Rami's Readings #7

Earthquake, Generative AI, Why Success Doesn't Lead to Satisfaction, and more.

Feb 13

Welcome to Rami’s Readings #7 - a weekly digest of interesting articles, videos, Twitter threads from my various sources across the Internet. Expect a list of reads covering technology, business, culture, fashion, travel and more. Learn about what I do at ramisayar.com/about.

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Please Consider Donating to Help in Turkey and Syria.

Before we get started, I wanted to say my heart goes out to all those affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. It is tough for me to see all the images and videos - it triggers flashbacks from the Beirut explosion, which directly impacted my family. If you need help understanding the challenges faced by search and rescue, read this article.

Please donate to the relief efforts. If you are based in the US, the NYTimes has a roundup on how to help.

Disclosure

Molly White

's clear disclosure for her Crypto newsletter inspired me to attach a disclosure in my own newsletter. We all have unconscious biases, and it is good for you, as a reader, to know of my own.

Disclosure: I work at Microsoft Bing. The vast majority of my tech career has been at Microsoft. I spent more than 3 years shipping novel machine learning-powered user experiences to millions of users at Bing. This experience gives me an unusual perspective on design, UX, AI, and the web. I have also spent numerous years connecting and speaking with technologists and developers worldwide as a Technical Evangelist. Based on my experience, I have a unique vantage point on technology.

As a matter of principle, I will not comment or share news related to my employer (Microsoft) or the product I work on (Bing) as it would be a conflict of interest. I will also not provide commentary on AI, LLMs, UX, etc., regarding Search at Bing. I am bound by strict NDAs anyways. I may comment on ChatGPT, Generative AI startups, Google, Apple, etc. but not in relation to news from Bing. For example, discussing the impact of ChatGPT (a separate company, not majority owned by Microsoft) on Google is OK, but not what Bing is doing and its impact on Google. Currently, I am not speaking on behalf of Microsoft (that was my past life as an Evangelist), and all opinions are my own and do not represent my employer. With respect to my investments, I hold a substantial position in Microsoft stock.

You should be aware of my biases, as implied above. I will say it anyways, nothing I share or comment on should be construed as legal, financial, investment, professional, or any other kind of advice. I don't post sponsored content on Substack, my website, or my Twitter account. If I am sharing a link, it is because I genuinely want to share it, not because I am paid to share it.

Given the news this week... I will avoid sharing links or articles about it. It has been adequately covered on social media and in most news outlets, so I will focus on articles that may have been missed.