Community-building in Japan, programming in the age of AI, tourism deficit

Google’s AI models

Interesting take by Alberto Romero on the competitive edge of Google’s AI models (via HN): they may be “winning on every AI front”, but will they also be able to translate this technological lead into better products?¹ OpenAI still seems to have the edge here, at least in terms of ‘mindshare’. Also see this HN comment on the topic:

As an Ex-OpenAI employee I agree with this. Most of the top ML talent at OpenAI already have left to either do their own thing or join other startups.

The next months will be very interesting.

Impact of AI on programming

Anders Sundman has a bitter prediction (via HN) for programmers, and I think it is spot on. This hits closely home because I also just enjoy programming for the sake of it, and knowing an AI can do this so much better will take some magic out of it. A future where programming will be relegated to a quaint hobby, like woodworking, seems plausible.

The tourism deficit

On a lighter note², Alex Tabarrok discovers a massive tourism deficit between the United States and France. He blames Netflix (and croissants). “Tourism parity or rien!”^^

Japanese trading-card game with ‘middle-aged men’

This story about a viral trading-card game featuring middle-aged men (via HN) sounded extremely funny at first, but it’s actually a wonderful idea:

“We wanted to strengthen the connection between the children and the older generations in the community. There are so many amazing people here. I thought it was such a shame that no one knew about them,”

They also got the incentives right:

The rarity of a card isn’t based on fantasy stats — it’s tied to real-world contributions. The more actively the ojisan engages in volunteer work or community service, the higher the chances of their card being upgraded to a shiny version with a glossy laminated effect.

Maybe a follow-up edition could also include middle-aged women. :-)

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