Google, Microsoft, and Meta brag about how most of their code is AI-generated now. The developers generating that code say it sucks and that it's making the stupid www.404media.co/software-dev...

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% www.404media.co/ice-agents-h...

I wrote about being inundated with AI writing at every turn, unwittingly turning my brain into the AI police, and how shitty AI writing is randomly showing up in my real life outside of the internet www.404media.co/your-ai-use-...

Jason sat down to write an article, and instinctively, accidentally, did the “it’s not just x, it’s y” AI style of writing. He stopped typing, freaked out, deleted the sentence. Your AI use is breaking our brains www.404media.co/your-ai-use-...

I'm such a huge fan of Natasha Schull's work and I had such a good time talking to her for the pod! www.404media.co/how-the-worl...

A deep dive into the most popular deepfaking software for Chinese scammers, featuring my beefy pc www.404media.co/hello-boss-i...

Nature retracted a paper that claimed ChatGPT had a positive impact on student learning. it's not the only paper making this claim that has this problem www.404media.co/nature-retra...

you can also pay me to run cryo with you if you want to lose all your gear www.404media.co/buy-marathon...

It’s a good thing when the gasoline costs An XCOM Amount, right

New from 404 Media: CBP is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to expand its fleet of high-powered MQ-9 spy drones. But the documents also show another component of DHS may soon start its own fleet of Predator-style drones (CBP previously flew drones for ICE) www.404media.co/dhs-plans-to...

The number of people who are using AI to represent themselves in court appears to be skyrocketing and it's not clear how the courts are going to handle this load if it continues www.404media.co/people-using...

Researchers found the internet is becoming aggressively positive as AI-generated text floods the web.

A scientist at Google DeepMind published a paper that goes argues LLMs will never be sentient, going against the company's narrative on the power of AI www.404media.co/google-deepm...

take me back to the AI slop fart fetish fruit drama algorithm now PLEASE

in the section for @404media.co subscribers at the Supporter level, @jasonkoebler.bsky.social introduces us to the concept of "tokenmaxxing," a very normal and probably fine thing startup founders are doing now

on the podcast this week: I get into how social media algorithms tried to manipulate my emotions around big-ass diamond rings, white dresses and babies. then @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social gets into AI-powered "clean rooms" and the world of open source. www.404media.co/podcast-how-...

Salmon also starting record labels and AI workflow aggregator companies in record numbers

This site uses "AI clean rooms" to bypass copyright to "liberate" open source projects of the need to credit or support open source projects. It's satire, but it also works and is something that the open source community is already dealing with: www.404media.co/this-ai-tool...

horrified by that mass shooting story? Forbes would love you to predict what comes next

New: an entire industry now exists for Airbnb hosts to use AI to speak to their guests. I looked into it when one guest tricked the AI into providing a French toast recipe. I found companies that analyze guest message sentiment. Guests not pleased, obviously www.404media.co/airbnb-hosts...

Such a joy to talk to Whitney Phillips. We always talk about the worst things in the world but somehow it makes me feel better www.404media.co/how-the-inte...

this company is scraping and reposting anonymous support group Zoom meetings. Please be careful if you're using Zoom webinars for anything remotely sensitive www.404media.co/webinartv-se...

@dsblanch.bsky.social Hey Dan! Is there an email where I can reach you?

New from 404 Media: the FBI was able to extract incoming Signal messages from a phone even though the app was deleted. Why? Because parts of messages were stored in the iPhone's internal notification database. Shows how secure chat data can come from unexpected places www.404media.co/fbi-extracts...

Marathon is great and how popular it is shouldn't matter but it does, especially if you're an unc like me www.404media.co/i-wish-i-did...

many clowns spotted in circus for months www.404media.co/multiple-hac...

Thanks a lot for the interview @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social! While AI has its place for specialized tools, this will be a breath of fresh air for an overwhelmed community! And my biggest hope: "Empowering communities on other platforms to decide whether AI should be welcome. On their own terms."

after much deliberation and giving AI the benefit of the doubt, Wikipedia editors have had enough of AI slop. New policy bans LLM generated content, periodt www.404media.co/wikipedia-ba...

Also on today's podcast, @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social goes in on Zuckerberg's failed Metaverse and its comparisons to AI. Yes, AI may stick around but it's probably not going to take all our jobs, kill the artists, and be used for reasons Big Tech wants us to believe. www.youtube.com/watch?v=79SI...

the more you know www.404media.co/why-its-good...

So how did people find out their Zoom calls were being secretly recorded and uploaded to WebinarTV? Well, many got an email from a "Sarah Blair"—the supposed VP of communications at the company whose profile looks AI generated. @evystadium.bsky.social has more. www.404media.co/this-company...

careful out there AI grinder geniuses www.404media.co/a-top-google...

This company is scraping your Zoom meetings and turning them into AI podcasts without permission. Extremely wild and weird www.404media.co/this-company...

this is a wild wild tale about a millionaire that seemingly got into smuggling cocaine for the thrill of it www.404media.co/an-adrenalin...

I have literally watched something like 5 hours of this DOGE bro testimony. I'm completely obsessed, it's weirdly captivating. The circular arguments, the disdain from everyone involved, a true pleasure to watch Follow 404 Media on Instagram (www.instagram.com/404mediaco/) for more like this

these kids are making Ferrari money telling people to use their app in order to stop watching porn, but they exposed their most intimate data and then lied to me about it www.404media.co/viral-quittr...

Sat down with @cecianasta.bsky.social, one of the best in the biz, to talk about Roblox's many controversies www.404media.co/understandin...

this is something we deal with on a daily basis now as reporters. unfortunately I think more and more people are going to find themselves struggling with a friend or family member who is going through "ai psychosis" www.404media.co/ai-psychosis...

Thanks for the interview! My biggest worry wrt the current situation is that our remedies mostly focus on the exploited "freelancers" themselves, and we've had little luck regulating the broader structural issue. For me, the organization bears the most responsibility, not the individual translators.

low paid workers in the global south are using AI translation to generate Wikipedia articles that, surprising no one, include errors and hallucinations www.404media.co/ai-translati...

New from 404 Media: the FBI is using AI to hack targets. FBI official was talking about "remote access operations," FBI's term for hacking. FBI said it's a "game changer". The comments were unusually candid about FBI's very secretive hacking operations. www.404media.co/the-fbi-is-u...

prediction markets' depravity economy is the culmination of deregulation and kleptocracy, lobbying to legalize sports gambling, the collapse of advertising markets, hustlebro culture, crypto, memestocks, ai bubble ... venn diagram of horrible: www.404media.co/with-iran-wa...

America is out of ideas. A demented president is trying to tie up all the loose boomer plot threads before he dies. fuck it bet it all on black www.404media.co/with-iran-wa...

You can pay this company to scrub negative posts about you on the Tea app. The guy behind the company told me his employees, all men, have tea accounts, which is allegedly for women only www.404media.co/company-help...

the Islamic State is still around and is mostly interested in posting. It's using AI to kirkify dead leaders, trying to recruit in Roblox, and talking about Epstein to build clout so ... Daesh is just like everyone else online

New: the government just made it harder to see what spy tech it buys. This includes ICE, the FBI, essentially any agency. Why? Because they decided to retire the perfectly good system for searching contracts and replaced it with one that fucking sucks www.404media.co/the-governme...

i am actually glad david foster wallace is dead so he doesn't have to see this www.a16z.news/p/infinite-j...

NEW: A hobbyist has created Nearby Glasses, an app that warns you if someone close by is wearing smart glasses. 404 Media spoke to the creator who said he was inspired by our coverage that uncovers how men are wearing Meta's Ray-Bans to covertly film massage parlor workers.

Imagine a world where you can DM loved ones who have passed away over Facebook or IG using a LLM that emulates their chatting behaviors? Meta's patent is giving these researchers concern. @evystadium.bsky.social has more. Story by @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social www.404media.co/metas-ai-pat...