Week 13 of 2025- W132025

A mind that is stretched

Mar 30, 2025

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my current or any previous employer. This blog may also contain links to other websites or resources. I am not responsible for the content on those external sites or any changes that may occur after the publication of my posts.

End Disclaimer

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions

—Oliver Wendell Holmes

AIML

ChatGPT’s viral Studio Ghibli-style images highlight AI copyright concerns -

“ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which is fighting copyright lawsuits over its flagship chatbot, has largely encouraged the “Ghiblification” experiments”

WSJ: I Quit Google Search for AI—and I’m Not Going Back -

“Ads and search-optimized junk made a mess of the go-to engine. Now ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude—and even Google’s own AI—do it better.”

Anthropic: Tracing the thoughts of a large language model -

“Knowing how models like Claude think would allow us to have a better understanding of their abilities, as well as help us ensure that they’re doing what we intend them to. “

Why Goldman Sachs’ CIO is taking a measured approach to rolling out AI across the business -

“Argenti measures the return on investment from these copilot tools in a few ways, including frequency of use and the acceptance rate of code generated by GitHub and similar tools.”

Painting

Still Life of Flowers and Fruit, 1715, Jan van Huysum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Cyber

The Atlantic: The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans -

“The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen.

I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. “

We hacked Google’s A.I Gemini and leaked its source code (at least some part) -

“As security researchers and bug bounty hunters, we know that this gVisor sandbox is secured with multiple layers of defense and from what we’ve seen no one managed to escape this sandbox. Actually a sandbox escape could award you a $100k bounty:”

Crypto

Fidelity Investments tests dollar-pegged stablecoin -

“There are around $239 billion worth of stablecoins in circulation, according to data provider CoinGecko. The largest issuer, El Salvador-based Tether, has created more than $140 billion worth of its token, which has proven lucrative as the company earns interest on the reserves held to back the coin.”

Markets

WSJ: The AI Data-Center Boom Is Coming to America’s Heartland -

“Meta and other tech companies are scouring rural America for land, transmission lines and natural gas”

McKinsey: Global Private Markets Report 2025: Private equity emerging from the fog -

“Global uncertainties remained in 2024, but the path forward for private equity became clearer, with a rebound in dealmaking and distributions.”

Bloomberg: The New Billionaires of the AI Boom -

“The sums of money that the artificial intelligence boom has created in the span of a few years border on unthinkable.”

NYT: How a Cheap Drone Punctured Chernobyl’s 40,000 Ton Shield -

“The steel shell that encloses the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster was built to endure for a century. But war was a scenario its engineers never envisioned.”

WSJ: $1.7 Billion Worth of Homes on a 4-Mile Stretch: Welcome to Miami’s Richest Road - Cool Interactive

Bloomberg: Private Equity Is Coming for America’s $12 Trillion in Retirement Savings -

“Inside the push to change how every American’s nest egg is invested and make private assets mainstream. “

That $20 burrito you order from DoorDash could now cost you $70 -

“Look, to put it plainly: You almost certainly shouldn't buy a delivery burrito using a buy now, pay later plan. I know it may be tempting.”

Misc

Drawing bought by Pennsylvania woman for $12 could be by Renoir - h/t CAH

Hacker Laws - “Laws, Theories, Principles and Patterns that developers will find useful.”

The Atlantic: The Telepathy Trap -

“The Telepathy Tapes is more interested in showing off the extraordinary talents of its subjects than in engaging with skeptics.”

The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010 -

“The year was 2010. “Ke$ha's Tik Tok” was topping the Billboard charts. Steve Jobs has just introduced a goofy new oversized iPhone called an “iPad”. And in running forums across the internet far and wide, hoards of enthusiasts preached the gospel of a new way of running: without shoes.”