Une mise à jour apparemment anodine des conditions d'utilisation d'eBay a révélé une transformation en cours dans le monde du commerce en ligne. Repérée par Value Added Resource, cette modification interdit explicitement aux agents tiers de type « buy for me » et aux chatbots pilotés par l'intelligence artificielle d'interagir avec la plateforme sans autorisation préalable. Si, à première vue, une simple ligne ajoutée aux conditions générales peut sembler triviale, elle signale en réalité l'émergence rapide et perturbatrice de ce que les experts appellent désormais le commerce agentique.

Ce nouveau terme désigne une catégorie d'outils d'IA conçus non seulement pour discuter, mais pour naviguer, comparer et effectuer des achats à notre place. eBay a décidé de prendre les devants face à cette tendance. Les nouvelles conditions, qui entreront en vigueur le 20 février prochain, sont sans équivoque. Elles interdisent spécifiquement aux utilisateurs d'employer des agents d'achat, des bots pilotés par de grands modèles de langage ou tout flux de bout en bout tentant de passer des commandes sans validation humaine. Auparavant, l'accord interdisait de manière générale les robots et le scraping de données, mais ne mentionnait jamais spécifiquement l'IA générative ou les LLM.

L'expression « commerce agentique » pourrait ressembler à un jargon marketing futuriste, mais la réalité est que ces outils sont déjà opérationnels et adoptés par le grand public. Bien que regroupés sous une même étiquette, ils prennent des formes variées. OpenAI a été l'un des premiers à ouvrir la voie en ajoutant des fonctionnalités d'achat à ChatGPT Search en avril 2025, permettant de parcourir des recommandations de produits. Dès septembre, l'entreprise lançait l'Instant Checkout, permettant d'acheter des articles de vendeurs Etsy et Shopify directement dans l'interface de chat.

La concurrence s'intensifie également ailleurs. Perplexity propose désormais « Buy with Pro », une fonctionnalité de paiement en un clic pour ses abonnés payants. De son côté, Google a récemment dévoilé son Universal Commerce Protocol, un standard ouvert destiné à faciliter les interactions entre les agents d'IA et les détaillants. Même Amazon s'y met avec sa propre fonction « Buy For Me », utilisant l'IA pour acheter des articles sur des sites de marques externes via l'application maison. Face à cette prolifération, eBay tente de reprendre le contrôle de son écosystème.

Cette mise à jour politique fait suite à des changements techniques plus discrets opérés en décembre sur leur fichier « robots.txt ». Ce dernier indique aux bots quels contenus ils peuvent ou ne peuvent pas explorer. eBay y a ajouté une nouvelle politique interdisant le scraping automatisé et les agents d'achat, bloquant explicitement les bots de Perplexity, Anthropic et Amazon, tout en laissant un accès au bot de Google. Les restrictions du fichier robots.txt reposent toutefois essentiellement sur un système d'honneur. En inscrivant ces interdictions directement dans ses conditions d'utilisation, la plateforme se dote d'un levier juridique pour poursuivre les contrevenants.

Mais cette position défensive ne signifie pas que le site d’e-commerce rejette l'IA. Au contraire, il souhaite simplement rester maître du jeu. Son PDG Jamie Iannone a confirmé lors d'une conférence sur les résultats en octobre qu'eBay testait ses propres expériences agentiques. De plus, les nouvelles règles laissent la porte ouverte aux bots disposant d’une autorisation expresse préalable. Cette clause stratégique suggère que la plateforme ne cherche pas à tuer le commerce par IA, mais plutôt à le canaliser vers des partenariats officiels et contrôlés, potentiellement même avec des acteurs comme OpenAI.

Our Father Who art in heaven Hallowed be Thy name Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily Bread And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil

Amen

Jesus is Lord! Come Lord Jesus!

Come Lord Jesus! Christ is Lord!

The World was designed for no-one Then I found grace by a waterfall It happened all along More details than days in anger Hopeless as before, which was little And betting on emergency not A thrush threw a key And I inked a forever thanks, Fed to our wisdom And in this last, forever Cowardice without poem Or proper, with proof Here is the edifice The fighting example A place for sinners to re-appear, and shine as men Thirteen things proper And a Lusitanian pass Stairways for Winter And stars to be outstanding Then Heaven in between- That’s what the shape was for- An edict of the galaxy and of Rome Prices for our favour And mutiny for all To become a better pavement For our siblings to roll onto Exciting others With their way No matter what Story told And I am sure.

There comes a moment in nearly every life when the noise fades and all that’s left is silence. Not peaceful silence, not restful quiet, but that heavy stillness that settles in when you’ve done everything you know how to do and nothing seems to change. You’ve prayed the prayers. You’ve waited longer than feels reasonable. You’ve believed when believing felt like work. And somewhere deep inside, a question begins to form, not out of rebellion but out of exhaustion: Is anything still happening? This is the place where many people give up—not because they stopped believing in God, but because they stopped believing God was still involved in their story. And yet, this is often the very place where God is doing His deepest work.

We are taught, subtly and constantly, to associate movement with progress. If something is changing quickly, we assume it is alive. If it’s slow, we assume it’s failing. But Scripture paints a very different picture. Over and over again, the most important movements of God happen quietly, invisibly, and without warning. The soil doesn’t look active while the seed is taking root. The tomb didn’t look hopeful while resurrection was being prepared. Silence, in God’s economy, is not absence. It is intention.

There is a dangerous lie that creeps in during these seasons, one that sounds logical and feels convincing: If God were going to act, He would have done it by now. That lie has ended more callings, more marriages, more faith journeys than any loud rebellion ever could. It convinces good people to walk away not because they stopped loving God, but because they concluded the wait itself was proof of abandonment. But delay is not abandonment. Waiting is not rejection. Silence is not evidence that God has forgotten your name.

In fact, Scripture repeatedly shows us that when God is about to accelerate something, He often slows everything else down first. Joseph did not rise steadily. His life did not follow an upward trend. It dropped sharply, unjustly, and repeatedly. Betrayal. Slavery. False accusation. Prison. Silence. Years passed with no visible sign that God was honoring the dreams He Himself had given Joseph. And yet, the Bible does not say God returned to Joseph after the prison. It says the Lord was with him in the prison. God was present in the stillness, shaping a leader who could carry authority without being destroyed by it.

This is what most people misunderstand about faith. Faith is not proved by what you say when everything is moving forward. Faith is revealed by how you stand when nothing is happening. When the phone doesn’t ring. When the doctor doesn’t call back. When the door remains closed. When the promise feels distant and the waiting feels personal. Faith, in those moments, is not loud confidence. It is quiet endurance. It is choosing not to interpret delay as defeat.

There are seasons when God does not change your circumstances because He is changing you. Not to punish you, not to withhold good from you, but to prepare you to survive what you’re asking for. Blessings have weight. Callings have cost. Open doors require internal strength to walk through them without losing yourself on the other side. God cares far more about who you become than how fast you arrive.

This is why Scripture speaks so often about endurance. Endurance is not glamorous. It doesn’t make headlines. It doesn’t feel powerful. But it is one of the most spiritually potent postures a believer can hold. Endurance says, I will not move just because I’m uncomfortable. It says, I will not quit just because the process is slow. It says, I trust God’s character even when I cannot trace His actions.

The world celebrates speed. God develops depth. The world rewards visibility. God honors faithfulness. And the two timelines rarely align. We want clarity; God often offers trust. We want explanation; God offers presence. We want reassurance; God offers Himself.

There are moments in life when everything feels like it has dropped to zero. Your energy. Your hope. Your confidence. Your sense of direction. But zero, biblically speaking, is not a dead place. It is a starting place. Creation began at zero. Resurrection began at zero. Gideon’s army was reduced to nearly zero before God moved. Elijah thought he was down to zero prophets before God spoke again. Again and again, God allows His people to reach the end of their own capacity so that what happens next cannot be mistaken for human effort.

This is why discouragement is so dangerous. Not because it hurts, but because it lies. Discouragement tells you that where you are is where you will remain. It tells you that the stillness is permanent. It tells you that God’s silence is a verdict. But discouragement is not prophetic. It is emotional. And emotions, while real, are not reliable narrators of truth.

Faith, on the other hand, does not deny reality. It simply refuses to let reality have the final word. Faith acknowledges the pain without surrendering the promise. Faith admits the waiting is hard without concluding it is pointless. Faith holds space for grief and hope at the same time.

There is a reason Scripture repeatedly describes God as the One who works “suddenly.” Not because He is impulsive, but because His preparation often happens out of sight. The suddenness is not the beginning of the work. It is the unveiling of work long underway. When God moves quickly, it is because He has been moving quietly for a long time.

Think about how many biblical breakthroughs arrived without warning. Prison doors opened at midnight. Seas parted at the moment of pursuit. Tombs emptied after days of silence. Promotions happened after years of obscurity. Healing occurred after prolonged suffering. God rarely announces His timing in advance. He simply acts when the moment is full.

This is why giving up just before breakthrough is such a tragedy. Not because the person lacked faith at the start, but because they abandoned it at the moment it was about to be rewarded. Galatians reminds us that the harvest comes “in due season, if we do not give up.” The harvest is promised. The condition is endurance.

What makes waiting so difficult is not the passage of time. It is the absence of feedback. We can endure almost anything if we know it is working. But waiting on God often feels like sowing seeds into soil that offers no visible confirmation. This is where trust becomes relational rather than transactional. You are no longer trusting outcomes. You are trusting the One who holds them.

There are moments when God intentionally removes visible signs so that your faith rests on Him alone. When everything else is stripped away—plans, timelines, expectations—you are left with a choice: interpret the silence as abandonment, or interpret it as intimacy. Because silence is where deep trust is built. Silence is where reliance shifts from performance to relationship.

You are not weak for feeling weary. You are human. Even Elijah, after fire fell from heaven, collapsed under the weight of exhaustion and despair. Even David cried out asking how long. Even Jesus wept in the garden asking if there was another way. Faith does not eliminate struggle. It gives struggle meaning.

If you are tired today, that does not mean you are failing. It may mean you are closer than you realize. Fatigue often precedes fulfillment. Weariness often marks the final stretch. And silence often signals that something sacred is forming beneath the surface.

Do not confuse the absence of visible progress with the absence of divine activity. God is not idle. He is intentional. He is not slow. He is precise. And He is not finished.

This moment you are in—the one that feels still, heavy, unresolved—is not the end of your story. It is a chapter where trust is being refined, where faith is being deepened, where roots are being grown that will support what is coming next. What you are waiting for has not been canceled. It has been prepared.

So hold on. Not because it’s easy. Not because you feel strong. But because God’s character has not changed, His promises have not expired, and His timing has never failed. When everything is quiet, God is still moving.

And when He moves, it will be clear that the silence was never empty at all.

There is a sacred tension that exists in the life of faith, and it is this: learning how to live fully present while still waiting for God to act. Most people think faith is about certainty, but in reality, faith is about remaining when certainty is absent. It is about staying rooted when answers are delayed, staying obedient when outcomes are unclear, and staying surrendered when control has been stripped away. This kind of faith does not grow in noise. It grows in quiet places, where trust is no longer supported by momentum and belief is no longer reinforced by visible progress.

Waiting exposes what we truly believe about God. Not what we say in public or affirm in prayer, but what we believe in the private hours when nothing changes. If we believe God is good only when life improves, our faith will always be fragile. But if we believe God is good because of who He is, regardless of circumstances, our faith becomes unshakable. This is the kind of faith Scripture consistently points us toward—a faith anchored not in outcomes, but in relationship.

One of the most difficult spiritual truths to accept is that God does not rush to relieve discomfort. He could. He has the power to intervene instantly. But often, He allows tension to remain because tension reveals dependence. Comfort can quietly replace trust if we are not careful. Ease can dull discernment. Speed can bypass depth. God is never careless with timing. He is deliberate because He sees the full arc of your life, not just the moment you are desperate to escape.

Many people pray for God to change their situation, but God is often more interested in changing their posture. Not because He wants you to suffer longer, but because the posture you develop in waiting determines how you steward blessing when it arrives. There are things God cannot entrust to a heart that has not learned how to wait. There are doors He will not open until pride has been softened, dependence has been clarified, and faith has been purified of conditions.

This is why Scripture speaks of faith being refined like gold. Refining requires heat. Heat requires time. And time requires trust. The impurities do not rise to the surface immediately. They emerge gradually, under sustained pressure. The waiting season exposes fears you didn’t know were there, motivations you hadn’t examined, and attachments that cannot move forward with you. God is not punishing you by revealing these things. He is freeing you from them.

The most dangerous interpretation you can make in a season of stillness is to assume that nothing is happening simply because nothing is visible. God works beneath the surface far more often than He works in plain sight. Roots always grow before fruit appears. Strength is built before elevation is given. Identity is formed before assignment is released. If God revealed everything He was doing at once, it would overwhelm you. Instead, He invites you to trust Him one step at a time.

It is important to understand that waiting does not mean passivity. Biblical waiting is active. It involves prayer, obedience, integrity, and endurance. It means continuing to do what is right even when there is no immediate reward. It means showing up with faithfulness when recognition is absent. It means choosing obedience not because it is efficient, but because it is faithful. Waiting is not inactivity; it is alignment.

There is a temptation during prolonged waiting to manufacture movement. To force doors open. To compromise convictions. To accept substitutes for the promises of God. This is where many people lose years of progress. Not because God delayed too long, but because impatience led them to choose something premature. A rushed answer can cost far more than a delayed one. God’s no is often protection. His silence is often guidance. His delays are often mercy.

Scripture is filled with warnings about moving ahead of God. Abraham and Sarah tried to solve waiting with human logic, and the consequences rippled for generations. Saul rushed obedience and lost his kingdom. The Israelites demanded movement and built a golden calf. Impatience has always been costly. Trust, though slower, has always been safer.

The irony is that when God finally does move, it often feels sudden—not because it was unplanned, but because the preparation was unseen. One conversation shifts everything. One decision opens the door. One opportunity changes the direction of your life. People call it luck. Scripture calls it providence. The difference is perspective.

When that moment comes, it becomes clear that the waiting was not wasted. The skills you developed, the discernment you gained, the humility you learned, and the faith you strengthened all become necessary for what follows. What once felt like delay reveals itself as design. What once felt like silence reveals itself as strategy.

This is why giving up too early is so tragic. Not because failure is final, but because perseverance is so often the final requirement before breakthrough. The enemy does not need to destroy you if he can simply exhaust you. He does not need to erase your calling if he can convince you it is taking too long. Discouragement thrives on impatience. Faith thrives on endurance.

There is something holy about continuing when quitting would be understandable. Something powerful about trusting when doubting would be justified. Something transformative about worshiping when circumstances remain unchanged. This is not denial. This is devotion. It is choosing to place your confidence not in what you see, but in who God has proven Himself to be.

God has never failed to keep a promise. Not once. But He often fulfills them differently than expected and later than desired. This does not make Him unfaithful. It makes Him wise. A promise fulfilled too early can destroy the very thing it was meant to bless. God is patient because He is protective.

If your life feels stalled right now, resist the urge to interpret that as stagnation. Ask instead what God might be developing beneath the surface. Ask what attachments are being loosened. Ask what trust is being strengthened. Ask what perspective is being reshaped. These are not delays. They are investments.

You may feel like you are standing at zero—no momentum, no clarity, no visible progress. But zero is not nothing in the hands of God. Zero is where creation began. Zero is where resurrection began. Zero is where faith stops leaning on self and starts leaning fully on God. Zero is not the absence of power; it is the absence of illusion.

When God moves you from zero to a hundred, it is rarely gradual. It is decisive. It is unmistakable. It is timed. And when it happens, you will not question whether it was Him. The shift will carry His signature—peace without explanation, provision without panic, clarity without confusion. The speed will not come from effort. It will come from alignment.

Until that moment arrives, your task is simple, though not easy: remain faithful. Continue praying. Continue trusting. Continue choosing obedience even when it feels unrewarded. Continue believing that the God who called you is still involved in the details of your life.

Your waiting is not invisible to Him. Your tears have not gone unnoticed. Your obedience has not been wasted. Your faith has not been misplaced. God is not indifferent to your pain, and He is not unaware of the time. He is working according to a wisdom that sees beyond the moment and a love that refuses to rush what must be sustained.

The stillness you are experiencing is not empty. It is full of intention. The silence is not abandonment. It is focus. The delay is not denial. It is preparation.

Do not give up just yet. Not because you must prove something, but because God is still moving—even when you cannot see it. And when the moment arrives, when the shift happens, when the door opens, and the story turns, you will see clearly what could only be trusted before.

The quiet was never wasted.

The waiting was never empty.

And God was never absent.

Watch Douglas Vandergraph’s inspiring faith-based videos on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@douglasvandergraph

Support the ministry by buying Douglas a coffee https://www.buymeacoffee.com/douglasvandergraph

Your friend, Douglas Vandergraph

#Faith #TrustGod #ChristianEncouragement #FaithJourney #WaitingOnGod #HopeInChrist #Endurance #SpiritualGrowth #GodsTiming #NeverGiveUp #ChristianInspiration #FaithOverFear #Purpose #Hope

After writing Am I made for AI orchestration?, I thought about, if I should fear that AI could replace my job.

<!—more—>

Sure, why not? I love writing code. I really do. But I also love to create new software. I would miss writing code by hand and there will be time where I just do it, instead of letting AI do the job. Why not? If I work in my garage on wood projects, I use sometimes a hand saw (Japanese Saw) or a circular saw. Just use the right tool at the right time?

AI enables me to do things, that were too much work with not enough value. Now I can just add these small features to projects that were only on the nice-to-have-sometime-in-the-future list. It’s a win win for everyone.

Another thing where helps me, is getting startet with tasks. I often have a blocker in my head, where I feel lost and procrastinate until deadline is near. Here is just start talking with the AI about the topic and somehow I get motivated and start. Sounds crazy but it works wonders for me.

So, will AI replace my job? Yes, but I find another one, where I can utilize my tools to create and help!

---

91 of #100DaysToOffload
#log #ai
Thoughts?

https://youtu.be/wOtDS9I0Cro?si=HzDxdVRGVn4CDz7C

Heute mit Kollegen im Borchardt zu Mittag gegessen (kommt nicht häufig vor). Bruce Darnell war da. Ungelogen.

Former Chicago mayor and U.S. ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel points toward the exit door at Center for American Progress, 21 Jan. 2026 (A. Kotok)

Speaking at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. yesterday, former Chicago mayor and U.S. ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel called for a mandatory retirement age of 75 across all three branches of government. And TechNewsLit was there to photo the event.

The age-75 limit is part of Emanuel's anticorruption proposals that he says should apply to the president, vice-president, members of Congress, and judiciary. “Thank you for your service,” said Emanuel, “up and out” at age 75. Both the New York Times and Politico Playbook this morning led with the mandatory retirement age in their reports of his talk at the D.C. think tank.

Emanuel talked about the need for reform during the Q&A part of the program, in response ot a question from Neera Tanden, president and CEO of Center for American Progress, or CAP. He said cleaning up the corruption in Washington needs to be a top goal of a new Democratic president, whether its gifts to Supreme Court judges, insider trading by members of Congress, or self-dealing in the White House. To this photographer, he sounded like a candidate for president.

In prepared remarks, Emanuel discussed education reform citing his experiences as mayor of Chicago, but also various statewide efforts. In Chicago, said Emanuel, he tried to make a high school diploma more of a checkpoint in personal growth than an end in itself. To receive a diploma, said Emanuel, students needed to show evidence of education or training beyond high school, such as an apprenticeship, training program, or college acceptance.

A gallery of photos from Emanuel's talk at CAP are now in the TechNewsLit collection on Smugumug. We expect other images to be available shortly in the TechNewsLit portfolio at the Alamy photo agency.

Copyright © Technology News and Literature. All rights reserved.

For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks.

VOICE ONLY:

O Beloved—
 Fire before form,
 Light that arrives 
Not to banish night
 But to rule it.

You are the ember
 Set in the dark bowl of the world,
 The glow that teaches shadow
 Where to kneel.
 By you, my heart Learns its hours.

You are the pressure of fate
 Worked into the grain of my mind, 
The god-hand in the stone, 
Pressing thought into destiny,
 Feeling into law,
 Action into oath.

You are the ground 
Against which I strain— 
The earth that holds 
And the earth that binds, 
The weight that steadies Even as it claims.

You are the veil
 Laid upon my naked being, 
Not to hide,
 But to consecrate:
 Hands upon skin
 As blessing,
 Touch that turns refusal 
Into surrender.

You are dawn
 Rising inside the moon,
 The host that comes
 When gates are weakest, 
Unbarred from within.


You pass through me 
As conquest and completion— 
Victorious,
 And leaving me
 Spent upon the field.

I am the vassal king, 
Crowned in my own unmaking.
 Petition spoken,
P etition answered.
 I am the power
 That shears its own mane, 
Breaks its own seal, 
If it pleases thee.

For I am your desire made flesh— 
Longing given breath,
 Want walking upright 
In the body of a boy
 Who learned too late 
That service can be holy.

I am the acolyte
 Of being seen.

For this is my sorcery,
 My only dominion:
 To behold nakedness
 Without recoil—
 To name beauty 
In the full terrain
 Of body
And soul.

And thus I open myself— 
Flesh and mind unbarred— 
And set before you
 The beast I am,
 Unadorned.

And when you did not turn away,
 When you stood
 Unmoved, You took me.

All of me.


Bound not by force,
 But by recognition.

In the thicks of fighting my Homeowners Association last year, I began to disassociate from my home. The ideas I had about improving it, and the things I had already done to make it my own, no longer became sources of joy. My home, in fact, was no longer my home. It was a just a house. Then I remembered, that was how I felt when I moved in.

I did not buy my dream home. I bought a place to move into because my rent was about to increase too much. Because I had moved so many times, I became enamored with the thought of not moving again. My long-time realtor (Yes, I already had a realtor because this was not my first time considering buying a house.) showed me properties around the SouthShore region that met my criteria. But the number one criterion was affordability. I did not even know I could get a house with my salary at the time.

I did not love the neighborhood as there was nothing to love because it was mostly empty. A clubhouse with a pool and gym? Yeah, that’s cool and all, but I have lived without one and I know where to find both. A walkable nature trail? Yeah, that’s nice; but that is what parks are for. I reeeeaaaally wanted to live in a neighborhood further up the street—not because the neighborhood was better (also new construction), but because the floor plan was perfect! However, just one zip code north of here put me out of my price range.

When I first moved to the SouthShore region of Hillsborough County, Florida, my “dream” was to live in Panther Trace in Riverview. I was really wowed by the amenities (multiple pools), the large size of the community and the trees (lots of room to walk and bike without being in the direct sun), and mostly because the elementary school was inside the neighborhood. Over the years that I have lived in this region, Panther Trace has expanded and its size makes me nauseous. Plus, my colleague—who was a resident—told me that the neighborhood went waaaaay downhill.

Years later, my dream community was MiraBay in Apollo Beach. It was another large community with a secured, gated entry, clubhouse with bar/restaurant-type features, and water and more water. Unfortunately, due to that water and more water, flood insurance was required. And over the years, apparently that water and more water has been creeping into the neighborhood.

When you are qualifying for a mortgage you must factor in the cost of the house, of course, but also the HOA fees, the CDD fees, the homeowners insurance fees, and the flood insurance fees. All those fees reduce the price of the home you can afford. So, I could only really afford to move to my current neighborhood. That is why I am here.

I have done some improvements myself. For the things I could not do, I hired others. The longer I stayed here, the more invested I became in changing the house to suit my needs and desires. The longer I stayed here, the more my house became my refuge from workplace toxicity. The longer I stayed here the more proud I became at being able to cut off the outside world—if only temporarily—to tend to the yard, to engage in various arts, to dream, to have respite, to protect myself, my peace, and my sanity. Castle.

I had hopes and wishes for my house. And that all unraveled due to the actions of the HOA. Now, I feel like a stranger on someone else’s property.

Beste Rouwende

Zoals u weet heeft onze beminde over grootvader onlangs het tijdelijke verlaten ingewisseld voor het mogelijke altijd gezellig klaverjassen in goed gezelschap, kaartspelers gek op verliezen want onze Gerardus Bastiaansz Gruwel kon bij leven in ieder geval slecht tegen zijn verlies.

Uw roosters en leven daar in kennende bent u zo als wij zijn, overvolle agenda's gevuld met theater bezoeken, werk, zaken lunches, vakanties naar exotische of ordinaire bestemmingen, baby borrels, huis opwarm festijnen, feesten en partijen, cultureel werk, klussen, picknicks in park of bos en dergelijke. Het leek ons daarom beter om voor zijn ter aarde stelling gebruik te maken van de data planner.

Zou u zo vriendelijk willen zijn om daarop aan te geven op welke dag of dagen u aanwezig kunt zijn voor het afscheid van onze lieve over grootvader Bas, hij die ons toch nog onverwacht en snel verliet met amper 109 jaar op zijn tikker.

In samenspraak met de geherschikte voorgevormde kerk zijn de volgende zeven data en tijden voor ons beschikbaar.

[ ] 27 01 om 15:30 – 17:30 [ ] 28 01 om 11:05 – 13:05 [ ] 06 02 om 14:20 – 15:45 [ ] 08 02 om 13:15 – 15:15 [ ] 13 02 om 19:00 – 20:30 [ ] 17 02 om 15:30 – 17:15 [ ] 20 02 om 14:15 – 16:30

Wij hopen u dan allen te zien verschijnen voor het grote afscheid één dezer dagen.

GO HOOSIERS!

Tonight I'll be cheering on my Indiana University Women's Basketball Team when they travel to Columbus, Ohio, to play against the number 12th Nationally Ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.

And the adventure continues.

I princip drar jag tre slutsatser på svängningen inom Big Tech, där det nu plötsligt är ”officiellt hippt” att tvivla på LLM-spåret.

Teknik: avtagande avkastning på ”större modell, mer data, mer GPU”. Det vi kallar “AI-tjänster” blir inte bättre för varje dag, snarare tvärtom pga ”scaling wall” samt tak för tillgänglig data. Nu är nätet skrapat, och framöver får vi dessutom en ökande andel LLM-genererat innehåll, vilket kommer sänka kvaliteten på den data som nya modeller bygger på.

Ekonomi: värdet idag är ofta lokalt och taktiskt  –  inte den breda, ”Internet-nivå” som utlovades av techbolagen initialt. (”Feel the AGI”, som Sam Altman sa. Idag hävdar han att begreppet ”AGI” inte är användbart.)

Samhälle: problemet är inte bara vad LLM:er kan, utan hur de levereras — som slutna tjänster, inte som öppen infrastruktur.

Vi närmar oss gränserna för fysik, data och ekonomi samtidigt. Det blir en stor utmaning för övervärderade bolag. Därför pratar man ju nu om bubbla. Märk väl: precis som med IT-kraschen 2001/2002 så är det en ekonomisk bubbla. Transformerteknologin kommer att finnas tillgänglig, fast antagligen inte på det viset som OpenAI, Google och de andra techjättarna har gjort gällande. Det finns så klart också en stor trötthet på hypen  – och det påverkar också investeringsvilja, intresse och retorik.

Vissa tror att LLM:er bara är en övergångsteknik som snart ersätts av mer strukturerade system; andra tror att LLM-familjen fortsatt kommer vara ett centralt gränssnitt, men att värdet sitter i hur den kopplas till annan AI, data och verktyg. Den som lever får se.

Att kalla ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini etc. för ”verktyg” eller ”infrastruktur” är dock gravt missvisande både i ekonomisk och semantisk mening. Låt oss börja med begreppet verktyg:

Verktyg eller tjänst?

LLM:erna säljs som ”verktyg”, men är i själva verket ”tjänster”. Här ligger en enormt viktig distinktion. Många tror att de ”skapar” något med hjälp av AI. Det gör de så klart inte: de beställer bild/text/film av en tjänst. Användarna sitter helt i händerna på privata leverantören.

Det är en maktfråga.

Ett verktyg är något du som användare äger eller kontrollerar: en hammare, en kamera, ett textredigeringsprogram. Du kan använda det offline. Du kan uppgradera när du vill. Du kan ta ansvar för resultatet, eftersom beteendet är stabilt och förutsägbart.

En tjänst fungerar i princip tvärtom. Den förändras kontinuerligt, utan ditt medgivande. Den kan försämras, begränsas, behäftas med ny prismodell eller dras tillbaka helt. Den kan börja servera annonser. Den kan börja prioritera andra kundgrupper än dig. Den kan få nya regler för vad som är “tillåten användning”. Och när något går fel kan leverantören alltid hänvisa till att du har “använt tjänsten fel”.

När LLM:er marknadsförs som verktyg skapas en illusion av användarmakt som inte existerar.

Du skapar inte med en LLM på samma sätt som du skapar med en kamera eller ett ritprogram. Du lägger en beställning hos en svart låda, vars inre logik, träningsdata, säkerhetsfilter, optimeringsmål och affärsintressen är helt utanför din kontroll. Resultatet är inte ditt hantverk – det är ett levererat svar från en privat aktör.

Det betyder inte att tekniken är värdelös. Men det betyder att relationen mellan användare och leverantör är fundamentalt asymmetrisk.

I praktiken sitter användaren i händerna på leverantören på minst fem sätt: 1. Teknisk kontroll – modellen ändras löpande, ibland drastiskt, utan transparens. 2. Affärskontroll – prissättning, kvoter, annonser och abonnemangsvillkor kan ändras över en natt. 3. Juridisk kontroll – användningsregler och ansvarsförskjutning skrivs ensidigt av leverantören. 4. Epistemisk kontroll – du kan inte verifiera hur eller varför ett svar genereras. 5. Produktkontroll – tjänsten kan stängas ner, degraderas eller regionbegränsas när som helst.

Detta är alltså hur en tjänst beter sig. Inte hur ett verktyg beter sig.

Och i OpenAIs fall blir det extra tydligt hur skör hela metaforen är. Deras tjänst har existerat i ungefär tre år. Det är ingenting i infrastrukturella termer. Det går inte att jämföra med internet, elnätet eller mobilnätet, som byggts upp under decennier, reglerats, standardiserats och distribuerats mellan många aktörer.

Att redan nu tala om “AI som ett allmänt verktyg” eller “grundläggande infrastruktur” är att förväxla hype med mognad.

Det vi har i dag är ett fåtal privata tjänster med extrem koncentration av makt, minimal insyn och snabbt skiftande affärsmodeller. Att kalla dem verktyg gör dem oförtjänt stabila, neutrala och oskyldiga i människors föreställningsvärld.

Språket vi använder formar hur vi förstår ansvar, makt och beroende.

Så länge vi kallar LLM-baserade tjänster för verktyg kommer vi att fortsätta låtsas att användaren har kontroll. Det har hen inte.

Infrastruktur?

Internet bygger på öppna protokoll (TCP/IP, HTTP, SMTP …). Ingen äger ”internet” som infrastruktur. Likaså mobilvärlden vilar på standardiserade nät (GSM, LTE, 5G) och hårdvara där flera aktörer kan konkurrera på varje lager. Tack vare reglering och standardisering (som en kommentar på det tröttsamma feltänket att ”reglering hindrar innovation”).

Vi som konsumenter kan, i princip, byta: webbläsare, operatör, hårdvara och till och med OS och ändå vara på samma nät. Det innebär interoperabilitet, mångfald av leverantörer och stabilitet (protokoll överlever vanligtvis bolag). Google, Apple och Microsoft är gamla i gamet, men har inte funnits alls lika länge som infrastrukturen för deras produkter.

LLM:er i praktiken idag är tränade på hemliga dataset, med hemliga metoder, hostade på leverantörens egna moln (OpenAI, Google, Anthropic m.fl.) och endast nåbara via API:er och appar där hela stacken ägs, drivs och kan ändras ensidigt av leverantören. Dvs, de är extremt proprietära, vilket leder till lock-in och “kunskapsinfrastruktur som privat produkt”. Därav den stora faran då t.ex. Google går in så aggressivt mot lärandesektorn med Gemini och NotebookLM och försöker bli den centrala kontrollerande noden i vetenskaplig kunskapsproduktion och lärande.

Så hur blir det då?

Ponera att techbolagen och deras “AI”-tjänster förminskas/försvinner. Då säger historien att teknologin (transformer-baserade LLM:er i det här fallet) blir en öppen arkitektur, snarare än privata tjänster. Då skulle de kunna hamna i samma kategori som databas-motorer eller TCP/IP: ett grundlager som nästan ingen ”ser”, men som allt bygger på. Då skulle det kunna handla om:

• Öppna, standardiserade protokoll för hur modeller nås och används
• Flera kompatibla implementationer (olika modeller, olika optimeringar)
• En tydlig separation mellan modell, hårdvara, data och applikation Transformern blir då mer som ”standardiserad maskinell språklogik” än en företagsprodukt. De stora skillnaderna mot idag skulle vara: färre monolitiska chatt-tjänster, däremot fler osynliga LLM-komponenter inbäddade i operativsystem, databaser, utvecklingsmiljöer, webbläsare och domänspecifika system. Om/när dagens LLM-jättar kollapsar som aktörer, så försvinner inte teknologin ;  den ”degraderas” från centraliserad tjänst till allmän kunskap. Det här mönstret ser man om och om igen i teknikhistorien:
• IBM, DEC, Sun föll eller krympte, men idéerna de utvecklade (timesharing, RISC, UNIX-filosofin) lever kvar i Linux och andra moderna operativsystem.
• Tidiga nät- och telekomjättar förlorade till slut sin dominans, men protokollen standardiserades och flyttade in i öppna organ som W3C.
• Många proprietära databaser tappade mark, men SQL som idé standardiserades och frodas i öppna implementationer.

Slutet på en era

Vilda västern-eran når sitt slut och vi får mer vikt på standarder och “governance”. Tekniker som överlevt sina första generation (internet, elnät, järnväg, flyg) har alltid behövt standardiseringsorgan, normer och ibland mellanstatliga avtal för att fungera långsiktigt. Om LLM:er blir infrastruktur i samma mening kommer vi förr eller senare landa i öppna standarder för modellformat, träning, certifiering/reglering av vissa användningsområden (likt luftfart, läkemedel), samt separation mellan den som definierar standard, den som implementerar och den som driver tjänsterna.

Auspicious hour

This night swims with ghosts And yet it is already morning. This auspicious hour before the dawn feels ripe and pregnant for thieves and murderers witches — the kind with warts and I am no witch. Thief, you are you steal into my dreams Night stalker Carrying with you all your baggage of the past and the future, describe to me your wedding meal how it went smoothly down the gullet the steak, the cupcake the flesh around my fingers ragged for something ugly churns beneath the white, smooth snow seeping through in places. Let's throw snowballs at it Hoping it won't come back again, mold and mushroom beneath new layers of plaster painted stylishly. There is no green growth for months now, I've stared at the stump. I've had operations and grafts faith healers and three ring circus leaders have chanted nonsense (expensive nonsense) over this brown, twisted place where I used to grow new things. I am sad and scared that nothing new will grow again that my soil is depleted and depleting How long have I been in this same terra cotta swaddling? There is morning light coming through black, chattering branches A blue glow that smiles and says, “And now you'll do it all over again.” I'm already living all my worst fears of motherhood without ever actually giving birth.

Heroes and Their Grain

Giving thanks for recompense And orders of ovation Sipping wild leaves and hanging still in Fortis by the fire, a beckon of apostasy And using little days of Swindon Maximizing strength and running- places near and North Shining to a sale Ripping into water Making great amends Using heat for war- when matches near Proposed to ten more leaves To carbonize our year In a place five times the week Another year for Carney- Year of the invincible fight When truth supposes a way- to save us from the darkness In any way a prayer For forgiveness and works in the world Accepting prayers in judgement time While Donald reads the fax A spirit machine And a tripartite statement What comes of news is war And the Senate even supposed Whatever Norway chooses Is a risk to the untold We offer every golden rule To sow for prizes heard In remorse and about this fear That rain may fall on Winter Sending mosquito gifts For the first in quarter time A witness calls- Seeking better insurance Who treasures the ugly prize For picking up on pastures And then it snows- Affording to said Witness The cards under the table Are a long walk to Don The fallacy of gamesman days Besting those who dare To speak for what is fortune And hanging left to dry- the venerable year A palatial place of hell But in that garden we do grow With ecstasy and a fever And when our greens are ready We will send some in the mail About face: I am a drifter Wallowing in Canada Post My favourite type of office And liking your remain If it is fallen And darkest night The weary hear a beep For Jezebel the accountant Standing up for you, the money prophet host For which there is return Upon this hallowed ground And shunning court with hades While men pick up the news- Rome is here and ready While peace is months to be- No single war- can escape the Senate’s will Marks and calls for escape From Wildwood and its pen- the dealers of Upham calling To smear the great assumption That Canada isn’t ready Simple years and native wild- species to the garden Accepted by Man’s plate And feeding your return:

Gracious Canada, Lean into beginning As much as peace to happen The days ahead will call Go, Row alone And sacrifice the news For dirty years of Able And forceps to the new Raking dawn, Sin as war In these things we watch And the hero is the same, Pretending men of war- Will call us to the room Sight unsigned Proxy to this witness Failhead for the dowry And what is done by rote- the insubstantial A year’s quest by the page So this worry will abide And untoward thy name By pressure rank Sealing days of ore And often then We keep the Water clean Heaven’s rouse And home.

Mensen spottende vogels gesignaleerd.

Op twee locaties in Oost Smægmå nabij het diepe dal in de vallei zijn een paar vogels gezien die mensen spotten. Het gaat om vrij onopvallende figuren meestal zittend op hardhouten bankjes in het beschermd milieu park. De vogels gaan in de nabijheid van hun mens opvallend aanwezig zitten zijn, alwaar ze zich duidelijk amuseren rondom hun doelwit voor vermaak en of verwondering, ondanks het gebrek aan noodzaak voor deze aanwezigheid. Als de eenmaal gespotte lieden proberen te ontkomen aan de blikken van de vogels en bijbehorend spot gedrag dan maken de vogels gebruik van de vogel vluchtige transport voordelen aanwezig, lichtvoetige tred, en kleine gestalte om maar niks te missen van al wat de persoon daar doet om aan het vliedende spot licht te ontkomen, ze blijven op deze wijze hardnekkig volhouden in volgen met spotten, in ieder geval tot ze de interesse verliezen en dan opvliegen naar een plek waar ze niet worden gezien terwijl ze vast wel iets spotten maar dan zonder dat iemand daar erg in heeft.

STER(2) De Vereniging voor Mensen die niet Bespot willen worden heeft ook deze keer over dit euvel zijn beklag gedaan bij de instanties hun ter wille. Deze hebben aangegeven de kwestie te zullen behandelen bij de eerst volgende vergadering.