AI
'A Black Hole of Energy Use': Meta's Massive AI Data Center Is Stressing Out a Louisiana Community
Details about how Meta's nearly Manhattan-sized data center will impact consumers' power bills are still secret.
age verification
Kansas Mom Sues Porn Sites Because Her Son Visited Chaturbate 30 Times
The 14 year old's mother left an old laptop in a closet and now alleges it's adult sites' problem that he watched porn.
News
Student Makes Tool That Identifies ‘Radicals’ on Reddit, Deploys AI Bots to Engage With Them
The tool scans for users writing certain keywords on Reddit and assigns those users a so-called “radical score,” before deploying an AI-powered bot to automatically engage with the users to de-radicalize them.
The Abstract
The Universe Will Decay a Lot Sooner than Expected
This week, we have stories about wild horses, wild chimps, and wild cosmic deaths.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: The Art of the 'Catharticle'
This week, we discuss Star Wars' weird little guys, catharticles, and spectacular views.
CBP
CBP Seizes Shipment of T-Shirts Featuring Swarm of Bees Attacking a Cop
The shirts will be returned to China or will be “destroyed under CBP supervision."
News
‘Doom: The Dark Ages’ DRM Is Locking Out Linux Users Who Bought the Game
As gaming on Linux becomes more popular, Denuvo’s “activations” limit will become a bigger problem.
AI
This Chatbot Promises to Help You Get Over That Ex Who Ghosted You
"Thinking about your ex 24/7? There's nothing wrong with you. Chat with their AI version—and finally let it go," an ad for Closure says. I tested a bunch of the chatbot startups' personas.
News
Why Did Grok Start Talking About ‘White Genocide’?
Large language models are reflections of the people who program them.
FOIA
American Schools Were Deeply Unprepared for ChatGPT, Public Records Show
Thousands of pages of documents show school districts around the country did not understand how much ChatGPT would change their classrooms, and pro-AI consultants filled in some of the gaps.
News
License Plate Reader Company Flock Is Building a Massive People Lookup Tool, Leak Shows
Flock, which has license plate readers (LPRs) all around the country, wants police to be able to “jump from LPR to person,” according to leaked audio obtained by 404 Media.
News
Star Wars Shows the Future of AI Special Effects and It Sucks
Industrial Light & Magic revealed a short film showcasing how it wants to use generative AI for Star Wars and it’s completely embarrassing.
Podcast
Podcast: AI Avatar of Killed Man Testifies in Court
A killed man's AI avatar testifies in court; Meta is developing facial recognition for its smart glasses; and how AI is changing baseball.