🧵

Microsoft have somehow* plagiarised somebody else's work in their own documentation. dbushell.com/notes/2026-0... * it's probably because they stole the content to train their AI

I think we're now firmly in the era of emergent effects. It's not just about "does the AI do the job", but "what happens when many points of the ecosystem is done by AI". The way these bits interact with each other, with runaway effects that nobody expected/asked for, is upon is.

Meta is putting a "Name Tag" feature in Ray-Bans - facial recognition through the glasses' camera. You look at someone, AI tells you who they are. In an internal document, the company wrote that the timing is good because civil society groups are busy with politics and won't cause problems.

I desperately need you, the person reading this post, to know that this is happening at the senior leadership/executive levels of YOUR COMPANY TOO right now. And I really do mean *you* even if I know you personally. Hell, some of you ARE the executives.

It is indeed our fault.

SOON

Oh man, and it's by the "sharks are smooth lions" guy, too.

Explosions out in the night. Sparks?

"Nothing like this has existed before, and we don't quite know what it does to people." @carlbergstrom.com spoke to Mihingarangi Forbes about living with AI on Saturday Morning this morning → www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro... #cccss26 🧪

Mum: "You need to go outside and enjoy the sun!" Goth teenager:

Meta thinks now is a great time to launch facial recognition surveillance tech in their creepy glasses because EFF will be too distracted by fascism to notice. We noticed. www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

Huh, would you look at that. *stares directly at the camera lens*

More Pākehā are enrolling in Treaty education workshops and seeking out information about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, #nzpol

James Van Der Beek

It is time. bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz

A list of key dates for the 2026 General Election. elections.nz/media-and-ne... Next up is August 6: * Last day for registration of parties and logos * Last day for Māori who are already enrolled to change roll types (midnight) #NZPol #NZElection

Oh no, my parsley fell over in the wind :-(

Resisting the urge to dive in on electoral process discourse is difficult. It's going to be a long nine months.

"Napoleon achieved his success by ignoring logistics" is a bold take when you consider that such successes include losing his entire army in Egypt due to logistics, losing his entire army in Russia due to logistics, turning the Peninsular War into a nightmare by replacing logistics with theft...

Me to my developers:

Where Google StreetView is.

Reminder that this tool was not for brain surgery but for sinus surgery, which is normally a relatively minor and safe procedure. I think some people in the QTs and replies are mistakenly thinking it was brain surgery due to the severity of the errors/outcomes, but it was just sinus surgery!

Plus another one today at 5.30pm (Archway 3 / Zoom) www.otago.ac.nz/news/events/...

Worried about an old friend today. Not much I can do until there's something to do, though. Crossing all the fingers.

Our regular reminder that somewhere in the world, an Art is happening. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ssi...

If the US armed forces are considering banning the technology - even from US companies - over OpSec reasons, other governments would be well advised to do the same. taskandpurpose.com/news/air-for...

“In New Zealand, X holds just over 6% of the social media market, so it’s now a platform with barely a sliver of reach.” Not even wide use by the NZ public, so definitely no good reason for government agencies or politicians to be on a CSAM and racism-spewing site. PSC should get agencies off it.

Oop, now I'm Awake. Medical transport helo overhead bringing someone in from Banks Peninsula. Hope they're okay.

I was at a conservation event in West Auckland last week, and they had a dead one mounted to show us and Jesus fucking christ those things are fucking gigantic

GM: Charisma check. Mamdani: [rolls natural 20] GM: that’s a d6 how did you Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊

A guide for Aucklanders keeping watch for yellow-legged hornets: 1. “Hmm, is this stripy waspy thing a hornet?” = not a hornet 2. “JESUS EFFING C what the F is that MONSTER, that’s he biggest wasp I’ve ever SEEN, NO Jaden KEEP AWAY, shit I think it has yellow legs” = hornet

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

production of The Muppet Show should not be dependent on petty vulgarities like “ratings” or “revenue.” it should be preserved as a vital function of american culture. it should have a taxpayer-funded budget rivaling the CIA

i don't particularly disagree with a lot of the critiques of anarchist activism by liberals but I bristle when they act as if their best practices are any wiser. we're here because none of us figured out how to avoid being here. everyone should have some goddamn humility.

Interesting to note the current incumbent contractor here: Deloitte Consulting. (Yes, that Deloitte.)

It's past 10pm. We're nearly at tomorrow's high temperature. It's all downhill from here.

I mean stealing others efforts is pretty much on form for British museum

Anyone who says, "an intern must have done this" has no idea about how social media management operates at this level. Posting AI slop is a very deliberate choice. Especially for an institution this big.

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living in Ebbw Vale (1991)

Pleased to say that Carl Bergstrom (@carlbergstrom.com) will be speaking at the University of Canterbury on 13th Feb! He is hosted by @tepunahamatatini.bsky.social come see him at noon in Jack Erskine 441!

Yeah, that’s getting a bit warm… (50˚C is 122˚F for those who still aren’t using metrics.)

Checked on #kakapo Hine Taumai's nest yesterday, and surprised to find her sunbathing on her nest! Some nests are very open to the elements, so we often add waterproofing to ensure the chicks don't get too wet. #kakapo2026 #conservation #birds

"Welcome to geopolitics, where the countries are made up and the points don't matter..."

Sparing a thought today for people who've been through their own traumatic experiences, and don't need folks slopping around the "juicy" parts of the recently-released Epstein documents without any mutable words they can filter out on them. If you must, give people the chance to opt out.

The same is true of information systems and software. What govt agencies were able to do in house and in collaboration with local universities and companies in decades past seems unimaginable today with the colossal scale of managerial outsourcing and digital obfuscation.

I hate this. I hate that scholars and teachers are supposed to be digital fraud experts. I hate that this part of their job description is becoming larger and larger. I hate the widening distrust. I hate a culture that aggressively devalues the curiosity and humility required for ongoing learning.

"If WW3 breaks out, would you be happy to fight for America?" "On which side?"