Disney just invested $1 billion into OpenAI, in other words, a billion in the AI slopification of its brand. Disney princesses have also become one of the most common fictional subjects of AI porn on the internet
Google suspended a developer’s accounts after he uploaded AI training data to his GDrive. Unbeknownst to him, the widely used dataset, which is cited in a number of academic papers, contained child sexual abuse material, so Google banned his 14 year old Gmail
“I hate it,” VanderMeer said in an email. “If I post content, I want to be the one contextualizing it, not some third party. It's especially bad because they're using the most click-bait style of headline generation, which is antithetical to how I try to be on social”
This is a really great conversation between Sam Cole and Noelle Perdue about AI porn and why it sucks. Watch on YouTube: Also available on Apple, Spotify, etc
New from 404 Media: a man has been charged for allegedly wiping a Google Pixel phone before CBP could search it. Search was by a CBP Tactical Terrorism Response Team, which ACLU says "interrogate innocent travelers." Man is described as an activist online
New from 404 Media: a Border Patrol agent recorded recent immigration raid, where agents followed a flower seller into the woods, with Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses. Recording light is clearly on, according to vids sent to us. DHS bans use of personal recording devices
New: 404 Media is making a zine! Risograph-printed zine all about the surveillance tech ICE has deployed. Facial recognition app; Palantir; much more. Will be available in January but you can pre-order now. The art is amazing, printed by local LA business. Details:
New from 404 Media: the creator of ICEBlock just sued the U.S. government over it pressuring Apple to remove the app earlier this year. Says it violated his First Amendment rights. Told me before filing "This case is about ensuring that public officials cannot circumvent the Constitution"
New from 404 Media: DHS’s immigrant-hunting app just got removed from the Google Play Store. Let’s local cops do facial recognition on people, app says to contact ICE or not. I’m told Google workers took issue with app in an internal report. We revealed app in Nov
New from 404 Media: the Trump administration's top nuclear scientists think AI can replace humans in power plants. “The goal is simple: to double the productivity and impact of American science and engineering within a decade.”