Hacking
This week: China allegedly hacked lots of stuff. (Their position: No, we didn’t. You did. Which, I mean...)
This week in 1973: The Morning News opinion page described “a science fiction fantasy” where a “programmer” infects computers with a “virus,” holding the system hostage until the owner pays a “fee.”
Right. “Fantasy.”
Synthetic Speech
This week: A documentary about Anthony Bourdain used AI to synthesize the late chef’s voice, prompting a wave of takes about the ethics of deepfakes.
This week in 1961: two researchers demo-ed a synthetic speech technique at a conference. Their machine recited Hamlet, which was a perhaps a bit on-the-nose: “Of course, as far as the computer was concerned, to be or not to be alive was the question.”
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Robot Therapists
This week: Kara Swisher interviewed the co-founder and CEO of Talkspace. They agreed that computers are never going to replace humans as therapists.
This week in 1976: A researcher at the University of Washington unveiled a sex-therapy program. “Our goal is to eliminate the therapist,” he said.
Privacy
This week in 1975: A columnist for the Bloomington Pantagraph warned about the government’s ability “to construct instant dossiers” on “anyone who has ever paid taxes, used a credit card, driven a car, served in the military, or been arrested.”
“Too much efficiency scares me.”
Same, columnist. Same.
Matchmaking
This week in 1968: Well before Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid, and Match.com, humans were using computers to find a significant other. So much so that human-ness became a selling point for flesh-and-blood matchmakers. Clara Lane, who bought this ad, needed no help from machines. By the time she passed in 1985, she claimed to have matched over 25,000 couples.