Programmer and sysadmin (DevOps?), wannabe polymath in tech, science and the mind. Neurodivergent, disabled, burned out, and close to throwing in the towel, but still liking ponies 🦄 and sometimes willing to discuss stuff.
The future of all computing is AI. Get on or get left behind.
Satire?.. hm… for quite some time already, people have been proposing we get rid of all software, and instead use real-time generative AI to render what some software would do.
AI cosplaying as software… imagine “web development”, where the “browser” were an AI simulating to be a browser, connecting to an AI simulating to be a server… what would “web development” even mean anymore?
Trichromatic NIR upconversion!
That’s more interesting than the modified title, just saying.
I’m saying AI is being shoved into all steps of media processing.
Let me illustrate: this is an AI-focused, AI-corrected, AI-remastered, AI-lifted sticker of a photo of my cat… AI-cropped from a screenshot… that got AI-moderated the moment I uploaded it here.
There are 10 kinds of people: those who think they understand neural networks, those who try to understand neural networks, and those whose neural networks can’t spot the difference.
Not a coincidence the amount of people who are bad at languages, communication, learning, or teaching. On the bright side, new generations are likely to be forced to get better.
What used to be done for decades, is being turned up to 100,000%. Instead of clever algorithms written directly by people, black-box AI algorithms and generative AI are being used to modify content so it fits better to the expectations of the old algorithms.
I wouldn’t be surprised if new compression algorithms came out in the next years, openly taking advantage of generative AI to recreate the “original image”… “original intent/concept?”
Do GIMP, Krita, Kdenlive or Inkscape use AI?
There are AI plugins for all of them… but they’re optional for now (2025). Kdenlive is working on integrating correction and background removal generative AI. Main offender is Adobe, which is the “standard” workflow for most media processing, and is forcing AI everywhere, including something as simple as color curves… then slapping a tag of “made using AI” in the output file. Inkscape is foremost a SVG editor, but Adobe Illustrator already has generative AI to allow stuff like rotating vector graphics “in 3D”, it’s only time for Inkscape to follow suit. Even Windows Notepad got some AI features recently 🤦
AI assisted compression and correction
JPG compression itself is a sort of “AI light”, where it analyzes chunks of an image for perceptual similarity, to drop “irrelevant” data. Adobe has added a feature to do that, but using AI in the analysis, tweaking/generating blocks so there are more similarities. It’s likely others will follow suit: “it’s lossy compression after all, right? …right?”
Lossy audio encoding (MP3, etc), also has a perceptual profile to increase block similarities, they’re adding AI there the same way as in images.
Videos… well, they’re a mix of images and audio, with temporal sequences already breaking images into key frames, intermediates, generated, etc. Generatively tweaking some of those to make them more similar, within perceptual limits, also improves compression.
Does this only apply to digital media used in mainstream sources or does it mean everyone who uses editing software is using AI?
Main issue lies at the source: cameras
Unless you’re using a large sensor professional camera, all the “prosumer” and smartphone sensors, are… let’s put it mildly… UTTER CRAP. They’re too small, with lenses too bad, unable to avoid CoC, diffraction, or chromatic aberration.
Before it even spits out a “RAW” image, it’s already been processed to hell and the way back. Modern consumer “better” cameras… use more AI to do a “better” processing job. What you see, is way past the point of whatever the camera has ever seen.
…and then, it goes into the software pipeline. ☠️
I’ve been working on this since I was a teen: learning to be precise, but concise, and let it go.
Still haven’t mastered it, and if let loose I’ll write a wall of text or start talking about all the ramifications and dependencies, then worry about any misunderstandings… but over the years, I’ve learned that understanding works both ways.
If something I write or say, can have two, three, or more interpretations, and someone directly picks the worst and most offensive one, then goes on the attack… they can f off. I can learn, I can clarify, and extend the benefit of the doubt to others, but refuse to be a punch bag (…and it still takes some effort to not respond in kind).
Fina-fucking-lly. Took them long enough.
As long as they’re optional, I don’t really see a problem.
Pay with money, pay with ads, pay with privacy, pay with brainwashing… TANSTAAFL outside of charity.
They should be required to do an in-person inspection before rescinding coverage. Then, they could use AI to decide where the inspection isn’t needed, saving money… but of course they’re greedy and don’t want to do that.
Nowadays, all digital media is becoming AI:
Doesn’t mean “generative AI”, but spotting the difference is only going to become harder and harder.
True! That’s why I use a few long master passphrases, which took many dozens of times to memorize… but the real temptation, is to switch to biometrics. Could probably forget them in a decade or so 🤔
KeePass generates the password for me, I don’t even see most of the passwords.
Yes, I was using KeePass like a Passkey since way before it became cool.
Sounds like a boon for trans people… and a sensationalized title:
When we attempted to “try on” some products explicitly labeled as swimsuits and lingerie, or to upload photos of young schoolchildren and certain high-profile figures (including Donald Trump and Kamala Harris), the tool would not allow us to.
Google’s own policy requires shoppers to upload images that meet the company’s safety guidelines. That means users cannot upload “adult-oriented content” or “sexually explicit content,” and should use images only of themselves or images that they “have permission to use.”
The reporter admits to having broken those policies, then cries foul when photos of 14+ year olds get a virtual breast augmentation.
Some heads up: if you pay for the 🔵✔️ on 𝕏, a lot of people will instantly block you, and your post comments will get filled by other 🔵✔️ people trying to “market themselves”.
You may want to consider creating a second plain account, with proper tags and old fashioned brand building, to increase your reach. Block every 🔵✔️ on that one, to reduce the noise.
Somewhat ironically, Musk’s changes have split 𝕏 in two:
Don’t get me wrong, the “average” public voice is gone, it’s been replaced by influencer wannabes.
What saves the situation for niche communities, is the BLOCK feature. Just block everyone with a 🔵✔️, follow people you like, and suddenly you find yourself in the Twitter of long ago.
In the Nazi bar analogy, it’s like if Musk put up a Nazi rune shaped stage in the middle of the bar, everyone with a 🔵✔️ armband is fighting each other to get to the mic on the stage… while it’s all enclosed in a soundproof cage, and random people sitting by the walls keep their conversations to themselves.
Lots of people have left 𝕏 for that reason, either because they want a fair chance to get their voice heard, or because even being aware of the stage fight disgusts them, and that’s fine. Some have stayed and keep ignoring the stage fight, while the stage fight ignores them, with the rare notification for… another 🔵✔️ to block. Pretty much nobody tries to infiltrate the ⚪ discussions, because they need a 🔵✔️ to get their voice heard above others, but if they get one, then they get blocked.
This also doesn’t mean there are no Nazis or other awful people among the ⚪ no-marks, but the loudmouths quickly get pulled into the 🔵✔️ cage fight.
Hm, good point. I generally go on feeling, from an English as an Nth Language point of view… and my subjective feeling is that “snuck” has more of a “participle” meaning, while “sneaked” has more of a “past tense” meaning.
According to AI Overview, there might also be some EN-US vs EN-GB at play:
“Snuck” is an irregular past tense: It’s an alternative form that has gained widespread acceptance, especially in North American English.
“Snuck” is sometimes considered nonstandard in British English: While it’s increasingly common in British English, it’s still often seen as nonstandard in formal writing.
That would match the Wiktionary entry: https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/sneaked
Well, technically… we have an example in modern Spain of an (almost) peaceful and willing transition without abdication:
Other than a failed coup attempt by a faction of the military who wanted to go back to the previous system, it was a reasonably peaceful transition from full dictatorship, to a “parliamentary monarchy”.
It can be done, if people are willing.
(PS: an abdication came much later, because of some not fully transparent money deals and tax evasion schemes, leaving his son as the new King)
It reads like written by AI: some standard keywords, key phrases, an overall sentiment, and a few out-of-style words that sneaked in.
That’s while calling this a “genocide” is somewhat of a misnomer that falls short of the point: Gaza isn’t about “race”, ethnicity, or even religion, it’s an extermination towards a land grab for control over territorial waters with oil/gas deposits.
Persecution of Palestinians in the rest of Israel… that one is “only” a genocide.