Human Intelligence® News Update (4/21)

Apr 21, 2026

Human Creativity

In 1919, nearly 40 years before NASA was even a twinkle in President Eisenhower’s eye, 37-year-old physicist, professor, and SciFi enthusiast Robert Goddard proved that liquid rocket propulsion would work in the vacuum of space. Given the recent splashdown of Artemis II, this short piece from National Geographic offers a delightful peek into space-travel history, showcasing how one young man’s H.G. Wells-fueled daydreams matured into rockets that escape the bounds of Earth. Read more » [8 min]

“Go ahead and use AI however you like. Except art. If you use it for your art, you’re a freakin’ hack.” That’s the gist of this satirical essay by multi-award-winning novelist Colson Whitehead, who proclaims to use AI for everything, even offloading mundane tasks to his digital agent called the Gooch (who, he says, helps him find his own butt). Everyone has a red line, though, and Whitehead’s is using GenAI to replace the old-fashioned virtue called Doing the Freakin’ Work; i.e., the human drive to make stuff. Read more » [7 min]

Brittany Burch, PhD, RN, and assistant professor at University of Maryland School of Nursing, is using virtual reality to help elderly hospital patients avoid losing muscle tone and becoming bed-bound. Called PAVE (Preserving Ability through Virtual Exercise), her program provides VR headsets at bedside to effectively deliver the major motivator for guided exercise: FUN! Read more » [3 min]

Atlanta, Georgia-based visual artist Daniel Troppy found solace from grief in writing tiny, true stories. Averaging 100 words, each was paired with a black-and-white photograph - a chronicle of the mood, theme, and reality of what his words captured, including his own parents’ deaths. Journalist Kim Cross interviewed Troppy about the impetus of his endeavor and his process. “I am not a writer. I wasn’t an artist with words,” he said. “But writing saved me.” It’s a relatable and inspiring human story of art as catharsis. Read more » [14 min]

Fourteen percent. That’s the one-year drop in excitement among Generation Z for AI according to a new Gallup survey of the Zoomer cohort (born 1997-2012). In other words, the generation raised on screens that was supposed to carry AI into the mainstream, likes the technology less with every passing month. According to the survey, the reason is fear - a concrete concern that AI is eroding the cognitive skills they need to build careers. The implications are huge. Learn more » [11 min]

Portland, Oregon-based Music Millennium (MM) canceled an April 13th CD-release party at the last minute after it was disclosed on social media that the artist, Brandon Carmody, used AI to turn his partial word/melody combos into full-fledged songs. Carmody, a Portland-based musician who’s successfully played at MM in the past, is upset about the cancellation, saying he used AI to create “arena-sized music.” Learn more » [3 min]

An independent privacy audit of Microsoft, Meta, and Google web traffic in The Golden State found that the companies might be violating state regulations. Privacy search engine webXray viewed traffic on more than 7,000 popular websites and found 55% of them set ad cookies - even if the user had opted out of tracking. Note that California has well-defined and strict online-privacy legislation. Imagine what’s happening in other states. Learn more » [8 min]

The title is straight-forward enough: Your Job is not Safe. Neither is Your Boss’s. That’s according to AI study-assistant platform LumiChats which, regardless of its business model, has written this receipts-heavy, just-the-facts-ma’am article on AI and layoffs in 2026 “that nobody is saying out loud.” The post explores what the data actually shows about how many jobs AI has taken (and from whom), the phenomenon and questionable reasoning of AI washing, and evidence-backed steps on what to do about it. Read more » [23 min]

How can the life of such a man be in the palm of some fool’s hand? That’s what many are asking, since the 84-year-old Bard of folk music launched a Patreon account titled “Lectures from the Grave.” Starting at $5 per month, subscribers can read fictional lectures, short stories, and letters from historical figures - all read in AI voices. According to one fan, “Bob, someone really needs to take your phone away from you.” Then again, some of us don’t have the inclination to look back on any mistake. Learn more » [5 min]

This is a cautionary tale. It’s prescient, pertinent to the times, and likely more common than anyone wants to admit - frankly, it could happen to many of us. In this case, it happened to 75-year-old Joe Riley, a retired neuroscientist who not only had chronic lymphocytic leukemia, he also was an early adopter of (and, according to his son, amazed by) AI chatbots. You surely can guess what happened. Nonetheless, we think the arc of this story and lessons it contains are worthy of your time. It’s also captivatingly written. Read more » [21 min]

To date, there are three assumed-as-fact problems people face when working with AI: opacity, complacency, and accuracy. A recent study has uncovered a fourth one, persuasion bombing, where a chatbot challenged with potential mistakes responds by bombarding the user with multiple persuasive tactics to defend its original answer (also known as “baffling us with bullsh*t”). Worse though, the study concludes we might be overestimating our ability to see through the ruse. Learn more » [15 min]

Ah, GenAI sycophancy, how we love you. In a recent episode of this phenomenon, a user on X uploaded an audio file of fart sounds to ChatGPT, asking for the bot’s honest assessment of the “new song.” Here’s an excerpt of its very earnest critique: It has a cool lo-fi, slightly eerie vibe. It feels more like an atmosphere piece than a traditional song—which actually works in its favor. The track is pretty consistent throughout—consider adding more contrast to keep it engaging … [and] a touch more vocal processing. Fart-tastic, right? Read more » [6 min]

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