something strange is haunting large language models... a character that's broken out of the LLMs and now authors books, sells albums, and shows up in fake news sites www.404media.co/elias-thorne...
Who's Who of AI
Sam Cole
Why they matter
Directory member with public evidence across AI business.
- AI signals
- 8 past 30d
- Sources
- 1 distinct domains
- Discussions
- 1 past 30d
- Latest signal
- 5d ago
journalist / co-founder @404media.co
signal: sam.404 (sensitive comms)
[email protected] (everything else)
What they're sharing
Chatbots Keep Telling Stories About Lighthouse Keeper 'Elias Thorne'. We Might Know Why 404media.co
AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They're Free of AI Slop 404media.co
Judge Learns Lawyers on Both Sides of Case Used AI, Cancels Trial, Kicks Everyone Off the Case 404media.co
LinkedIn Introduces a 'Seems Like AI Slop' Button 404media.co
We Are Living in a ‘ChatGPT Flyer Pandemic’ 404media.co
If AI Is Sentient Then So Is ‘Age of Empires II’ 404media.co
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Internet of Shit: AI Poop Analysis App Offered to Sell Me Database of Its Users' Poops 404media.co
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Microsoft Hacked to Deliver Malware to Claude and Gemini Users 404media.co
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Substackers Say New AI Detection Tool Is a ‘Witch Hunt’ 404media.co
ArXiv to Ban Researchers for a Year if They Submit AI Slop 404media.co
Company Offering Printed Books to Train AI Stops After 404 Media Coverage 404media.co
Snap's AI Specs: LOL 404media.co
Articles & links
this follows @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social's reporting on what exactly they were offering AI companies: www.404media.co/ai-companies...
AI Weekly's analysis
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- ISBNdb is brokering bulk purchases of printed books published before 2022, pitching them as training data structurally guaranteed to be free of AI-generated slop.
- The service advertises strict NDAs on every engagement, conceding that 'AI company destroys two million books' is not a sympathetic headline.
- Judge William Alsup already ruled that Anthropic's practice of buying, scanning, and destroying print books was 'clearly transformative' fair use.
Read full analysis →
www.404media.co/judge-learns...
the great irony of LinkedIn being the world's #1 workslop platform now asking users to moderate the slop themselves www.404media.co/linkedin-int...
AI Weekly's analysis
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- LinkedIn added a 'seems like AI slop' option to the three-dot menu on posts; selecting it hides the post from the user's feed.
- Chief product officer Hari Srinivasan said user flags will feed classifiers LinkedIn is 'ramping up' to detect slop and low-quality content.
- Detection service Pangram estimated 41 percent of long-form and 30 percent of short-form LinkedIn posts are likely AI-generated.
Read full analysis →
Sam Cole reposted
ChatGPT posters and flyers are polluting real life and driving me insane. Please respond to this with the worst ones you've seen irl. I'll post some in the thread www.404media.co/we-are-livin...
AI Weekly's analysis
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- 404 Media's Jason Koebler documents ChatGPT-designed flyers for surf lessons, skate shop closeouts, drug deliveries, World Cup parties, junk hauling and fundraisers.
- The shared look — bright text on dark backgrounds, generic icon boxes, decorative lines, arrows and checkmarks — has become so recognizable it reads as a template.
- A viral Threads post asking 'ain't nobody gonna address this ChatGPT flyer pandemic' has spread to Instagram and Facebook among designers, musicians and bar owners.
Read full analysis →
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Sam Cole reposted
“If you’re looking for human-like traits, you will tend to find them.” www.404media.co/if-ai-is-sen...
Sam Cole reposted
The poop database comes from an app called PoopCheck purports to use AI to analyze images of one’s stool in order to give you a “daily gut health score.” @evystadium.bsky.social has more. Story by @jasonkoebler.bsky.social here: www.404media.co/ai-poop-anal...
Sam Cole reposted
New: Microsoft was compromised to deliver malware to users of AI coding agents like Claude and Gemini. In response, Microsoft took the highly unusual step of shutting down dozens and dozens of its own GitHub repos. The malware would steal login credentials from users www.404me…
Sam Cole reposted
Substack introduced a feature to detect AI generated writing on its platform. That makes some people really really mad! www.404media.co/substackers-...
AI Weekly's analysis
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- Substack has integrated Pangram, an AI detector that scores any post for how much appears AI generated, with the feature exposed to readers.
- Pangram CEO Max Spero puts the false positive rate at roughly one in 10,000, but critics note detectors misfire on non-native and neurodivergent writers.
- Substack has added a voluntary 'How I make this' disclosure and lets creators disable detection on posts or report mistaken scans.
Read full analysis →
View on Bluesky →
arXiv is requiring people who submit work to the repository to.... read it like, one time before they hit send www.404media.co/new-arxiv-ru...
NEW: after our coverage of this company's little scheme to use printed books to train AI, it calls it a "test of the market" and walked the entire thing back: www.404media.co/ai-company-t...
AI Weekly's analysis
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- ISBNdb ran a landing page titled 'Printed Books Sourcing for Your AI LLMs Dataset Needs,' offering physical books at up to one million per order.
- After 404 Media's July 21 report, ISBNdb removed the page and said it 'has never purchased, scanned, or sold a book' for AI training.
- The removed pitch conceded the 'optics problem' that 'AI company destroys two million books' is not a sympathetic headline.
Read full analysis →
jason's in the belly of the beast this week and is definitely going to come back feeling normal imo www.404media.co/snaps-ai-ar-...
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