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I Found an Entire Book That Was Written About … Me. It Only Got Weirder From There.

Slate

Have you ever stared in a mirror for a few hours? Try it: Watch as your nose somehow shifts placement on your face, how your eyebrows lose symmetry, how quickly you fail to recognize yourself. Facial dysmorphia would come to anyone tasked with considering their own reflection for too long. It's a similar experience when you promote a book. For the past few weeks, I've been touring Canada and the U.S. promoting my latest book, Sucker Punch.



The nuanced debate over AI ethics

#artificialintelligence

"You won't see many people with my background talking about ethics," said Beena Ammanath, executive director of the Global Deloitte AI Institute and head of Trustworthy AI and Ethical Tech at the global consulting company. A computer scientist who worked as a database and SQL developer and held data science- and AI-related technology roles at Bank of America, GE and Hewlett Packard before joining Deloitte in 2019, Ammanath wasn't always gung-ho to talk AI ethics. Then she decided to write a book about it. "There has arguably never been a more exciting time in AI," she wrote in her book "Trustworthy AI." "Alongside the arrival of so much promise and potential, however, the attention placed on AI ethics has been relatively slight." Protocol spoke with Ammanath about why ethical AI practices should be part of every employee's training, the limitations of providing internal guidance inside a sprawling consultancy and why she finally gave in and joined the AI ethics conversation.


I Think of Truly, Truly Terrible Things to Climax During Sex

Slate

How to Do It is Slate's sex advice column. Send your questions for Stoya and Rich to howtodoit@slate.com. I have been sexually active since I was 17. I am now 29 years old. A majority of the sex I had between 17 and 21 was only when I was drunk, so I don't remember most of it, but I know I didn't climax.


Securing Driverless Cars From Hackers Is Hard. Ask the Ex-Uber Guy Who Protects Them

WIRED

Two years ago, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek pulled off a demonstration that shook the auto industry, remotely hacking a Jeep Cherokee via its internet connection to paralyze it on a highway. Since then, the two security researchers have been quietly working for Uber, helping the startup secure its experimental self-driving cars against exactly the sort of digital attack they proved was possible on a traditional one. Now, Miller has moved on, and he's ready to broadcast a message to the automotive industry: Securing autonomous cars from digital attacks is a very difficult problem. It's time to get serious about solving it. Last month, Miller left Uber for a position at Chinese competitor Didi, a startup that's just now beginning its own autonomous ridesharing project.


Most AI researchers are the same type of people. Here's why this is a terrible thing

#artificialintelligence

When you picture AI, what do you see? When you think about a real-world application of AI, what comes to mind? When you think about the technical details of AI, what approach do you name? I'm willing to bet it's deep learning. In reality AI comes in many shapes and forms.