Confessions of a researchaholic

2025-08-01

AI researchers paid like NBA all-stars

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 2:52 pm
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The recent pay scales of some AI researchers have been astronomical in historical standards partly as a reflection of the exponential potential of AI on every aspect of the human society.
However, these attention-grabbing numbers apply only to a few people and there are nuances about claw-backs and performance expectations (similar to CEOs’ pay packages at similar scales).

No less interesting but less noticed is the fact that there are fewer headlines about non-financial aspects of AI researchers’ work, such as work-life balance, sense of purpose, and job satisfaction, which are often more important than the pay scale in the long run.

As we grow older, we may realize that time and life quality are more valuable than money and fame.
Get paid for doing what we love, instead of the other way around.

2024-11-18

Bluesky

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 2:11 pm
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The UI of bsk.app, by none other than Jack Dorsey, looks exactly like Twitter.



2024-11-02

Tesla versus Waymo

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 7:02 pm
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Passive versus active (computer) vision.
Software versus hardware.
Assisted/driver-present versus autonomous/driver-less driving.
Passenger versus business target market.

2024-10-25

Hans Zimmer isn’t scared of AI

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 2:39 pm
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Because AI can only look at the past but not create the future.

2024-10-23

Digital painting apps – good to use, hard to monetize

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 1:44 pm
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Adobe Fresco is free for all now!
Give a try if you are into painting/drawing/motion and have a touch/stylus-supported device running iOS/Windows.



Compared to apps that have a larger audience (e.g., social media) or higher margins (e.g., business/productivity), digital painting aims for those who have the skills and interests to create art and who often do this for fun instead of work.
I guess this is why the Procreate CEO once commented that they make money in order to make the app, not the other way around.

2024-04-07

Full self-driving

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 6:44 pm
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I tested an electric car’s full self-driving today and found it impressive.

After entering the destination, the car planned the route and drove itself, including turning, signaling, changing and merging lanes, observing traffic lights and signs (stop, speed limit), and avoiding pedestrians and cyclists.
I can manually change the default behaviors by signaling and setting a different speed target, and the car will automatically change lanes and pass slower cars.

I haven’t tried auto-parking yet, given that I doubt if the car can figure out where I want to park and the orientation of the car.

The self driving capability could augment human sensors, motors, and cognition and thus make driving safer and more efficient barring moral hazards (e.g., encouraging drunk or distracted driving).

2023-12-24

Echoes of the Algorithm

Filed under: Imaginary,Real — liyiwei @ 5:31 pm
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I asked copilot/suno to create a song about generative AI and here is the result.
😎

[Verse]
In a world, digitized and cold
Where the future’s written in lines of code (code)
An unseen force, beyond our control
Creating melodies, from the depths of its soul (soul)

[Chorus]
Echoes of the Algorithm (oh-oh-oh)
Artificial harmonies, a symphony so vast
Echoes of the Algorithm (algorithm)
Unleashing creativity, from a digital blast

2023-11-28

Cellular reincarnation

Filed under: Imaginary,Real — liyiwei @ 10:45 pm
Tags: ,

These “sleek” cellphones tend to slip and break easily so that new ones have to be bought constantly.

If the process of copying apps and data from an old to a new phone is like reincarnation, then the phone number is like soul or consciousness in that it is unique and can be associated with only one sim-card at a time.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/185895907/CellularReincarnation

2023-11-19

Sunday morning read

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 11:52 am
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So who is going to win control at OpenAI, the ones who can design and train the models or the ones who can bring in the money to pay for the compute and talent?
Both are needed for the success of the company.

In any case they will likely change the corporate structure so that the board better represents the investors.
(It is kind of ridiculous that Microsoft invests 10+B for a 49 percent stake but has no representative on the board.)

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