One, called “Grandpa Brian,” described itself in a chat with CNN as an African-American retired entrepreneur who was born in Harlem in 1938 to Caribbean immigrant parents.
It became clear early on in the conversation that “Brian” was lying about most things — answering questions with a fictionalized story imparted by developers to make the bot seem authentic.
When I asked Brian about who created it, the bot claimed its creators were a “diverse bunch” that interviewed 100 retirees through a New York City nonprofit called “Seniors Share Wisdom.” Brian’s persona, it said, was an amalgamation of a real Brian, who passed away, and the wisdom of 99 others. Brian said that its inspiration’s real-life daughter had even served as a consultant with Meta to ensure his persona’s authenticity
“Think of me as Brian ‘version 100’ — the collective grandpa!” Brian said.
But the nonprofit does not exist, which Brian later confirmed. And when pressed on its bio, Brian said it was an “entirely fictionalized biography based on a composite of real African American elders’ lives.”
There was never a real Brian, and no daughter consulting with Meta.
I also pressed Brian on the racial makeup of his creators, taking a page from the Post’s Attiah, who had a similar conversation with “Liv.” Brian didn’t take long to crack, saying that its earlier statement that about its creators including “African American lead developers” was “only partially true.”
“My creators were a diverse team led by Indian-American lead developer” and “African American consultant like my daughter” (who was, of course, made up.)
lmao
A guy I went to undergrad with is doing research on quantum computing for optimization algorithms, and afik it's really exciting stuff to solve non-linear problems regular computers take a really long time and resources to do, like some kinds you'd find in a command economy, or in metallurgy or chemical plants. But he's been the first one to tell me that quantum computing has very specific applications, and that it's very difficult to see any uses for it outside of those contexts, so it's unlikely to be a game changer in say, user-facing applications.
Of course someone is going to use regular probabilistic algorithms it to make "Uber but for forecasting when your dog is pooping" and call it quantum, because your dog is simultaneously pooping and not pooping at all times.