A Google engineer in an AI project states that they have created a sentient AI. The engineer is currently on administrative leave from Google. The article uses the word sentient, which basically means having emotions, or consciousness, but the text from the article makes it sounds like we’re discussing sapience, which is self-awareness.
Charlie Jane Anders writes about the balance to grimdark, which she has dubbed sweetweird.
Sugar the Horse has become more than an internet celebrity; she is an icon of those who spent the pandemic evaluating their lives and deciding working most of your waking life was not what they wanted to do.
Brian Fies has won Eisner awards for his graphic works. His latest book, a work of fiction called The Last Mechanical Monster, is available for pre-order.
File770 reviews “Under the Sea With Dredgie McGee,” a puppet show.
Gamerant outlines the origin of the Klingon language in Star Trek.
Nerds of a Feather reviews All the Seas of The World by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Jason Hong wonders how superheroes will maintain their secret identities in a world of increasing security surveillance.
I’m sorry, I think we’re being hoaxed. A Joker sequel, with Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn and it’s a musical? I mean, if you’re going to cast Lady Gaga, there should be singing, but… really?
Tor.dot provides some short fiction from Tamsyn Muir.
A Maryland judge shot down a Maryland law aimed at getting e-books into libraries at a reasonable price. The decision, that the state’s law around e-books is “unconstitutional and probably unenforceable” was hailed by publishers as a victory for copyright law. The lawmakers’ intentions seem good here—it reads more as if they simply didn’t think the concept through.
Over on Whatever, John Scalzi wrote about Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” and what it made him think about storytelling.
This spidery Japanese robot nightlight will lead you safely to and from the bathroom in the middle of the night, and wander around your house the rest of the time. Useful, or creepy?
I’m old enough to remember when “Superman” was a musical on Broadway, back in the mid-’60s, so why not a Joker musical, too? Could be a hoot!
You are more open-minded and more imaginative than I am, Sandy.
Hey, I’m not saying I’d plop down $18 to see a Joker musical in a theater. And if I really were more imaginative than you, Marion, I’d be writing books and stories like you are!