Humanity’s Best Invention Language itself is why LLMs are a big deal

"The average of all human language" is not the AI criticism you think it is, because human language is arguably our best invention ever.

Whether you're a lover or a hater of Large Language Models, I think it's worth reflecting on what makes them powerful. #ai

www.aaronmiller.info/humanitys-be...

Zootopia Exposed! (Part One) - Revisionist History - Malcolm Gladwell Screenwriter Gary Goldman claimed the creators of the Disney franchise Zootopia stole his story. Malcolm investigates.

I haven’t seen it yet, but this two-episode series absolutely blew my mind. I would say more, but no spoilers.

www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/rev...

Does AI Ken recommend more frequent use of “bumptious”?

In class last month we discussed how non-directed kidney donations (i.e. to a stranger) can trigger up to a dozen transplants.

Today a student told me she (and her mom!) are doing non-directed liver donations this summer. She'll do a kidney next if it goes well!

These kids are going to be alright.

What if we teach students how to use AI critically (instead of teaching them not to use it)? I don't see our choice as "AI or no AI" any more than past generations could halt the spread of the printing press — that widely decried threat to scholarship. Children born today will never know a world without AI. The majority of U.S. teens already use AI chatbots, and

What if we teach students how to use AI critically (instead of teaching them not to use it)?

www.aaronmiller.info/what-if-we-t...

The Age of Living Software What if software doesn't have to be take-it-or-leave-it?

The Age of Living Software: What if software doesn't have to be take-it-or-leave-it?

www.aaronmiller.info/the-age-of-l...

This is not complicated, unless—like Thompson is doing—you're trying to justify something unjust.

(Tagging @daringfireball.bsky.social @birchtree.me because their articles prompted mine.)

Just taking a moment to say what ought to be said.

If we mapped current #AI companies to consumer tech from the 2010s:

Anthropic = Apple. Focused on high quality for a smaller market. Stubborn and opinionated in annoying ways, but innovating in important ones. Sets trends. Genuine in its principles, whether or not you agree with them.

1/x

Obviously I'm opinionated, and this is not a perfect list but fun to think about. Anything I missed?

8/8

DeepSeek/Kimi/Z.ai/etc. = Huawei/Xiaomi/Oppo/etc. Providing insane value as long as you are willing to ignore the idea that the Chinese government uses them to spy on you. Tinkerers & geeks love them, of course. An ecosystem of YouTubers will rush to review every new model.

7/x

Perplexity = Snapchat. A truly unique offering, but the people who don't use it don't get why it exists. The people who do use it love it. Likes doing weird things as a way to stand out. Always treated like a quirky little brother.

6/x

xAI = Samsung. Fast follower only. Plays the scrappy underdog, but really just flash over substance. Run by a corrupt, image-obsessed leader who uses government influence for profit. Has a rabid, contrarian fanbase, mixed with people who don't care enough to pay for something better.

5/x

Meta = RIM (Blackberry). Already lost but doesn't know it. Wastes money on big swings that are only affordable because of its legacy business. Corrosive leadership doesn't realize the best hope for the company is to step aside.

4/x

Google/DeepMind = Microsoft. Workman-like quality, only the best at one or two things. Preserving the ecosystem drives every decision. Staffed by some of the smartest people around who get slowed down by the bureaucracy. Won't lose, but won't win either.

3/x

OpenAI = Google. Market-defining from the start. Now wants to be everything for everyone. Staffed by nerds who are at odds with management, and management wins. Began with noble intentions (remember "Don't be evil"?), but revenue overruled. Has a graveyard of failed public projects.

2/x

If we mapped current #AI companies to consumer tech from the 2010s:

Anthropic = Apple. Focused on high quality for a smaller market. Stubborn and opinionated in annoying ways, but innovating in important ones. Sets trends. Genuine in its principles, whether or not you agree with them.

1/x

More than we've had in Utah, sadly

I'm not sure how to process the irony of #Moltbook, a social network for AI agents, getting spammed by *human beings* there to promote their crypto and SaaS nonsense.

The idea of Moltbook is funny/cursed, but I think most of the viral stuff is fake. It was almost certainly made by people.

Just here to say I hit inbox zero. Such an amazing, if fleeting, feeling.

This was a behavior in Arc that I couldn’t ever get my brain around. Tabs breaking through the window->tab hierarchy meant I kept making mistakes with how tabs worked.

Professors Are Conservative, Actually Politically, academics are much more liberal than the average person. But Paul Bloom makes the excellent point that, in areas related to their work, academics are actually deeply conservative. Asking a prof about AI is like asking a taxi driver to weigh in on Uber. I think I have good

Politically, academics are much more liberal than the average person. But Paul Bloom makes the excellent point that, in areas related to their work, academics are actually deeply conservative.

www.aaronmiller.info/professors-a...

Joshua Gans on Vibe Researching From an economist, about his extensive experiments with AI-driven academic research. I don’t have much of a research background, but his experiences seem right where expected. My point is that the experiment — can we do research at high speed without much human input — was a failure. And it wasn’

What it was like when an economist spent the year doing AI-driven research.

The reality is still that creativity and nuanced judgment of what constitutes a good research are still missing in AI. What 2026 will bring is less certain, in my opinion.

www.aaronmiller.info/joshua-gans-...

An amazing story of courage and empathy This is an incredible moment of courage that happened in 2023. I’d never heard about it until this article. Nathan saved dozens of lives. Nathan started to think of himself as being in the right place at the right time. His instinct was to get this man and his

Imagine being there as someone is on the verge of bombing a hospital. And you have a chance to talk him down. Absolutely incredible story.

www.aaronmiller.info/an-amazing-s...

Some Provo Street Photography Since my focus has been learning landscape photography, I've never really done any street shooting. Thanks to a kind invitation, I had a chance to head downtown and try my hand at it. (Thanks Daren, Jason, and Justin!) A bit of a grey day, and I need to get more

I need to get more comfortable shooting people, but I did enjoy trying out a bit of street photography with some friends.

If anyone has advice for getting more comfortable shooting strangers, I'm all ears.

#photography #fujifilm #streetphotography
www.aaronmiller.info/some-provo-s...

My Ten Favorite Photos of the Year This is the year I made landscape photography an official hobby rather than just a thing I enjoyed doing with my iPhone. All of these photos were shot on a Fujifilm X-T5. These aren't in any particular order. It was hard enough just choosing ten! 1. Bryce Canyon This is

This is the year I made landscape photography an official hobby. Here are my ten favorite photos from 2025.
#landscapephotography #landscape #photography #fujifilm

www.aaronmiller.info/my-ten-favor...

Christmas Eve sunrise over Utah Lake. (iPhone 17 Pro)
#landscape #landscapephotography

Low-Ambition Companies Will Suffer from AI Companies laying off workers for AI agents are either misjudging how agents will work or they're just low-ambition companies.

Companies that lay off workers to replace with AI either misunderstand how AI agents work or are just low-ambition.

In either case, they'll be beaten by companies who know how people make the difference. I wrote this to explain the idea. I hope it can help. #ai
www.aaronmiller.info/low-ambition...

Apropos to my earlier post, it's not just the textbook publishers. Academic journals are also publishing papers with fake AI citations.

www.aaronmiller.info/journals-are...

And props to @andrew.heiss.phd for unlocking the "Rolling Stone on the CV" achievement!