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Category: Technology

The ‘enshittification’ of American power

The ‘enshittification’ of American power

Wired reports: For decades, allies of the United States lived comfortably amid the sprawl of American hegemony. They constructed their financial institutions, communications systems, and national defense on top of infrastructure provided by the US. And right about now, they’re probably wishing they hadn’t. Back in 2022, Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshittification” to describe a cycle that has played out again and again in the online economy. Entrepreneurs start off making high-minded promises to get new users to try…

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Can AI companies keep stealing books to train their large language models?

Can AI companies keep stealing books to train their large language models?

Alex Reisner writes: Should tech companies have free access to copyrighted books and articles for training their AI models? Two judges recently nudged us toward an answer. More than 40 lawsuits have been filed against AI companies since 2022. The specifics vary, but they generally seek to hold these companies accountable for stealing millions of copyrighted works to develop their technology. (The Atlantic is involved in one such lawsuit, against the AI firm Cohere.) Late last month, there were rulings…

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Karen Hao on how AI is threatening democracy and creating a new colonial world

Karen Hao on how AI is threatening democracy and creating a new colonial world

  The new book “Empire of AI” by longtime technology reporter Karen Hao unveils the accruing political and economic power of AI companies — especially Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Her reporting uncovered the exploitation of workers in Kenya, attempts to take massive amounts of freshwater from communities in Chile, along with numerous accounts of the technology’s detrimental impact on the environment. “This is an extraordinary type of AI development that is causing a lot of social, labor and environmental harms,” says…

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Nanoplastic pollution of oceans found on a vast scale

Nanoplastic pollution of oceans found on a vast scale

The New York Times reports: What do human brains, placentas and dolphin breath have in common? Signs of plastic pollution in the form of tiny particles known as microplastics. The ocean is also polluted with plastic, and the issue may be even more extensive than previously thought. A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature estimates the volume of nanoplastics, which are even smaller than microplastics and invisible to the naked eye, to be at least 27 million metric tons…

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Grok 4 seems to parrot Elon Musk when answering controversial questions

Grok 4 seems to parrot Elon Musk when answering controversial questions

TechCrunch reports: During xAI’s launch of Grok 4 on Wednesday night, Elon Musk said — while livestreaming the event on his social media platform, X — that his AI company’s ultimate goal was to develop a “maximally truth-seeking AI.” But where exactly does Grok 4 seek out the truth when trying to answer controversial questions? The newest AI model from xAI seems to consult social media posts from Musk’s X account when answering questions about the Israel and Palestine conflict,…

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A glaring security issue for blockchains and other digital encryption schemes

A glaring security issue for blockchains and other digital encryption schemes

Erica Klarreich writes: Randomness is a source of power. From the coin toss that decides which team gets the ball to the random keys that secure online interactions, randomness lets us make choices that are fair and impossible to predict. But in many computing applications, suitable randomness can be hard to generate. So instead, programmers often rely on things called hash functions, which swirl data around and extract some small portion in a way that looks random. For decades, many…

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Grok is spewing antisemitic garbage on X

Grok is spewing antisemitic garbage on X

Wired reports: Grok, the chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, made a series of deeply antisemitic remarks in response to several posts on X on Tuesday. A large language model that is integrated into X, Grok acts as a platform-native chatbot assistant. In several posts—some of which have been deleted but have been preserved via screenshot by X users—Grok parroted antisemitic tropes while insisting that it was being “neutral and truth-seeking.” In some posts, Grok said that…

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ICEBlock developer on why Trump admin is targeting his app to report ICE sightings

ICEBlock developer on why Trump admin is targeting his app to report ICE sightings

  “ICEBlock”, an app that allows users to report sightings of ICE activity, has hit the top of the App Store charts for downloads. The app’s developer, Joshua Aaron, defends his reasons for making the mobile application and explains why the Trump administration isn’t happy with its rising popularity. Wired reports: US attorney general Pam Bondi was on Fox News Monday talking about ICEBlock, when she spoke directly about Aaron, the app’s sole developer. “We are looking at him,” she…

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Zuckerberg’s vision of superintelligence isn’t endorsed by his chief AI scientist

Zuckerberg’s vision of superintelligence isn’t endorsed by his chief AI scientist

Quartz reports: Meta’s chief AI scientist says even “cat-level intelligence” is “very far” away. His CEO just bet $14.3 billion on superintelligence. The contradiction crystallized last week when Mark Zuckerberg announced the creation of Meta Superintelligence Labs, a brand new division led by Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang. Zuckerberg promised in a memo that “developing superintelligence is coming into sight” and called it “the beginning of a new era for humanity.” The declaration put Zuckerberg on a collision course with Yann LeCun, Meta’s top AI researcher and…

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How Internet of Things devices affect your privacy – even when they’re not yours

How Internet of Things devices affect your privacy – even when they’re not yours

The Internet of Things, which includes wearables, appliances and cars, is collecting an increasing amount of information about you. lupengyu/Moment via Getty Images By David Sella-Villa, University of South Carolina Some unusual witnesses helped convict Alex Murdaugh of the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul. The first was Bubba, Maggie’s yellow Labrador retriever. Prosecutors used a recording of Bubba to place Alex at the site of the murders. Given Alex’s presence at the crime scene, other witnesses then…

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Is the decline of reading poisoning our politics?

Is the decline of reading poisoning our politics?

Eric Levitz writes: If you aren’t feeling the itch yet, you will soon. It could come by the end of this sentence or, on a good day, the fifth paragraph. But before long, a little voice in your head will whisper, “Click away for just a second” — just long enough to take a quick glance at your email or Instagram feed or group chat or 401(k) or chatbot’s answer to “how to tell if a mole is cancerous” or…

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The AI backlash keeps growing stronger

The AI backlash keeps growing stronger

Reece Rogers writes: Before Duolingo wiped its videos from TikTok and Instagram in mid-May, social media engagement was one of the language-learning app’s most recognizable qualities. Its green owl mascot had gone viral multiple times and was well known to younger users—a success story other marketers envied. But, when news got out that Duolingo was making the switch to become an “AI-first” company, planning to replace contractors who work on tasks generative AI could automate, public perception of the brand…

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Multiple studies now indicate that AI will turn us into morons

Multiple studies now indicate that AI will turn us into morons

Gizmodo reports: For the second time in two weeks, a study has been published that suggests that people who use AI regularly may display significantly less cognitive ability than those who don’t rely on it. The studies have bolstered critics’ accusations that AI makes you stupid. The most recent study was conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and looked at a sample size of over 4,500 participants. The study, which looked at the cognitive differences between people who…

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Machines that teach us how to think, produce minds no more creative than machines

Machines that teach us how to think, produce minds no more creative than machines

Kyle Chayka writes: In an experiment last year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, more than fifty students from universities around Boston were split into three groups and asked to write SAT-style essays in response to broad prompts such as “Must our achievements benefit others in order to make us truly happy?” One group was asked to rely on only their own brains to write the essays. A second was given access to Google Search to look up relevant information….

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How Trump might use U.S. technology dominance against Europe

How Trump might use U.S. technology dominance against Europe

The New York Times reports: When President Trump issued an executive order in February against the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for investigating Israel for war crimes, Microsoft was suddenly thrust into the middle of a geopolitical fight. For years, Microsoft had supplied the court — which is based in The Hague in the Netherlands and investigates and prosecutes human rights breaches, genocides and other crimes of international concern — with digital services such as email. Mr. Trump’s…

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Our crisis, not of loneliness, but of people becoming invisible

Our crisis, not of loneliness, but of people becoming invisible

Allison J Pugh writes: Paul was a gig worker in the San Francisco Bay Area. Formerly a project manager in tech until several companies in a row laid him off, he started working entirely for platforms like Lyft, Uber and TaskRabbit. He managed to eke out a living, but the jobs posed a different problem. ‘Honestly, a lot of times, I go out and the person doesn’t even know my name, even though I introduced myself as Paul,’ he told…

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