Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Infinite Bowl Machine
This week, we discuss AI music, slop bowls, and the endless quest for optimization.
ICE
ICE to Pay Thomson Reuters $125 Million to Find ‘Voter Fraud’
A new procurement record says ICE wants access to personal data, including names, Social Security numbers, and ethnicity, to investigate in part what the agency calls “voters fraud.” It also plans to use the data to investigate immigration fraud.
Flock
How Cops Use Flock to Track People, Not Cars
Cops have used Flock's FreeForm search feature to look for people with tattoos and wearing specific sport shirts, and searches sometimes include the target's race, according to data reviewed by 404 Media.
Podcast
Podcast: We Are Living in a ‘ChatGPT Flyer Pandemic’
ChatGPT flyers are everywhere; how Waymo drove some kids to the cops; and a $3,000 suit that electrocutes your muscles.
Features
I Bought the $3,000 Fitness Suit That Electrocutes You. I’m Sending It Back
Celebrities like George Clooney have praised the expensive Katalyst suit. For me, it derailed my other exercises and made me reassess my obsession with fitness and efficiency.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: With Blogs Like These, Who Needs a Private Jet
This week, we discuss the Supreme Court, the private jet, and AI on the TV.
tokenpocalypse
Companies Are Throttling Employees’ AI Use Because It’s Too Expensive
Sources and leaks from Amazon, Adobe, Atlassian, Citi, and more show what is really happening with AI right now: companies are trying to rein in AI use as costs spiral out of control.
Podcast
Podcast: The AI Tokenpocalypse Is Here
How companies are burning through their AI tokens; and the fake AI-generated flowers all over Etsy, eBay, and Amazon.
Privacy
Apple ‘Hide My Email’ Vulnerability Reveals Peoples’ Real Email Addresses
”Hide My Email users deserve to know that it may be possible for attackers to discover their hidden email addresses,” the person who reported the issue said.
AI
Companies Are Making Claude and Codex Talk Like Cavemen to Stop AI’s Soaring Costs
A senior OpenAI employee has contributed code to the project, simply called 'caveman.'
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Salesforce Beach
This week, we discuss talking aloud to computers, Cannes, and “Engineering Creativity: Guac Is Extra."
Podcast
Podcast: If AI Is Sentient Then So Is 'Age of Empires II'
A surreal but compelling LLM experiment with Age of Empires II; how a Texas city sold land meant for a park to a data center company; and the Madison Square Garden hack.