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Nascent tech, real fear: how AI anxiety is upending career ambitions

The Guardian

Anxiety over AI replacing entire industries has already pushed people to change course in their classes and career. Anxiety over AI replacing entire industries has already pushed people to change course in their classes and career. Matthew Ramirez started at Western Governors University as a computer science major in 2025, drawn by the promise of a high-paying, flexible career as a programmer. But as headlines mounted about tech layoffs and AI's potential to replace entry-level coders, he began to question whether that path would actually lead to a job. When the 20-year-old interviewed for a datacenter technician role that June and never heard back, his doubts deepened.


'Memory manipulation is inevitable': How rewriting memory in the lab might one day heal humans

Los Angeles Times

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. 'Memory manipulation is inevitable': How rewriting memory in the lab might one day heal humans Professor and neuroscientist Steve Ramirez, shown working with brain samples, is exploring the science of memory manipulation. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . Scientists have found that memories are not static records but dynamic processes that change the brain's wiring each time they are recalled.


Feasible Learning

Ramirez, Juan, Hounie, Ignacio, Elenter, Juan, Gallego-Posada, Jose, Hashemizadeh, Meraj, Ribeiro, Alejandro, Lacoste-Julien, Simon

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

We introduce Feasible Learning (FL), a sample-centric learning paradigm where models are trained by solving a feasibility problem that bounds the loss for each training sample. In contrast to the ubiquitous Empirical Risk Minimization (ERM) framework, which optimizes for average performance, FL demands satisfactory performance on every individual data point. Since any model that meets the prescribed performance threshold is a valid FL solution, the choice of optimization algorithm and its dynamics play a crucial role in shaping the properties of the resulting solutions. In particular, we study a primal-dual approach which dynamically re-weights the importance of each sample during training. To address the challenge of setting a meaningful threshold in practice, we introduce a relaxation of FL that incorporates slack variables of minimal norm. Our empirical analysis, spanning image classification, age regression, and preference optimization in large language models, demonstrates that models trained via FL can learn from data while displaying improved tail behavior compared to ERM, with only a marginal impact on average performance.


Companies want to use AI tracking to make you better at your job

Washington Post - Technology News

Ramirez, the vice president at Glue, says the tech uses large language models including ChatGPT to help determine workers' individual signals and what they mean. Then Glue can generate scores based on connectivity to a team, across teams, with leadership and an overall sense of belonging. Glue, which also specializes in AI-powered virtual events, automated employee introductions and off-site planning, also offers personalized suggestions for disconnected workers, including a coffee meeting between two people based on openings on both parties' calendar. Unhappy "people start not showing up … and their connection changes from talking to manager to [talking to] lateral groups," Ramirez said. "It could mean trouble is brewing or a concern to look into."


Bank accounts of New York 'roofie murder' victims drained via facial recognition technology

FOX News

Swanton Sector NBPC President Sean Walsh joined'Fox & Friends First' to discuss Mayorkas' testimony before Congress as the crisis continues to spiral. Facial recognition technology makes unlocking your smartphone a breeze. But with the convenience, comes a disturbing new crime trend for bandits. It involves "drug-facilitated robbery" schemers who knock their victims out with date rape drugs, unlock the victims' phones with their unconscious faces and drain their bank accounts of tens of thousands of dollars. While robberies involving incapacitated victims are nothing new, the technology offers thieves quick and easy access to incapacitated victims.


Gen Z Is Choosing Instagram Flirting Over Dating App Swiping. Here's How to Find Success

TIME - Tech

If you're dating and haven't found any success on the endless dating apps in the App Store, you may want to consider joining the group of singles using Instagram as a replacement. DMing (direct messaging) on the social platform--with over 1 billion monthly users--isn't new, but young people are now using it, and Instagram's newer app features, to find better dating success than from traditional dating apps. These Instagram users are not alone– successful celebrity couples like Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, and Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens, haven't shied away from the fact they've connected via the platform's DMs. Even Meghan Markle wouldn't have become royalty had her friend not posted an Instagram photo of Markle that caught the attention of her now-husband, Prince Harry. Shooting your shot in the DMs can seem daunting, so here are some tips for flirting and dating via Instagram, according to the Gen Z users finding success with it.


ChatGPT and Lensa: Why Everyone Is Playing With Artificial Intelligence - WSJ

#artificialintelligence

Who knew artificial intelligence could be so entertaining? Case in point is ChatGPT, a free AI chatbot that has probably been all over your social feeds lately. "Who was George Washington Carver?" But it can get creative, too: "Write a movie script of a taco fighting a hot dog on the beach" generates a thrilling page of dialogue, humor and action worthy of YouTube, if not quite Netflix: Taco: "So you think you can take me, hot dog? You're nothing but a processed meat product with no flavor."


Everyone in Your Feed Is Talking About ChatGPT and Lensa, and Here's Why

WSJ.com: WSJD - Technology

Who knew artificial intelligence could be so entertaining? Case in point is ChatGPT, a free AI chatbot that has probably been all over your social feeds lately. "Who was George Washington Carver?" But it can get creative, too: "Write a movie script of a taco fighting a hot dog on the beach" generates a thrilling page of dialogue, humor and action worthy of YouTube, if not quite Netflix: Taco: "So you think you can take me, hot dog? You're nothing but a processed meat product with no flavor."


On the Computation of Distributed Knowledge as the Greatest Lower Bound of Knowledge

Quintero, Santiago, Pinzón, Carlos, Ramírez, Sergio, Valencia, Frank

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Let $L$ be a finite lattice and $\mathcal{E}(L)$ be the set of join endomorphisms of $L$. We consider the problem of given $L$ and $f,g \in \mathcal{E}(L)$, finding the greatest lower bound $f \sqcap_{{\scriptsize \mathcal{E}(L)}} g$ in the lattice $\mathcal{E}(L)$. (1) We show that if $L$ is distributive, the problem can be solved in time $O(n)$ where $n=| L |$. The previous upper bound was $O(n^2)$. (2) We provide new algorithms for arbitrary lattices and give experimental evidence that they are significantly faster than the existing algorithm. (3) We characterize the standard notion of distributed knowledge of a group as the greatest lower bound of the join-endomorphisms representing the knowledge of each member of the group. (4) We show that deciding whether an agent has the distributed knowledge of two other agents can be computed in time $O(n^2)$ where $n$ is the size of the underlying set of states. (5) For the special case of $S5$ knowledge, we show that it can be decided in time $O(n\alpha_{n})$ where $\alpha_{n}$ is the inverse of the Ackermann function.


Guatemala: As COVID misinformation spreads, vaccine doses expire

Al Jazeera

Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala – On a recent afternoon, the COVID-19 vaccination centre in the heart of the Indigenous Mayan town of Santiago Atitlan was quiet. The health centre had a vaccine supply, but demand was low. The lack of coordination of a Guatemalan government-led campaign to overcome vaccine hesitancy has resulted in the expiration of millions of doses across the country this year, critics have said, as more than half of the population remains unvaccinated. According to Juan Manuel Ramirez, an evangelical preacher in Santiago Atitlan, some community members have taken the vaccine, knowing it helps to protect against severe disease. But others have subscribed to conspiracy theories about its potential dangers.