Today in ‘Samuel Pepys’ Diary Reimagined’:

‘What in the dark ages of the internet were unsolicited e-mails with “funny” video attachments (which back then took fifteen and more minutes to download and weren’t funny in the slightest), are nowadays links to “funny,” “amazing” “AI”-generated content (which destroys the environment and human brains and is not funny or amazing in the slightest) […]’

https://babumenos.com/SPDR/#a2025-05-24

#AI #DontCallItAI #Luddite #Diary

What a potent appetizer:

“AI” is a sinister bubble pumped full of VC-grade helium. The business guys inhaling it — dizzy, cocksure — are pressuring creative workers to take a hit, too. The cartoonish repetition of ungrounded claims starts to resemble that old BuzzFeed video, “People Inhale Helium For The First Time.” But unlike that bit of peak 2010s millennial-core fluff, this hype is no joke — it’s a distraction from real, current harms. Too much helium? You're bound to lose consciousness.

“The hype-mongers not only spin fantastical tales about what the tech can do, but they also work to convince you that if you don’t jump on the bandwagon, you’ll be left in the dust,” write Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna in their cathartic, crisply argued and irreverently comedic new book, “The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want.”

Follow @emilymbender and @alex, and read the remainder of this book review online!

https://www.esckey.co/do-you-believe-in-hope-after-ai-hype-emily-m-bender-and-alex-hanna-make-the-case/

#TheAICon #DontCallItAI

How humans can hold the line against AI hype

https://cosmiclog.com/2025/05/19/how-to-hold-the-line-against-ai-hype/

#dontCallItAI #AiHype #AI #KI

@firn Let's not call it #AI. Let's call it disguised slave labor!

#dontCallItAI #callItSlaveLabor

This is how to disable the new “AI” chatbot in #Firefox:

• type about:config into the awesome bar
• skip the warning for first time modders
• locate the browser.ml.chat.enabled setting and set it to false

In the #Librewolf fork, a thoughtful person has already done this for you.

(HT to @kuketzblog for the hint!)

#genAI #chatbot #bullshitgenerator #llm #dontCallItAI

We would like to endorse what @kuketzblog writes about the inclusion of an “AI assistant” into an instant messenger that is still widely used:

It is unfortunate that many journalists do not realise how dangerous the new AI in WhatsApp really is. Der Spiegel, for example, writes in a recent article: “Meta AI does not have access to users' private chats, however, thanks to end-to-end encryption.” As a matter of fact, the AI does have access as it is used in the context of private chats or group chats. Sadly, this misinformation lulls users into a false sense of security. 🤦

Source (in German): https://social.tchncs.de/@kuketzblog/114267998218207258

#whatsapp #ai #e2ee #dontcallitai #genai #privacy

Wenn ihr mir folgt, habt ihr wahrscheinlich kein Amazon Echo in Hörweite stehen. Wer sowas kauft, hat ganz sicher die Kontrolle über sein Leben verloren. Das Gerät hat nicht umsonst mehrere #BigBrotherAwards »gewonnen«.

Aber vielleicht kennt ihr ja Leute, die sich selbst was vormachten und dachten, sie seien auf der sicheren Seite, wenn sie anklicken, dass der Echo (Dot/Spot) die Spracherkennung selbst machen soll, statt alle Tonaufzeichnungen in die Amazon-Cloud zu schicken. Tja, diese Option schaltet Amazon Ende des Monats ab. Weil der Bullshit-Generator Alexa+ sonst nicht profitabel sei.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/everything-you-say-to-your-echo-will-be-sent-to-amazon-starting-on-march-28/

Update: https://fedifreu.de/@chpietsch/114241310611465468

#Amazon #Echo #AmazonEcho #Alexa #AlexaPlus #chatbot #genAI #dontCallItAI #Lauschdöschen

Via LiLaBi kam gerade eine Veranstaltungsankündigung rein, über die ich mich sehr freue:

Zerstörerischer KI-Bullshit – Warum ChatGPT mit den „sozialen“ Medien als Resonanzraum Rechtsextremismus befördert und Ungleichheit vergrößert

Wann? 3. März 2025, 20:00 Uhr
Wo? Extra Blues Bar, Kreuzstraße 6, 33602 Bielefeld

#Capulcu ist ein Kollektiv, das mir für hochwertige Broschüren zum Thema #digitaleSelbstverteidigung bekannt ist. Jetzt haben sie sich des KI-Hypes angenommen:

Band VI – Debunk – Kritik an KI

Inhalt der Broschüre:

#Chatbots #GenAI #ChatGPT #dontCallItAI #stochasticParrots #antifa #Bielefeld #OWL #Ostwestfalen #Vortrag #KI #AI