a college student figures out a way to detect essays written by artificial intelligence, and silicone stays reasonably healthy as san francisco suffers. that's this week on "press: here." good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. by now, the whole world has probably heard of chat gp, the artificial intelligence engine that can do just about anything. you type in a request, say write a love story about a ghost and a

goldfish, it will write a serviceable love story about a goat and a goldfish. not bad at limericks either. the big concern, of course, is education that this is absolutely capable of writing a high school essay about romeo and juliette or the boxer rebellion or plato's allegory of the cave, and that has teachers in a panic. along comes my first guest, edward is a student at princeton that has developed an app that can detect whether an essay has been written by a human or ai and it's free for teachers to use. thank you for joining us. let's start with this threat. what is chat gpe and where are students finding it and what are they doing it? >> first of all, thank you for having me. it's great to be here. this is one of these new,

gigantic, large language models that generate text. and what's really happening is that these models are ingesting gigantic portions of the internet, entire segments of our entire net, and looking through for patterns and regurgitating these patterns. so it's an exciting new innovation that's built by open ai, and it's one of these models that is very accessible. for a lot of the world it feels like it's been thrust upon us that this new innovation is here, and yes, students are finding it everywhere. it's like opening pandora's box in a way. >> and teachers could be fooled. i said write a comparative essay on x, y, and z. the machine can handle that, and the teachers might be fooled by

what the students turn in. >> absolutely. we've been hearing from teachers. >> plagiarism was already a problem in the time of the internet, because the student could go online and google past essays about romeo and juliette and pass off an old essay that a human being wrote as their own. so somebody developed anti-plagiarism programs to detect it. does that's say look like this essay? what you're doing is far more complicated, because the essay is brand new. it's never been in the world before. >> right. exactly. i would say something interesting is that these large language models, although they're coming up with something that is brand new in terms of the goldfish and the goat,

they're still not coming up with anything original. so if you asked it to write your history essay, it will do a phenomenal job, but if you are asking it to predict the future, it will tell you that it can't do that. or the training data only goes up to the year 2021. so there are limitations to these models. >> how are you detecting something has been written by a computeer? how does your program work at a very basic level? >> in a basic level, we're using two indicators. one is almost like a fingerprint that using chat gpe or these models itself to see if it's familiar with the test that it's reading, and the other indicator we're using is sort of a big picture for an entire essay. it's almost like variants. with human writing, there's

sudden burst of activity because of our short term memory, versus these machines are really powerful and really consistent over time. >> so you're saying there's sort of a fingerprint or a way of speaking that the ai generates. >> yes. >> okay. so how good is it? have you run tests on it? you know, have you given it human essays, robot essays and can it figure out the difference? >> yes. so the data is something i coded over the holiday break. it's not perfect. we found teachers use it and it's been successful and sometimes they're like -- we did put out a disclaimer not to make any academic decisions out of it. what we are doing is building a product that teachers can use. over 30,000 teachers have signed up for that so far.

>> it's turned you into a superstar. you've been on the bbc, you've been interviewed by all kinds of newspapers. not only is it super cool that a college kid coded something over the weekend that can help out teachers. but when teachers were faced with this scary new ai, you're almost the face of humanity on this. i'm sorry to put that much pressure on you. >> that's a lot of pressure. i've been really lucky. i'm a journalism student myself, so it's a privilege to talk to you. talking to teachers, i was back at my high school this friday and it was exciting to catch up with my high school teachers and principal. they were like oh, yeah, we've been seeing chat gpe in our schools.

>> i'm sure they said some day we're going to hear about edward in the newspaper. i'm sure they weren't expecting it quite that quickly. if you would like to be a journalist but good at coding, what are your plans after graduation? >> all i know for sure is i want to work with tech in writing and journalism. >> and lastly, where do you see ai going from here? what do the next couple of years look like for you? >> i would say that these ai generated models are here to stay. they're only toing to get better and better. we're already seeing like microsoft. i'm interested in applying it to their products, and it's going to be more successful and ubiquitous. in a world 10, 20 years down the line where everyone may be using

this to write their essays, being able to write originally will remain important skills, because at the end of the day, these machines aren't coming up with something original. they' regurgitaing patterns they have already seen. >> from one human journalist to another, i like hearing that. teachers, by the way, you can find his app at his website. "press: here" will be right back.

welcome back to "press: here." i live and work in san jose, which calls itself the capital of silicone valley. i live sort of near ebay, i have apple off to my best and i'm not that far from boogle and facebook. over the past ten years, i could feel silicone valley moving north. young engineers didn't want to live in san jose, they wanted to live in san francisco where the action was. san jose, not cool. san francisco, cool. but the tide is turning. companies based in the south bay, facebook, for instance, are abandoning entire buildings in san francisco. start-ups are gone, either

closed or working from home. san jose, though, has been more resilient. seven is a reporter for the san francisco standard and says san jose has faired better. i was reading his article. you know, kevin, the office rates are one way ke with look at it, the occupancy rates. san francisco lost about twice the vacancy as san jose. >> yeah. and so san francisco has really seen a massive decline in its office occupancy rate. the vacancy levels are nearing 30%, which are much higher than the great financial crisis and the dot com boom. and san jose and the silicone valley, we're seeing vacancies at around half the rate of san francisco. that's a reversal from the

prepandemic times, with san francisco had a lower vacancy than san jose and silicone valley. >> some of the big companies down here, i hate to call apple or google stojy, but definitely hewlett packard, intel, some of those have gotten stodgy, which can be safe in tough economic times. >> totally. when you think about the market volatility that has happened over the last couple of years, that stuff is hitting the companies that are reliant on venture capital, some of these free flowing capital that really rose and proliferated during this low interest rate regime. so you have these startups, you have younger public companies who are also using that -- sorry, can you hear that? >> i can, but that's going to

lead to the next question, and that is, san francisco has had a crime problem. those are probably fire trucks, but honestly, that was going to be my next question, and that is crime. >> yeah. one of the things i did not include in the article but looking at housing prices. san francisco has seen some of the largest house price decreases than any place in the country, definitely more than san jose. it's kind of an outlier in the bay area. when i'm talking to housing economists, he described it where a lot of the issues around public safety, homelessness, drug use and addiction, that has sort of -- that narrative has really been strongly associated with san francisco. you combine that with some of the empiness we are seeing downtown, that leads to this narrative of san francisco being on the downturn.

>> you have described san francisco as being the face and san jose being the muscle. explain that to me. >> yeah. that was some verbiage a commercial broker who worked in both markets told me. he kind of considered palo alto the brains. stanford come up with all of these amazing entrepreneurs, that goes to the muscle, which is a lot of the hard core engineering talent that has come out of san jose state and is really kind of centered in silicone valley. his point is that san francisco is kind of -- that's the place where you have these entrepreneurs meeting with investors. you have these companies really marketing their products to the world. in part because it makes a better background and backdrop in his sort of idea of it. and you know, when i talk to people about this analogy, they

said that was true for a lot of the history of san francisco and silicone valley. now, that could have been changed in the last tech boom, as we saw a lot of engineering talent move up to san francisco. but as we have seen remote worth transform how the bay area work culture has evolved, you know, part of the theory that he put out is we're going back to some of the old roles that silicone valley established. >> it really does feel that. one of the positives i get out of this, i said in the beginning that young engineers moved across country to san francisco because it was where the cool things were. hopefully they'll bring some cool things down here in san jose. the other positive is from a certain point of view san francisco could get its city back as some of the residents

lamented the invasion of all the guys in fleece vests. we could see positives out of this. >> yeah. i mean, one of the interesting points when i was looking at the economic history of the two regions is that san francisco has been more susceptible to the booms and busts of the economic cycle. that might have some history going back to the gold rush, which initially established the city as a major point on the west coast. you know, we have sort of seen a definitely ending of whatever the last era of the technology sector is in san francisco. but as i travel around the city now, you know, one of the things that has got people the most riled up, the most excited, and honestly returned some of that is this emphasis on generative ai, which is happening in here, a lot of work that is happening in start-ups that are associated with open ai, and some of these

sort generative ai giants. and it's yet to be seen whether that will be the next boom. but i see a lot of excitement there, and that will get some of the older residents of san francisco a little bit frustrated, as well. but it's kind of a push and pull over the last few years. >> it's a city that always changes. it was a military town for the longest time, which is very hard to believe. you know, that was going to be my last question, what do you see in the future but let me adapt a question. do you feel largely positive, speaking about san francisco specifically, largely positive about san francisco and its future, largely negative or in between? >> yeah, it's hard to say i go one way or the other. you know, san francisco is facing some serious problems, you know, like the things we discussed around public safety, around street conditions. but it's hard to beat the feeling that i get when i'm driving over the golden gate or

the bay bridge and see this shining city on the peninsula. and there is something to be said for thatromance. >> kevin, we appreciate you joining us. "press: here" be l be right back. i'm karen. i'm living with hiv and i'm on cabenuva. for adults who are undetectable, cabenuva is the only complete,

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welcome back to "press: here." we were just speaking to kevin about layoffs and job losses. yes, economists are expecting a recession, though most expect something short and shallow. yes, it is a difficult time for big business. but a survey of smaller, independent business owners, found 57% of them say their confidence has improved, not waned, in the last six months. ceo of a company called honey book oz alon joining me. does that number surprise you? sometimes they're operating on some thin margins. >> great to be here. that number does not surprise us. one of the things we saw in covid, we saw these businesses

bounce back as they figured out what they demand for their services. we're talking about service-based businesses. these folks are selling their talent, they're connecting these people, and people need that connection more than ever before. >> many of their clients are probably saying hey, we need to pay you less. those businesses have to have some downward price pressures, right? >> we are seeing that, as well. but at the same time, we're seeing that there are different services people are in demand for. as you look at these businesses, and when they see -- if you're an interior designer and you notice a specific service has less demand, you try to find out what people are looking for and you change. you adjust your service for this. another thing we saw is that they have -- there is a community, right? they talk to their community to

other businesses. and we as a company find ourselves many times facilitating that conversation and deliver that information across the board. >> where are you seeing some of the company's cutting costs? one place i think i wouldn't cut cost is customer acquisition. but that's getting more expensive. >> customer acquisition for companies in the tech world, software companies is definitely getting more expensive for various reasons. with that being said, we're talking about service based businesses. these folks, they don't have overhead. they don't, at best, some have one to five employees, but they don't have that overhead that tech companies have. so they're operating already lean, and part of the reason that we are so excited about service based businesses, with

that lean mentality, they're figuring out what they need to do, even in tough times. >> what about your clients who are not service based? they're selling some sort of object, there's a physicality to it. when it comes to objects, most of them in some way or form are probably competing with amazon. how do you compete with amazon when you are a small or mid-cap business? >> most if not all of our members sell services and not products. at the same time, the reason we started this business is what you just described. the amazons of the world are always going to provide service to consumers in a way that is very hard to compete with. but tech companies and companies like honey book, we see our job, our responsibility to help these businesses serve better their clients by adopting online solutions and being able to respond faster to their clients.

again, i do agree that you're touching something to fundamental, so important, that small businesses need to deal with it every single day. it's like, what does the consumer expect from them and how hard sit to deliver that kind of service when you're just one of several human beings. >> you're based in israel. i would imagine you have clients elsewhere, as well, that are using your software. what's the feel of it out there, outside of the united states? what are businesses thinking and feeling? >> so as you can probably here with my accent, it's definitely israeli. the honey book is based in san francisco, and ultimately, we do not serve outside the u.s., excluding canada. so we do operate in canada, as well.

but with that being said, being and living in israel, small businesses are experiencing pretty much the same across the board. but i will say in the u.s., this is -- this is the essence of being a small business and being an inknow va for. it's so engrained into the culture of this country, that i have to say as an israeli, i'm inspired to see how american small businesses are fighting through the toughest times. we saw it in covid and we are seeing it now. i have no doubt they will win. >> one of the unusual things that's come up is tiktok. do you have people using -- some of your clients using tiktok? i think the ads can be very compelling. it's a real, very strong advertising channel. i pay far more attention to an ad on tiktok than i do on youtube. >> scott, do you use tiktok?

>> i actually do, yes. i'm in the media, right? >> you know, i think it's part of the same thing. anything that's new and where the consumers are, small businesses need to adapt and learn how to do it. it's part of the challenge to learn and master new opportunities out there. but i think from our perspective, yes, tiktok is where so many consumers right now are at. and small businesses do need to pay attention to that as an acquisition channel for them. like many other acquisition channels. it's part of the challenge of being a small business owner. you just need to master so many different domains. >> all right. tiktok included. oz alon is ceo of honey book. thank you for being with us on "press: here." "press: here" will be right back.

that's our show for this week. we a sister podcast called sand hill road, all about venture capital. we hope you'll check it out. you can find it on google play and apple podcasts, spotify, anywhere you find your podcasts. my thanks to my guests and thank you for making us part of your sunday.

damian trujillo: hello, and welcome to "comunidad del valle," i'm damian trujillo. another spectacular show with lots of information today on your "comunidad del valle." [music] damian: and we begin today with the monthly visit by the consulate of méxico in san francisco. with me is embajadora remedios gomez arnau on the show. embajadora, great to see you again on the show. remedios gomez arnau: great to see you too, damian. i'm very happy always. damian: thank you. and i say on the show because you and i ran into each other a couple of weeks ago, and unfortunately it was during the mass shootings in half moon bay. first, give us--before we get into that topic, give us your