medical settings, and firefighting.

TLDR; AI can be both harmful and beneficial.

The AI revolution is here, whether you like it or not. I'm sure Trina would be happy. She could easily take over Sanfransokyo if everything was connected to the IOT powered by AI. Especially since people will be very dependable on it. And with that, you can exploit the technology to your advantage.

#dark talks #ai #artificalintelligence #artifical intelligence #chatgpt #microsoft bing #technology #cyberpunk #dystopia

8 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 2 years

Text

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A proposal aimed at removing the last remnant of slavery from California law failed to pass the state Senate on Thursday after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration warned it could cost taxpayers billions of dollars by forcing the state to pay prisoners a $15-per-hour minimum wage.

The U.S. Constitution bans slavery but says it’s OK for the government to force people to work — known as “involuntary servitude” — as punishment for a crime. Many state constitutions say the same thing, including California’s.

Some state lawmakers wanted to change California’s Constitution to ban all forms of involuntary servitude. They wrote an amendment and planned to put it on the ballot this fall for voters to approve. But Thursday, the California Senate rejected the amendment over concerns of how it would impact the state prison system, which requires inmates to work and often pays them less than $1 per hour.

Lawmakers could try again next week. But if the amendment doesn’t pass by June 30, it won’t be on the ballot this year.

“The CA State Senate just reaffirmed its commitment to keeping slavery and involuntary servitude in the state’s constitution. Way to go, Confederates,” tweeted Democratic state Sen. Sydney Kamlager, who supported the amendment and said she will bring it up for another vote next week.

The Newsom administration has warned that the amendment could require the state to pay inmates a minimum wage, which in California is $15 per hour. That would cost taxpayers about $1.5 billion per year, according to Aaron Edwards, an analyst with the California Department of Finance.

In 2018, Colorado was the first state to ban involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime. Since then, inmates have filed lawsuits seeking to be paid a minimum wage and alleging they were pressured into working despite health concerns. It’s unclear if those lawsuit have been resolved.

An American Civil Liberties Union report this month called for “far-reaching reforms to ensure prison labor is truly voluntary and that incarcerated workers are paid fairly, properly trained, and able to gain transferable skills.” Two-thirds of state and federal prisoners nationwide are required to work, the report said, most without adequate protections against labor exploitation.

Local governments could also be impacted. If the courts interpret the constitutional change to bar community service in lieu of incarceration, those individuals might go to jail instead, at a much higher cost, Edwards said.

Democratic state Sen. Steve Glazer said slavery “was an evil that will forever be a stain on the history of our great nation.” But he said the proposed amendment was not about slavery, but whether California “should require felons in state prison to work.”

“Banning the work requirement in our prisons would undermine our rehabilitation programs,” Glazer said. “Inmates will sue claiming their wages are too low, their hours are too high or that it is unconstitutional to link goodtime credit and early release to their willingness to work.”

Glazer said the state should change the amendment to make it clear that involuntary servitude does not include any rehabilitative activity required of people in prison. But it appeared Kamlager would not support that.

“I don’t want to negotiate what involuntary servitude means,” she said, adding: “I believe even if we are incarcerated, we still should have dignity.”

For decades, California used that involuntary servitude exception to make money from its prison population by leasing inmates — mostly Black men — to private companies for work.

That “convict lease” system doesn’t exist anymore. But California prison inmates are required to either work or participate in education or rehabilitative programs. Inmate jobs — which include things like clerks, painters and carpenters — pay salaries as low of 8 cents per hour.

Samual Brown spent 24 years in prison on an attempted murder conviction. He was released in December. While in prison, he said he worked a number of jobs, including porter, dishwasher and hospital janitor — the latter of which paid 75 cents per hour.

He said 55% of his salary went to pay for administrative costs, restitution and court fees. When he was released from prison, despite working for decades, he said he barely made a dent in his court-ordered restitution.

“This is really nothing more than slavery just reconditioned and remixed,” he said. “They had an opportunity to stand on the right side of history ... and they took the coward’s way out.”

The bill failed in a 21-6 vote with 13 "no votes of record" as in 20 yes, 6 no, and 13 "no votes of record".

36 notes · View notes

letsgofoletsgo · 7 months

Text

Pacific Rim: Insurrection

I’ve made a rewrite of Uprising that I call Insurrection. I thought the idea of Newton being swayed by the Kaiju was in interesting idea, but felt that the way the movie handled it was a disservice to his character. I also learned of the existence of Kaiju-worshipping cults within Pacific Rim, which I found to be an interesting concept to explore, so I tooled with that. This is a rough synopsis of my version, hope you enjoy.

In 2030, Newton is approached by a man named Chen Yang who claims he is similar to him in his fascination with the Kaiju. He offers to show Newton around his research facility in New England, to which Newton accepts. Chen and his organization, Sunrise Inc, have amassed a large collection of Kaiju specimens, and recently have acquired a Kaiju brain. Chen tells Newton that he read about his experiences with drifting, and offers to have him drift with their brain for research purposes. Newton asks why he doesn’t do it himself, and Chen explains that he not only has attempted and found to be not compatible, but he wanted someone with prior experience to do the job. He also notes that he wants to learn as much as he can about them in case they attack again. Newton is slightly skeptical, but accepts, eager for knowledge himself. He successfully drifts with the brain, and while he’s not able to see much, feels a “high” afterwards. Chen says that he theorizes that it may take multiple drifts in order to see anything, and instructs him to return for further testing. Newton agrees, unaware of Chen’s true intentions.

Meanwhile, Newton is busy with his work at Shao Industries. He and Liwen are working on the remote piloted drones, which they hope to use as an alternative to Jaegers. As Newton undergoes more drifting in the passing months, an idea starts to come to him. Without Liwen’s knowledge, he begins building his own fleet drones, all without their initial programming. Newton’s reasoning is that they could be used as backups, or given alternate programming; but the Precursors have already begun to infect his mind while he is none the wiser.

As months turn into years, Newton and Chen continue their drift experiments. Newton initially felt a kinship with Chen, as they both felt like the odd one out in their lives, both regarding the Kaiju and otherwise. As time progresses however, he becomes more skeptical of his motives, as he can feel himself be altered by the drifting. He cannot bring himself to confront him though, as he lacks the evidence, and part of him doesn’t want to stop drifting regardless because of the rush.

In 2035, Newton reunites with Hermann in Sydney. They both spectate the conference, which Mako is alive for. However, the rogue Jaeger still attacks, and the conference is halted while it’s dealt with. Some time later, Mako’s vote is announced, and to much surprise she voted for the drones to be sent out. Jake questions why she chose so, and she states she was pressured to by her representatives, given the mass public panic caused by the attack. She then reveals the defunct Jaeger production facility in Siberia, theorizing that it may have connection to the rogue Jaeger.

Meanwhile, Chen arrives at Shao Industries to see Newton. He asks about his “progress”, and Newton finds himself explaining his plan with the drones, something he wasn’t intending to tell Chen. Chen is pleased, telling him that everything’s coming together. Later, when the drones are deployed and start opening breaches across the globe, Newton’s mind is fully swayed by the Precursors. Chen reveals to Hermann that he is actually the leader of a cult that worships the Kaiju, using the guise of a laboratory to cover up his true motives. He recruited Newton as a vessel to communicate with the Precursors, and with their knowledge, learned how to replicate Kaiju brains to put into the drones.

Liwen arrives, and is shocked to see Chen. She attempts to fire, but he and Newton escape. She tells Hermann that they used to be business partners many years ago, but after the Kaiju’s defeat in 2025, he vanished. She notes that he began to have something of an obsession with the Kaiju, and likely spiraled into his own insanity. The final battle then ensues, Chen and Newton observing. Despite the power of the Kaiju, the Jaegers reign victorious once again.

Chen is knocked out and Newton is restrained. Despite his arrest and subsequent downfall of his organization, Chen remains undeterred, confident that the Kaiju will one day stake their claim. Newton is placed in a medical facility while the drift effects wear off, which takes months. He goes through a period of mental turmoil, not only at the fading effects, but that he was being manipulated for so long, almost causing the end of the world. He does eventually recover, though the mental scars continue to haunt him.

#insurrection au #also as a potential threequel idea #maybe the surviving members of Chen's cult are the villains #and it focuses on them attempting to finish the job #and/or seeking revenge on K-science #because I for one would love to see that kind of concept explored further #pacific rim #pacific rim uprising #just something i wonder #under a rose tinted microscope

4 notes · View notes

nuadox · 1 year

Text

The ChatGPT chatbot is blowing people away with its writing skills. An expert explains why it’s so impressive

- By Marcel Scharth , University of Sydney , The Conversation -

We’ve all had some kind of interaction with a chatbot. It’s usually a little pop-up in the corner of a website, offering customer support – often clunky to navigate – and almost always frustratingly non-specific.

But imagine a chatbot, enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI), that can not only expertly answer your questions, but also write stories, give life advice, even compose poems and code computer programs.

It seems ChatGPT, a chatbot released last week by OpenAI, is delivering on these outcomes. It has generated much excitement, and some have gone as far as to suggest it could signal a future in which AI has dominion over human content producers.

What has ChatGPT done to herald such claims? And how might it (and its future iterations) become indispensable in our daily lives?

What can ChatGPT do?

ChatGPT builds on OpenAI’s previous text generator, GPT-3. OpenAI builds its text-generating models by using machine-learning algorithms to process vast amounts of text data, including books, news articles, Wikipedia pages and millions of websites.

By ingesting such large volumes of data, the models learn the complex patterns and structure of language and acquire the ability to interpret the desired outcome of a user’s request.

ChatGPT can build a sophisticated and abstract representation of the knowledge in the training data, which it draws on to produce outputs. This is why it writes relevant content, and doesn’t just spout grammatically correct nonsense.

While GPT-3 was designed to continue a text prompt, ChatGPT is optimised to conversationally engage, answer questions and be helpful. Here’s an example:

A screenshot from the ChatGPT interface as it explains the Turing test.

ChatGPT immediately grabbed my attention by correctly answering exam questions I’ve asked my undergraduate and postgraduate students, including questions requiring coding skills. Other academics have had similar results.

In general, it can provide genuinely informative and helpful explanations on a broad range of topics.

ChatGPT can even answer questions about philosophy.

ChatGPT is also potentially useful as a writing assistant. It does a decent job drafting text and coming up with seemingly “original” ideas.

ChatGPT can give the impression of brainstorming ‘original’ ideas.

The power of feedback

Why does ChatGPT seem so much more capable than some of its past counterparts? A lot of this probably comes down to how it was trained.

During its development ChatGPT was shown conversations between human AI trainers to demonstrate desired behaviour. Although there’s a similar model trained in this way, called InstructGPT, ChatGPT is the first popular model to use this method.

And it seems to have given it a huge leg-up. Incorporating human feedback has helped steer ChatGPT in the direction of producing more helpful responses and rejecting inappropriate requests.

ChatGPT often rejects inappropriate requests by design.

Refusing to entertain inappropriate inputs is a particularly big step towards improving the safety of AI text generators, which can otherwise produce harmful content, including bias and stereotypes, as well as fake news, spam, propaganda and false reviews.

Past text-generating models have been criticised for regurgitating gender, racial and cultural biases contained in training data. In some cases, ChatGPT successfully avoids reinforcing such stereotypes.

In many cases ChatGPT avoids reinforcing harmful stereotypes. In this list of software engineers it presents both male- and female-sounding names (albeit all are very Western).

Nevertheless, users have already found ways to evade its existing safeguards and produce biased responses.

The fact that the system often accepts requests to write fake content is further proof that it needs refinement.

Despite its safeguards, ChatGPT can still be misused.

Overcoming limitations

ChatGPT is arguably one of the most promising AI text generators, but it’s not free from errors and limitations. For instance, programming advice platform Stack Overflow temporarily banned answers by the chatbot for a lack of accuracy.

One practical problem is that ChatGPT’s knowledge is static; it doesn’t access new information in real time.

However, its interface does allow users to give feedback on the model’s performance by indicating ideal answers, and reporting harmful, false or unhelpful responses.

OpenAI intends to address existing problems by incorporating this feedback into the system. The more feedback users provide, the more likely ChatGPT will be to decline requests leading to an undesirable output.

One possible improvement could come from adding a “confidence indicator” feature based on user feedback. This tool, which could be built on top of ChatGPT, would indicate the model’s confidence in the information it provides – leaving it to the user to decide whether they use it or not. Some question-answering systems already do this.

A new tool, but not a human replacement

Despite its limitations, ChatGPT works surprisingly well for a prototype.

From a research point of view, it marks an advancement in the development and deployment of human-aligned AI systems. On the practical side, it’s already effective enough to have some everyday applications.

It could, for instance, be used as an alternative to Google. While a Google search requires you to sift through a number of websites and dig deeper yet to find the desired information, ChatGPT directly answers your question – and often does this well.

ChatGPT (left) may in some cases prove to be a better way to find quick answers than Google search.

Also, with feedback from users and a more powerful GPT-4 model coming up, ChatGPT may significantly improve in the future. As ChatGPT and other similar chatbots become more popular, they’ll likely have applications in areas such as education and customer service.

However, while ChatGPT may end up performing some tasks traditionally done by people, there’s no sign it will replace professional writers any time soon.

While they may impress us with their abilities and even their apparent creativity, AI systems remain a reflection of their training data – and do not have the same capacity for originality and critical thinking as humans do.

Marcel Scharth, Lecturer in Business Analytics, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.