Netfuture: The future is networked

Recent technical essays

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  «Right to be Forgotten» void with AI?2023-03-02
  In a recent discussion, it became apparent that «unlearning» is not something machine learning models can easily do. So what does this mean to laws like the EU «Right to be Forgotten»?
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  Post Quantum and Homomorphic Encryption made easy2023-02-23
  Major challenges in computer and information security are the advent of quantum computers and the need to trust your data to (cloud) service providers. New cryptography is supposed to help, but they look daunting. At their core, however, they are […]
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  How does ChatGPT work, actually?2023-01-30
  ChatGPT is arguably the most powerful artificial intelligence language model currently available. We take a behind-the-scenes look at how the “large language model” GPT-3 and ChatGPT, which is based on it, work.
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  Identifying AI art2023-01-24
  AI art is on the rise, both in terms of quality and quantity. It (unfortunately) lies in human nature to market some of that as genuine art. Here are some signs that can help identifying AI art.
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  The FTX crypto exchange and its spider web2022-12-14
  Yesterday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried. It details the financial entanglements of FTX, Alameda Research and more than a hundred other companies and individuals. We have tried to disentangle these allegations somewhat […]
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  Reproducible AI Image Generation: Experiment Follow-Up2022-12-01
  Inspired by an NZZ Folio article on AI text and image generation using DALL•E 2, I tried to reproduce the (German) prompts. Someone suggested that English prompts would work better. Here is the comparison.
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  Web3 for data preservation? (Or is it just another expensive P2P?)2022-11-19
  Drew Austin raises an important question in Wired: How should we deal with our accumulated personal data? How can we get from randomly hoarding to selection and preservation? And why does his proposed solution of Web3 not work out? A […]
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  «The Cloud» does not exist2022-11-06
  What is cloud anyway? And why are not all clouds the same? An overview to create clarity. The topic of the cloud is currently on everyone’s lips again, and decisions are pending in many places. Clarity is essential for assessing […]