Misinformation Lessons from Pizza Glue and Eating Rocks: A Beginning

Recently the data community and the media have been buzzing about Generative AI and in particular Google’s AI Overview responses to questions like ‘How many rocks should I eat?’ or ‘How to glue cheese to your pizza?’ These answers of course are silly and the memes have been fun to read, however, there is a … Continue reading Misinformation Lessons from Pizza Glue and Eating Rocks: A Beginning

Containing ChatGPT May be Impossible

Generative AI has spilled into society like an oil slick on an ocean.  There is no escaping it. The wind, the waves, and the current will carry it to places we have yet to imagine in terms of its capabilities, uses, and applications.  It encroaches on us without much of a plan to contain it, … Continue reading Containing ChatGPT May be Impossible

Generative AI Has Brought Us to this Inflection Point

In the pre-dawn days of this year, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT. At first many probably thought of this as a fun parlor-like game sentence generator holding the same constructive value as the magic eight ball.  ChatGPT was entertaining and it can answer questions like who has the most Olympic gold medals in a way that makes … Continue reading Generative AI Has Brought Us to this Inflection Point

Marketing Genius or Data Deception? Secrets Behind Oddly Numbered Prices

Lately, we have been writing a lot about data science, artificial intelligence, and the wonders of advanced algorithms. For all of the data professionals, this makes perfect sense given the rapid developments in the data world.  For others, these ideas may be too far removed from their day job to matter. So, for those who … Continue reading Marketing Genius or Data Deception? Secrets Behind Oddly Numbered Prices

Tiny Numbers, Big Mistakes: A Scary Case of Medical Misinformation

Have you ever made a decision on limited information – a tidbit, a smidge of knowledge, or a gut feeling backed by just a little data?  We probably all have done this and sometimes either it was just necessary due to urgency or the decision was small with little consequence that it was ok to … Continue reading Tiny Numbers, Big Mistakes: A Scary Case of Medical Misinformation

Free, Free, Free.  How Can It Be?

FREE iPhone15!  There I said it.  Did it get your attention? Along with the words “New and Improved”, Free is among marketing’s most effective words.  It grabs the attention of those seeking a deal or an offer that may be exclusive to them. But it is really “free” or are all of these recent free … Continue reading Free, Free, Free.  How Can It Be?

Traffic Lights, Detours, and the Data that Drives Us

There you are. You are stopped at a traffic light waiting for it to turn and you hear the hum of your phone notification. Google Maps is letting you know there is a delay ahead and offering to reroute you to save time. The light is still red and you drum your fingers on the … Continue reading Traffic Lights, Detours, and the Data that Drives Us

What a Data Scientist Really Needs to Learn: Nothing

Raise your hand if you are a data scientist and you have used ChatGPT to help you write your code or maybe generate a photo like the one above. Exactly what I thought. Many have discovered the usefulness of ChatGPT to not only write thank you notes but to also write code. And this is just the … Continue reading What a Data Scientist Really Needs to Learn: Nothing

Misinformation vs. Disinformation: Why Knowing the Difference Matters

What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation and how do you know? This is the first part of building your data defense superpower and a pillar of our new book published by Rowman & Littlefield, Data Duped: How to Avoid Being Hoodwinked by Misinformation. Let’s start at the beginning. There are many terms out … Continue reading Misinformation vs. Disinformation: Why Knowing the Difference Matters

Flaws in Measuring Happiness

Can your happiness be measured by a number? For many the emotion of happiness is as subjective as the individual. Yet, we see plenty of grocery store check-out magazines touting new studies showing you how to improve your happiness in just a few simple steps. Amazingly it is always 10 or fewer, and what could … Continue reading Flaws in Measuring Happiness