The fact that this feature exists means OpenAI paid 100s of people to have e-sex with the robot to make sure it doesn’t get weird

My biggest regret in life is choosing a career where you never get to use walkie talkies

YouTube is testing AI on your videos without consent. Today it’s filters. Tomorrow, who decides what’s real www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Had a great time at lectures on tap at @caveatnyc.bsky.social watching @thomasgermain.bsky.social open our eyes to the deeper side of YouTube

lol so women are probably cheating at boot camp but tech bros don't need to go

Google has a new button. It might destroy the web as you know it. Experts say the new “AI Mode” is an asteroid aimed at the heart of the internet, one that could decimate millions of websites. It seems this chapter of online history is over. Here’s what comes next: www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Google wrote the rules, they created the game and they rewarded the players. Now they're turning around and saying, 'That's my infrastructure, the web just happens to live in it.’ 🔗 www.bbc.com/future/artic... by @thomasgermain.bsky.social

Right now, there are trains in California that can’t start until someone inserts a floppy disk. 50 years into Microsoft’s reign, Windows XP and MS-DOS still run elevators, hospitals, ATMs and more. I went inside the ghost world of obsolete PCs www.bbc.com/future/artic...

For years, YouTube didn't disclose how many videos it hosted. That fundamental-but-missing figure about one of the most important parts of our digital communication infrastructure is what launched our big @idpiumass.bsky.social YouTube project. But now there's an official number(ish)! [1/7]

"Republicans are advancing what could become the largest expansion of immigration enforcement funding in U.S. history—between $175 and $345 billion... and so far none of the key players will answer the simplest question: What, exactly, are taxpayers being asked to fund?" via @migrantinsider.com

If you call the Oregon Tele-Pome hotline today, I’ll read you a poem. 503-928-7008. This heart-poem from my core was originally published by @fonografeditions.bsky.social Thanks to @mojgani.bsky.social and @oregonhumanities.org for putting together the incredible hotline & for featuring me.

NEW from the BBC: Why it might be time to ditch your phone case www.bbc.com/future/artic...

20 years later, Facebook figured out that what people really want is…. to talk to their friends about.fb.com/news/2025/03...

If you can explain why King Charles' playlist is only on Apple Music please get in touch with me immediately www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/a...

There’s a secret YouTube no one gets to see - a vast, uncurated documentary of human life. We found a way to explore it. The average video has just 41 views. That means most of the platform is invisible, until now www.bbc.com/future/artic...

There’s a secret YouTube you never get to see - a vast, uncurated documentary of human life. We found a way to explore it. The average video has just 41 views. That means most of the platform is invisible, until now www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Thoroughly enjoyed this article. It is a struggle to explore in spite of YT's algorithms. With that in mind, I do love stumbling upon heartfelt, playful, creative, and unexpected content. Thank you for writing a insightful article on a very addictive resource. 😊

It is not just fake news, Ad revenue funds the worst content on the Internet, including child sexual abuse. @thomasgermain.bsky.social (BBC) Platforms keep telling us, for over a decade, that this is just a mistake and that -trust me, bro- it will be fixed soon. www.bbc.com/future/artic...

YouTube is almost 20 years old and more popular than ever, but there's still a ton we don't know about it. The BBC's @thomasgermain.bsky.social has a story about our work at @idpiumass.bsky.social to uncover some of those YouTube fundamentals. www.bbc.com/future/artic...

New for the BBC: Friday is YouTube's 20th birthday, but the most basic facts about the platform are still closely guarded secrets. For example: How much YouTube do we all watch? Answer: 8 MILLION YEARS per month Check out the mind blowing details Google wont tell you ⬇️ www.bbc.com/future/artic...

ICYMI: Google, Amazon, and Microsoft allowed their ad networks to place advertisements on a shady image-sharing website that hosted child sexual abuse material. Ad safety experts say the website's mechanics should have raised big red flags. Read more from @thomasgermain.bsky.social, here:

NEW: Google, Amazon and Microsoft's ad systems funneled money to a site that hosts images of child sex abuse www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Today is Elmo's birthday, which is one of the greatest mysteries known to science Every year, Elmo turns three and a half years old – again. I forced some of the world’s most respected astrophysicists to write equations that explain how this is possible gizmodo.com/elmo-age-bir...

Please help Chris with this investigation

New from the BBC: As thousands flee the fires in LA, roads that barely do the job during normal times become a matter of life and death. This week evacuees in my hometown faced choke points, gridlock and the tough decision of whether to abandon their cars to the fire www.bbc.com/future/artic...

I guess Musk won the cage match.

adrian dittman is elon musk confirmed

The universe was really speaking to @thomasgermain.bsky.social today

New on the BBC: The Oregon Trail is a year older than Pong, so old that its basic ideas, like making history the subject of a video game, were big innovations. 50 years later it's one of the most successful games of all time, but hidden controversies may taint its legacy www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Starting to feel like it’s illegal to be a Chinese tech company. TikTok, Huawei, DJI, now TP Link. I get that there are security concerns, but is this really just a coincidence? Has this happened with companies from other countries? www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Maybe Dr. Oz owning $550,000 in UnitedHealth stock and seeking to run the agency that oversees UnitedHealth's biggest cash cow (Medicare Advantage) should get more attention www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

Watching TV news each night and their coverage of the Luigi Mangione case is honestly kind of shocking at this point. I’ve never seen a bigger gap between the way it’s described on TV and the way it’s discussed online and in real life. I always like to think of historical parallels but I’m failing.

Idk seems like a classic “leave the gun, take the cannolis” situation

I don't know who needs to know this, but Pro Publica has an online thing that will format a letter to your US health insurance company to demand the records behind a claim denial. (which the insurance is then legally required to provide in most cases) projects.propublica.org/claimfile/

I LOVE that their marketing strategy is literally “we’re making skynet isn’t it sooo scary 😱 ?”

Denver gave people experiencing homelessness $1k/month. A year later, nearly half had housing. They also had fewer ER visits, nights spent in a hospital, and jail stays. The report estimates that this reduction in public service use SAVED the city $589k. www.businessinsider.com/denver-basic...

LLMs aren’t reliable enough for them to even consider putting AI in charge of your phone until *four years* after the release of ChatGPT. Tells you everything you need to know about how quickly this technology is advancing

Fun Apple news: when I updated to iOS 18 my iPhone’s sleep tracker mysteriously stopped working. Finally figured out why 😀 Apple removed the built-in sleep tracking feature, even though it worked like a dream. Can’t think of a single reason to do it aside from pressuring people to buy Apple Watches

So jealous of this story 😩

My latest for the BBC: Over the last few weeks, I talked to half a dozen website owners who are going out of business because of a change to Google’s algorithm. The weird part is they’re making the exact kind of original, “helpful” content Google says it wants to promote www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Getting ads my iPhone’s home screen now. Apple and Uber teaming up to make the world cool and good

My first story for the BBC, the ghosts of India’s TikTok could be a vision of America’s future The US wouldn’t be the first to ban the app. As 170M users swipe through videos in limbo, India offers a preview: people adapt, but the culture is lost forever www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Excited to say this is my first day at the BBC. I’ll be on the features team covering tech and all things innovation. Send me your story ideas!

Actually, Bitcoin didn't hit an all time high if you adjust for inflation. If you consider inflation, Bitcoin is actually worth about $7,334 *less* than it was three years ago gizmodo.com/actually-bit...

Anyone else noticing a pattern here? Last week Elon made an exception for child sexual abuse photos and now Kanye gets a third chance for Nazism. The only thing you can’t do on Twitter, it seems, is criticize Elon https://gizmodo.com/twitter-kanye-west-elon-musk-hate-speech-lawsuit-1850691676

EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: I got a copy of the full transcript. In context, it seems like there's still a chance we'll get to see Zuck give Elon the conga smash

Sad news from @thomas.gizmodo.com

I’m sorry, just have to post a big ol’ lol about the fact that this guy blew up my life by saying I condone pedophilia, and then he turns around and does this

IF YOU ARE QUEER IN THE US GET YOURSELF A PASSPORT YESTERDAY. Trans folks are actively being displaced from 1/3 of the states. And they're coming for all of us. This is one of the most important documents to have. DM me if you need help with the process.