technology Archives - Author JD Lasica

AI & fiction: Where to draw the lines

You’ve probably seen them on Facebook, X, BlueSky, or your favorite social network. The posts usually start with something like this: I will never read a book where the author used AI in any form or fashion!!! I don’t often wade into these debates, but if I did, I’d point out that many—perhaps most—authors already use AI in some part of their creative process. Research? Almost certainly. Checking the manuscript for errors? Absolutely. Outlining chapters? Maybe. Brainstorming scene ideas? Sometimes. But writing entire chapters of a novel? Or mimicking the style of a favorite bestselling author? Those are entirely different matters. Clear lines and blurrier lines At Authors A.I., the company I co-founded in 2019, we believe in a measured,

20 years ago, a new era of media was born

Ourmedia.org helped usher in an age of grassroots media … and all that followed Where were you 20 years ago? For some of us techies, we were just at the doorstep of Web 2.0. And, in fact, it was 20 years ago today that a major milestone was achieved – one that you likely won’t read about anywhere else. On March 21, 2005, my partner Marc Canter and I launched Ourmedia.org. The site billed itself as an open media platform for grassroots creators, ranging from video producers to musicians to citizen journalists. Its most lasting legacy, however, is that it was the world’s first free video hosting service. It wasn’t until May 2005 that YouTube launched its private beta. (Yes, kids,

‘The Golden Relic’: What ChatGPT says

My new technothriller “The Golden Relic” marks the beginning of a new series of AI action thrillers I’ll be writing over the next couple of years. Early reviewers are giving it five stars and high ratings, and it’s already hit No. 1 in one Amazon bestseller category. The novel’s plot follows a father who’ll go to any length to protect his 10-year-old daughter from a tech mogul bent on using her in his quest for immortality. Technothrillers can be a blend of action thriller, military thriller and a bit of science fiction thrown in, and this story has all three. But what I found most interesting about this release was the reaction of the ChatGPT 4o AI to this novel in

Why can I text from my phone but not from my computer?

Years ago, in the primordial days of the Web when I started blogging in May 2001, a lot of us used blogs to share tips on how to solve problems, from personal issues to puzzling tech conundrums. Then came Facebook and Twitter to kill off blogging and hobble most forums. Trouble was, they remain nearly impossible to search for evergreen solutions to such problems. But now there’s a new entrant for problem solving: AI. For the past year, I’ve been combing through post after post on various sites and forum, encountering dozens of different solutions for how to solve a problem that’s been vexing me for the past year: Why can I send and receive texts from my iPhone 15, but

Will 2023 be the year AI dominates culture?

While artificial intelligence has crept into nearly every facet of modern life, it has largely been an afterthought for most of us, even as we know it’s playing a big role in defense weaponry, pharmaceuticals and financial transactions. (Well, it’s been more than an afterthought for me. AI is at the center of my new high-tech thriller, Firefall.) But the past half year, and particularly the past six weeks, leads me to think that AI will be front and center for an increasing number of us — particularly those in the so-called professional class, such as writers, journalists, academics, researchers … and now even artists. Some of this may turn out to be merely diverting. But much of it will

Discord’s broken log-in authentication

I have worked in the tech industry for the past 20 years and I have never come across a service with a user log-in authentication system as utterly broken as Discord. I have been trying to log in for weeks now without success. Let me show you the exact steps I’m taking, with excruciating care to make sure I do everything by the book, and to demonstrate that it still fails to get past Discord’s broken algorithm. Normal log-in at Discord Step 1: I go to I go to https://discord.com/login I enter my US-based mobile phone # I choose forgot password because I forgot to write it down when I registered in April. Step 2: It takes me to the

BingeBooks sheds a light on book discovery.

BingeBooks launches a promising book discovery site

A new platform for book discovery called BingeBooks (tagline: “Find your next great read”) just launched fills a gap in the book marketplace.

Why cybersecurity should be front of mind for journalists

Post by Jack Warner TechWarn While anyone who conducts any kind of digital activity is at risk of a security breach or cyber attack, journalists are especially vulnerable to surveillance and hacking by malign actors. The communications and data kept on the devices of those reporting the news is of particular interest to government agencies, large corporations, small businesses and many different kinds of organizations. When journalists concern themselves with cybersecurity and take defensive measures, they not only protect their own personal data and that of their news organization but also they also strike a blow for the independence and integrity of the press. In some cases, data protection is even more significant, rising to a critical safety issue. Why

Infographic: The intriguing ways AIs show humanity in movies

We’ve completed a study of the top artificial intelligences in film and came away with a new appreciation of how screenwrites are depicting this emerging technology. Here’s our ranking of AIs’ appearances on the silver screen and what kind of statement each movie makes about our humanity.

What will your personal AI look like?

We’ve arrived at another moment of cultural assimilation — the point at which a new concept or technology becomes absorbed into the social fabric as something that’s new and interesting and soon to be taken for granted. I remember when I started talking about social media after I co-founded the social media platform Ourmedia in 2005. Almost nobody had heard of the term “social media” back then. By 2007, social media had started gaining widespread uptake, and by 2008, you’d hear occasional references to the phrase on television newscasts and in prime time. Today it’s become a tired catch phrase on the cable news shows. Mobile, smartphones, virtual reality — each term underwent its own quick adoption curve in recent years, joining the national lexicon