The hottest AI Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

✨ The Age of AI, an update: A Quick Q&A with … economist Michael Strain

Faster, Please! • 456 implied HN points • 06 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI Innovation Productivity Economy Workforce
  1. Generative AI has the potential to change how businesses work and boost productivity, but we are still in the early stages of using it in everyday jobs.
  2. It's important for workers, especially in white-collar jobs, to adapt by learning to use AI tools to enhance their productivity and value to employers.
  3. Instead of fearing job loss, workers should focus on developing new skills that complement AI, allowing them to stay relevant in their fields.

Deepseek Meets Li Qiang, Data Labeling Subsidies, Taiwan's Debt, Automation Optimism

ChinaTalk • 429 implied HN points • 24 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Data Policy Automation Economics
  1. DeepSeek, a major player in China's AI sector, recently caught the attention of government leaders, highlighting its rise as a 'national champion.' This may lead to more funding but also increased scrutiny from the government.
  2. China is putting effort into developing the data labeling industry as a key part of its AI advancements, offering tax breaks and support to help businesses in this area grow. High-quality data is essential for effective AI development.
  3. Taiwan needs to rethink its strict debt policy to invest more in military and energy security due to rising threats from China. Maintaining a low debt level could limit Taiwan's ability to strengthen its defense.

Nvidia makes gains on rising inference demand

Alex's Personal Blog • 32 implied HN points • 27 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI Computing Semiconductors Startups Data Centers
  1. Nvidia's revenue is soaring due to high demand for their chips, especially for AI models. This growth is a good sign for the entire AI industry as more companies seek powerful computing solutions.
  2. Rising demand for inference, which is running AI models to handle user queries, is becoming more important than just training the models. Nvidia’s chips are designed to excel in this area, suggesting ongoing strong sales.
  3. Other companies like Snowflake are also doing well with their earnings by integrating AI into their services, while Salesforce is facing challenges despite its strong AI prospects. This shows different paths in the tech industry as they adapt to AI's growth.

UX Roundup: Explainer Videos | AI Overload | AI Music | Over-Recuiting | Home Robots | GPT 4.5

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 7 implied HN points • 03 Mar 25
🕹 Technology AI UX Design Robotics SEO Music
  1. AI technology is rapidly advancing, making it hard for anyone to keep up with all the new tools and updates. It's important to focus on the bigger trends rather than getting lost in minor details.
  2. There is a significant improvement in AI-generated music, showing that the quality of compositions and performances has greatly enhanced over a short period. This makes it easier for creators to make engaging music.
  3. When conducting user research, it's wise to recruit more participants than needed to account for no-shows and other issues. This ensures that you still gather valuable insights even if not everyone shows up.

Drones

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 1988 implied HN points • 22 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Drones Surveillance AI Military Consumer Tech
  1. Drones are increasingly present in our lives, taking over both our skies and our privacy. It's unsettling how they surveil us and even interfere with our daily routines.
  2. Drones are being used in war zones in disturbing ways, like using sound to draw civilians out of hiding. This raises concerns about ethics and humanity in warfare.
  3. The rise of drones signifies a shift from nature to technology in our environment. This change is affecting our connection to the natural world and what it means to be human.
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Philosophy bear • 300 implied HN points • 07 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI Innovation Industry Future Trends Impact
  1. AI is improving quickly and has been for years, making it a big part of our future. It's becoming better at solving tough problems.
  2. Currently, no one can clearly point out what types of questions AI can't answer, which raises concerns about its limitations. This makes us wonder about the risks involved.
  3. As AI grows, it could impact jobs in creative and intellectual fields, and we might need to adapt and pursue our passions now, while we still can.

How Big Tech Sees DeepSeek: Five Key Takeaways

Tanay’s Newsletter • 82 implied HN points • 10 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI Innovation Business Models Infrastructure Computing
  1. DeepSeek has introduced important new methods in AI training, making it more efficient and cost-effective. Major tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon are already using its models.
  2. The rapid sharing of ideas in AI means that any lead a company gains won't last long. As soon as one company finds something new, others quickly learn from it.
  3. Even though AI tools are becoming cheaper, total spending on AI will actually rise. This means more apps will be built, leading to increased overall use of AI technologies.

DeepSeek's Edge

ChinaTalk • 741 implied HN points • 12 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Software Hardware Research Data
  1. DeepSeek has no business model, which allows its team to experiment freely without pressure to earn money. This gives them a unique advantage over most other AI labs that need to focus on revenue.
  2. DeepSeek runs its own data centers instead of relying on external cloud services. This means they have better control over their resources and can optimize their setup for efficiency.
  3. The company's success comes from their innovative software optimization techniques. By being smart about how they use their hardware, they've achieved high performance even with limited resources.

Open Thread 366

Astral Codex Ten • 7089 implied HN points • 27 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Media Consulting Forecasting Education
  1. Anyone can share thoughts or ask questions in the open thread. It's a space for discussing anything on your mind.
  2. There are opportunities for people interested in AI safety, including a course that can help you get started in the field.
  3. An AI forecasting project is looking for news outlets to publish articles on future predictions about AI advancements.

Adiós Duolingo, hello Anki

De Novo • 88 implied HN points • 05 Jun 25
🚌 Education Learning Technology AI Languages Methods
  1. Anki is a flashcard app that helps with memorization using spaced repetition. It's great for learning detailed information and can share decks for team learning.
  2. Using AI to make Anki cards can be helpful, but it's important to check for errors. It's best for reinforcing knowledge rather than learning completely new topics.
  3. After years of using Duolingo, switching to Anki seems more effective for real learning. You can create a system to track your progress similar to Duolingo's streaks.

Intercom's decisive bet on AI

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 315 implied HN points • 21 May 25
💼 Business Startups Technology AI Pricing Customer Service
  1. Intercom was quick to invest in AI, becoming a leader by being the first major SaaS company to do so. Their 'war time' CEO, Eoghan McCabe, made bold decisions to redefine customer support with AI.
  2. The quality of AI tools matters more than just having features. Intercom's Fin AI agent succeeded through a lot of testing, improving its ability to resolve customer inquiries from 25% to 56%.
  3. Competitors now have to focus on delivering results, not just flashy marketing. Businesses need to educate their customers on how to choose AI products based on effectiveness, not just promises.

The Second Gemini

Don't Worry About the Vase • 2374 implied HN points • 17 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI Software Innovation Research Tech Trends
  1. Google's Gemini Flash 2.0 is faster and smarter than previous versions, making it a strong tool for those who want quick assistance and information.
  2. Deep Research is a new feature where users can get detailed reports based on multiple websites; it's useful but still needs improvement in accuracy and relevance.
  3. Projects like Astra and Mariner are experimental tools that aim to enhance user experience by providing real-time assistance and better interaction through voice and web browsing.

($) DeepSeek Diffusion

Interconnected • 123 implied HN points • 07 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI Open Source Geopolitics Cloud Computing Cybersecurity
  1. The ongoing discussion about DeepSeek focuses too much on the rivalry between the U.S. and China. It's more about whether technology is open source or closed source.
  2. Open source technology, like DeepSeek, can spread quickly and widely, getting adopted by various companies across the globe.
  3. Major cloud providers, including U.S. companies, are offering DeepSeek models to their customers, showing its significant impact in the tech world.

Interpolation Is All You Need

arg min • 317 implied HN points • 08 Oct 24
🕹 Technology AI Optimization Machine Learning Data science
  1. Interpolation is a process where we find a function that fits a specific set of input and output points. It's a useful tool for solving problems in optimization.
  2. We can build more complex function fitting problems by combining simple interpolation constraints. This allows for greater flexibility in how we define functions.
  3. Duality in convex optimization helps solve interpolation problems, enabling efficient computation and application in areas like machine learning and control theory.

Monthly Roundup #25: December 2024

Don't Worry About the Vase • 1971 implied HN points • 23 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI Social media Quantum Computing Tech Products Innovation
  1. AI developments have rapidly advanced recently, with major releases from companies like Google and OpenAI, indicating significant changes ahead.
  2. Many people struggle to distinguish between predictions and assurances, leading to costly misunderstandings in planning and decision-making.
  3. The emergence of competing social media platforms, such as BlueSky, shows that users are seeking alternatives amid frustrations with existing sites like Twitter.

⤴⤵ Up Wing/Down Wing #30

Faster, Please! • 1188 implied HN points • 11 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Innovation Space Energy Health
  1. New advancements in nuclear fusion research are making it more likely to achieve clean energy from nuclear fusion, which could be a big step for sustainable energy.
  2. Uber and Lyft are shifting from developing self-driving cars to using other companies' technologies for driverless taxis, aiming to be platforms for this emerging market.
  3. AI technology is being used in innovative ways, like interpreting speech through throat vibrations, which can help people with speech difficulties.

AI Haves and Have-Nots

Dana Blankenhorn: Facing the Future • 59 implied HN points • 23 Oct 24
🕹 Technology AI Innovation Internet Market Trends Data security
  1. AI tools are becoming more focused on specific markets rather than serving everyone broadly. Companies are looking for niche areas to make money instead of trying to compete with big players.
  2. Using AI will likely come with costs in the future, leading to a divide between those who can afford it and those who cannot. This shift could create a two-tiered internet experience.
  3. As AI and tech services become paywall-heavy, they may lose a lot of casual users, much like publications did when they went behind paywalls. This might limit access to quality information for many people.

The Weekly Kaitchup #63

The Kaitchup – AI on a Budget • 119 implied HN points • 18 Oct 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Deep Learning Software Development Robotics
  1. There's a new fix for gradient accumulation in training language models. This issue had been causing problems in how models were trained, but it's now addressed by Unsloth and Hugging Face.
  2. Several new language models have been released recently, including Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B and Zamba2 7B. These models are showing different levels of performance across various benchmarks.
  3. Consumer GPUs are being tracked for price drops, making them a more affordable option for fine-tuning models. This week highlights several models for those interested in AI training.

An epidemic of weirdly precise AI butt facts

Marcus on AI • 4703 implied HN points • 30 Oct 24
🕹 Technology AI Investments Future Trends Innovation Predictions
  1. Elon Musk and others often make bold claims about AI's future, but many of these predictions lack proper evidence and are overly optimistic.
  2. Investors are drawn to grand stories about AI that promise big returns, even when the details are vague and uncertain.
  3. The exact benefits of advanced AI, like machines being thousands of times smarter, are unclear, and it's important to question how that would actually be useful.

🤖 OpenAI Reveals AI’s No Match for Human Coders

HackerPulse Dispatch • 5 implied HN points • 25 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI Programming Software Development Code Quality
  1. AI still struggles with real coding tasks despite being fast. It often fails to diagnose bugs or offer reliable solutions, proving that human coders are still needed.
  2. Using AI tools can make coding easier but might hurt learning. New programmers miss out on important problem-solving experiences that come from debugging and experimenting with code.
  3. AI-generated code can lead to more issues, like code duplication and technical debt. While it helps with productivity, it can also create long-term maintenance challenges.

AI #94: Not Now, Google

Don't Worry About the Vase • 2464 implied HN points • 12 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI Software Data science Cybersecurity Machine Learning
  1. AI technology is rapidly improving, with many advancements happening from various companies like OpenAI and Google. There's a lot of stuff being developed that allows for more complex tasks to be handled efficiently.
  2. People are starting to think more seriously about the potential risks of advanced AI, including concerns related to AI being used in defense projects. This brings up questions about ethics and the responsibilities of those creating the technology.
  3. AI tools are being integrated into everyday tasks, making things easier for users. People are finding practical uses for AI in their lives, like getting help with writing letters or reading books, making AI more useful and accessible.

Vision Changes Everything

Impertinent • 59 implied HN points • 23 Oct 24
🕹 Technology AI Automation Software Development Innovation
  1. Vision is the key to designing technology, as shown by Tesla's reliance on cameras for self-driving cars. This approach means that our environment and technology should work hand in hand with how humans naturally see and interpret the world.
  2. Anthropic's new AI model allows computers to interact more like humans by using an API to understand computer interfaces. This means that the AI can perform tasks on web applications, making it easier for developers to automate processes.
  3. The new capabilities from the AI can enhance app testing by allowing automated agents to perform tasks, record actions, and generate testing data. This leads to more efficient software development and better quality assurance.

Palabras y Algoritmos y demás digresiones

Érase una vez un algoritmo... • 119 implied HN points • 18 Oct 24
📚 Literature Writing AI Humanities Books Essays
  1. Writing is an important activity for many people, even if it doesn’t make them money or gain them fame. It can be a personal need and a way to express oneself.
  2. AI can be used as a helpful tool for writing, acting like a smart editor. It can improve writing by catching mistakes and suggesting better phrasing without replacing human creativity.
  3. The author is working on a new book about how AI will change writing. They believe in combining human creativity with AI to create a new collaborative writing process.

The next year of AI target analysis

All-Source Intelligence Fusion • 467 implied HN points • 23 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Military Analysis Intelligence Data
  1. AI is being used to improve how military targets are tracked and analyzed. This means we could see continuous updates on things like tanks, instead of just occasional snapshots.
  2. Companies like Anthropic and Google are investing big in AI for defense purposes. They're aiming to compete with others, like OpenAI, for military contracts and capabilities.
  3. The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is working on integrating AI systems to enhance their intelligence efforts, but it's facing some challenges with existing technologies.

DeepSeek's "Ingenuous" Marketing Strategy

Enterprise AI Trends • 464 implied HN points • 23 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Marketing Data Privacy Competitive Analysis Consumer apps
  1. DeepSeek offers a cheaper alternative to OpenAI's services, potentially attracting many developers and startups looking to cut costs.
  2. The company positions itself as an 'open source' option, fostering grassroots support and tapping into a competitive narrative against more established players like OpenAI.
  3. There's a concern over data privacy, as using DeepSeek's services might mean sharing sensitive information, similar to the issues raised with apps like TikTok.

A Quick Q&A on predicting super AI through bond markets with … Trevor Chow

Faster, Please! • 91 implied HN points • 20 Feb 25
💰 Finance Markets Interest Rates Investment Economics AI
  1. Interest rates might predict the rise of advanced AI. As people expect big changes, they want to spend more now instead of saving for the future.
  2. Higher long-term growth expectations often lead to higher real interest rates. This shows that bond markets can hint at when transformative AI might arrive.
  3. Both positive and negative outcomes of AI can push rates up. Whether AI leads to great progress or poses risks, people behave similarly by wanting to consume now.

Can Your AI Strategy Be Future-Proof? | Galileo’s Vikram Chatterji

Dev Interrupted • 18 implied HN points • 18 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI Engineering Data Analysis Productivity
  1. AI models sometimes miss important details, like humans do. For example, they may overlook obvious outliers in data visualizations.
  2. Banks are changing their hiring tactics to attract tech talent by offering more flexibility and modern tools. This helps them stay competitive against tech firms.
  3. In a world where AI is growing, the ability to focus deeply is becoming more valuable than just knowing how to use AI tools. Staying focused can help engineers excel.

⤴⤵ Up Wing/Down Wing #31

Faster, Please! • 822 implied HN points • 18 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Space Biotech Energy Healthcare
  1. New obesity drugs are being developed that can help people lose a lot of weight quickly. These breakthroughs could make treatments more accessible and affordable for many people.
  2. Companies are working on exciting projects like reviving extinct species and creating new ways to explore the moon. These innovations could greatly impact conservation and space travel.
  3. There are serious challenges ahead, like rising dementia cases and declining birth rates, which could hurt the economy. Without action, these issues could have major effects on future generations.

Multilingual Embeddings, Safer LLMs, and Log-Linear Attention

ppdispatch • 2 implied HN points • 13 Jun 25
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Data science Natural Language Processing Computer Science
  1. There's a new multilingual text embedding benchmark called MMTEB that covers over 500 tasks in more than 250 languages. A smaller model surprisingly outperforms much larger ones.
  2. Saffron-1 is a new method designed to make large language models safer and more efficient, especially in resisting attacks.
  3. Harvard released a massive dataset of 242 billion tokens from public domain books, which can help in training language models more effectively.

OpenAI’s biggest worry isn’t DeepSeek

Enterprise AI Trends • 253 implied HN points • 31 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Data science Computing Innovation
  1. DeepSeek's release showed that simple reinforcement learning can create smart models. This means you don't always need complicated methods to achieve good results.
  2. Using more computing power can lead to better outcomes when it comes to AI results. DeepSeek's approach hints at cost-saving methods for training large models.
  3. OpenAI is still a major player in the AI field, even though some people think DeepSeek and others will take over. OpenAI's early work has helped it stay ahead despite new competition.

Why AI Agents Feel Contrived and Useless, Despite the Impressive Demos

Enterprise AI Trends • 612 implied HN points • 16 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Software Engineering Innovation Automation
  1. AI agents work best in simple tasks, but they might confuse people in more complex situations. Humans need to be involved to understand the creative process.
  2. When AI does too much on its own, it can be harder for people to trust and evaluate its work. This can lead to mistakes that are hard to spot later.
  3. Businesses usually prefer working with guided AI tools instead of fully autonomous agents. They want reliability and clear understanding over just speeding things up.

The Sequence Opinion #557: Millions of GPUs, Zero Understanding: The Cost of AI Interpretability

TheSequence • 49 implied HN points • 05 Jun 25
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Computing Data science Cybersecurity
  1. AI models are becoming super powerful, but we don't fully understand how they work. Their complexity makes it hard to see how they make decisions.
  2. There are new methods being explored to make these AI systems more understandable, including using other AI to explain them. This is a fresh approach to tackle AI interpretability.
  3. The debate continues about whether investing a lot of resources into understanding AI is worth it compared to other safety measures. We need to think carefully about what we risk if we don't understand these machines better.

✨ The Age of AI: Will 2025 be our last normal year?

Faster, Please! • 1279 implied HN points • 03 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Innovation Forecasting Economic Impact Automation
  1. AI technology is rapidly evolving, and some predict it could change our everyday lives significantly by 2025. If this happens, what we consider 'normal' now might no longer exist.
  2. Recent advances in AI, like OpenAI's new model, have made experts rethink how soon we might see 'strong' AI that can perform complex tasks like humans. This raises important questions about the future of work and society.
  3. Despite the excitement around AI, not all experts believe we are close to seeing a major economic boom from it. Predictions about technology can be tricky, and history shows change can take a long time.

AI #92: Behind the Curve

Don't Worry About the Vase • 2777 implied HN points • 28 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Tech Policy Programming Innovation
  1. AI language models are improving in utility, specifically for tasks like coding, but they still have some limitations such as being slow or clunky.
  2. Public perception of AI-generated poetry shows that people often prefer it over human-created poetry, indicating a shift in how we view creativity and value in writing.
  3. Conferences and role-playing exercises around AI emphasize the complexities and potential outcomes of AI alignment, highlighting that future AI developments bring both hopeful and concerning possibilities.

15 Times to use AI, and 5 Not to

One Useful Thing • 2226 implied HN points • 09 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Data science Automation Software Development
  1. AI is great for generating lots of ideas quickly. Instead of getting stuck after a few, you can use AI to come up with many different options.
  2. It's helpful to use AI when you have expertise and can easily spot mistakes. You can rely on it to assist with complex tasks without losing track of quality.
  3. However, be cautious using AI for learning or where accuracy is critical. It may shortcut your learning and sometimes make errors that are hard to notice.

BYD bringing ADAS to everyone

TP’s Substack • 17 implied HN points • 19 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Automotive Software Innovation AI Consumer Tech
  1. BYD has introduced its DiPilot-100 ADAS package for various models without raising prices. This means even lower-cost cars now have advanced driving features.
  2. The launch of DiPilot-100 has disrupted the market, putting pressure on competitors who can't match BYD's pricing or technology. BYD's advantage comes from its large data set and supply of necessary components.
  3. Features like automatic emergency braking and advanced parking modes make BYD's cars safer and more appealing. The continuous updates from their data will likely improve these systems over time.

2025 AI & Semiconductor Outlook

Mule’s Musings • 777 implied HN points • 03 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Semiconductors Economics Stocks Industry Trends
  1. In 2024, AI technologies surged while many other sectors, especially automotive and smartphones, struggled. Companies like Nvidia saw huge gains, showcasing a divide in performance across the industry.
  2. The semiconductor market is cyclical, meaning trends can shift quickly. This year, companies that did poorly last year, could potentially do well, while top AI names might not see the same explosive growth.
  3. AI advancements are driving up costs and creating new economic challenges for tech companies. There's a bigger focus now on how much it costs to develop and maintain AI, differing from past trends where costs were lower.

Looking Back: One Year Of Big Technology's Paid Edition

Big Technology • 4128 implied HN points • 22 Oct 24
🕹 Technology Tech news AI Subscriptions Journalism Events
  1. The launch of paid subscriptions for Big Technology has been a success, allowing the publication to grow and provide better content.
  2. The newsletter included valuable insights on major tech companies like Amazon and Google, highlighting important trends and changes in leadership.
  3. Engagement with subscribers has been strong, with the addition of exclusive podcasts and events, making the relationship between the writer and readers even more meaningful.

Do Prediction Technologies Help Novices or Experts More?

New Things Under the Sun • 224 implied HN points • 27 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Innovation Research Data science
  1. AI can help both beginners and experts, but it depends on the tasks they are working on. Sometimes, beginners gain more because AI levels the playing field.
  2. In some cases, experts benefit more from AI. They can solve complex problems that AI cannot, while beginners still struggle with those.
  3. Prediction tools can make a big difference in innovation fields like mining and drug discovery. The impact varies based on expertise and the types of problems being addressed.

Fine-tuning LLMs with 32-bit, 8-bit, and Paged AdamW Optimizers

The Kaitchup – AI on a Budget • 259 implied HN points • 07 Oct 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Optimization Data processing Programming
  1. Using 8-bit and paged AdamW optimizers can save a lot of memory when training large models. This means you can run more complex models on cheaper, lower-memory GPUs.
  2. The 8-bit optimizer is almost as effective as the 32-bit version, showing similar results in training. You can get great performance with less memory required.
  3. Paged optimizers help manage memory efficiently by moving data only when needed. This way, you can keep training even if you don't have enough GPU memory for everything.