In this weeks issue we are going to delve into the world of AI Avatars, essentially human clones, which have taken a huge leap forward (see news). We’ll tackle one of the biggest challenges of our time, climate change. Along the way, we’ll come face to face with a machine that had me marvelling as a seven year old. I have also had feedback from several subscribers who have requested a step by step guide to getting a ChatGPT account and also how to start prompting, so this week, that’s exactly what you’ll get.

News

HeyGen unveils next generation avatar: deep fake models just got very real. I’ve been amazed at the speed that this technology has evolved and HeyGen have completely upped the ante. Check it out here - it’s getting so that it is hard to tell the difference between real and fake. Whilst this is meant to leverage you online (YouTube videos etc) the capacity for misinformation and fake news is huge.

The US Government launches a $20m cyber security challenge: The White House this week unveiled a security challenge to encourage hackers to find security flaws and in the process upgrade cyber defences. Rewards totalling $20m are available to successful hackers. Read more here.

AI is helping airlines reduce climate impact: contrails, those thin white clouds account for around 35% of aviation global warming impact. Who’d have thought? It’s over half the impact of the worlds jet fuel. Read more here

Killer asteroid detected by AI: a 600 foot long asteroid will pass by our planet by about half the distance to the moon. Unseen by human detection systems, an AI algorithm detected the asteroid from its obervatory in Chile. Check it out here

Just One Thing: Climate

In the hushed corridors of nature, a bomb is ticking – an invisible, intangible, but devastatingly real catastrophe. Not bound by borders or prejudiced by political affiliations, this bomb - the climate bomb - threatens to rewrite our shared future, charring it with the scarlet brushstrokes of disaster.

An intercontinental network of melting glaciers serves as the fuse for this climate bomb. The once majestically gleaming ice caps are receding at a worrying pace, their pearlescent sheen replaced by ominously dark seawater. Antarctica, the coldest, windiest, and most remote continent, is losing its icy armour, and with it, our planet loses its valuable shield against relentless warming.

Like dominoes in a chain, this unweaving of the icy fortresses triggers other pernicious sequences. Cascading into our oceans, the glacial run-offs push sea levels upwards, threatening to submerge our coastal cities under a watery siege. Archipelagos like the Maldives stand on the precipice of a cruel fate, their sandy beaches and crystalline waters facing the very real risk of obliteration.

Equally worrying are the raging wildfires across the globe, the Amazon, Australia, California, Canada and Siberia, that add volatile fuel to the climate bomb. Once considered anomalies, these infernos are now an annual occurrence, their orange glow a damning reminder of our world's fever. Ancient forests are reduced to ashen landscapes, their biodiversity erased, and their crucial role as carbon sinks sabotaged.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the climate bomb manifests as devastating hurricanes, growing in number and ferocity each year, their fury fuelled by the warming oceans. They etch a trail of destruction, shattering lives, and infrastructure, further emphasizing the enormous human and economic toll of the unfolding catastrophe.

What is most terrifying about the climate bomb is its vicious feedback loop. The more the ice melts, the darker the Earth's surface becomes, absorbing more sunlight, and further accelerating global warming. As the permafrost thaws, it unleashes age-old carbon and methane reserves into the atmosphere, stoking the already roaring fire of global heating. The consequences of this self-perpetuating climate bomb, once set off, could spiral far beyond our control.

It's a haunting paradox that our modern prosperity, born out of centuries of industrial progress, now dangles precariously on the razor’s edge of annihilation, courtesy of the very forces we harnessed to fuel our ascension. The climate bomb is the unwelcome shadow of our success story, ready to eclipse the vibrant tapestry of life as we know it.

The ticking of the climate bomb underscores the tragedy of the commons on an unprecedented scale. It is a clarion call, a plea from the future that we cannot afford to silence or ignore. This is not a question of when or if, but of now, for every moment lost brings us closer to detonation. As we navigate this era of uncertainty, the reportage of the climate bomb and its impending disaster continues, painting a grim portrait of a world on borrowed time.

And yet.

As the ticking of the climate bomb becomes increasingly deafening, a new guardian emerges from the digital realm, wielding unparalleled analytical prowess and untapped potential. Artificial Intelligence (AI), once the subject of science fiction and futurist prophecies, has the potential to play a pivotal role in our collective endeavour to defuse the looming environmental disaster.

The sheer magnitude of the climate crisis is often incomprehensible to our human cognitive capacities. Sifting through terabytes of climate data, tracing intricate patterns across decades, and predicting long-term climate trends requires a level of analysis that challenges even the most brilliant minds. AI, unhindered by the limitations of human perception, can synthesise vast volumes of data at unprecedented speeds, unveiling insights that have long eluded our grasp.

This digital sentinel can empower us to redefine our relationship with the environment. For instance, precision agriculture, powered by AI, can optimize the use of water, pesticides, and fertilizers, ensuring maximal yield with minimal ecological footprint. In the realm of energy, AI-driven systems can enhance the efficiency of renewables, streamlining the energy flow from sources like wind and solar, thereby decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels.

However, AI's most transformative potential lies in its ability to innovate. Deep learning and neural networks can simulate countless scenarios, arriving at solutions to complex problems that the human mind might not even consider. Imagine, for instance, a system that can design ultra-efficient urban infrastructures, reimagining cities as green sanctuaries that consume less and give back more to the planet.

But this venture into AI-led climate solutions is not without its challenges. The computational needs of advanced AI models are vast. Data centers, the very heart of AI operations, demand enormous energy. Thus, it's crucial that the energy propelling AI's solutions is itself sustainable, ensuring we don't rob Peter to pay Paul in our quest to leverage AI for the environment.

Another undeniable truth is that the climate challenge cannot be faced by governments alone. While their role is unquestionably pivotal, the breadth and depth of the crisis necessitate a collaborative approach. Governments, despite their best intentions, often grapple with bureaucratic inertia, limited resources, and competing priorities. The bureaucratic labyrinth and geopolitical dynamics can sometimes hinder swift and decisive action.

Herein lies the potential of a symbiotic relationship between public entities, AI-driven enterprises, and civil society. Tech giants and AI startups, spurred by both altruistic objectives and market opportunities, are pioneering AI tools tailored for climate action. These endeavors, if supported by enabling policies and public sentiment, can lead to ground-breaking innovations.

Furthermore, the collective intelligence of our global community, when coupled with AI's analytical might, can democratize climate solutions. Citizen scientists, equipped with AI-powered apps, could monitor local ecosystems, gather critical data, and even participate in crafting localised solutions. Such grassroots, AI-enhanced initiatives could offer a counterbalance to top-down approaches, ensuring that the fight against the climate bomb is both globally coherent and locally relevant.

In the evolving narrative of the climate bomb, AI emerges not as a panacea but as a potent ally. Its unmatched analytical capabilities and potential for innovation offer a glimmer of hope in our darkening climate tapestry. As we stand at this critical juncture, the fusion of human ingenuity and AI's prowess could be the catalyst that tilts the balance, helping us defuse the most pressing challenge of our era.

Remember When…

In my chronology of all things technology, I’ve reached the ripe old age of 7! I was sitting at the dining room table with my dad who was trying to get on with some work. In those days (mid 70’s) everything was paper based and written by hand. Ledgers, receipts and reports were all over the table. Except one thing: a gleaming new device!

An adding machine complete with paper roll! I even got to press the big red + button. My dad said to me that this was the future and that in time, they would probably have them in schools. This was the first time, not that I realised it at the time, that I was aware of inputs creating outputs. An early forerunner of the tech that powers AI chatbots today. Things moved quickly after these machines became mainstream: we went to calculators with screens that were small enough to fit in your pocket, through early spreadsheets on computers, to the mighty Excel allowing data manipulation to now all forms of data analysis being carried out by telling ChatGPT what you want. The change has been amazing…

Practical Prompts

Taking on feedback from a number of subscribers here is a step by step rundown of how to create your free account with OpenAI for ChatGPT:

Open your browser on your computer, tablet or phone and go to https://chat.openai.com/auth/login or click here. Click the sign up button.

When prompted, give it your email address or sign in by any other means offered (google etc). If you’ve used your email address a box will come up asking for you to create a password of at least 8 characters. When you’ve filled in both boxes, take a note of your password as you’ll need it when you sign in to ChatGPT. Click Continue.

You’ll then go through a process of verification. Firstly you’ll need to go to your email and click the link to verify your email. Once done, you’ll be asked for your name, date of birth and phone number. Click Continue. You’ll then be sent a code to your mobile number that you input previously. Type that six digit code into the screen and then you’re done. Very convoluted I know, but you only have to do it once.

At this point you need to back to the screen you first started at - https://chat.openai.com/auth/login - and this time click login. You then put in your email and password (or Google etc if you’ve signed up that way) which will bring you to a page that has three choices for you to click: ChatGPT, DALL-E and API.

Click ChatGPT and then you are on the main page and then you’re ready to go.

Now, you simply start typing where it says “Send a message” then allow ChatGPT to do its stuff. Fine in theory, right? But what do you actually do to get any sense of it? Remember the adding machine? Same principle: an input gets you an output. A good input gets you a good output and similarly, garbage in, garbage out. So one thing you could immediately try, is go to previous newsletters and copy the code in the black box for either Chef Gordon or Travel Agent Hank and paste them into the Send a message box, then ask either of them a question.

Alternatively, rely on this rule: context, role, task. For example, “I want you to write me a poem (thats the context), in the style of Robert Burns (role), about the delights of champagne (task)”. Try that (without the stuff in brackets) or change the variables and see what you get. Adding in constraints is also good. For example. “I want to write an essay (context), 750 words (constraint), in the style of the Financial Times (role), on the role of Bitcoin in the new economy (task)”.

There is no end to the uses of ChatGPT. If you apply the context, role, task rule and add in constraints where you feel necessary then you will be well on your way. Enjoy!

As always, please feel free to reach out and comment on this issue, either on Twitter/X or at [email protected]