Tuesday, September 9, 2025

AI

PwC is cutting back on entry-level jobs due to AI's impact on workplaces, particularly among Gen Z graduates. The company's UK chief, Marco Amitrano, cited pressure from AI advancements and economic headwinds as reason for a 200-position reduction this year, echoing Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's warning of fewer workers needed.

A new paper introduces "mid-training," a phase between pre- and post-training that improves language model suitability for reinforcement learning. By altering data distribution during this intermediate phase, researchers aim to address issues like repetitive outputs and poor RL performance. Mid-training achieves significant gains in downstream RL training with instruction-following data and budget scaling.

Researchers have evaluated various optimization techniques for Large Language Models (LLMs), a key task in deep learning, to provide guidance on choosing the best optimizer for specific scenarios. Their comprehensive evaluation varies model size, batch size, and training duration, highlighting promising directions for future optimization research and enabling reproducible benchmarking.

The growing presence of artificial intelligence in modern warfare is transforming the nature of conflict, with autonomous machines operating independently and analyzing vast data sets to make decisions. This shift may lead to new strategies, laws, and moral codes to address AI-driven conflict's implications on future military operations.

Cyfuture AI's fine-tuning service offers a user-friendly interface that enables flexible data ingestion and optimized training parameters without coding or scripting. The platform provides domain-specific intelligence, secure data handling in an isolated environment, and supports scalable inference for real-time applications using NVIDIA instances, making it ideal for integrating trained models into existing systems.

OpenAI is backing Critterz, an animated film built with GPT-5 and AI tools, produced with Native Foreign and Vertigo Films. Slated for Cannes 2026, it promises completion in nine months under $30M—far leaner than traditional animation. While showcasing AI production power, it fuels industry unease over creativity, ownership, and whether audiences will embrace AI-driven storytelling.

OpenAI has launched an AI-powered jobs platform aiming to rival LinkedIn by matching employers with candidates skilled in AI and technology. The platform uses advanced AI to create accurate matches, focusing on roles requiring AI skills like machine learning and prompt engineering. A certification program through OpenAI Academy aims to certify 10 million Americans by 2030.

Event Sourcing is a design pattern that stores an application's state as a sequence of events. Breaking down an app into independent units (events) allows for decoupled processing, with domain objects encapsulating business logic and gateways interacting with external systems through logging and persistence mechanisms. Examples demonstrate its practical application in shipping, updates, and queries.

The rise of artificial intelligence in intimate spaces is transforming online adult entertainment platforms, with deepfake videos and AI-generated "girlfriends" becoming increasingly prevalent. This encroachment on human connection raises concerns about consent and the meaning of sex, highlighting the need to preserve shared vulnerability and mutuality in genuine interactions.

Writing code can be easy, but understanding it is a challenging task that requires building a mental model of how the system works. Tracing data and function flows, identifying side effects, and deciphering intentions are all crucial steps in this process. Generating code with LLMs may seem easy, but still demands significant mental effort.

Large language models like GPT-5 rely on statistical patterns rather than genuine insight or expertise, echoing philosopher Hubert Dreyfus's work from the 1970s. This approach differs from human cognition, which is embodied and context-dependent, as suggested by Iain McGilchrist's hemisphere theory. AI can be powerful but shallow, highlighting its limitations that must be acknowledged for integration into our lives.

The article cautions that the hype around AI systems is misleading, highlighting years of experience by software developers showing most AI systems fail to deliver on promises, producing inconsistent results and struggling with complex tasks. This disconnect sparks frustration among developers, calling for a more nuanced understanding of AI's true capabilities.

The article reflects on the nostalgia for the unfiltered 1990s internet, where individuality thrived and every website felt like a personal expression. The author reminisces about building websites in Geocities, sharing classic hacks and tricks from that era, and yearns for a return to the sense of exploration and creativity lost in modern web development.