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- 🍜 Meta’s LLaMA in hot water..
🍜 Meta’s LLaMA in hot water..
Meta accused of using pirated books to train its AI...
Welcome, Noodle Networkers.
Shopify’s CEO just laid down the new hiring rule: beat AI or don’t bother applying 🤖. Basically, if ChatGPT can do your job, your resume might get ghosted by a bot and a human. Tough times for middle managers with strong “circle back” energy. Meanwhile, Meta’s in hot water for allegedly training its AI on pirated books 📚. Authors are furious, and we get it—no one wants their 600-page fantasy epic feeding a chatbot that can’t even spell “dragon” correctly. And Trump’s tariff plans are being compared to an AI hallucination 💼. Which is kind of fitting, because if you’ve ever asked a chatbot to explain global trade policy, it probably sounded exactly like this.
Are we blazing into an AI-powered future, or just watching humans and machines take turns breaking things? Let’s dig in...
In today’s AI digest:
Shopify CEO says prove your job beats AI before hiring more 🤖
Meta accused of using pirated books to train its AI 📚
Trump’s tariffs may be real and an AI hallucination 💼
Read time: 5 minutes
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY
(source: CNBC)
The Digest: Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke just gave hiring managers a new rule: unless your dream hire can beat AI in a cage match—don’t even ask. In a memo that feels part sci-fi, part HR policy, Lütke said teams now need to prove a job can’t be done by AI before adding a human to the mix. So, if you thought cover letters were stressful, wait until you’re competing against a chatbot with a 0% sick day rate.
Key Details:
🤖 AI Before Apply – New policy: before hiring someone, show that AI can’t do it cheaper, faster, or without complaining about the breakroom coffee. Bonus points if you make it cry digital tears trying.
📊 AI Literacy = Job Security – Shopify will now factor AI tool usage into employee performance reviews. So if you’re not on a first-name basis with at least three AI platforms, you might want to make ChatGPT your new work bestie.
🛠️ "GSD" Now Stands for "Get Smart with Data" – Shopify’s GSD (Get Sh*t Done) initiative will be AI-first, which is corporate speak for: “Don’t bring PowerPoint to an AI knife fight.”
💼 Hiring = Final Boss Level – Want to add someone to your team? You better come armed with proof that ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney all said “no thanks.” Otherwise, it’s just you and your new AI coworker “Prompty McTaskbot.”
Why It Matters: Shopify’s move isn’t just about saving money—it’s about setting the tone for a future where your résumé competes with a language model that never needs PTO. This could become the norm across tech, meaning you better learn to prompt like a pro before the robots start giving you feedback.
(source: CBC)
The Digest: Meta’s LLaMA models are in hot water—and this time, it’s not over the metaverse. The company’s being accused of training its AI on millions of pirated books, allegedly pulled from the internet’s favorite shadow library, Library Genesis. Yep, turns out your friendly neighborhood chatbot may have done its summer reading... illegally.
Key Details:
📚 "You wouldn’t download a book"—unless you're Meta – Authors like Kate Mosse and Tracy Chevalier protested outside Meta’s London office, saying the company essentially Napster’d their novels into LLaMA’s training data. Somewhere, a librarian just fainted.
🧑⚖️ Zuck, Lawsuits, and the Shadow Library – In the U.S., writers including Ta-Nehisi Coates and Sarah Silverman have sued Meta, citing court docs where Zuck allegedly gave the OK to use pirated data. Picture a Slack message that reads, “Should we maybe not steal millions of books?” and someone replying, “Too late, training starts Monday.”
🧠 Fair Use, or Fairly Bold? – Meta’s defense? They claim it’s all “fair use”—a legal gray area tech companies love more than engineers love dark mode. Authors, meanwhile, are wondering if “transformative use” includes turning their memoirs into chatbot responses about how to boil eggs.
🌍 The Global Book Club Nobody Asked For – It’s not just the UK and U.S.—French publishers are now joining the legal pile-on, which might explain why LLaMA has suddenly become fluent in passive-aggressive cease-and-desist letters.
Why It Matters: This clash isn’t just about digital books—it’s about whether AI gets to "borrow" the entire library without a library card. The outcome could set big legal precedents, like whether your future chatbot needs to pay royalties when it quotes Shakespeare… or Sarah Silverman.
(source: TheGuardian)
The Digest: Trump’s new tariffs are real—but the formula behind them might be AI fan fiction. Yep, economic analysts are scratching their heads because the math behind the tariffs looks suspiciously like something ChatGPT might spit out at 3 a.m. after too much Red Bull. So while the tariffs are hitting wallets in real life, the logic behind them may have been cooked up by a chatbot with zero understanding of supply chains.
Key Details:
🧮 AI Math Strikes Again – The tariff formula? Take a country's trade deficit with the U.S., divide by its exports to the U.S., then cut that in half. Economists say it’s “simplistic.” AI says it’s “efficient.” We say it’s “a bold move, Cotton.”
🐧 Heard of Heard and McDonald Islands? – The tariff list includes this remote territory inhabited mostly by penguins, raising the question: Did an AI just Google “countries” and hit CTRL+C? Because if we’re taxing penguins now, things have really escalated.
📉 Markets: Not Loving It – Stocks dropped, CEOs panicked, and somewhere an economist screamed into a spreadsheet. Turns out AI-generated trade policy doesn’t exactly calm Wall Street. Who knew?
🗣️ Commerce Secretary Says “Not AI, Just Coincidence” – Officials deny that AI was used. But when your trade logic matches ChatGPT’s suggestions word-for-word, it’s kind of like saying you invented a recipe that happens to be identical to the back of a Kraft box.
Why It Matters: This saga is a reminder that while AI can write poetry, recommend playlists, and help you win bar trivia—it probably shouldn’t set global trade policy without adult supervision. If the U.S. is now negotiating tariffs based on chatbot vibes, we’re officially in the simulation.
THE NOODLE LAB
AI Hacks & How-Tos
The Digest: Google Gemini's "Gems" feature allows you to design personalized AI assistants tailored to specific subjects, enhancing your study sessions with customized guidance.
How-to:
Access Google Gemini:
Navigate to gemini.google.com and sign in with your Google account.
Open the Gem Manager:
On the bottom left sidebar, click on the Gem manager icon.
Create a New Gem:
Click on New Gem.
Assign a specific name to your Gem (e.g., "Physics Tutor").
In the instructions field, detail how you want the Gem to assist with your studies.
Add Knowledge Resources:
Upload relevant study materials such as notes, textbook chapters, or guides to the Knowledge section to provide context for your Gem.
Test and Refine:
Pose sample questions to your Gem to evaluate its responses.
Adjust the instructions and knowledge base as needed to improve accuracy and relevance.
Utilize Your Custom Study Assistant:
Engage with your Gem during study sessions for explanations, practice problems, or clarifications on the subject matter.
Explore More: Use Follow-up Mode to dive deeper into a specific industry and fine-tune your niche selection. We just covered AI-powered niche discovery in a workshop—access it at the top of this email! 🚀
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