Google Is Opening the AI Floodgates

[Break]

Michael Calore: All right. This is the last part of our show where we go through our recommendations for things that people should check out. Julian, you get to go first, what is your recommendation?

Julian Chokkattu: Well, I am going on my honeymoon on Saturday, which is very soon, and I’m going to Japan for two and a half weeks, so my recommendation is to just leave your work and go do something else for two and a half weeks, if you can, obviously not everyone has luxury to do that. But just I was thinking of uninstalling Slack, just completely going a little extreme and just not even checking in because I have a tendency to, I think Mike knows this, look at Slack when I’m technically off.

Michael Calore: Yes, you do.

Julian Chokkattu: But yeah, so I’m just going to… And also, might I also suggest that The Legend of Zelda, which we have a review of the new Tears of the Kingdom on WIRED.com is coming out tomorrow, right before I have a 16-hour flight, so it’s really great for me. And I think you should also take the weekend to maybe play that if you have a Switch.

Michael Calore: Very nice.

Lauren Goode: That sounds amazing. What parts of Japan are you going to?

Julian Chokkattu: I am going to Tokyo, Sapporo, and then Hiroshima, and then Fukuoka, which is the tonkotsu capital of the Ramen style, so I’m going to go to eat there and get some… It’s just a food trip.

Michael Calore: Yes, okonomiyaki.

Julian Chokkattu: Yes… On your recommendation, I’m going to get to see a baseball game in Hiroshima.

Michael Calore: Nice, the Carp?

Julian Chokkattu: Yeah.

Michael Calore: Oh, it’s so good.

Julian Chokkattu: And apparently they go crazy in the stadium, it’s just a completely different vibe from what you would expect at a baseball game, so very excited for that too.

Michael Calore: Yep.

Lauren Goode: That’s awesome. Does your wife know that you are positioning this as a food trip versus a honeymoon?

Julian Chokkattu: Oh, that was, I would say, her idea.

Lauren Goode: Oh, okay. Great. Match made in heaven then.

Julian Chokkattu: She’s like a foodie, and she knows everything, and she knows exactly what she wants. So yeah, no, overall, this is our second time to Japan, so I think this is more… I haven’t planned anything, so I know where I’m going, but it’s kind of just like, “I guess we’ll figure it out.”

Lauren Goode: That’s awesome.

Julian Chokkattu: Yeah.

Michael Calore: Sugoi.

Julian Chokkattu: Thank you. Yes.

Lauren Goode: I realized that a lot of people I knew or knew peripherally were going to Japan in the past month, and I was a little befuddled by it like, “Oh, okay, it’s cherry blossom season.” At one point I was like, “Is this a bunch of people who work in AI or going for some reason?” because people were meeting with the prime minister to talk about AI. And then I realized it’s because it’s actually… it’s open to tourists again without having to follow any rigid Covid protocols, right?

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