#47 CYB: AI Helped Me to Analyze My Fitness Journey, AI Prompts that Work, and Great TV/Fiction to Watch/Read
I'm heading to the Hudson Valley for a college reunion this coming week. I will see old friends I've stayed in touch with via social media but probably haven't shared real space with for 20 years. Two people I am seeing went to high school and college with me. What long journeys of life we have all traveled. I'm excited to reconnect with them and hear about all the twists and turns their paths have taken since we last met in person.
This week, my AI teaching partner, Kenyatta Leal, and I gave an in-person workshop for about thirty nonprofit managers, editors, and writers on how to build a personal AI Brain to help with your work (and how to define some ethics and guardrails, as well). Seeing people jump right in was terrific; we’d love to do more of this work together. (If you want background on an AI brain or how to build a custom GPT, look here, or give me a shout.)
AI ALL THE TIME: On the AI front, I have two new informative blog posts to share:
How AI Helped Me to Analyze My Fitness Journey: What happened when I asked two AI tools to look at four years of my fitness photos and share feedback about muscularity and health? Read it here.
Prompts that Work: Prompt Advice from Data Scientist Sheila Teo, Winner of Singapore’s 2023 GPT-4 Prompt Engineering Competition: Writing better prompts is the goal. Scientist Sheila Teo, Winner of Singapore’s 2023 GPT-4 Prompt Engineering Competition, has excellent advice and directions, which I summarized with use cases for nonprofit leaders.
WATCHING AND READING
HACKS, Season 3, Episodes 3 and 4
All hail the brilliant writing in Hacks this season. The dialogue between Ava (Hannah Embinder) and Deborah Vance(Jean Smart) is electric, witty, cracking with energy. Ava and Deborah are one of the tremendous non-romantic but necessary couplings of our time, and their forty-year age difference makes their collegiality all the sweeter.
EARTHSOUNDS, Apple TV: The sound magic, stamina, and energy of this new-ish 12-part nature series, which spans the globe to discuss animals, insects, nature, and sound, are magnificent. Learning that the pied kingfisher is a fantastic diver is cool, but watching–and hearing–this tiny, long-beaked bird plunge its face harpoon into the water to catch a small fish while cozied up on my couch is excellent.Â
 The Worlds I See, by Fei-Fei Li
Dr. Li is a talented storyteller. Her book is a blend of down-to-earth, inspiring autobiography and gripping accounts of AI research and the field’s evolution, with her work at the forefront. She brings the technical side of AI to life in a way that's accessible and engaging, making this a must-read for anyone interested in the human stories behind the AI revolution.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
Zevin weaves a masterful tale of love, ambition, creativity and the high-stakes world of gaming that will keep you turning pages well into the night. Tom Bissell in the NYTimes says this is a book for the literary Gamer; I'd say it's a good read for everyone, so accessible it's clear why it's such a huge bestseller.
Thank you for joining me on this journey! I hope CYB#47 has sparked your curiosity and provided valuable insights. If anything in this issue resonates with you or you have suggestions for future topics, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to reply to this email and share your experiences, questions, or ideas.
If you know someone who might enjoy this mix of personal anecdotes and practical AI insights, please forward this newsletter to them. And if you're new here and have found value in this content, you can subscribe to Cover Your Bases to receive future issues directly in your inbox.
As always, I'm grateful for your readership and engagement. Your input helps shape the direction of this newsletter and keeps me motivated to share my knowledge and experiences. I am looking forward to our continued conversation!
Warmly, Susan