
Functionally Useless, But Undeniably Cool
The FAIK Files
Examining the AI Tool in Gaming: Electricity Use and Public Perception
This chapter explores the reactions to an experimental AI tool used in the game Bleeding Edge, focusing on its significant resource demands and the mixed public response. The discussants address concerns and criticisms from the gaming community about incorporating AI in game development.
Welcome back to the FAIK Files!
In this episode:
- Mason fills in for Perry as best he can, with a mix of topics that all fall under the broad umbrella of "functionally useless, but cool". Well... except the last segment; that one is inarguably kind of un-cool.
- We play a little bit of a 100% AI-generated rendition of Quake 2, and discuss how it works under the hood - as well as the general reaction to it.
- A software engineer named Alex Chan created a PDF file that is larger than the observable universe, and we break down how that was possible.
- Bullethead, a member of our discord, sent us a Language Diffusion model to check out: the recently released Dream 7B!
- Finally, Mason pontificates a bit about the highly aggressive noncompete clauses that Google has been pushing on their AI staff.
===== Learn more about the upcoming OFFENSIVE CYBER DECEPTION MASTERCLASS (Las Vegas, August 2-5, 2025) please visit this link: https://tinyurl.com/5ytpvjv7 =====
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*** NOTES AND REFERENCES ***
AI Generated Quake 2:
- Play the demo: https://copilot.microsoft.com/wham?features=labs-wham-enabled
- Xbox Wire article about Muse: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/02/19/muse-ai-xbox-empowering-creators-and-players/
- Azure AI Foundry Muse page: https://ai.azure.com/labs/projects/muse
- Techcrawlr Article: https://techcrawlr.com/microsofts-ai-powered-quake-2-demo-gets-mixed-reactions-online/
A PDF Bigger than the Universe:
- Alex (the creator)'s Blog about it: https://alexwlchan.net/2024/big-pdf/
- BigThink Article: https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/the-worlds-largest-pdf-is-bigger-than-the-universe/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=BigThink/magazine/Big+Think
Dream 7B - A New Diffusion Model for Language
- Try it out: https://huggingface.co/spaces/multimodalart/Dream
- Read the paper: https://hkunlp.github.io/blog/2025/dream/ – blog
- Autoregression Explained: https://spotintelligence.com/2023/10/25/autoregressive-ar-models/
- Diffusion Explained: https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/understanding-diffusion-models-an-essential-guide-for-aec-professionals/
AI Dumpster Fire of the Week: Google's Aggressive Noncompete Contracts
- The Business Insider article: https://archive.is/20250409121528/https://www.businessinsider.com/google-deepmind-ai-talent-war-aggressive-noncompetes-2025-4
- Noncompete legality: https://frostbrowntodd.com/the-non-compete-agreement-landscape-in-2025
- Microsoft VP of AI & Former Deepmind Director's Tweet: https://xcancel.com/NandoDF/status/1904818330143273222
*** THE BOILERPLATE ***
Check out Perry & Mason's other show, the Digital Folklore Podcast:
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-folklore/id1657374458
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2v1BelkrbSRSkHEP4cYffj?si=u4XTTY4pR4qEqh5zMNSVQA
- Other: https://digitalfolklore.fm
Want to connect with us? Here's how:
Connect with Perry:
- Perry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrycarpenter
- Perry on X: https://x.com/perrycarpenter
- Perry on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/perrycarpenter.bsky.social
Connect with Mason:
- Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mason-amadeus-a853a7242/
- Mason on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/wickedinterest.ing
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