The code and data behind xeiaso.net
fix typoes (#872)
+4
-4
+4
-4
lume/src/blog/2025/squandered-holy-grail.mdx
+4
-4
lume/src/blog/2025/squandered-holy-grail.mdx
···
112
112
- The production OS images are free for the public to download and not encrypted in any way.
113
113
- Every package that makes up the important parts of the OS are split into two types: code and data. You cannot mix code into a data package or vice-versa.
114
114
115
-
This is literal madness in comparison to how most other AI products are run. Most of the time, an AI product is run on some GPUs you got somewhere that run some firmware that you probably haven't tested or verified (even though everyone with access to the GPU can reflash the firmware from software), with bog-standard ngnix or something choosing to route your requests to a service running somewhere without any real guarantees that the service is not logging and storing literally everything you put into it. From a user privacy standpoint, it's basically the same as using Instagram. You assume that everything is being logged and used to make money somehow.
115
+
This is literal madness in comparison to how most other AI products are run. Most of the time, an AI product is run on some GPUs you got somewhere that run some firmware that you probably haven't tested or verified (even though everyone with access to the GPU can reflash the firmware from software), with bog-standard nginx or something choosing to route your requests to a service running somewhere without any real guarantees that the service is not logging and storing literally everything you put into it. From a user privacy standpoint, it's basically the same as using Instagram. You assume that everything is being logged and used to make money somehow.
116
116
117
117
Apple is standing in stark opposition to this and saying "no, we ain't doing that" and then backing it all up with code as well as detailed documentation for how they pulled it all off. They also released the source code for the security-critical parts of Private Cloud Compute [openly on GitHub](https://github.com/apple/security-pcc).
118
118
···
159
159
160
160
> Using Writing Tools has some serious drawbacks. It feels like it’s taking away the creative process instead of enhancing it. When I input text into Writing Tools, I get a generic response that lacks depth and customization options. It’s like getting a one-size-fits-all answer that’s hard to follow and doesn’t allow for much creativity.
161
161
162
-
It can be useful for taking a bunch of ranting I do on stream and turning that into an outline that I can use for a starting point in writing, but it does a terrible job of doing the writing for me. I imagine that for other people that don't have extensive English experience that it'd be a lot more useful, but I don't know how useful it is for me.
162
+
It can be useful for taking a bunch of ranting I do on stream and turning that into an outline that I can use for a starting point in writing, but it does a terrible job of doing the writing for me. I imagine that for other people that don't have extensive English experience it'd be a lot more useful, but I don't know how useful it is for me.
163
163
164
164
### Notification, Message, and Email summaries
165
165
···
264
264
265
265
Back in September, I had a strange dream. If you know me well enough, you know that when I have a "strange dream", that usually means that something wild happened. In this dream, I had a conversation with Steve Jobs about product design, the philsophy of Apple enabling people to be creative, but the most salient point we discussed was this:
266
266
267
-
> The real way that technology can change lives is by acting as a bicycle for the mind, a way to take human's latent creativity and allow them to focus it and employ it into something that makes their lives better. Imagine picking up a guitar and creating a song by purely feeling out the notes and working it into a melody just from what feels "right". Based on what you've described, most generative AI is useless for that because it removes all the creative control when going from A to B.
267
+
> The real way that technology can change lives is by acting as a bicycle for the mind, a way to take humans' latent creativity and allow them to focus it and employ it into something that makes their lives better. Imagine picking up a guitar and creating a song by purely feeling out the notes and working it into a melody just from what feels "right". Based on what you've described, most generative AI is useless for that because it removes all the creative control when going from A to B.
268
268
>
269
269
> If anything, the human cost seems like that it would outweigh any process gains from being able to draw a cat on the moon faster. Generative AI is completely useless as a product unto itself, but could be part of a larger product in some way. It should never be the selling point.
270
270
···
282
282
283
283
### Where should we use generative AI?
284
284
285
-
In terms of where I think generative AI is actually useful, it's in places that are not as flashy or exciting. Think data analysis, [qualitative data coding](https://www.simplypsychology.org/qualitative-data-coding.html), data entry, reading data out of images, and things along that nature. I've been working with a fellow redditor on a study involving people's experiences of medtation and the difficult to describe sensations that come up. We want to use generative AI to try and categorize those sensations and see if we can get an effective result without as much drudgery involved as you'd get doing it by hand.
285
+
In terms of where I think generative AI is actually useful, it's in places that are not as flashy or exciting. Think data analysis, [qualitative data coding](https://www.simplypsychology.org/qualitative-data-coding.html), data entry, reading data out of images, and things along that nature. I've been working with a fellow redditor on a study involving people's experiences of meditation and the difficult to describe sensations that come up. We want to use generative AI to try and categorize those sensations and see if we can get an effective result without as much drudgery involved as you'd get doing it by hand.
286
286
287
287
I'll have more news about this by June. It'll involve publishing a paper or two in actual journals.
288
288