The Talk Show With John Gruber   /     415: ‘A Good Duck Butt’, With Allen Pike

Special guest Allen Pike joins the show to talk about the state of generative AI and how Apple Intelligence measures up (so far). Also: some speculation on Apple’s pending acquisition of the ever-difficult-to-pronounce Pixelmator.

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Links:

• Allen’s blog.
• Allen’s take on Apple Intelligence, so far: “It’s Good for Apple, and Okay for You”. (Includes the Image-Playground–generated derpy-looking images of Allen that we discuss on the show.)
• Forestwalk Labs — Allen’s new startup.
• Allen’s podcasts:
  • Fun Facts with Arik Devens, now complete.
  • It Shipped That Way.
• CGP Grey and Myke Hurley discuss how Apple Intelligence message suggestions feel “anti-human” on Cortex ep. 161.
• Cursor — “The AI Code Editor”.
• Rich Sutton’s 2019 essay “The Bitter Lesson” (“The biggest lesson that can be read from 70 years of AI research is that general methods that leverage computation are ultimately the most effective, and by a large margin.”)
• AMC’s “Halt and Catch Fire”, which ran four seasons from 2014–2017.
• Ellen Cushing for The Atlantic: “Thanksgiving Should Be in October”.

This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.