This was my first week going into my new job on campus at Arizona State in Tempe. I have not spent much time on the campus there and it was a unique and pleasant experience.
I parked in visitor parking on the far side of the performing arts center on the edge of campus. As of this past wicked, the touring show of Wicked was performing on weekends and the truck trailers with the posters on the side were parked in the lot. I parked next to them, feeling like I too am part of the touring cast.
Technically I am on "staff" at ASU. I had not interacted at all with co-workers while getting hired, only by the recruiter firm through which I get paid on contract. It is a very well-paying position. I am supposed to go into the "office" two or three times a week, according to what I was told.
The office is really just a small windowless electronics lab in one of the engineering building. Here a team of staff and students are building a platform that will allows professors and students to create new custom AI-driven applications using the latest and greatest models, such as the one that powers ChatGPT, etc.
It is very cutting edge stuff. I have greatly mixed feelings about this work, as I am convinced we are heading towards an AI apocalypse which are going to destroy the remaining social fabric of western society. I feel like a spy from Team Human sent in to get their secret plans.
My first couple days I had weird butterflies that reminded me of being a transfer student in 1985 in Salem. I felt both confident yet overwhelmed and confused.
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