Mike Elgan

Technology Journalist at Freelance

Writer at Machine Society

The world’s only cyberpunk non-fiction writer. Subscribe free to my newsletter ☞︎ ☞︎ ☞︎ https://t.co/L4Ri6kz4Az

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Articles

Perplexity AI’s quiet coup – Computerworld - Business And America

5 days ago | businessandamerica.com | Mike Elgan

Perplexity AI is a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system launched in 2022 that answers questions directly by searching the web in real time, pulling from news sites, academic journals, and databases, then writing up a summary with accompanied search links. It uses AI models like GPT-4 and Claude 3 to understand your question, find the best information, and explain it in plain English.
Perplexity AI’s quiet coup

1 week ago | computerworld.com | Mike Elgan

“Just Google it.” That’s how most people found information they were interested in for more than a quarter-century. All that is changing now. Today, the main reason fewer people are “Googling it” is that users are turning to AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, Jasper, Chatsonic, HuggingChat, Socratic, Grok, DeepSeek, IBM watsonx Assistant, Pi, and Character AI.
The future will be subtitled

2 weeks ago | computerworld.com | Mike Elgan

A few years ago, Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap promised a future of groundbreaking visual experiences that blend digital and real worlds. While the headsets were bulky, expensive, and proprietary — and, in fact, both products are dying slow deaths — the demos got the public used to the idea that the future of augmented reality would be wild and filled with 3D visual content.
Robotaxi Joy Ride

2 weeks ago | unicornroast.com | Emily Forlini |Mike Elgan

In this conversation, Mike Elgan and Emily Forlini throw themselves in front of the autonomous vehicle industry, focusing on Tesla's initiatives and financial woes and the regulatory changes driving changes in the world of rolling robots. Then, your illustrious hosts politely explore the implications of proper etiquette when interacting with AI. They look at the environmental costs of AI interactions, and the necessity of good prompt engineering for effective outcomes.
Three bad reasons to be polite to AI

2 weeks ago | machinesociety.ai | Mike Elgan

AI and robotics companies understandably want the public to engage with their products as if they were people. If AI is essentially human, then the corporations that make AI get two benefits. First, their customers will care more about their products, could become addicted to them, and may feel they need them. This helps the AI companies make more money.
How to win fake friends and influence fake people

3 weeks ago | computerworld.com | Mike Elgan

We’re all talking to fakepeople now, but most people don’t realize that interacting with AI is a subtleand powerful skill that can and should be learned.The first step in developingthis skill set is to acknowledge to yourself what kind of AI you’re talking toand why you’re talking to it. AI voice interfaces arepowerful because our brains are hardwired for human speech. Even babies’ brainsare tuned to voices before they can talk, picking up language patterns earlyon.
Apple and Google eye the future of AI glasses

4 weeks ago | computerworld.com | Mike Elgan

Apple and Google know that smart glasses will replace the smartphone as the main device people use the most, according to recent news. And the two leading smartphone platform makers don’t want Meta to own the future of mobile computing, but they know Meta is leading the race so far. Meta is the current and surprising leader in AI glasses that don’t show a screen to the user. The best rough estimates are that Meta has shipped 2 million Ray-Ban Meta glasses and earned $600 million in revenue.
Los drones son el futuro del cibercrimen

1 month ago | computerworld.es | Mike Elgan

El ejército ucraniano está mostrando al mundo cómo usar drones de forma creativa en el campo de batalla. El país ha construido un arsenal personalizado para ataques de preicisión, reconocimiento y misiones kamikaze. Los ciberdelincuentes del mundo están aprendiendo del ejemplo. Y todos los profesionales de TI deberían hacer lo mismo. Nuevos informes procedentes del país afirman que el ejército está incorporando malware en drones para interrumpir los sistemas rusos y defenderse de las ciberamenazas.
Drones are the future of cybercrime

1 month ago | computerworld.com | Mike Elgan

Back in December of 2013, security researcher Samy Kamkar unveiled a project called SkyJack, a drone-hacking system that could autonomously take control of other drones mid-flight. Using a Parrot AR.Drone 2.0, a Raspberry Pi, and custom software, Kamkar demonstrated how consumer drones could be taken over.
New TikTok tech lets you become anyone

1 month ago | machinesociety.ai | Mike Elgan

My mother told me I could be anyone I wanted to be when I grew up. Turns out she was right. ByteDance (yes, the TikTok people) just unveiled an AI model called DreamActor-M1. It can take a single still image and turn it into a fully animated video with lifelike facial expressions, natural head movements, and even full-body motion. Even now in its "beta" phase, or whatever, it's easy to use. Just upload a picture of one person or cartoon character, then upload a video of a person talking.