I wanted to take a second to nod to the brilliant work my colleagues produced for the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Reporter Christopher Spata profiled 9/11 survivor Ken Greene, who “was 42 when he walked into the World Trade Center that Tuesday morning, headed to his office on the 65th floor and nearly did not walk out.” Lane DeGregory profiled Brian Muldowney, a Hillsborough County Fire battalion chief whose firefighter brother died while responding to the attacks. And Dan Sullivan talked to two federal agents who investigated the hijackers’ connections to a Florida flight school.
Meanwhile, I experienced a total crash-out while absorbing last week's AI whistleblower news predicting the end of humanity in three years. I wrote satire to highlight how silly mundane tasks feel in the face of such existential dread, yes. But the column was also a nearly verbatim account of my Thursday, down to the quiche. My editor thought I was invoking Orson Welles hyperbole in the part about the radio dropping out, but I explained that the moment literally happened.
Read it: A day in the life as AI prepares to eradicate humanity
Anyway, I know the discourse on this news has shifted toward criticizing the whistleblowers for participating in the "boiling people alive factories" in the first place, which is totally fair. But at least they are sounding alarms at all. Whether or not humans will go extinct in three years, please, please stop using AI for idiotic reasons. The posters are ugly, the memes are not funny, and much of the rest is intellectual theft. And if you're so inclined, call your representatives to support legislation that would temporarily halt advanced AI development. For the kids if for no one else.
The quiche was fine, thanks.
