Mastodawn

New from 404 Media: at a "private conference" tomorrow at Uber headquarters, tech companies will discuss the future of Iran. The guest list also includes the son of Iran’s former leader who was deposed almost 50 years ago.

https://www.404media.co/tech-companies-to-discuss-irans-future-during-private-conference-at-uber-hq/

Tech Companies to Discuss Iran's Future During 'Private Conference' at Uber HQ

The former Crown Prince of Iran is meeting with Iranian diaspora tech and business leaders on Saturday to discuss the future of the country. Attendees include the CEO of Uber.

404 Media

Joseph Cox 1d ago

ArXiv is going to ban researchers for a year if they are caught submitting AI slop. ArXiv told us it's a one strike rule: do it once, you're out.

https://www.404media.co/new-arxiv-rules-ai-generated-papers-ban/

ArXiv to Ban Researchers for a Year if They Submit AI Slop

The change comes as arXiv and others struggle to manage an influx of AI-generated materials masquerading as rigorous science.

404 Media

Joseph Cox 1d ago

Mayo Clinic is using AI to listen to emergency room visits. Spoke to someone who recently took their elderly parent to hospital. Only later saw the disclosure on the wall: everything recorded so AI could take notes. It's opt-out, not opt-in, if you even see the notice https://www.404media.co/mayo-clinic-is-using-ai-to-listen-to-emergency-room-visits/

Mayo Clinic is Using AI to Listen to Emergency Room Visits

Mayo Clinic's "Ambient Listening" has been around for a couple of years, but clearly not all patients know their interactions with nurses are being passively recorded and processed by AI.

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Joseph Cox 2d ago

DOGE's impact: a new study looks at “the earliest evidence of the impact of cuts to USAID on the incidence of violent events” which suggests that “the radical cuts […] led to an increase in conflict in the regions that received the most aid from the United States.”

https://www.404media.co/doge-cuts-unleashed-a-deadly-wave-of-violence-across-africa-study-finds/

DOGE Cuts Unleashed a Deadly Wave of Violence Across Africa, Study Finds

The dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is associated with measurable increases in Africa, especially in areas most dependent on the agency’s support.

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Joseph Cox 2d ago

An app that uses AI to analyze photos of your poop and give a "daily gut health score" is now trying to sell that dataset of annotated photos of peoples' poop. Highlights the underground sale of highly sensitive, app-collected user data for AI training

https://www.404media.co/ai-poop-analysis-app-offered-to-sell-me-access-to-its-users-poops/

Internet of Shit: AI Poop Analysis App Offered to Sell Me Database of Its Users' Poops

"I hoarded a large database of something valuable, just not what you expect… 150k stools images."

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Joseph Cox 3d ago

"The podcast is not going well. Watching a few minutes of several of the videos immediately gave me flashbacks to the videos I was in at U.S. News, and served as a stark reminder that the executives running these media companies have zero clue what they’re doing." https://www.404media.co/washington-post-make-it-make-sense-opinion-podcast/

At Least We Know the Washington Post Isn't Buying Views

Jeff Bezos learns being good at YouTube is not so easy.

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Joseph Cox 3d ago

Fiber-optic cable has become a staple of drone war. Pilots are flying quadcopters with kilometer-long lengths of cable that stop the drone from being knocked from the sky. But now that cost of fiber-optic cable is going up

https://www.404media.co/war-and-data-centers-are-driving-up-the-cost-of-fiber-optic-cable/

War and Data Centers Are Driving Up the Cost of Fiber-Optic Cable

Spools of cable are critical for internet infrastructure and jam-proof drones but skyrocketing costs are making it hard to field them.

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Joseph Cox 3d ago

All the developers 404 Media talked to were excited to try using LLMs at work at first, or were at least curious about them. Their feelings about the tools, based on their personal experience, are now overwhelmingly negative. AI is rotting their brains https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/

Software Developers Say AI Is Rotting Their Brains

“It's making me dumber for sure.”

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Joseph Cox 3d ago

This is what it's like seeing your own face on a deepfake, in realtime, on a video call.

Watch here for more on how we bought this software 'Haotian AI' and linked it to the ecosystem powering scam compounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_d1VxuBdAU

Joseph Cox 4d ago

New from 404 Media: spoke to four people who attended a trade show where senior ICE officials spoke about how much Palantir is supercharging their arrests. List of 20 million people on ICE agents phones now; increased chance of successful arrest from 28 to 80% https://www.404media.co/ice-agents-have-list-of-20-million-people-on-their-iphones-thanks-to-palantir/

ICE Agents Have List of 20 Million People on Their iPhones Thanks to Palantir

The comments made by a senior ICE official at a trade show highlight how Palantir is increasing the speed at which ICE operates. Most people detained by ICE have no criminal conviction.

404 Media