Sam Cole

all anyone can talk about today is how AI girlfriends are going to end the world. but I wrote about how they've been seen as a harbinger of chaos and a threat to male control for a long, long time: https://www.404media.co/openais-gpt-4o-voice/

Lots of headlines have credited an AI companion app with curing loneliness and saving lives.
But the study these claims are based on glosses over a messier story: that just as many, if not more, users report being pushed to the brink but this same chatbot https://www.404media.co/replika-suicide-prevention-loneliness-study/

pulling out my ouija board and then writing a paper based on what it says https://www.404media.co/ai-finds-that-ai-is-great-in-new-garbage-research-from-tony-blair-institute/

app stores didn't used to take these down when we reported on them. now, suddenly, they're taking action: https://www.404media.co/apple-removes-nonconsensual-ai-nude-apps-following-404-media-investigation/

hard to look at the state of Facebook and Instagram and not conclude that Meta has abandoned all hope https://www.404media.co/has-facebook-stopped-trying/

years of searching comes to a thrilling conclusion: 'Everyone Knows That' is from an 80s porno about horny angels https://www.404media.co/ekt-everyone-knows-that-song-ulterior-motives-christopher-booth-porn/

a trove of incident reports obtained by 404 Media shows how google manages, and often mismanages, all of our personal data: https://www.404media.co/google-leak-reveals-thousands-of-privacy-incidents/

can't believe we have to say this, but no, using AI to generate images of children being sexually abused is not a "victimless crime" https://www.404media.co/ai-generated-child-sexual-abuse-material-is-not-a-victimless-crime/

something so deeply metaphorical about google's new AI telling people to choke down some glue with a smile on https://www.404media.co/google-is-paying-reddit-60-million-for-fucksmith-to-tell-its-users-to-eat-glue/

“I write to give you and the thin-skinned bullies you represent an opportunity to provide whatever reason you can think of why my client should not seek to recover attorneys’ fees[...] and why any of you ever thought any of this was in any way a good idea” https://www.404media.co/fuck-the-lapd-shirt-makers-entire-shop-sold-out-after-cops-threaten-him/

this is wild: making AI-generated porn of real people is such big business, people are able to quit their day jobs to do it full time https://www.404media.co/how-makers-of-nonconsensual-ai-porn-make-a-living-on-patreon/

Facebook isn't the "dead internet" theory proven out. It's something much worse: https://www.404media.co/facebooks-ai-spam-isnt-the-dead-internet-its-the-zombie-internet/

Chaturbate, a huge and popular camming site, will pay the state of Texas more than half a million dollars in age verification law settlement: https://www.404media.co/chaturbate-texas-ordered-to-pay-age-verification-law/

"...the model Microsoft thought was not ready for public consumption and had to be taken offline, has already spread far and wide, and now effectively can never be removed from the internet." https://www.404media.co/microsoft-deleted-its-llm-because-it-didnt-get-a-safety-test-but-now-its-everywhere/

the tech PR machine in action: feed a politician a line > they parrot it as an official endorsement > profit https://www.404media.co/drone-company-zipline-dictates-mayors-quote-on-how-normal-zipline-is/

the NYPD has time for sizzle reels but not for responding to FOIA requests they're legally obligated to answer? cool! https://www.404media.co/there-is-no-transparency-in-new-york-city-nypd-arrests-columbia/

this is so funny omg
“Of course I know it’s an AI"
"Hi Jason, Thanks for reaching out. Nice having you here. I’m amazed at what AI can do.” https://www.404media.co/facebooks-bizarre-ai-images-now-on-linkedin-too/

@chiraag@mastodon.online @404mediaco@mastodon.social thanks so much for listening! (and commenting)

Discord shut down accounts associated with a service that scrapes user data and sells it, and is considering legal action: https://www.404media.co/discord-shuts-down-spy-pet-bots-that-scraped-sold-user-messages/