News
The Signal Clone the Trump Admin Uses Was Hacked
TeleMessage, a company that makes a modified version of Signal that archives messages for government agencies, was hacked.
AI
A ‘True Crime’ Documentary Series Has Millions of Views. The Murders Are All AI-Generated
The creator of a viral "true crime" series where the murders were all invented by AI explains how he did it.
Waste.gov
Elon Musk's Waste.gov Is Just a WordPress Theme Placeholder Page
Musk told reporters all of DOGE's actions are "maximally transparent." The website tracking waste is currently about an imaginary architecture firm.
Podcast
Podcast: AI Is Breaking Our Brains
This week we discuss a new Microsoft study that finds using generative AI is "atrophying" people's cognition and critical thinking skills, the right's war on Wikipedia, and, in the subscriber's section, the idea of posting against fascism.
News
AI Slop of Musk and Trump on TikTok Racks Up 700 Million Views
Motivational videos on TikTok using AI-generated voices of Trump, Musk, and other celebrities are racking up millions of views.
wired
The Murky Ad-Tech World Powering Surveillance of US Military Personnel
A Florida data broker told a US senator it obtained sensitive data on US military members in Germany from a Lithuanian firm, which denies involvement—revealing the opaque nature of online ad surveillance.
health
Judge Orders CDC and FDA to Restore Pages Removed by Trump Admin Before Midnight
After health agencies responded to Trump's executive order deeming there to be only "two sexes" by scrubbing sites of important resources, a judge ordered they have until midnight Tuesday to bring them back online.
Impact
Senator Pushes Zuckerberg on "Perverse Abuse" of Nudify Ads After 404 Media Report
Senator Dick Durbin presses Meta to explain why it can’t stop sending traffic to nonconsensual AI image generators that violate its policy.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia Prepares for 'Increase in Threats' to US Editors From Musk and His Allies
The Wikimedia Foundation says it will likely roll out features previously used to protect editors in authoritarian countries more widely.
News
Microsoft Study Finds AI Makes Human Cognition “Atrophied and Unprepared”
Researchers find that the more people use AI at their job, the less critical thinking they use.
The Abstract
What Happens if this Hazardous Asteroid Hits Earth?
A 1,600-foot-wide asteroid has a 0.037% chance of impacting Earth on September 24, 2182. What if we punch that unlucky ticket?
archives
Trump Fires National Archives Director Colleen Shogan
“This evening, President Trump fired me. No cause or reason was cited."
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Getting Political
This week: getting "political" and what it means to be technology journalists in this day and age.