The Weekend Bravely (#8)
An epic liar, AI hell, the Kennedy's first house, and the best job in journalism.
The Weekend Bravely is a (mostly) weekly round-up of stories you probably missed, but shouldn’t.
Wild doesn’t even begin to describe this tale. Journalist D.T. Max takes a look at the life of acclaimed Afro-Cuban novelist H.G. Carrillo, who died of Covid in 2020. Carrillo’s work and teaching drew extensively from his Cuban and black culture and identity, and his novel “Loosing My Espanish” about a Cuban-born high school teacher earned praise from the likes of Junot Díaz, Eduardo Galeano, and the Miami Herald. But it turns out that everything we knew about Carrillo - including his name - was a lie. (via The New Yorker).
H.G. Carillo (aka H.G. Carroll). Photograph by Marion Ettinger / Corbis ChatGPT-3 is a liar. Two cases are shoving us into uncharted waters. In Australia, a local mayor is considering suing Open AI for defamation after ChatGPT said he went to prison for bribery - which he definitely did not. While he was involved in the case, he was the one who went to the police. Oops. And in California, a law professor turned up on an AI-generated list of professors who had committed sexual harassment. In that case, ChatGPT listed the source as a 2018 Washington Post article that detailed how the harassment occurred on a class trip to Alaska. Except the article didn’t exist, the trip to Alaska never happened, and the professor has never been accused of harassment. In both cases, ChatGPT is clearly defamatory. But it’s unclear who would get sued, or if Open AI can even correct the model. Fasten your seatbelts folks. (via TechCrunch)
A historic house hit the market. Last week, John and Jackie Kennedy’s first home in Washington, D.C. went up for sale. Going with the property is a collection of notes and photos of the couple from when they lived in the house during Kennedy’s time in the Senate. The sale is pending, so head over to the listing for more photos (scroll to the end) before it disappears. If Georgetown isn’t your speed, you could always buy Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Palm Springs home. (via Redfin and Dwell)
Jeanne Moos has the best job in television. This week she introduced us to Rollo and Sadie, two very good pups who became best friends during the pandemic and continue their now-viral relationship over FaceTime. If you need a feel-good story this week, this is it. (via CNN)