The hottest Automation Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Tech is Going to Get Much Bigger

Not Boring by Packy McCormick • 232 implied HN points • 08 Nov 23
🕹 Technology AI Robotics Startups Automation Innovation
  1. Tech is going to expand significantly as energy, intelligence, and labor become cheaper and more abundant.
  2. Tech companies will grow larger due to their ability to provide scalable intelligence and dexterity services to various industries.
  3. Every market will start to resemble a software market with lower costs, higher margins, and increased R&D investments.

Running dbt-core on Github Actions: a comprehensive guide

The Orchestra Data Leadership Newsletter • 39 implied HN points • 18 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Data Transformation Automation Workflow management Orchestration
  1. Advantages of running dbt-core on GitHub Actions include easy workflow definition in Git, immediate access to latest code, and no need to provision instances for GitHub hosted runners.
  2. Disadvantages of running dbt-core on GitHub Actions include being limited by GitHub's workers, 'fire and forget' implementation, and overhead when connecting to external services.
  3. GitHub Actions workflows can be triggered from external sources like orchestrators using the repository dispatch event or the workflow_dispatch event, providing flexibility in integrating GitHub's CI/CD capabilities into larger automation strategies.

Revolutionizing Data Science: The Latest Trends in Automation, Experimentation, and Language Model Evaluation

Gradient Flow • 259 implied HN points • 26 Jan 23
🕹 Technology Data science Automation Experimentation Language Models
  1. The need for tools to help developers pick models that fit their needs and understand model limitations as general-purpose models are widely used.
  2. Data science teams are tackling automation and early examples targets aspects of projects like modeling and coding assistance, but further advancements are needed.
  3. There's a shortage of research and tools for experimentation and optimization in data science, creating opportunities for entrepreneurs to deliver innovative solutions.

The Tech Buffet #16: Quickly Evaluate your RAG Without Manually Labeling Test Data

The Tech Buffet • 99 implied HN points • 18 Dec 23
🕹 Technology AI Programming Data science Automation Machine Learning
  1. You can automate the testing of Retrieval Augment Generation (RAG) systems without needing to label data yourself. This makes it faster and easier to evaluate their performance.
  2. Generating synthetic datasets with questions and answers allows you to test how well your RAG performs. This method helps you understand the effectiveness of your application and provides useful insights.
  3. Using various metrics is key to evaluating your RAG accurately. This way, you assess different aspects of performance, ensuring you get a well-rounded view of how your system is doing.

Patterns and Predictions for 2024

The Intersection • 98 implied HN points • 20 Dec 23
🕹 Technology AI Interfaces Creativity Automation Predictions
  1. Creativity is now decentralized, allowing anyone with the will and tenacity to create, thanks to technology advancement.
  2. Platforms still hold power over creators, and AI will continue to deindustrialize various types of work, transforming the landscape.
  3. The future holds doing more with less, the 10-80-10 rule of AI in content creation, and an interface shift in areas like search, commerce, and automotive.
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Labour in the middle layer

imperfect offerings • 139 implied HN points • 20 Jul 23
🕹 Technology AI Labor Automation Tech industry
  1. Human work plays a crucial role in maintaining the illusion of intelligence in AI models by performing tasks like reviewing outputs and assigning ratings.
  2. The human labor in the middle layer of AI development is extensive, complex, and ongoing, despite being often overlooked by the industry.
  3. Students and graduates are increasingly becoming involved in platform data work, which can impact their job satisfaction and well-being, raising questions about the future of labor in the AI industry.

Areas of interest (June 2023)

Peter's Newsletter • 137 implied HN points • 20 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Automation Developer Tools
  1. Design-to-code automation is being explored, possibly streamlining the process of translating designs into working code.
  2. Developer playgrounds, like Jupyter notebooks, are becoming more important for creative software development and experimentation.
  3. Treating agents as users opens up new possibilities in app interactions, such as assigning work or leveraging business knowledge in various contexts.

Putting AI To Work

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 39 implied HN points • 11 Apr 24
🕹 Technology AI Automation Software Data Interfaces
  1. AI tools can help businesses automate tasks and improve efficiency without needing coding skills. This makes it easier for companies to integrate AI into their workflows.
  2. It's important to have a single platform that can manage different AI models together. This way, organizations can create more effective applications by combining the strengths of various models.
  3. Moving AI projects from ideas to reality requires careful planning and testing. Organizations need to ensure models are well-trained before using them in real-world applications.

The Thrill of Deprecating Dashboards

Sarah's Newsletter • 239 implied HN points • 29 Nov 22
🕹 Technology Analytics Automation Data Management BI Tools Data Visualization
  1. Having an excessive number of dashboards can lead to inefficiency and confusion within an organization. It's important to prioritize strategic organization over creating new dashboards indiscriminately.
  2. Developing an automated dashboard deprecation strategy can help save time and maintain a clean BI instance. By automating the process, organizations can efficiently manage and delete unused visuals.
  3. Implementing a proactive maintenance plan, such as using a data catalog or automated tools, can help keep BI instances organized and optimal for data insights. Regular cleaning and organization are key to ensuring the effectiveness of analytics strategies.

AI is Racing Forward – on a Very Long Road

Am I Stronger Yet? • 15 implied HN points • 12 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Automation Software Development Data science
  1. AI is making rapid progress, but it is not close to achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). Many tasks still require human capabilities, showing that there is still a long way to go.
  2. Current AIs excel at specific tasks but struggle with complex, nuanced tasks that require extensive context or emotional intelligence, like managing a classroom or writing a novel.
  3. While there are exciting advancements happening with AI, the journey towards true intelligence is more like crossing a vast ocean than a quick sprint, suggesting that there are many challenges ahead.

Microsoft Sentinel SOC 101: Detecting and Mitigating Spear Phishing with Microsoft Sentinel

Rod’s Blog • 59 implied HN points • 12 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Cloud Computing Data Analysis Automation Best Practices
  1. Spear phishing is a serious cyber-attack that targets specific individuals or organizations. Microsoft Sentinel's tools can help detect and prevent these types of threats.
  2. Microsoft Sentinel allows for the creation of custom analytics rules based on KQL queries to identify potential spear phishing activities. This helps in early detection of threats.
  3. Automation and playbooks in Microsoft Sentinel enable immediate responses like blocking URLs or initiating password resets upon detecting a spear phishing attempt.

The Smartest Bear vs the Dumbest Human: The Implications of AI's Growing Problem-Solving Abilities

The Future of Life • 19 implied HN points • 04 Jun 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Computing Automation Engineering
  1. AI is getting really good at problem-solving, even beating humans at some tasks, like solving CAPTCHAs. This shows that AI can reason better than many humans, especially in certain situations.
  2. The Turing test isn't just one hurdle to jump over; it's a series of challenges that measure how closely AI can act like a human. As AI improves, it passes more of these challenges, showing its capabilities.
  3. While current AI isn't fully intelligent like a human, it's almost ready to solve a lot of problems. The only big limitation is how much computing power is available for training these AI systems.

You like AI agents? You're gonna love it when they're on the blockchains

State of the Future • 19 implied HN points • 05 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI Blockchain Data Privacy Decentralization Automation
  1. AGI might not be a single powerful entity, but a network of interacting agents that work together, running on local devices instead of big data centers.
  2. Keeping workflow privacy is really important. It's not just about protecting data, but also about keeping the ways agents solve problems secret to maintain competitive advantage.
  3. Blockchain can help agents make many small payments to each other easily, something traditional banking systems aren't designed for. This opens up new economic possibilities for AI agents.

#3 - Big AI Goes to the White House + Pandora's AI Box? + AI Treaties

Navigating AI Risks • 117 implied HN points • 05 May 23
🕹 Technology AI Automation Jobs Government Regulation
  1. The White House is engaging with top AI companies to discuss risks and set guidelines for responsible AI use.
  2. Leaked documents show concerns about open-source AI catching up to big companies, raising issues about model accessibility and misuse.
  3. Generative AI is being used to automate tasks, raising concerns about job displacement and income inequality across various industries.

Why Job Displacement Predictions are Wrong: Explanations of Cognitive Automation

Scaling Knowledge • 117 implied HN points • 30 May 23
🕹 Technology AI Automation Cognition ML Economics
  1. Predictions about job displacement due to large language models are often wrong because they lack explanations of how LLMs and human intelligence differ.
  2. Jobs are more likely to be augmented than automated by technologies like LLMs, as human creativity and autonomy are essential in many fields like software engineering, medicine, law, and media production.
  3. Regulations on AI and cognitive automation may hinder progress and knowledge creation, leading to unforeseen consequences and limiting the potential benefits of such technologies.

Quality Engineering Basics: Quality Metrics

QUALITY BOSS • 39 implied HN points • 25 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering Metrics Quality Automation
  1. Metrics help show how good a product is and can lead to improvements. They can boost quality and user happiness.
  2. Bug metrics track issues like how many bugs are found after release and how long they take to fix. This helps teams focus on areas needing help.
  3. Product and automation metrics can include customer satisfaction and how well automated tests work. They help understand what's going right or wrong in the product.

How to Deploy Microsoft Sentinel Effectively

Rod’s Blog • 59 implied HN points • 01 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Security Cloud Computing Data Management AI Automation
  1. To get the most out of Microsoft Sentinel, organizations should carefully plan and prepare their deployment by assessing security needs and goals.
  2. Choosing the right subscription and pricing model is crucial for optimizing the benefits of Microsoft Sentinel, based on data requirements, user protection, and features needed.
  3. Effective management of Microsoft Sentinel involves monitoring data ingestion, leveraging AI and ML capabilities, automating workflows, and learning from security incidents and feedback.

Why I’m excited about AI-assisted human feedback

Musings on the Alignment Problem • 459 implied HN points • 29 Mar 22
🕹 Technology AI Feedback Machine Learning Automation Evaluation
  1. The use of reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) has been successful in aligning models with human intent like following instructions.
  2. Training AI systems on tasks that are hard for humans to evaluate may not be directly solvable with RLHF due to challenges in generalization and evaluation.
  3. AI-assisted human feedback, like recursive reward modeling (RRM), can help tackle complex tasks by involving human evaluation in aligning AI systems.

Controllable Agents For RAG With Human In The Loop Chat

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 19 implied HN points • 27 May 24
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Natural Language Processing Automation Human-computer interaction
  1. Controllable agents improve how we interact with complex questions. They help make sense of complicated tasks by allowing step-by-step execution.
  2. Human In The Loop (HITL) chat lets users guide the process and provides feedback after each step. This means users can refine their inquiries live without long waits.
  3. The new tools from LlamaIndex aim to make working with large datasets easier by offering more control. This helps users monitor and adjust the process as needed.

Microsoft Sentinel SOC 101: How to Detect and Mitigate a VIP Account that has Multiple Failed Logons within a Threshold with Microsoft Sentinel

Rod’s Blog • 99 implied HN points • 17 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Security Microsoft Cyberattacks Cloud Automation
  1. Microsoft Sentinel helps in detecting and mitigating brute-force attacks on VIP accounts, which are high-level privileged user accounts in organizations.
  2. Brute-force attacks involve trying multiple passwords to gain unauthorized access to accounts or systems, making VIP accounts attractive targets.
  3. Organizations can use Microsoft Sentinel to set thresholds for failed logon attempts, create custom detection rules, investigate alerts triggered by VIP accounts, and take necessary response actions.

A minimal viable product for alignment

Musings on the Alignment Problem • 399 implied HN points • 29 Mar 22
🕹 Technology AI Research Automation Alignment ML
  1. Progress in AI can expand the range of problems humanity can solve, addressing the limitation of human capabilities.
  2. Automating alignment research using AI systems can accelerate progress by overcoming talent bottlenecks and enabling faster evaluation and generation of solutions.
  3. An alignment MVP approach is less ambitious than solving all alignment problems but can still lead to solutions by leveraging automation and AI capabilities.

Microsoft Sentinel SOC 101: How to Detect and Mitigate Malware Attacks with Microsoft Sentinel

Rod’s Blog • 99 implied HN points • 20 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Security Threat Detection Threat intelligence Incident Response Automation
  1. Malware attacks can result in data breaches, financial losses, and damage to an organization's reputation, underscoring the importance of robust security measures and tools like Microsoft Sentinel.
  2. Microsoft Sentinel offers customizable anomaly detection and User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) anomalies to identify and respond to potential threats effectively without complex tuning.
  3. Threat intelligence integration, data connectors, and built-in analytics rule templates in Microsoft Sentinel help organizations import, centralize, and leverage threat indicators to proactively detect and respond to malware attacks.

Microsoft Sentinel SOC 101: How to Detect and Mitigate Phishing Attacks with Microsoft Sentinel

Rod’s Blog • 99 implied HN points • 19 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Data Analysis Automation Threat Detection Cloud Computing
  1. Phishing attacks are a significant threat that targets human vulnerabilities and can lead to identity theft or financial fraud.
  2. Organizations can mitigate phishing attacks by adopting a 'defense in depth' strategy that includes user education, email filtering, and incident response planning.
  3. Utilizing Microsoft Sentinel, Kusto Query Language (KQL), and integrating with Microsoft 365 Threat Protection can enhance proactive threat hunting and response capabilities against phishing attacks.

Saving Time Using Auto1111's API: Automated Workflow for XYZ Grids

followfox.ai’s Newsletter • 98 implied HN points • 27 May 23
🕹 Technology Automation API Workflow Testing Scripting
  1. An automated workflow using Auto1111's API can save time when generating XYZ comparison grids
  2. The process involves creating a CSV file with parameters for each grid and using a script to feed these parameters to Auto1111 through the API
  3. While this automated workflow can save time, it may not allow for immediate review and adjustments after each grid generation

Generative AI is good at cooperating with people and bad at full automation

Skybrian’s Blog • 98 HN points • 29 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Generative AI Automation Software Development AI Tools
  1. Generative AI excels in cooperating with people but struggles with full automation.
  2. Random variety is engaging but not ideal for repetitive tasks.
  3. Combining the strengths of traditional software for repetition and generative AI for creativity can lead to successful and interactive cooperation between people and AI tools.

Weekly Micro Market: Linkedin Automation Tools

Micro Markets Newsletter • 2 HN points • 29 Aug 24
💼 Business Marketing Sales Technology Automation Entrepreneurship
  1. LinkedIn automation tools help salespeople and recruiters connect with potential clients or candidates more efficiently by automating repetitive tasks like sending messages.
  2. This market is worth about $2-4 billion and has many competitors, but most tools struggle with user-friendliness, creating opportunities for new, simpler tools.
  3. Running these tools is complex and risky because they may violate LinkedIn's terms of service, but there's potential for innovation by creating complementary services that improve outreach success.

GALE Is A Next-Gen Generative AI Productivity Suite

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 19 implied HN points • 15 May 24
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Software Development Automation Productivity Tools Enterprise Solutions
  1. GALE is a new AI tool that helps businesses automate tasks. This saves time and allows employees to focus on important work.
  2. It allows users to create temporary applications for short-term projects, which can be discarded afterward. This is great for quick tasks without long-term commitment.
  3. GALE can save companies money by reducing repetitive work and improving efficiency. This helps businesses grow and innovate.

Beat your Bot: Building your Moat against AI

Musings on Markets • 2 HN points • 28 Aug 24
🕹 Technology AI Computing Data Disruption Automation
  1. AI is getting better at doing mechanical tasks, but it struggles with intuitive ones. This means jobs that rely on creativity and adaptability are safer than those that are purely formulaic.
  2. Jobs that follow strict rules can be easily replaced by AI, while those that need human judgement and understanding of principles will be harder for AI to take over. This shows the value of being skilled in areas that require more complex thinking.
  3. To protect your job from AI, be a generalist instead of a specialist, practice telling stories around your work, and try not to rely too much on technology for reasoning. This can help you stay unique and valuable in a changing job landscape.

The GenAI D&R Revolution Begins

Detection at Scale • 19 implied HN points • 13 May 24
🕹 Technology AI Security Automation Data Analysis Tools
  1. Security companies at RSA are increasingly focusing on AI to enhance Detection and Response (D&R) processes.
  2. Automated Tier 1 Triage using autonomous SOC analysts can streamline alert triage and analysis, improving efficiency for SecOps teams.
  3. GenAI can also improve D&R through AI-powered chatbots for automating organizational Q&A and log summarization for quicker insights and analysis.