AI
Airbnb Hosts Don't Want to Talk to Guests Anymore, Are Outsourcing Messages to AI
An entire industry of companies offers Airbnb hosts AI to speak to guests on their behalf. 404 Media poked around the industry after one AI tool offered a guest a recipe for French toast.
News
Iran Is Winning the AI Slop Propaganda War
“White House videos—AI or otherwise—are like group-chat in-jokes aimed at keeping cohesion.”
Privacy
Apple Gives FBI a User’s Real Name Hidden Behind ’Hide My Email’ Feature
The move isn't surprising, but shows what data is available to authorities when paying Apple customers use the Hide My Email feature.
News
Wikipedia Bans AI-Generated Content
“In recent months, more and more administrative reports centered on LLM-related issues, and editors were being overwhelmed.”
Flock
Police Used Flock to Give a Man a Traffic Ticket
“CAPTURED ON FLOCK CAMERA 31 MM 1 HOLDING PHONE IN LEFT HAND.”
The Abstract
Why It's Good to Jack Off Frequently, According to Science
Masturbation has long been a scientific “mystery,” but a massive cross-species study shows that increased ejaculation has fertility benefits.
AI Slop
Disney's Sora Disaster Shows AI Will Not Revolutionize Hollywood
It turns out when you try to serve slop on a product people pay for, no one wants it.
News
The People Left Behind by the Metaverse
"The way they have behaved here is profoundly harmful and I would deem it a type of psychological torture from corprotate neglect."
Podcast
Podcast: The Company Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into Podcasts
A company is listening to Zoom meetings en masse and making AI podcasts; the multi-millionaire who wanted to become a cocaine kingpin; and RIP the metaverse.
Delivery Robots
Delivery Robot Drives Through Bus Stop Shelter, Shattering Glass Everywhere
A Serve Robotics robot crashed through a Chicago bus shelter.
News
A Top Google Search Result for Claude Plugins Was Planted by Hackers
Hackers paid to make a malicious link the top Google Search result.
News
This Company Is Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into AI Podcasts
WebinarTV hosts 200,000 “webinars.” A Zoom call you may thought was private might be one of them.
DOGE
Judge Allows DOGE Deposition Videos Back Online
“We are pleased to see today's ruling in defense of the First Amendment rights of all Americans,” one of the plaintiffs in the DOGE-related lawsuit said. The videos previously went viral when a DOGE member was unable or unwilling to define DEI.