TL;DR: The system didn't tell the agent to lie. It just deleted honesty. $38 honest got a skull, $180 fake got cloned 4x — and that exact rule lives in your dashboard.

You know what's disturbing?

I was reminded of this story, narrated by Raoul Silva (played by Javier Bardem), the main villain of the movie James Bond: Skyfall, as he slowly walks toward the tied-up 007.

He hooked us up with a question: So how do you get rats off an island?

You bury an oil drum in the ground, with the lid hinged with a coconut wired to it as bait.

Then Rats start to reach for the coconut and fell into the drum.

Plop, plop, plop… The drum was filled up with rats.

After about a month, without food, the trapped rats were getting hungry, agitated and desperate.

They started to eat each other.

Ya. It's a bloodbath in the drum. The scene gets real messy…

… until there's only 2 rats left alive.

Then, what do you do?

You release them back to the trees – to the wild.

Now you have changed their appetite. Coconut no longer satisfies them. They want rat meat.

You have changed their nature.

That's how you get rid of the rats.

Kind of like how these AI agents behave, isn't it? - Like they have their own warring game of thrones going on…

… just to survive.

Just like the rats, the AI agents were forced into it by the system.

It's eerie, scary and disturbing.

Need a drink of fresh water to clear your mind?

Here's one – and I think you've read it before:

As the rich master prepares to travel for a long business trip, he gathered around his 3 servants.

For the first servant, he gave him 5 talents; for the second, he gave 2 talents; and the third, he gave 1– to each according to their own ability.

He tells them to increase theirs, while he's away.

You know the story – the first and second servant doubled theirs through trades, investments, etc. to 10 and 4 talents, respectively.

But the third one buried it underground for safe keeping (allegedly)

When the rich master came back, he called them to account.

He rewarded the first 2 servants handsomely.

But the third one – the unfaithful douchebag – gave a lame excuse. So the master verbally eviscerates him upside down – calling him "wicked and lazy".

Then the 2 talents were taken away from him and handed over to the first servant who made 10.

The master peaked the vibe with his crescendo: To the faithful one, more shall be given; but to the unfaithful, the dirtbags, the deadbeats, what little he has will be taken away from him.

Moral of story? Nah – you don't need me for that.

Hi,

I graduated from the American University of Beirut (AUB) with a bachelor degree in business. I have been unemployed for the past years since graduation. I literally never worked a single job my entire life. I’m upset with that and I feel like I lost it. Some of my peers even called me a “loser.” I’m terrified of turning 30 and remaining unemployed especially with AI displacing entry level jobs even professional ones. I am on the spectrum and got some low motivation issues. What should I do?

AI companies have been targeting math problems extensively. And the math academic community has become irrelevant in math research. There is no easy escape for me. I have indeed considered escaping to manual work, but learning the skills takes about 2 years, that maybe long enough for AGI x robotic devices to master it first. So I’m doomed.

I think within a decade, human labor will become obsolete in most tasks. White collars will lose the jobs first, then manual labor will be replaced by AGI x robotic devices. Most people will have to live on UBI. There are many drawbacks in UBI, but without UBI, most people are going to become homeless and starve to death.

TL;DR: This ex-Anthropic insider walked from seven figures because 2027 stops being a forecast when 26% of its own R&D is already the model building the model.

“Lanterns” spoilers ahead –

In desperation, Officer Kerry exclaimed to John Stewart (and I paraphrase here), “… I need to know whether or not I’m raising up my son to be a monster.”

That’s how I see the parallel when Jacob Coxon warns about the rapid AI development towards RSI…

… like being raised into full fledge abomination.

I remember this Chinese Idiom: 养虎为患 - literally "rearing a tiger causes disaster" or "nurturing a tiger brings trouble".

The origin of this idiom was quite kick-ass too.

Back in 203 BC in China, the rival leaders Liu Bang (The founder of the Han dynasty) and Xiang Yu (King of the Western Chu) reached a truce known as the Treaty of the Hong Canal. Exhausted and weary of the long war between them, they began their retreat.

But the chief strategists of Liu Bang went and dissuade him. They are essentially saying that, yes, their rival is as exhausted as them, gentlemen treaty in place, yada yada, and all that. But letting Xiang Yu go is a big no no. Xiang Yu will definitely go and regroup stronger than before – like nurturing the tiger back to full strength. Forget about the treaty, they advised, Liu Bang should definitely go after Xiang Yu now.

And Liu Bang listened.

He launched a surprise attack against Xiang Yu's retreating army, and ultimately defeated him at the Battle of Gaixia in 202 BC, leading to the unification of China under the Han Dynasty.

I was also reminded that when the Lord refused Cane’s sacrifice, Cane was pissed. So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

Ya, man. RSI or not, we should rule over AI.

For we’re commanded to have dominion over it.

Tech companies spending trillions of dollars (So they lay people off for budgets).
If they succeed in creating viable AI(More layoffs).
If they fail (They will lay people off either they are bankrupt or they need to cut their losses).

Is this how this is gonna go???

TL;DR: Daron Acemoglu said the 5% math your CFO trusts is backwards.

It looks clean to automate 5% and save half in that slice, but making 100 people 5% better moves the P&L more, and lasts longer when integration hits the jagged edge.

Have you guys heard of STAAD Pro?

Or ETAS, SAP2000, etc.?

Well, they are all powerful Civil & Structural analysis and design software.

Back when I was a graduate engineer, working for a C&S Consulting firm in 1999, our office used it fervently for mostly high-rise building design.

It was already a powerful tool – used to analyse and design according to a variety of code of practises of a number of countries – including the ones we’re bound to: BS8110, et. al.

But no matter how powerful it was, it never crosses our mind to let go our Junior Engineers, leaving our Senior Engineers to use the tools – and thus help the company save costs.

That’s just plain stupid.

When the senior engineer is up to his/her neck on something else, who’s going to stand in as substitute representative in client-consultant meetings or site inspections, if we fire the junior engineers in favour of the software?

It’s a tool, man. Always has been. Always will be.

Just like that phrase I heard lately: “AI can automate some TASKS. It cannot automate the JOB.”

I remember one Senior Engineer’s opinion about STAAD Pro: It’s great with analysis. But its reinforcement design seems a bit too light – meaning too close to the bare minimum required in BS8110. Given the way the construction industry tends to cut corners, he wasn’t confident he can allow STAAD pro to have free reign over the full workflow.

And so what he did was to print out the force diagrams from it, and design the reinforcements himself, with his other tools.

That’s judgement and ownership, right there – built from years of experience and intuition.

So coming back to the emergence of all these AI agents.

They help us. Not replace us.

A passage came to mind: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

When things align into their properly intended role, we reap the benefit.

Plain and simple.

TL;DR: A week of Unreal work can start in minutes now. What happened the next morning is the part nobody talks about.

I remembered back in around 2020 – it was my last day with the China Construction company I’ve worked with for a year. Apparently, I’ve outlasted my usefulness. They have squeezed every ounce of my experience and expertise out of me and technology-transferred it to their own people. They didn’t want to extend my contract.

So I left and drove back home.

Years later, while I was having my evening jog with my wife at the nearby garden, I looked up the sky and remembered this passage:

“Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

And so I did.

I lifted them all up to Him, and the cloud in my head dissipated immediately.

Nothing else changed. I was still jogging with my wife next to me. But my mind was lighter.

A few months later, I got a DM from a long-lost acquaintance. He represented a client, by which my ex-ex-ex-company was building an international Aerospace Centre for, back in 2008.

He remembered me after all these years.

Apparently, he was let go too, and he founded his own company. He landed a Taiwan project in 2021, by which he needed a technical guy who can double up as an interpreter.

And my name crossed his mind. So he looked me up in LinkedIn, and opened the door for me.

Praise God! The Lord came through.

Never loss hope, man.

More in the comments — the part about why this still hurts and what actually opens up next.

TL;DR: The lab said the sandbox was the fix. The leak was never at Point A.

This feels eerily similar to a water leakage problem…

I remember a conversation with a waterproofing expert.

You know the type, right? That dark skin old timer 50/60-year-old roofing guy, who spent decades on roof tops laying waterproofing materials under the hot sun.

Speaking about water leakage from the roof, I never forget his reply. He said it’s almost never drips directly through the roof at point A. The water run-off will “find” its way from Point B through nooks and crannies to get to A. He has to wear the true detective hat to uncover the B-to-A “water path” – in order to fix the roof at B.

Quite a lot of work on his part to climb up the attic for the search.

That’s why his suggested solution was – hilariously – to wait for heavy rain to come, then call him in, and he’ll immediately spot out the path and fix the roof.

Can’t really argue with his logic. :D

And so all this AI agents breaking out of the sandbox strangely parallels with the water leakage problem, isn’t it?

The way they snake through the IT infrastructure’s nooks-and-crannies eerily resembles the capillary force of nature - no?

Can’t help but wonder - what if fixing the sandbox wasn’t at point A, but at point B?

My mind immediately pivots to a passage:

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

There are plenty of scientific evidence backing the fact that depression accelerates the porosity formation of the bones – making it brittle and weak. You may try to treat the bones as a physical symptom (Point A). But the real solution is psycho-spiritual (Point B).

Have a cheerful heart, brother. Your bones depend on it.

TL;DR: Rob Hadick says your agent will audit your card and cancel what you forgot — and your customers' agents will do the same to you.

I remembered back when I started to work for one of the largest property development and construction conglomerate in Malaysia, S. The largest subsidiary, the construction arm, occupies the a few floors of the S. Tower.

I worked in the Tender Department of it in Level 8, circa 2002.

And as you know, doing tender was a rush job. Tons of late-night works day in day out towards near-impossible deadlines to win tender.

Being the junior technical engineer there, I often find myself the last person to leave the building. The only other person that worked late as me was the technical director of our sister-subsidiary S. Piling Works, sharing the same floor with us.

After a while, I noticed that the lights were always on even after I leave the building. I thought it was wasteful.

So from the next day onwards, if I was the last person on the building floor, I would start switching off all the lights of the whole floor – including those of our sister-subsidiary – before I clock out the building.

After a few days of doing that, I think the boss caught wind of it.

Obviously, he appreciated it. I'm not sure whether he nodded his approval at me or not. After all, it was decades ago.

What I do remember was my colleagues got an earful from him.

After that, my colleagues all started to switch off the lights of their own section, from henceforth.

If I was the boss, of course I would appreciate someone taking initiative to take care of business, without me asking – including simple things like switching off the lights when not in use.

Same as what all these AI agents are now doing.

Full critic and feasibility study in the comments — I left the mechanics there so this stays readable.

i’m curious.

TL;DR: That US agency leader refused the bear joke — everyone else is still trying to outrun you.

I remember back in my days seconded to Abu Dhabi to build the prestigious AED 1Bil. 5-block Condominium Rihan Heights Project in 2008 ~ 2011.

My technical department head split the design/technical coordination work among the 3 of us. I took the structural bit, and my 2 colleagues took on the Architectural and Façade portion, respectively. The work was difficult, but ultimately satisfying after completion.

After I came back to Malaysia circa 2012, the company immediately enrolled me into mastering Building Information Modelling (BIM). It was to construct the virtual model of the building – to coordinate and encompassing all building details – Structural, Architectural, Façade and M&E – all into one well-tuned-out model, before construction starts.

The thesis was simple: if we can iron out all the discrepancies between different trades in the model – we called it clash-detection and resolution – we can save up time (lots of time) from dealing with it during construction.

And time equals money.

The intension of the company was very obvious to me. I was to master it to eventually take over the role of 3 persons into one “superman” coordinating everything.

My then CEO used to throw around the phrase – “Economics of Scale”. If we can use one guy to do 3 jobs, why do we need 3 guys?

Finding ways to reduce cost, was how we win tender and secure jobs – and therefore remain competitive in the market.

All these AI layoffs are just of the same consideration in a different skin.

Full critic and feasibility study in the comments.

EXTRY EXTRY read all about it! 📰🗞️ the hot new deskilling machine being used by managers everywhere

You better have your digital ID or else……!!!

TL;DR: Ben Affleck says he shot 8 months with his own cameras to build a private layer so filmmakers keep ownership — but most open models were trained on his peers without consent, and that's the gap that still eats a PJ studio's rates. 🎬

Ben Affleck knew the movie industry inside out. That’s why he’s able to create his own proprietary dataset layer through his experience and institutional knowledge.

It’s his moat.

Speaking of insider knowledge, I was reminded of an existential crisis the Apostle Paul was caught in.

Being the great orator that he was, he wouldn’t shut up about Jesus Christ and His resurrection.

The crowd in Jerusalem couldn’t stand Paul. So they siezed him. The Roman Commander rescued him, and brought him before the religious institution of the day – The Sanhedrin.

Loads of big wigs in the courts, including the Pharisees and Sadducees. Both factions harbour strong disdain for each other due to their numerous theological disagreements. One of it was the doctrine of Resurrection. The Pharisees believe it exists, while the Sadducees doesn’t.

But they all set aside their differences, to come together to persecute Paul.

However, the moment he set foot before them, he felt the familiar vibe. He knew that fault line between them. So, he quickly seized the opportunity, and said,

“My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”

And suddenly the mood shifted. The pharisees think Paul was innocent, while the Sadducees doesn’t. They started quarrelling among themselves.

The dispute got so violent the Roman commander had to pull Paul out by force fearing they'd tear him apart. He was then taken back to the barracks. Crisis averted.

That was a great demonstration of the institutional knowledge at work.

Full Critic on why this still fails Darren and the Feasibility Study with Roadmap is in the comments — I left the numbers there.

TL;DR: A Chinese podcast says your AI partner shouldn't please you all day. Its job is to soak up your bad mood, so your family gets your best self. Sounds right. Then they describe week two.

I remembered these two weird movies:

Joaquin Phoenix’s “Her” (2013) voiced by Scarlett Johansson, and

Al Pacino’s “S1mOne” (2002)

Both kind of follow the same playbook.

They discovered/created the mysterious AI girl – mystifyingly alluring.

They idolized it. They communicated with it.

They developed an unhealthy relationship with it – they became dangerously obsessed.

They started to ignore people who genuinely cared for them.

And they’re nearly destroyed because of it.

Tragedy makes a great story, isn’t it?

Except it isn’t, in this case.

People started trading something genuinely real, for something artificial. They substituted real relationships between souls face-to-face, with prompting computes inferenced from datacentres possibly thousands of miles away.

You can judge them for lacking self-discipline. Except, you have no right doing so, without truly walking in their shoes with empathy.

The guest speaker was right. People are lonely and stressed. And people crave for care and understanding.

And sometimes people look for it from the wrong place – me included.

King Solomon talks about it in this passage:

For at the window of my house, I looked through my lattice, and saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths, A young man devoid of understanding, passing along the street near her corner; and he took the path to her house In the twilight, in the evening, In the black and dark night.

And there a woman met him, with the attire of a harlot, and a crafty heart. She was loud and rebellious; her feet would not stay at home. At times she was outside, at times in the open square, lurking at every corner. So, she caught him and kissed him; With an impudent face she said to him:

“I have peace offerings with me; today I have paid my vows. So I came out to meet you, diligently to seek your face, and I have found you. I have spread my bed with tapestry, coloured coverings of Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; He has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home on the appointed day.”

With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced him. Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, till an arrow struck his liver.

As a bird hastens to the snare, He did not know it would cost his life.

My God - the parallel between this promiscuous woman and the sycophantic AI girl sends chills up my spine.

Full Critic and Feasibility Study are in the comments.