[ath_ray]

Author here. I understand the critique in the comments about not justifying the "why" part enough. The people who this was intended for and who benefited from it didn't need much of a justification, because they were already excited about AI (there was more justifying in the first draft, but I removed it because it made it tedious to read). I might consider removing the parenthetical from the title.

I don't intend to induce FOMO into anyone for keeping up. If you don't want to keep up, that's your prerogative.

AI has always been one of the most interesting parts of computer science to me, and watching its capabilities rapidly improve in recent years has been energising for the Hacker in me (the Hacker that this site is named after!). And also the sci-fi nerd in me. But there's a lot of sludge out there, and so this blog started as a list to give a starting point for enthusiastic colleagues and other folks in my circles.

Aside, I generally lament the general cynicism that has taken over this site, and in the industry in general. As technologists, we should be excited about technology. And I don't mean in a performative, uncritical way. It should be a joyful dissection, a desire to learn new things and be there for the breakthroughs. It's also on us to make sure we're trying to do Good with it. I also believe that knowledge is (some) power, and it helps us reclaim some agency that will help us steer technology into a Good place. It doesn't make sense to be anti-technology and anti-curiosity as a tech worker.

We really can make technology fun again. We just have to allow ourselves to be curious about it and I want to enable some of that :)

PS: I have a section in the article that mentions what "reading this list" looks like. It's usually 15-20 minutes of my time every day.