The legal future of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and nearly every other large language model (LLM) depends on one question: when a large language model “reads” and “learns” from copyrighted content, is that action protected by the Fair Use provisions of copyright law? Vendors of LLMs insist that training their products on the open web is no…
I inadvertently set off a firestorm on LinkedIn when, on a whim, I posted this: The minute I see an exclamation point in a post on LinkedIn, I immediately want to disbelieve the person sharing it and the content of what’s being shared. Is that just me, or do any of you feel the same…
Newsletter 66: Why polls captivate us; AI fails at reasoning; the valued discipline of writing, plus three people to follow, three books to read, and a free report on how business books generate revenue and profit. About that presidential horse race Why are we so fascinated with polls? Well, put that aside for a minute….
I’ve been astounded to see the backlash, mostly from Republicans, against the idea of journalists fact-checking politicians’ statements. You can argue about what is true. But there is truth. There are facts. If you’ve given up on that, your political opinions are worthless (and please don’t vote). Trump’s problems with fact-checking From The Washington Post,…
In an article by Tal Kopan published today, The Boston Globe asks “Why are election polls all over the place, and which should you pay attention to?” Here’s the lede: WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris leads Donald Trump by 3 percentage points in Michigan. Or maybe it’s by 1 point. Or maybe Trump leads by 2. Or 4. It…
I’ve written before about Boston Globe sportswriter Christopher L. Gasper’s penchant for mixed metaphors, as a way to illustrate how metaphor overload can interrupt the reader’s trance that makes great writing work. But things here in New England pro football have gotten desperate. The New England Patriots, not to put too fine a point on…
No matter what poll-based content you read, you are not just reviewing what the data show. You are reading data, corrected for bias, weighted for lack of representation, scored for bias, aggregated, and then manipulated by a model. Each of these “corrections” is a human decision. These models are valuable, but they do not represent…
I’ve seen so much weirdly terrible writing in print that I’m jaded. But even so, every once in a while, I see a passage that leaves me unexpectedly dizzy and nauseated. Here are the headline and lede of a Boston Globe story by Alex Speier on the state of the Red Sox pitchers: Once again,…
What is clickbait? Simply put, it is a headline or graphic designed to generate interest that leads to a story or article that does not deliver the promised content. If the headline is “Disney+ cancels a Star Wars show” then the article needs to tell you what show is being cancelled. Yes, it’s designed to…