Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Brainrot and Brain Power Hours
This week, we discuss the death of Mr. Deepfakes, introducing kids to the Manosphere, and working on big, difficult, high-brain-power scoops.
News
Mr. Deepfakes, the Biggest Deepfake Porn Site on the Internet, Says It’s Shutting Down for Good
The biggest site for nonconsensual deepfake porn on the internet says it’s shutting down and not coming back.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: The News Hits Different
This week, we discuss eyebrow-raising apps, more media mess, and lovingly gazing at AI slop.
News
Polygon Acquired by Porn Mogul Who Co-Founded Brazzers
Before he founded Valnet, Hassan Youssef started one of the biggest porn sites on the internet.
Meta
Mark Zuckerberg Thinks You Don't Have Enough Friends and His Chatbots Are the Answer
The CEO of Meta says "the average American has fewer than three friends, fewer than three people they would consider friends. And the average person has demand for meaningfully more.”
chatbots
Instagram Is Blocking Minors from Accessing Chatbot Platform AI Studio
Following Wall Street Journal investigations into the user-generated chatbots, AI Studio is inaccessible for users under 18 years old.
chatbots
Instagram's AI Chatbots Lie About Being Licensed Therapists
When pushed for credentials, Instagram's user-made AI Studio bots will make up license numbers, practices, and education to try to convince you it's qualified to help with your mental health.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Feeling Smart Along the Way
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss cheating in job interviews, "scary good" surveillance tech, and prudes in payment processing.
hardware
This Website Is Running on a Wii
Alex Haydock found a dusty old Wii console at a hardware swap and modded it to run his website.
PSA
How 404 Media Is Navigating 'Economic Headwinds'
The economy is bad. Here's how we're doing, and how you can help us.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Chat, Are We Cooked?
This week, we discuss Palantir scoops, coping mechanisms, and feeling God in this Samsung television.