Every Game Is an Algorithm - DTNS 4908  ## Metadata - Author: [[Daily Tech News Show]] - Full Title: Every Game Is an Algorithm - DTNS 4908 - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/80294361-2d7a-4357-9528-b95f65927edd ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Encryption Advice** - Encrypt your communications to protect against data breaches. - Use secure messaging apps like Signal, WhatsApp, or Telegram instead of SMS. Transcript: Tom Merritt Calea also includes classified court orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. You know, the FISA people that works with national intelligence agencies. You know, that stuff they said, we're only ever going to access it with cause and no one else can get into it. Well, it turns out people that are thought to originate in China have access to it because they haven't evicted them from the network yet. In a press conference on Tuesday, Jeff Green, Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity at CISA, said, encryption is your friend, and went farther than that, saying, we really Encourage you to use secure if you're concerned at all, because we don't have a timeline when we're going to be able to get these malicious actors out of these networks. An unnamed senior FBI official said people looking to further protect their mobile device communications would benefit from considering using a cell phone that automatically receives Timely operating system updates, smart, responsibly managed encryption, well phrased, and phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication. That's all good advice. But yes, you heard it right. The FBI, I'm sorry, the FBI, the FBI that has been campaigning against full end-to encryption over the past 10 years plus constantly asking for a backdoor is now recommending that you Use encryption to keep your stuff from showing up in the database that they wanted to populate with the things they would get out of a backdoor. ([Time 0:18:29](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a5efa44f-2cc4-4d9e-9f09-1bf13ead8596)) - **FBI's Shift on Encryption** - The FBI's encryption recommendation contradicts their past stance on backdoors. - This change seems driven by the realization that unauthorized access is already happening. Transcript: Sarah Lane So, okay. So, I mean, you know, like, I mean, we're all chuckling about this, like, oh, look at the FBI. Tom Merritt But, you know, what, do you think uh such a 180 uh because they were it was easy to make the argument uh we'll protect it when no one else was inside the secured system uh it's a lot harder To make the argument when oh crap uh someone we don't want is inside the secured system uh they just forced to confront reality. And the reality is, if you have a backdoor, eventually, someone you don't want to have access to that backdoor will figure out how to use it. And this is an example of exactly that principle at work. Someone you didn't think would be able to get access to Kalea eventually got access to Kalea. Scott Johnson Yeah, I think the thing important note here, too, is that they know this. I mean, they're not saying this dumbly. They're not going, use encryption, even though we've been telling you not to. Tom Merritt No, in fact, they're still saying responsibly managed encryption to leave them some wiggle room to ask for a backdoor in the future. Scott Johnson Of course. So I mean, it's kind of a cluster, no matter how you look at it. But it's almost as if some people foresaw this and then recommended against it, which I remember very clearly. People saying that this is going to be a problem. There will always be a way in if you create a backdoor. So I'm not even saying anyone's going to learn their lesson. But at the very least, we've learned that, I don't know, things – it's not even hypocrisy. Like that's not even what you call this. This is just results of bad ideas that you were warned would happen. I think some people would call it hypocrisy. Tom Merritt I think, you know, just look at it in a certain perspective. You could call it hypocrisy. There's an argument for that. Yeah, sure. ([Time 0:20:01](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7e324422-0b1e-4b1f-ad51-3f7ade3a1335)) - **Balancing AI and Human Touch** - Hermen Hulst suggests AI can enhance game experiences but shouldn't replace human input. - He believes a balance between AI and handcrafted content is crucial for game development. Transcript: Sarah Lane When speaking to the BBC about the role of AI in video game development, the head of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Herman Holst, said, for AI-driven innovative experiences and Another for handcrafted, thoughtful content. But also added, striking the right balance between leveraging AI and preserving the human touch will be crucial. It's a little unclear what Holst was going for here, Scott, but what do you make of this? Scott Johnson Well, there are a few people who are saying they're talking out of both sides of their mouth and they're not really saying anything, but I actually disagree. I think this is the most thoughtful point we've heard from an executive in the gaming industry since AI really started to take a foothold in terms of even just in discussion, not even So much a foothold in the technology yet. I think we're still a ways off from that. But most people, most of them are either saying, we're not doing anything with AI, forget it. Even though their games include forms of AI, nobody wants to define the word. There's a lot of that going on. And on the other extreme, you have people going, we're putting NFTs and everything, and then we're going to do this with crypto, and then AI is going to run the whole thing. So they're kind of like all in, and that's been putting some significant portions of the gamer population off. ([Time 0:25:32](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d0cff274-5b1d-46ed-83f6-c6d3d1b3bb39)) - **Scott Johnson on AI in Games** - Scott Johnson sees Hulst's stance as the most reasonable in the gaming industry. - He emphasizes AI's role in dynamic worlds, NPC behavior, stories, but with human direction. Transcript: Scott Johnson This is the most reasonable take I've heard, which is, yeah, it's kind of inevitable. AI is coming to games. It's going to do a bunch of things. In my mind, those things need to be these following four things, really three things. I want to see more dynamic worlds. That means a lot of AI involved in what the world is, how dynamic it is, maybe how fresh it is when you walk from one place to another, really have things change up in ways that you can't do In a manual way. We already used some of that with some simple algorithmic stuff, but in this case, there's more to do there. There's dynamic NPC behaviors. How do the non-character stuff around you in your world, let's say you're playing an RPG, how will they behave? Can we make that more dynamic and interesting? And then more dynamic stories, stories that aren't going to be the same for every single person who plays it. There are games now where you can have a number of endings or different branching paths, but they're still finite. There is some dreaming going on about how AI could make some of that stuff infinite, possibly, or so many combinations you'd never see them all. That's really interesting to players. We want to see more of those three areas to create more emergent gameplay in our games. Exactly. And it's more than just, hey, this game uh i don't know has a really smart guy that talks to you and and can tell what you have in your inventory or something i'm talking about things that I don't think any of us are even thinking of yet they're going to be gameplay opportunities here for sure and i think he's talking about those and if he isn't he should be and on the other Hand the human part of it to me it doesn't separate there aren't these two separate things which is why what he said is a little confusing. But I don't think it's going to be, here's a game where only AI is involved, and it's just making everything. And then here's a game a guy made, and it's all got the personal human touch we love. Enjoy these two very desperate things. I don't think that's what he's saying. I think what he's saying and what he really means, and what I think the future actually is, is a combination of those things. Human direction, human inspiration, creativity, tools to get the hard, weird work done to make these dynamic, interesting worlds more so. That's where we're headed. Whether anyone wants to say that or not has been difficult for some reason, and he's come close to saying it. So I like where his head's at. ([Time 0:26:54](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9158e73d-ca74-4d9d-9692-c95e1ceff8c5)) - **Password Manager Struggle** - Anon Jr. tried to help their mom adopt a password manager but she reverted to writing them down. - Despite setting up 1Password, she was found using a text document again after Thanksgiving. Transcript: Tom Merritt Feedback at DailyTechNewsShow.com. To get mom to use a password manager. My sister set her up on LastPass, got everything set up and saved, and we find out she couldn't get into her LastPass and has been saving passwords in a text document on her laptop. This past Halloween, I sat down with her and set up one password, got everything set up, all her sites stored, work and personal set in different vaults as well. As we were leaving Thanksgiving, as I'm getting ready to walk out, she's retrieving a password from a text document again. Guests will try again on Christmas. Sarah Lane Oh, Anon Jr., I know the feeling. My own mother, I think she uses LastPass still. But I mean, there are times where I'm like, oh, we got to get into this or that. And she's like, oh, here it is written down on this sticky note. I'm like, oh, my God. ([Time 0:36:17](https://share.snipd.com/snip/184f494f-fa6a-46e0-a2af-3ec07194e522))