The Doom Loop of Synthetic Data

Apparently AI systems will continue to improve forever — but is that even possible?

Hi, and welcome back to Untangled, a newsletter and podcast about technology, people, and power. Let’s take a jaunt through July, shall we?

• I wrote about the concept of emergence and how AI chatbots are really just knowledge sausages, explained why ‘Will AI take your job?’ is the wrong question to ask, previewed a new essay on ‘the artificial gaze’ and solicited your help, and urged all of us to stop comparing ourselves to AI.

• I launched a workshop on managing conflict with my colleague Kate Krontiris — you still have two weeks to sign up!

• I previewed Untangled’s first-ever ‘tiny book,’ called “AI Untangled.”

Now on to the show.