Last week, both Microsoft and Google gave demos of their new artificial intelligence–powered search assistants. Microsoft’s Bing Chat sits inside its Bing search engine and Edge web browser, while Google’s Bard chatbot will do its thing on the same page where Google’s standard search results appear.
… And so on, until the 36th person types “Good morning,” and the work day can begin. It’s nine in the morning, and Alexia D., a graphic designer, types the final “Good morning.” No one dares skip the greeting. Not Alexia, not anyone. If she does, the team leader will log her as absent, even if 10 minutes later she is on the screen with her work completed and a smile on her face, ready to review project updates.
In September 2021, the criminologist Betsy Stanko went into the Metropolitan police force to work out why they weren’t catching rapists. The previous year, less than 3% of rapes reported to the Met had resulted in charges being brought; in 2021, that percentage almost halved.
ChatGPT, the internet-famous AI text generator, has taken on a new form. Once a website you could visit, it is now a service that you can integrate into software of all kinds, from spreadsheet programs to delivery apps to magazine websites such as this one. Snapchat added ChatGPT to its chat service (it suggested that users might type “Can you write me a haiku about my cheese-obsessed friend Lukas?”), and Instacart plans to add a recipe robot. Many more will follow.
Everyone lives with a shared burden: Inevitably, each of us will die, and so will the people we love. It’s easy enough to ignore when you’re young or healthy, but anxious questions remain. When and how will it all end? And what will happen when I’m gone?
THIS WEEKEND we watched Aftersun, the 2022 drama written and directed by Charlotte Wells, starring Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio and Celia Rowlson-Hall. We talked about it for quite a while after it was over, analysing what it could mean, discussing our own interpretations, processing the feeling of sadness it left in us afterward. It's about memory⏤more specifically, our memories of those we love after they are gone, the people we remember them as, sometimes as opposed to how they really were.
Communities can be amazingly resilient after traumas. Londoners banded together during the German Blitz bombings of World War II, and rebuilt the city afterward. When I visited the Thai island of Phuket six months after the 2004 tsunami killed thousands in the region and displaced even more, I found a miraculous recovery in progress, and in many places, little remaining evidence of the tragedy. It was inspirational.
“Time — a few centuries here or there — means very little in the world of poems.” There is something reassuring about Mary Oliver’s words. Especially in an era of rapid change, there is comfort to be had in those things that move slowly. But oceans rise and mountains fall; nothing stays the same. Not even the way poetry is made.
THIS INSTALMENT OF 10 IMAGES features the charming meanderings of Rachel Cooney, a second-hand shop enthusiast and the Creative Content Manager @daylesfordfarm, who is also in the process of renovating her first home. In fact, it was the image of her kitchen, below, that first caught our eye, with its tile backsplash and leaning artwork, island counter, antique jugs and wicker. Rachel's feed also features old cars in London streets and vintage finds in second shops, quiet corners of her ongoing renovation and more...
JUST A FEW SNAPSHOTS of the things we've been up to this past July, including a quick trip to Edinburgh that ended up taking longer due to the heatwave, so iced coffees on the morning of the day that we were supposed to return home; pink English roses in the bright June sun and Sweet Potato, Ginger & Garlic Tofu Stew (with Lime and Spinach) ...
STOCKHOLM-born Felicia Akerstrom's impeccable style has been featured here at TIG many times before. The blogger, digital influencer and content creator describes her social channels as a visual diary of her style and travels. We love her minimalistic style and her effortless high-low mix of investment pieces and affordable finds. From long skirts and light-knit sweaters to white pantsuits and black halter dresses, here are a few of our favourite looks...
Many science students may imagine a ball rolling down a hill or a car skidding because of friction as prototypical examples of the systems physicists care about. But much of modern physics consists of searching for objects and phenomena that are virtually invisible: the tiny electrons of quantum physics and the particles hidden within strange metals of materials science along with their highly energetic counterparts that only exist briefly within giant particle colliders.
IT'S STRAWBERRY SEASON and Wimbledon, which can only mean one thing: strawberries and cream. Have you been watching the tennis? Also, Summer Solstice was just a couple of weeks ago and we said a bittersweet good-bye to the longest day of the year. Here is a little of our lately: homemade gazpacho and June rose; pints on a sunny pub terrace and wildflower meadows; friendly llamas and gin and tonics and so much more...
NOW THAT WE'RE updating the TIG Instagram a lot less, we thought we'd begin posting our favourite snapshots here, like we used to. Just because we're not using our social media platforms as much as before does not mean we've stopped making beautiful memories or taking beautiful photos, and since this is, in essence, the scrapbook of lives, why not here?
THE TROUBLE with having so much storage on my phone is that it has inadvertently become a digital hoard of images that have been all but forgotten, the favourites already printed and framed, or made into polaroids. The rest are meant to be sorted at some point, but there are so many of them that it's become a tedious task to be avoided ...
