AI News Tab #1
AI news that caught my eye.
I've scoured the entire internet - okay, maybe not all of it, but definitely a solid chunk of it - and here’s some AI news that caught my eye.
AI is stirring up everything from art galleries to power grids—and it’s only January. Whether it’s reinterpreting centuries-old paintings, shaking up the movie and gaming industries, or promising photorealistic 3D worlds, 2025 is already proving to be a wild ride for artificial intelligence. But it’s not all breakthroughs and innovation; think broken promises, rogue algorithms, and even predictions of AI wiping us out.
Hi all, 👋
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season as we welcome 2025! To those who were working through the break - I get how challenging that can be, having been there myself. I hope you still found the time to connect with family and friends.
I enjoyed some precious family time, though it's bittersweet now as my daughter returns to her digging (she’s an archaeologist) and my son heads back to New York. I must confess the holiday has left me completely drained - it's remarkable how just a few days away from routine can do that!
What I wrote on Substack this week:
In between the festivities and the new year, I did manage to get some posts out…
On Writing With AI:
I’m really excited about the new format for Invisible Hand, and look forward to research and posting lots more like this!
On AI Art Daily:
My Gen AI image newsletter has had an amazing couple of years. After experimenting a little with the format, it’s now settled into a format which I think works well: Prompt + Prompt Breakdown + Suggested Tweaks. My aim is not only to offer high-quality image prompts, but to help readers master the art of crafting their own and ignite their creativity.
#646 Faceless Neon Portraits - Discover how to create haunting cyberpunk portraits that will stop the scroll.
#647 AI Street Anatomy - Your biology teacher never showed you anatomy like this! See how AI transforms human organs into street art masterpieces.
I also kicked-off my 7-days of SciFi special…
#648 Creating the Perfect Cyber Soldier
#649 The AI Art of Starfighter Pilots
#650 Quantum Hackers: Creating Digital Infiltrators
News
Let’s start with The Press’s sweeping prediction for 2025: AI is the disruptor of our times. (No shit.) It’s poking at the art world like a kid with a stick, as we saw with this centuries-old painting that AI just casually interpreted. Imagine Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino squinting at his work, muttering, “I didn’t paint him.”
Meanwhile, over in Kosovo, AI is crossing paths with art, sparking debates about collaboration, competition, and what creativity even means. But hey, if you think the art world’s done panicking, think again. Jeff Koons, who’s probably still basking in the shiny glow of his balloon animals, has drawn a “red line” when it comes to AI in art. Koons said no to AI, and AI, probably sipping its digital coffee, asked, “Who cares?”
Then there’s Hong Kong-based Bianca Tse, who’s using AI to turn photos into surreal dreamscapes. Her work is simply stunning.
But AI isn’t just shaking up art - it’s flipping the entire film industry on its head. In China, AI’s revolutionizingmoviemaking faster than you can say, “That’s not the real Brad Pitt.” Over in Singapore, they’re going all in, replacing dog bark foley artists and entire film crews with - you guessed it - AI. Cue the existential crisis for filmmakers everywhere.
But it’s not all shiny innovation. Over in the gaming world, Ken Levine (yes, the dude behind BioShock) is giving AI a big fat middle finger when it comes to storytelling. His stance on no AI in video games feels like the gaming equivalent of Koons’ red line. Maybe we just need to make AI write their fanfic and leave the storytelling to the humans.
And speaking of AI stepping on toes, OpenAI’s been caught slipping. Remember their promise to deliver a tool by 2025 to let us opt out of having our data fed to AI? Yeah, that didn’t happen. Classic “we’ll do it next quarter” energy.
But it’s not all broken promises. AI startup Odyssey is out here building entire photorealistic 3D worlds like it’s Sims on steroids. Imagine popping into a world that feels real but smells vaguely of GPU overclocking. The future of game design? Probably. Creepy? Absolutely.
So, is AI ruining art or saving it? Revolutionizing industries or stealing our jobs? Maybe it’s just doing what AI does best: making us question everything while secretly training to beat us at chess. Whatever the case, 2025 is off to a wild start - and we’re only a few days in.
Speaking of AI making us question everything, let’s talk about where this wild ride might be headed. Spoiler: It’s not all sunshine and photorealistic 3D worlds.
Over at the New York Times, a thriller dives into the murky waters of plagiarism in the age of AI. 'The Plagiarism Plot' raises questions about originality and ownership, making us wonder: When AI starts writing stories, who really holds the pen?
On a more grounded note, AI’s biggest challenge might not be rogue algorithms but an ageing infrastructure. The New York Times highlights how the 19th-century electrical grid is struggling to support AI’s massive energy demands. Sure, AI promises innovation and efficiency, but without modernized power systems, even the smartest tech could be left in the dark - literally.
And if you thought 2024 was chaotic, get ready for 2025. According to one tech analyst, the next big thing in AI is agentic AI - systems that can manage your digital life autonomously, from opening tabs to downloading apps. Sounds handy, right? But it’s a double-edged sword, as the same tech could be used to supercharge cyberattacks. Convenience or chaos? The choice might not be ours to make.
But that’s only the beginning. Quantum computing meets AI is where things really start to feel like science fiction. The idea of “quantum minds” is making 2025 sound like the year when your laptop starts casually solving riddles about the universe while you’re struggling to open Excel.
Of course, AI is also busy reshaping industries in its spare time. Ads and content in 2025 might be so personalized you’ll swear your Netflix suggestions can read your mind. (Spoiler: They probably can.) But wait, the darker side of this? Generative AI scammers making it even harder to trust anything online. Catfishing, but make it AI.
On a broader scale, the NZ Herald rounded up the top AI trends for 2025 and beyond. Think digital clones, better generative models, and AI agents that might finally be able to schedule your meetings and do your laundry. Exciting, right? Until they unionize.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves - there’s always the looming existential question: Are we creating our own demise? The so-called Godfather of AI just raised the odds of AI wiping us out in the next 30 years. The future is looking a little… less Jetsons and a little more Black Mirror.
So, here’s the big question: Do we lean into the chaos, build our quantum minds, and hope AI doesn’t steal our identities - or do we draw our own “red lines” and take back control before it’s too late? One thing’s for sure - 2025 is shaping up to be the year AI gets real (and maybe a little terrifying).
On Substack
On Substack Notes,
is enjoying the videos of Sinead Bovell and casually dropping predictions about 2025. Expect voice and vision to take over as the primary ways we interact with AI, traditional search engines to keep fading into the abyss, and deepfakes to get even creepier. Oh, and the U.S. vs. China AI showdown? It’s heating up. Grab popcorn. reminds us that multi-billionaire and Oracle founder Larry Ellison declared that drones, powered by AI, will soon “completely control the unruly population” and ensure “the best behavior of citizens.” Sounds like the plot of a dystopian Netflix show, but nope! brings some chilling news: a former OpenAI employee-turned-critic has been found dead, raising questions about the pressures and stakes in the world of artificial intelligence. Dark times. recommends a paper by Prof. Daniel Solove on AI and privacy - essential reading as we step into an AI-dominated world where privacy feels more like a fond memory than a right. tells us that AI is gunning for jobs, and no one is safe. His solution? Get creative, embrace the digital chaos, and prepare for a future where capitalism evolves into something semiotic. Whatever that means, it sounds both fascinating and exhausting.And finally,
flags a new study proving that AI doesn’t just mirror our biases - it amplifies them. People interacting with biased AIs are more likely to underestimate women and overestimate white men. Her takeaway? We need more women in AI. Agreed.So, there you have it. From free speech debates to privacy dilemmas, dystopian drone fantasies to quantum-computing dreams, it’s clear that artificial intelligence isn’t just a tech trend; it’s reshaping the very fabric of our lives.
But while AI can feel overwhelming - sometimes inspiring, other times downright terrifying - it’s also a reminder of how much we’re still figuring out. How do we balance innovation with ethics? Creativity with control? And most importantly, progress with humanity?
As for me, I’m diving into this brave new AI world one post at a time - creating, curating, questioning, and hopefully sparking a few thoughts along the way. Let’s see what the rest of 2025 has in store.
Cheers