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jasonkoebler

@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social

journalist https://mastodon.social/@404mediaco

Signal: 1-202-505-1702 // email: jason@404media.co

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

jasonkoebler, to random
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$60 million well spent

https://www.404media.co/google-is-paying-reddit-60-million-for-fucksmith-to-tell-its-users-to-eat-glue/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

Scoop: I obtained the contract Samsung requires independent shops to sign to buy phone repair parts from them.

It requires:

  • "Daily" dumps of customer data
  • The "immediate destruction" of any phones a shop comes across that has third-party parts

https://www.404media.co/samsung-requires-independent-repair-shops-to-share-customer-data-snitch-on-people-who-use-aftermarket-parts-leaked-contract-shows/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

An extremely bogus DMCA threat from cops against a shop selling a 'FUCK THE LAPD' shirt has helped the company's entire store sell out of almost everything they make. "Streisand effect in effect."

https://www.404media.co/fuck-the-lapd-shirt-makers-entire-shop-sold-out-after-cops-threaten-him/

jasonkoebler, to random
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New: Facebook's AI chatbot told a parent in a group asking for advice from other parents that it has a gifted, disabled child who attends school in New York City

https://www.404media.co/facebooks-ai-told-parents-group-it-has-a-disabled-child/

jasonkoebler,
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

I am on the hunt for more examples of Meta AI pretending it is a person in groups. If you see anything please hit me up: jason@404media.co or signal: jason.404

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

If you add "reddit" to the end of search terms so that you can find posts by a real person, I have bad news: AI is beginning to poison Reddit in an effort to game Google results

https://www.404media.co/ai-is-poisoning-reddit-to-promote-products-and-game-google-with-parasite-seo/

jasonkoebler, to random
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Cory Doctorow on Red Lobster is an instant click from me https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/23/spineless/ @pluralistic

jasonkoebler, to random
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New: Amazon killed three shareholder proposals that would have required transparency about AI-powered robots in the warehouse, efforts to kill union drives, and on workplace safety. Amazon Board claimed it doesn't need any of those things:

https://www.404media.co/amazon-kills-shareholder-proposals-on-worker-treatment-transparency/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

NEW: UT-Austin said it received "extensive online threats" from Palestine protest organizers, which it sent to local, state, and federal police.

Public records released by the university show that three public Instagram posts were the "threats"

https://www.404media.co/these-are-the-extensive-online-threats-the-university-of-texas-sent-to-cops-about-palestine-protests/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

KAFKAESQUE: Students at Emory University built an AI study tool. They pitched it to the university at an entrepreneurship competition. They won "grand prize" and $10,000 to build the tool. They built the tool.

The school's Honor Council suspended them for cheating and for building API support into the tool, which is what they pitched

https://www.404media.co/university-suspends-students-for-ai-homework-tool-it-paid-them-10-000-to-make/

jasonkoebler, to random
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A Stanford study published in Nature suggested that the Replika AI chatbot stopped suicidal ideation in participants. But it used a 2021 version of the chatbot. Since then, Replika has been blamed for causing mental health crises in users. Very messy

https://www.404media.co/replika-suicide-prevention-loneliness-study/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

New: The Reply all / cc apocalypse but for losers jerking it to nonconsensual AI porn

https://www.404media.co/nonconsensual-ai-porn-maker-accidentally-leaks-his-customers-emails/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

The publisher of a small imprint of roleplaying games magazines/speculative fiction shuts down after 22 years because their submissions have been flooded with AI to the extent they cannot wade through them:

“The problem with AI is the people who use AI. These are people who think their ‘ideas’ are more important than the actual craft of writing, so they churn out all these ‘ideas’ and enter their idea prompts and think the output is a story.”

https://www.404media.co/bards-and-sages-closing-ai-generated-writing/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

Axon's AI is now writing police reports directly from bodycam footage. Says cops are actively using it. What could go wrong? This is what it looks like:

https://www.404media.co/here-is-what-axons-bodycam-report-writing-ai-looks-like-draft-one/

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jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

Google is experimenting with "showing people links to websites." This revolutionary feature is hidden under the "More" tab as AI search moves closer to becoming the default

https://www.404media.co/google-search-web-filter-ai-overview/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

There were a handful of massive Patreons dedicated to selling nonconsensual AI porn that were big enough for their creators to quit their jobs.

They evaded Patreon moderation by pretending to be innocuous on platform, but advertising NCP off-platform

https://www.404media.co/how-makers-of-nonconsensual-ai-porn-make-a-living-on-patreon/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

Every major telecom company says there hasn't been an attack on SS7 since 2018. But an official at CISA has spoken out, seemingly without permission, and has revealed a series of recent attacks

https://www.404media.co/cyber-official-speaks-out-reveals-mobile-network-attacks-in-u-s/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

“Fictional and factual fembots reflect the same regressive male fantasies: sexual outlets and the promise of emotional validation and companionship. Underpinning this are masculine anxieties regarding women, and fear of technology escaping our control.”

https://www.404media.co/openais-gpt-4o-voice/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

Can't make this up: Some Amazon warehouses are now selling neck fans to employees so they don't overheat while they work. They can only buy them with "SWAG Bucks," which are earned for good behavior

https://www.404media.co/amazons-swag-store-sells-neck-fans-to-prevent-workers-from-overheating/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

My deep dive on the current state of John Deere's tractor repair monopoly. DRM & software locks make it impossible for farmers to fix things they own. But a class-action lawsuit is bringing judicial & federal scrutiny

https://www.404media.co/the-walls-are-closing-in-on-john-deeres-tractor-repair-monopoly/

jasonkoebler, to random
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

Scoop: Solar storm is causing farmers' tractor GPS systems to go haywire. Many have shut down planting altogether during a critical period. A Deere dealer said accuracy is "extremely compromised"

https://www.404media.co/solar-storm-knocks-out-tractor-gps-systems-during-peak-planting-season/

jasonkoebler,
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

One farmer called it a "shitshow." Another: "All the tractors are sitting at the ends of the field right now shut down because of the solar storm." Another said their systems that are normally centimeter-accurate were off by 3-6 feet and tractor kept "wandering off" and had to be constantly corrected.

jasonkoebler,
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

This is a reminder of how much modern tractors rely on satellite and internet connections. Many farmers can't or won't plant right now bc tractors have been highly automated to increase yield. Rows are planted so tightly together that humans can't navigate them w/o killing crops

jasonkoebler,
@jasonkoebler@mastodon.social avatar

This, from a John Deere dealer, is wild. They warn that affected tractors operated during this time will likely have made maps that are wrong, which will be wrong throughout the growing system, and which are wrong in an inconsistent way

jasonkoebler, to random
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New: OpenAI—a company that has indiscriminately scraped vast amounts of human knowledge to build a company valued at roughly $80 billion—has made a copyright complaint against the ChatGPT subreddit because it used OpenAI’s logo.

https://www.404media.co/openai-files-copyright-claim-against-chatgpt-subreddit/

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