Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another: 

• The Fish Doorbell. “The Dutch don’t open certain locks in the spring. The Fish Doorbell is a crowdsourced solution to the problem of fish migrations in the locks and canals of the Netherlands. People watch a camera next to the lock doors. When they see a fish, they press a button. Enough presses, and the operators open the lock doors to let the fish through. This is a great example of Internet edge cases—and something that could be done by AI, but it is a great way to raise awareness of fish populations. You’ll need to use Google Translate to view this in English (unless you happen to speak Dutch), so I’ve provided the translated link.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• WavTool. “Another example of AI changing everything. While we’ve been obsessing over all the outputs of large language models, the fact that it can take simple text as input is revolutionary. This is the first technology that has absolutely zero learning curve. It is its own documentation. As a result, it is dramatically reducing—even eliminating—the barriers of entry in domains that used to take years to master. And it’s here for music now, too. WavTool is an example of this kind of innovation: Just give it feedback, and it’ll update a song in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW.) ‘Add some high hats,’ or ‘make the melody happier.’ Impressive, but the downstream effects are going to be astonishing. We’re going to flood the world with user-generated content. Spotify has 11 million artists — if we assume a population of two billion Internet users, that’s one in 181 people. What happens when it has 110 million? 1.1 billion? Interesting times.” (Alistair for Mitch and video below).
• Yes, plants can talk: Groundbreaking study finds plants make sounds at a high frequency when stressed – CTV News. “Remember that horrifying Roald Dahl story, The Sound Machine, about the guy who builds a super sensitive sound detector, only to be terrorized by the sound of the grass crying in agony when being mowed, and trees screaming in pain when branches are sawed off?” (Hugh for Alistair and video below).
• Hotel California – One girl One band – Study hard at the age of six – Miumiu Guitargirl – YouTube. “I don’t even think the most malicious AI could come up with something as creepy as this.” (Hugh for Mitch)
• ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it – MIT Technology Review. “This is a very ’today’ relevant article. I’m seeing schools ban the use of ChatGPT for their students. Ignorance (or lack of knowledge) is a dangerous position when you’re butting up against this type of technology (one that is quickly-adopted, exponential in growth, and adaptive – moment by moment). Calling for a ‘ban’ does nothing. All schools need to rethink everything… and do it now. If I was in charge of an educational institution, these are the questions I would be asking: How can ChatGPT be integrated into the curriculum without disrupting the traditional teaching methods, which have been around for centuries? What strategies can be employed to ensure that students maintain a balance between AI-assisted learning and traditional education? How can educators adapt their teaching methods to capitalize on the potential benefits of AI? In what ways can ChatGPT contribute to reducing educational disparities and increasing access to quality education for students in underprivileged or remote areas? How can the education system address potential ethical concerns related to data privacy and algorithmic biases when using AI? And, there are more. I fear that most schools are simply worried about ‘cheating’.” (Mitch for Alistair).
• Here are the 14 incredible things created with GPT-4 – Sam Woods – Twitter. “This is a wild ride. Just scroll through this Twitter thread… most people think commercialized AI is all about creating more copy/content… most people are really not paying attention to what AI can do… and how quickly it’s learning and expanding its capabilities. You have been warned…” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.