AI
Inside an AI TikTok Shop Slop Factory That Shills Supplements Recalled By the FDA
How a company called Rosabella used AI content to market its supplements: "If you’re trying to sell health products to a 50-year-old, well, make your avatar 50 years old."
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Silent Retreat
This week, we discuss going into the woods, a "he admit it" moment, and a tofu sandwich.
AI
Google Earth’s New AI Lets Anyone Fabricate Completely Bullshit Satellite Images
"Tonight I typed just one sentence into Google Earth and put refugees near the Mexican border. Then I planted a nuclear plant in Iran. Then I put a fatal crash on a street in Amsterdam."
asmr
YouTube Bans Popular ASMR Artists, Accusing Them of Making 'Sexually Gratifying' Content
YouTube told ASMR artists including Bunnii, Slight Sounds, Rose, and others that their content broke the platform's sex and nudity policy. Creators say these bans are unfair and potentially life-altering.
Impact
Company Offering Printed Books to Train AI Stops After 404 Media Coverage
Citing backlash, ISBNdb removed its webpages about training AI, denied ever buying, scanning, or selling a book for AI training, and said the site was a "test of market interest."
The Abstract
A Hidden 'Dark Dimension' Could Rewrite Our Understanding of the Universe
The nature of dark matter and dark energy are among the biggest mysteries in science. Scientists think an extra “dark dimension” could explain both, and they are putting the idea to the test.
AI
Inside an AI TikTok Shop Slop Factory That Shills Supplements Recalled By the FDA
How a company called Rosabella used AI content to market its supplements: "If you’re trying to sell health products to a 50-year-old, well, make your avatar 50 years old."
LinkedIn Introduces a 'Seems Like AI Slop' Button
Following 404 Media's reporting on how LinkedIn is full of AI slop, the platform is giving users a chance to report it when they see it.
News
“Clapping Is a First Amendment Right:” An Interview With the Person Arrested for Clapping at a Data Center Meeting
"I have a right to speak. I'm here to speak. I have a right to clap, and if you want me out, you're going to have to drag me out."
Podcast
Podcast: Flock Came to My Town. Here’s What I Did
What happened when Flock came to Matthew's town; the rise of no phone Luddite events; and the influencers just making up BS about Flock.
Data centers
Data Centers Are Easy to Build. Powering Them Is Complicated, Slow, and Expensive
A new AI data center can be up and running in a year. Building new energy infrastructure to power it could take a decade.
Privacy
‘The Government Hopes To Set a Precedent’: An Interview With the Man Charged for Allegedly Wiping His GrapheneOS Phone
The U.S. government has charged Samuel Tunick with allegedly typing in a passcode to wipe his phone before officers could search it. “I hope people understand that the charges against me are meant to intimidate people,” he said.
Flock
'I Would Never Do This To You:' Protesting Flock, Arizona Man Presents Plan to Surveil Government Officials
“They didn't understand it was satire in the beginning until the end,” Casa Grande, Arizona resident Jacob Petrosky told 404 Media. “They were not happy, they were very upset.”