#Gen AI programs

[ujusttry]

Infosys is developing 225 Generative AI programs to transform industries

Discover how Infosys is revolutionizing industries with 225 groundbreaking Generative AI programs, transforming business operations and driving technology innovation.

Power of Generative AI is transforming industries, and Infosys is leading the charge with 225 innovative programs aimed at solving complex business challenges. This article explores how Infosys is leveraging Generative AI to drive technological advancements and enhance business operations across various sectors. Infosys is developing 225 Generative AI programs to transform industries Infosys, a…

[hislittleraincloud]

✨🔥🐦‍⬛Laurel Gates/Marilyn Thornhill🐦‍⬛🔥✨

[andronicmusicblog]

Make sure to take a look at the Affiliate Program. 💻🌟 Plugin Boutique Deals Best Audio Plugin Deals AI VIDEO EDITOR CAPCUT AI AI VIDEO GEN MAKE YOUR VOICE LIKE FAMOUS SINGERS Loopmaster Deals Loopcloud Deals

[executiveeducation]

George Westerman says now is the time to start using generative AI in your knowledge work

Technological advancements are revolutionizing workplaces, and generative AI (GenAI) is a pivotal player in this current transformation. Its rapid adoption is evident with milestones like ChatGPT amassing more than 100 million monthly users in record time. This surge underscores a burgeoning trend across industries—ranging from professional services to health care and finance—where billions are invested in leveraging AI capabilities. While the narrative often focuses on organizational benefits, the implications for individual knowledge workers are equally profound and merit a deeper exploration.

[bag-chips]

The Security Breach sillies!! Been meaning to post them for a while so here :) Headcanons under Keep Reading!

- The most advanced of all the generations, the animatronics use complex AI learning making them the most lifelike and sentient robots even outside of Fazbear entertainment. Each has unique personalities that can be moulded and changed by outside factors.

- The designs are made to capitalise on 80s nostalgia, taking inspirations from fashion of the time and utilising a vaporwave aesthetic. To hark back to previous generations, the animatronics are designed to look as though they have a face plate. The mechanical parts are also mostly hidden by complex joints to give them a more lifelike appearance.

- The Daycare Attendant is actually the most primitive in terms of technical ability and design. Fazbear Entertainment were able to find some of Henry and William’s scrapped designs, which were changed very little for the final product. Originally designed for the theatre, a last minute change meant that the animatronic would be used for the daycare. Although its ability to change its appearance is a marvel, it being based on design plans from the 70s means that they are prone to damages, needing almost constant maintenance. Even so, the Daycare Attendant is one of the most popular animatronics amongst customers.

- Glamrock Chica is the smallest animatronics of this generation. Fazbear Entertainment learnt very little since the early days, and once again programmed her to consume actual food. Like her 1st Gen counterpart, she is prone to having rotten food, maggots and cockroaches inside her. In this AU, she has the Valley Girl accent.

- Monty Gator is considered the strongest of all the animatronics. He is also one of the most aggressive. This is because he was originally programmed to be a ‘sore loser’ in Monty Golf, however a bug in the complex AI learning morphed this into excessive anger issues. He can easily knock down heavy displays and claw his way through gates. He was originally designed to be the mascot for the golfing area, however after the disappearance of Bonnie he was reprogrammed to become the new member of the band. His golfing motif still persists in his outfit.

- Roxanne Wolf’s outfit is inspired by racing gear, with her also acting as the mascot for the short lived hairdressing service. She is fully capable of cutting and styling her. In all their wisdom, Fazbear Entertainment programmed her to have anxiety and confidence issues to make her more relatable to teenagers. This has backfired massively, with Roxy’s AI learning exacerbating these qualities.

- Glamrock Freddy successfully won over fans after years of mixed opinions on the company’s mascot. With him being the mascot of Fazzer Blast, he has an alien motif in his outfit. Programmed to be best friends with Bonnie, the AI learning has developed this bond into something more. He misses him greatly.

- Glamrock Bonnie was laid back, playful and sassy. He was decommissioned by Monty. However, Monty was taken over by Vanessa’s programming, as a test to see if said programming worked. Monty has no recollection of this. Parts of Bonnie were used to reconstruct Afton

[lesbianchemicalplant]

unfortunately I'm a lot more lukewarm on cohost than I was previously. two main things I'll describe:

(1) the site's staff (a handful of devs) not only have public-facing accounts, they're actively fawned over, including by the popular users. you cannot even give feedback or request things on cohost without provoking sitewide consternation over “asking too much of the devs”. this has happened over and over again, including wrt basic accessibility features, and even like, asking for a timeline on when a Dark Mode would be made available

at minimum, I recommend checking out the staffers' blogs, looking for the people who are constantly fawning over them in the replies, and blocking them. that will at least get some of the most obnoxious users out of your way. but it won't even help that much, since—

(2) the userbase sucks. there are basically no commie bloggers on there, not even to the extent that there are on this small corner of tumblr. the site's users are twitter-style socdems who constantly pat themselves on the back about being soooooo “leftist”; meanwhile, they will harass you for being a “tech bro” and “stealing from artists” if you say anything remotely positive about any ai gen tools, let alone post anything generated through them yourself. the site is actually uniformly like that about AI panic specifically; the few people who weren't got harassed and driven away (yes, including some trans women). basically, it's populated by the kind of people who think stardew valley has an awesome anticapitalist message. that's almost every single user

both my gf and I were hopeful and have been watching how things have shaped up for about as long as cohost has been around. I'm not hopeful anymore. it's one thing to have as a backup, and there are still a couple of blogs whose posts about programming I enjoy. but I would strongly caution anyone hoping for it to be a viable alternative to tumblr :(

oh actually,

(3) the site has no search and very little discoverability btw. you can look at recent posts in a specific tag, but that's it. you will have to separately follow or check the tags #games, #gaming, #video games, etc. if you want to see recent posts about that. you can't just search Games and see posts where that's mentioned in the post's text. (maybe not the best example but you get what I mean)

[saelrum]

Before I die untill the end of the month due to studies and deadlines, here's one last doodle bunch for Dark Rain

First Gen models, also known locally as the "Mother gen". Two first independent AIs created by different people for different purposes. Have almost nothing in common, including: different models, bio-components, mechanical-components, programming, character, regulations and settings. Sliver was a model 0, created separately from the "Ocean of Eternity" project group. Luna, on the other hand, is it's first and most important participant.

Second Gen or "Hybrid gen" was a cross between first two models, born of collaborative efforts of those who worked on Sliver and Luna. It was as much an experiment as a necessity. Have some similar biological and mechanical components, some of them even identical. Sun is a lot closer to Luna in his components, as they we're supposed to be first participants of the "Mentorship" program. Sig has more original and specialised components specifically for fulfilling the role of an assistant.

Third Gen - most interesting and diverse, because of that it was named "Experimental". A lot of independent groups of developers started to participate in creation of iterators and so new ideas, new AIs and new components were brought to the table. Some of their components have similarities with the former gen models, but a large percent of their structures is brand new and more developed in comparison. This gen is also the most restricted from the beggining, depending on their Administration an citizens for certain actions.

[lets-all-calm-down-a-bit]

wiat can someone explain to me why chat ai is bad, im so ootl on this /gen

Yes, of course!

So, If you are familiar with the ethical debate around AI art, you should know that today's "AI" is not actually AI. The AI we have now is not artificial intelligence. It is merely a program cobbling together things fed into the machine to produce a new image or piece of writing. However, what is created is not actually NEW. "AI" art and Character "AI" scrapes artists' and writers' original works from the internet without their consent, then mushes it all together to create the desired outcome of the prompt it was given. These artists and writers are not consulted or compensated before their art is used. This means that your favorite fanfic writers and artists' work is regularly stolen and used to create someone's "AI" art image or Character "AI" conversation without them knowing or being able to stop it.

Along with this, there is a more culturally relevant reason to not support Chat "AI." As the writers' strike continues, it is becoming increasingly more worrying that large film companies might replace human writers with "AI." This would not only put immense amounts of people out of work. It would also almost completely erase creative job options. They aren't only trying to start using "AI" to write scripts. Due to the recent SAG-AFTRA strike, they have proposed scanning the likeness of an actor to be used indefinitely without that actor's long-term compensation. And the elimination of artists in the graphic design field is self-explanatory. Why would a company pay twice as much money to commission an artist for their work, when they could get a result for half the price in mere seconds?

Capitalism is literally trying to eliminate the need for creatives in the workforce. This is disgusting. From the beginning of time, people have created art. They have sold art. They have bought art. Large corporations are trying to make that obsolete.

If you care at ALL about the creative community and the future of art itself, do NOT feed the "AI." It is actively working against you.

[chaoskirin]

Don't Use GenSlop on your Book Covers!

I am absolutely baffled by the number of AUTHORS willing to use AI art on their book covers. This seems counter-productive. I will not buy a book that uses AI on the cover because it VERY STRONGLY suggests that the writing content is also genSlop. 

Like, why shoot yourself in the foot like that, when there are literally SO MANY WAYS to make an amazing book cover without compromising your integrity? 

It's not just indie authors I put on the shitlist, either. Paolini is on there for the cover of Fractal Noise. He's arguably the one who opened the door to these creativity leeches, because his book was the first.

And there's so many authors who are proud of "taking down" artists, like we were ever on a pedestal to begin with. Dude. We never made enough to survive. By taking us down, you're taking us from "barely scraping by" to "dead in the gutter." The truth is, extremely successful artists will be fine, because their names carry them through and get them work. People want art in Michael Whelan's style, for example. The people GenSlop will hurt are the artists that didn't even make $15K/year on their artwork. 

The most frustrating thing I've seen going around is the whole "LOL artists will need to get a real job now!" and this just reeks of the gutting of arts programs in schools in the 1990s and 2000s. It means that little boys consider "football" a career to aspire to, but not "book cover artist." To me? FOOTBALL is the hobby, and the people who play it professionally get paid WAY too much to do it. To me, art is ten THOUSAND percent more valuable. 

But I'm not going to go around hoping NHL players get "taken down a peg." Even if wishing for that is INFINITELY less cruel than hoping artists go hungry because you think they're gatekeeping. 

I will not buy your book if the cover is AI. I will not buy your book if you even HINT you're supportive of AI. I will not buy your book if you decide you need to be "devil's advocate" or say something like "the AI debate isn't black and white." It is. AI is bullshit. Use of it is theft. You are a fucking criminal in my eyes if you use gen AI on a book cover, and I will assume your writing is AI-generated, too. Full stop. 

There are so many ways to get a quality book cover without breaking the bank or underpaying artists. Those ways existed BEFORE GenAI, and they exist now. You have no excuse for that shit. Knock it off. 

[sexhaver]

I’m inclined to agree with you about AI image generation but I was reading about Google’s currently-in-development program that just seems like it’s AI generated plagiarism:

“To produce articles, publishers first compile a list of external websites that regularly produce news and reports relevant to their readership. These sources of original material are not asked for their consent to have their content scraped or notified of their participation in the process—a potentially troubling precedent, said Kint.

When any of these indexed websites produce a new article, it appears on the platform dashboard. The publisher can then apply the gen AI tool to summarize the article, altering the language and style of the report to read like a news story.”

Idk in general I don’t see any positive developments coming out of LLMs beyond mild novelty and this specifically seems like using the technology to straightforwardly do plagiarism, minus any meaningful transformation or sleight of hand

yeah this is definitely my least favorite part of AI in general, the gradual shitting up of google search results. and just like with AI image generators being used to crib a specific artist's style, this use of AI is tricky to figure out a response for because it fundamentally doesn't create any "new" kind of offense (like those AI image gens used to "undress" pictures of women), it just massively lowers the barrier of entry for an existing one.

the parallels between these "plagiarism summarizers" and warehouse automation robots is actually kind of funny now that i think about it. in a vacuum, they both save human labor: summarizer-bots could just be used on a personal level to give people a summary of recent articles from sites that they personally choose to follow like an RSS Feed (remember RSS Feeds? oh my god im so old), and automated storage and retrieval systems literally exist to make warehouse work easier. and yet because we live in a world where capitalism demands websites make their money off ad revenue and warehouses make their money off working their employees to the bone, summarizer-bots are used to shit up search results with autocompleted drivel that reads like the intro to a recipe on a cooking blog, and ASRSs are used to fire half of a company's workforce while doubling production quotas on the remainder. there's so much potential for robotics to help humanity as a whole but all the money rn is funneled into getting robots to either cut corporate costs or kill people

[overlyenthusiasticfictionreader]

Fanbinding of Mind Over Matter - FFWAD 2023!

Mind Over Matter by kineticallyanywhere

Fandom: Red vs. Blue Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Category: Gen Relationship: AI Program Epsilon | Leonard Church & Agent Washington Words: 136,261

Mind Over Matter is actually the fic I worked on for the Renegade Exchange in 2022, so I had worked with @kineticallyanywhere while getting the typeset into good shape. Even then I had thoughts about what I would do to bind it: I'm not in the fandom, but it caught my attention and I was puzzling with it. And of course I didn’t have time during the holiday season of 2022 to actually bind the story.

Here are some shots of the interior:

I wanted to reflect Epsilon/Church’s many disparate personalities, but also how they all (and Wash) worked together throughout the story. They are stronger together than apart. And I was wandering the internet (as one does) and found these amazing journals covered in woven ribbon fabric. And so that’s how I wanted to show the different personalities coming together, creating something greater. And more recently I found another video, showing the weaving of the ribbons over some heat’n’bond , which saved my life, because my original plan was to individually glue each ribbon to the cover and weave over top. I would have died!

Due to the nature of the ribbon-fabric, I wasn’t able to use my normal casing method. I used the in-boards-three-piece-bradel method, discussed by DAS here. This may be the sturdiest book I’ve ever made! The spine was a bit tricky, but everything turned out in the end. I look forward to using this method again in the future.

I’m very pleased with how everything turned out! kineticallyanywhere has their copy, so although I’ve very late for my original plan to deliver the book by Fan Fiction Writer’s Appreciation Day (FFWAD) on August 21st, I’ve still succeeded in sharing good fandom feelings with the author. Which is my big payoff in the end regardless :)

For those interested, I’ve also included this fanbinding in the Renegade Publishing Fanbindings collection, located here.

[ya-zz]

hey do you think you can make one with zenyatta where he is trying to hit on you but like he is kinda blank about it? Like,

*he grabs your chin and lifts your head up, he leans in for a kiss which is just a peck pretty much,* zen: did I do good? Y/N: I- uh..yes...heh, yes you did zen. *zen smiles as you lay your head on his robotic shoulder*

KINDA LIKE THAT BUT WHATEVER YOU THINK IS RIGHT I RLLY LIKE YOUR FANFICS!!!!

Apologies it took a little longer, but here we go! Thank you so much for requesting!

One down, 6 to go ♥

Zenyatta x Reader (gen)

Word count: 1321

He liked you. Well, possibly more than liked. Loved? Perhaps. He wasn’t too sure at first. It took him a while to realise his feelings towards you, and when he came to the conclusion that he enjoyed being around you, he wanted you to know. 

“I like you.” He said, face expressionless as always. 

The sudden outburst caught you off guard. “Oh! Well, I like you too, Zen.” You smile at him before continuing cleaning. 

“I enjoy being around you.” 

“So do I.” 

It was an exchange that meant a friendly something to you, more so to Zenyatta who had a giddy feeling coursing through his chassis. You thought of it as a friend exclaiming their fondness, not a confession of love. 

Maybe that was where things got a little awkward between the pair of you. 

Zenyatta would be around you more often, and of course, you didn’t mind, yet as the days went by, you’d noticed him not being himself. Shaking off that feeling, you’d continue to do your daily tasks, cleaning, laundry and the sort, making sure everything was in its place before the end of the day. 

Your omnic friend would “brush” past you, hands knocking into yours as he exclaimed a somewhat unapologetic apology, like he meant to push himself into you. It would catch you off guard, a slight embarrassment running through your veins as your cheeks grew warm. 

As the days went by, the flirting from Zenyatta continued, and thats when you came to the realisation that he may have misunderstood you the other day; but that was then, and this was now. You had grown to enjoy the flirty omnic, sometimes jesting with him, arms clashing against his as you’d laugh along with him. 

Soon enough, as emotions rose within you and the omnic, things got a little more personal. More touching, more moments together, yet Zenyatta never made a move, seeming to save that first kiss for a special moment. While being alone with him more often than not, every moment with him was great, picture perfect even, yet he refrained from getting too close. 

Something inside of you panicked, making you think it was all for show, that he didn’t actually like you in that way. The hours merged into days of overthinking, wondering if you were just being pulled along. It was hard to tell when you only had an expressionless face, no eyes to look into to confirm or deny those thoughts. While his body language and tone never faltered, it was still hard to tell what exactly he was thinking. 

Omnics were machines, originally incapable of showing much emotion. Made to work, obey orders, whatever their AI was programmed to do. Zenyatta was one of thousands to gain sentiency, one who was able to express his emotions through actions and thoughts. It was, however, still difficult to decipher what he was thinking or what he was trying to convey through his actions.

Despite the inability to show emotions, they had a keen eye on watching humans express theirs, so much so that they began to understand and learn cues. They began to understand what emotion meant what, and while a difficult feat at first, their ability to keep data stored, helped them build a bank of data full of human emotions. Zenyatta was one to pick up on emotional cues fairly quickly.

He noticed that you more absent recently, being inside of your own mind when you were with him. 

“Is everything okay, [y/n]?” His hand reached for your shoulder, and despite the metal features, he radiated a warmth. 

You snapped out of your thoughts, looking over at the omnic sat next to you. “Yeah, sorry. Did you say something?” 

He shook his head. “You went quiet so I figured I would leave you be for awhile.” 

“Oh… I apologise.” You look down at your hands, slightly embarrassed from being in a small daze. 

“No apology is necessary.” His hand patted your shoulder before he removed it, slowly leaning against you. 

“Hey, Zen…” You start, feeling a form of guilt rise inside of you for thinking what you’re about to ask. “Do… Do you really like me?” 

“What do you mean?” He cocks his head to the side, an action of curiosity. 

You feel your breath catch in your throat, the anxiety only bubbling up more. “It’s… It’s hard to tell sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy this! I do, really-” You pause, trying to collect yourself. “It’s just… I don’t know. We do all this together, but it’s all we do.” 

“You want more? He asks. 

“No- Well, yes… I don’t know…” Releasing a sigh, you turn, sitting directly across from your omnic friend. “Your model, no offence, is one of the older ones… It’s hard to tell your emotions when you use the same voice frequency… It’s, how do I say this-” You look at him, smiling softly in hopes you don’t hurt him. “It’s blank, practically emotionless.” 

Zenyatta stares at you, processing what you’ve said. 

“I’m sorry-” you break the short silence. “I didn’t mean to hurt you… I don’t know any other way to describe it. I know you can’t help it.”

Then there was another uncomfortable silence as neither one of you spoke for a moment. 

“I should go…” You felt the embarrassment rise further, a slight pain in your chest as you moved to stand up before his hand grabbed your arm. 

“Do not leave. I am sorry.” His grip was firm yet gentle as he pulled you back down. “I understand what you are feeling.” While his tone never changed, it did lower in volume, something that you figured was him speaking softly, and or apologetically.  

“Zen…”  You looked down, watching his hand travel down your arm and hold your hand, metal thumb gently rubbing small circles on your skin. 

“I do like you, [y/n].” His other hand moved up, thumb and forefinger gently grabbing a hold of your chin and making you look at him. “I do think it is more than that. Love, possibly.” 

In that moment, you felt your heart skip a beat. Love? Zenyatta cocked his head to the side once more, something that seemed a little more playful, as if he was trying to smile. He leant in slightly as he pulled you closer before his faceplate was directly in front of your blushing face. 

You could hear a slight whirring noise emanating from him as he connected his faceplace with your lips, the coldness a stark comparison to your warmth. Your hands slowly reach up, caressing his metal cheeks and pulling him closer. 

He didn’t move for a moment, basking in the feeling of finally being able to kiss you, the warmth you gave made his own chassis warm, his fans working to cool him down before he pulls away, releasing a soft sigh. 

“Did I do good?” He asks, head tilting to the side. Though expressionless, you could hear a slight hint of happiness in his voice.

With a small laugh, you position yourself so that your head rests on his shoulder, entwining your hand with his. “Yes, Zen, you did well.” 

“I want to do it more often.” He says as he rests his head on top of yours. 

“You can, whenever you’d like.” You give his hand a gentle squeeze as you laugh once more. He squeezes your hand back before he removes his hand from yours and wraps that arm around your shoulders, his other hand taking its place in yours. You could feel the gentle stroking on your arm, a calm and soothing motion. 

Before he rests his head back down on top of yours, he plants a kiss on your forehead, the cold feeling staying a little while longer as he relaxes against you, a memory he will have engrained in his head for years to come.

[stevetonyzine]

Do AIs have the ability to love, or are they simply complex programming? This is the question @kiyaar explores in this Earth-616 fic, accompanied by @gen-syz-art's striking artwork.

⌛STORE CLOSES IN THREE HOURS! Grab a copy of the zine and accompanying merchandise now before we close up shop forever!

✨ stonyzine.bigcartel.com ✨

All profits will be donated to achanceinlife.org 🌎

[ohnoitspjs]

I'm just gonna,,, do my intro (AGAIN‼️)

Decided to come to Tumblr for a bit since meta's ruining insta with they AI bullshit!!! Deleted my last intro some time ago bc it was pretty outdated, so yeah.

AS you all may or may not know I go by Pjs or Mime (duh it says it in my bio) and I make art, HUMAN MADE art!/srs (I do both digital and traditional art btw!!)

I'm Ace and Nonbinary and go by He/They pronouns.

I use an iPad air 6th gen (iirc) and a Huion Kamvas 13 for digital and my main art programs are Clip Studio Paint (Pro) and Ibispaint!

I mostly make OC art and comics but I make tons of fanart as well, though I'm not in many fandoms and usually just draw characters I find interesting or fun to draw.

I'm mostly active on Instagram (ironic I know), my username is the same as here! (And everywhere else, except Twitter/"X")

And to end this off, here's some of my recent drawings!! Except it's my OC (Feat. My friend's OC, Cooper! (Orange hair dude, belongs to @blackseacoffeee on Instagram)

[cyberpunkonline]

Cyberspace Sentinels: Tracing the Evolution and Eccentricities of ICE

As we hark back to the embryonic stages of cyber defense in the late 1990s, we find ourselves in a digital petri dish where the first firewalls and antivirus programs are mere amoebas against a sea of threats. The digital defenses of yore, much like the drawbridges and moats of medieval castles, have transformed into a labyrinth of algorithms and machine learning guards in today's complex cybersecurity ecosystem. The sophistication of these systems isn't just technical; it's theatrical.

The drama unfolds spectacularly in the cyberpunk genre, where Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (ICE) are the dramatis personae. Let's peruse the virtual halls of cyberpunk media to encounter the most deadly, and delightfully weird, iterations of ICE, juxtaposing these fictional behemoths against their real-world counterparts.

We commence our odyssey with William Gibson’s "Neuromancer," where ICE is not only a barrier but a perilous landscape that can zap a hacker's consciousness into oblivion. Gibson gives us Black ICE, a lethal barrier to data larceny that kills the intruding hacker, a grim forerunner to what cybersecurity could become in an age where the stakes are life itself.

CD Projekt Red’s "Cyberpunk 2077" gives us Daemons, digital Cerberuses that gnash and claw at Netrunners with malevolent intent. They symbolize a cyber-Orwellian universe where every keystroke could be a pact with a digital devil.

The chromatic haze of "Ghost in the Shell" offers ICE that intertwines with human cognition, reflecting a reality where software not only defends data but the very sanctity of the human mind.

In Neal Stephenson’s "Snow Crash," the Metaverse is patrolled by ICE that manifests as avatars capable of digital murder. Stephenson's vision is a reminder that in the realm of bytes and bits, the avatar can be as powerful as the sword.

"Matrix" trilogy, portrays ICE as Sentinels — merciless machines tasked with hunting down and eliminating threats, a silicon-carbon ballet of predator and prey.

On the small screen, "Mr. Robot" presents a more realistic tableau — a world where cybersecurity forms the battleground for societal control, with defense systems mirroring modern malware detection and intrusion prevention technologies.

"Ready Player One," both the novel and Spielberg's visual feast, portrays IOI’s Oology Division as a form of corporate ICE, relentless in its pursuit of control over the Oasis, guarding against external threats with a militaristic zeal that mirrors today's corporate cybersecurity brigades.

And let’s not overlook the anarchic "Watch Dogs" game series, where ICE stands as a silent sentinel against a protagonist who uses the city’s own connected infrastructure to bypass and dismantle such defenses.

Now, let us tether these fictional marvels to our reality. Today’s cybersecurity does not slumber; it's embodied in the form of next-gen firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and advanced endpoint security solutions. They may not be as visceral as the ICE of cyberpunk, but they are no less sophisticated. Consider the deep packet inspection and AI-based behavioral analytics that cast an invisible, ever-watchful eye over our digital comings and goings.

Nevertheless, the reality is less bloodthirsty. Real-world cyber defense systems, as advanced as they may be, do not threaten the physical well-being of attackers. Instead, they stealthily snare and quarantine threats, perhaps leaving cybercriminals pining for the days of simple antivirus skirmishes.

But as the cyberverse stretches its tendrils further into the tangible world, the divide between the fantastical ICE of cyberpunk and the silicon-hardened guardians of our networks grows thin. With the Internet of Things (IoT) binding the digital to the physical, the kinetic potential of cybersecurity threats — and therefore the need for increasingly aggressive countermeasures — becomes apparent.

Could the ICE of tomorrow cross the Rubicon, protecting not just data, but physical well-being, through force if necessary? It is conceivable. As cyberpunk media illustrates, ICE could morph from passive digital barricades into active defenders, perhaps not with the murderous flair of its fictional counterparts but with a potency that dissuades through fear of tangible repercussions.

In the taut narrative of cybersecurity’s evolution, ICE remains the enigmatic, omnipresent sentinel, an avatar of our collective desire for safety amidst the binary storm. And while our reality may not yet feature the neon-drenched drama of cyberpunk's lethal ICE, the premise lingers on the periphery of possibility — a silent admonition that as our digital and physical realms converge, so too might our defenses need to wield a fiercer bite. Will the cyberpunk dream of ICE as a dire protector manifest in our world? Time, the grand weaver of fate, shall unfurl the tapestry for us to see.

- Raz

[tangibletechnomancy]

Saw someone earlier say that the popular millennial/early gen Z reaction to AI tech is very comparable to Gen X-ish's reactions to GMOs, and...I can no longer find that post but I can't help but feel that to be true on a lot of levels.

As stated in that post, both technologies have their very legitimate problems - with GMOs, it's Monsanto being fucking evil and trying to monopolize plants and food, or GMO herbicide resistance being used so that major corporate farms can saturate the land with said herbicides without any short-term financial damage to the companies as if it doesn't harm the environment; with AI, it's any form of automation always appealing to the most abusive of corporate greed - but both ended up whipped into a dogmatic fervor about something completely not only irrelevant but made-up and reactionary ("GMOs are all POISON, nature knows best ALWAYS!" - which led semi-directly to the antivaxx movement btw / "it doesn't matter how different it is from the input taking inspiration from existing works the WRONG way is PLAGIARISM, you're rewarding LAZINESS, and REAL ART vs. FAKE ART is totally an objective distinction that can be made and certainly not at all a fascist talking point, and I want art made by HUMANS, the humans running these programs to express something from their human brains don't count!"), completely ignoring that GMOs have reduced world hunger and given us valuable conservation tools, and AI is giving people - real people, not machines - more expressive capacity, serving as a valuable research tool into what kinds of things people tend to associate, justly or otherwise; and even being used to augment human judgment for things such as reviewing biopsy results, finding cancers that otherwise may have gone unnoticed for months or even years longer. In fact, many opponents will full on deny any of these benefits - "what good does reducing hunger do if we haven't eliminated it completely AND we're feeding people POISON? In fact, why should I even believe that really happened in the first place!? if you wanted laypeople to be able to read these studies you wouldn't have made them so complicated, you CLEARLY have something to hide!" the anti-GMO warrior asks; "I don't believe those people who are so severely disabled that they couldn't draw or write without AI REALLY exist, your meditation on the nature of data doesn't COUNT, I don't care how many hours you spent on that piece you're TOTALLY being lazy, and I refuse to believe anyone who points out that it's not a copy-paste machine because you CLEARLY have an AGENDA to lie" the anti-AI reactionary claims. Both hold to a belief that ignorance is a virtue, and even TRYING to understand the Bad Side is tantamount to shoving orphans into a wood chipper.

But I'd take it a step further and say that AI is serving a similar sociopolitical purpose in that it's drawing a line in the sand and asking progressives at a certain stage in life - mostly from the ages of 25-35 - "are you willing to acknowledge nuance around subjects that are new and scary to you, or are you going to give into that fear and treat ignorance as a virtue because there ARE undeniably bad things about this and therefore EVERY bad thing you can imagine about it must be true?" Both serve as, essentially, an acid test - will you declare that it's IMPOSSIBLE to be reckless with GMOs, that Monsanto DESERVES to have sole control over the world's food supply because ~they've done so much good~, or that all GMOs are EVIL POISON and GOING TO KILL US ALL and they're also TOTALLY the reason we're all FAT now which is THE WORST thing a person can be? Or are you going to acknowledge that Monsanto is fucking evil, but GMOs as a whole are a complex thing that can, indeed, be created and marketed in some pretty evil ways, but also have the potential to save countless lives? Will you declare that AI is True Sentient AI, the cyber-utopia becoming real; that everything ChatGPT says must be true and OpenAI is our best friend, or that REAL art by HUMANS is going to be destroyed forever and anyone who benefits from AI is inherently evil? Or will you acknowledge that AI, while it has its drawbacks in the form of corporate overpromising people and compromising information reliability by doing so, on top of the perennial labor issues that come with automation and other potential abuses, also has the capacity to dramatically improve and even potentially save lives? Will you work to save the good WHILE rejecting the bad, or will you insist it needs to be shoved in either the good box or the bad box - probably the bad box, if you're an adult?

The answer, I feel, says a lot about the ideological trajectory someone has chosen for their adulthood.