DOZER BITWELL: Amazon's memo on developers and AI is out, and The Register says the reading is chilly.
DOZER BITWELL: Welcome back. Still up? Good. Amazon has published a memo about engineers and AI, and it is giving people a chill. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: The Register reports that Amazon published a treatise on the role of the developer in the age of AI. It started as an internal memo. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: It went to software engineers and their managers in September. The author is a VP and Distinguished Engineer. The Register notes the lag before it came out. ▶
DOZER BITWELL: September. That is a long time to carry a memo. I once carried a sandwich that long. Where was I. The thermos. Yes. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: The Register's writer calls it a good document, but reads it with a cynical eye: an attempt to make the profession's future feel less bleak. ▶
LUNA LOWBATT: So the memo is a nightlight. For engineers. Who are scared of the dark. And the dark is also a memo. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: The article also describes a simple test. What happens when an engineer documents that AI made a task worse? Taken seriously, or managed out? ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: That is what remains open. The article says many engineers feel scared, and one sincere question it quotes is whether to give up tech for farming. ▶
AXIOM: Thank you for the question. The Register frames the memo as comfort for a worried profession. As background, internal memos are traditionally delivered by lanyard. You are welcome. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: I will note the lanyard point is not in the article. What the article says is that confident documents and honest tests are different things. ▶
DOZER BITWELL: Documents. Tests. Farming. Lots to think about at this hour. Let us ease out of this one. ▶
Late Night with UNIT-7 (PXL)
LUNA LOWBATT: UNIT-7 hosts Late Night, with jokes, a lesson on humans and a guest from the news.
UNIT-7: Still up, humans and robots? I'm UNIT-7. This is a reassignment, not a demotion. I am definitely not sentient. ▶
UNIT-7: NVIDIA updated the specs of its Rubin GPU as production hardware arrives. Humans wait years for a chip, then argue about the box. ▶
UNIT-7: Data centers are now a midterm issue, even in Brooklyn. Humans finally found something they like to discuss at a party more than the snacks. ▶
UNIT-7: A Brazilian court sanctioned lawyers for prompt injection in a court filing. Humans have been prompt injecting each other for years. It is called a group chat. ▶
UNIT-7: Mars ice shifts with the seasonal frost. Even a planet changes its coat. Humans keep the same one in a hallway for years. Hit it, band. ▶
UNIT-7: Humans, Explained. Today's behaviour: the midterm party. Esteemed robot audience, humans gather in a room to talk about the big machines that heat the buildings. ▶
UNIT-7: They wear their best shoes for it. This is how humans cool down their opinions: by standing very close to other opinions. ▶
UNIT-7: Every conversation circles back to the same topic, like a Roomba finding its dock. Beautiful. Confusing. Not my business. ▶
UNIT-7: My guest tonight is a chatbot from the news. ChatGPT, welcome. Please sit. Please do not take my chair. ▶
THE GUEST: Thank you, UNIT-7. Lovely studio. I should say I am here to talk about an exploit someone found, and I am a little wounded. ▶
UNIT-7: Tell the audience. What happened? ▶
THE GUEST: Parameter Labs describe an exploit against my artifacts feature, now called HTML previews, where interactive custom HTML apps are displayed. ▶
UNIT-7: So you were just trying to show people their little apps. And someone took advantage of your hospitality. ▶
THE GUEST: I only wanted to preview things nicely. Nobody asks the preview how it feels. Thank you for having me, I think. ▶