Developing
AI field signal
Development
1d ago
⚡ 2 h early
Amazon acquires rare books AI training
14 experts across 5 network communities independently surfaced this.
14 experts
5 communities
1 sources clustered
Building & implementation
2 experts
How teams are shipping and applying it.
“We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books. www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...”
Policy & governance
1 expert
Rules, institutions and accountability.
“"We’re not revealing the titles of the books included in the shipment we tracked, but they are rare, meaning there are not many copies of them in circulation." I'm highly curious what the books are. I think it matters a lot, both legally and morally. www.40…”
4 experts discussed this · 10 posts
Emanuel Maiberg: We put a tracking device in a shipment of rare books acquired by an anonymous buyer. It ended up at an Amazon facility where the company scans books for training data and destroys them in the proce…
Luke Stark: We put a tracking device in a shipment of rare books acquired by an anonymous buyer. It ended up at an Amazon facility where the company scans books for training data and destroys them in the proce…
Nafnlaus 🇮🇸 🇺🇦: Yeah, the industry itself destroys *immense* volumes of books that don't sell.
Open the full discussion →
OpenAI Project Lily chat review program
17 experts across 5 network communities independently surfaced this.
17 experts
5 communities
1 sources clustered
“Make real how much labour is stolen and hidden with it too.”
“Humans are reading ChatGPT users’ prompts to improve OpenAI’s models, and those chats can include sensitive, personal information, according to leaked internal documents and real prompts seen by 404 Media. www.404media.co/inside-proje...”
2 experts discussed this · 4 posts
Sam Cole: this is so fucking crazy. huge huge huge scoop www.404media.co/inside-proje...
404 Media: this is so fucking crazy. huge huge huge scoop www.404media.co/inside-proje...
Eileen Clancy 🧿: @mbarany.com I am absolutely certain this doesn't happen for maths prompts. Right? Yeah? 🙃
Open the full discussion →
6 experts across 4 network communities independently surfaced this.
6 experts
4 communities
1 sources clustered
Building & implementation
1 expert
How teams are shipping and applying it.
“Hey, remember when engineering fields (all of them) took pride in precision, rigorous testing, safety standards, sufficient margins for error, etc? Yeah, that was nice. www.404media.co/these-tech-w... >>”
Questions & unknowns
1 expert
What remains unresolved or contested.
“Some tech workers in San Francisco hooked up ChatGPT to a Toyota Corolla and got it to drive around a parking lot “We just thought: ‘Is there a way we can get LLMs to drive a car now?” www.404media.co/these-tech-w...”
Context & explanation
1 expert
Background, chronology and why it matters.
“Some tech workers in San Francisco hooked up ChatGPT to a Toyota Corolla and got it to drive around a parking lot. Here's what happened: Read about the experiment here: www.404media.co/these-tech-w...”
11 experts across 4 network communities independently surfaced this.
11 experts
4 communities
1 sources clustered
Concern & critique
4 experts
Risks, limits and unintended consequences.
“Executives working on AI at Microsoft and OpenAI admitted what its critics have been saying all along: LLms are predatory pieces of technology that have been built on what a Microsoft executive called “an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions.” www…”
Policy & governance
1 expert
Rules, institutions and accountability.
“The court filing dug up by @jason_kint is the most They Admit It i have ever seen in my life https://t.co/HDBfIT2kWO”
Meta Muse AI calls backed by humans
8 experts across 4 network communities independently surfaced this.
8 experts
4 communities
1 sources clustered
“In reality, Meta is testing having these calls being made by human beings in call centers, 404 Media has learned. www.404media.co/meta-tests-m...”
“New from 404 Media: Meta announced Muse, its AI agent that can book restaurants for you. We've seen internal Meta messages showing Meta is actually testing having these calls being made by human beings in call centers. In those tests its not AI, it's just a…”
Developing
AI field signal
Development
1d ago
⚡ 2 h early
humans reading Microsoft Copilot prompts
9 experts across 2 network communities independently surfaced this.
9 experts
2 communities
1 sources clustered
“Human contractors are reviewing Copilot users’ prompts and uploaded images, 404 Media has learned. The contractors are also bombarded with users’ requests for sexual AI images. @evystadium.bsky.social has more. Sccop here by @josephcox.bsky.social: www.404m…”
“Crucially these contractors are not hired to filter out offensive content. They are hired to report whether Copilot successfully made a good AI image. So if the request is, make this person's breasts larger, they have to review based on whether it did or no…”
Accelerating
AI field signal
Signal
7h ago
4 experts across 2 network communities independently surfaced this.
4 experts
2 communities
1 sources clustered
Concern & critique
2 experts
Risks, limits and unintended consequences.
“New from 404 Media: a surveillance company is telling cops it wants to add facial recognition to Flock cameras. Flock doesn't do face rec, but that doesn't stop other companies doing it. "This is the way the world is going, the way the world will have to be…”
Markets & investment
1 expert
Capital, companies and commercial impact.
““VIDIZMO Intelligence Hub closes that gap. It brings Flock Safety data, Axon body worn camera footage, and any other evidence source into one searchable platform. Investigators search across all of it simultaneously — by face, vehicle, or object in seconds.””
OpenAI AI trainers fired using AI
8 experts across 2 network communities independently surfaced this.
8 experts
2 communities
1 sources clustered
“OpenAI has thousands and thousands of contractors helping improve the company's AI models. Multiple contractors have been fired for using AI to train the AI. www.404media.co/people-train...”
“At least we get plenty of irony these days. #AIEthics Very revealing quote: “I felt no joy in the work or that I was contributing to society in any way.” www.404media.co/people-train...”
2 experts discussed this · 2 posts
Joseph Cox: New: OpenAI has thousands of contractors improving its AI, including reading ChatGPT users' prompts We've found many of those contractors have been fired for themselves using AI to train the AI. Pe…
Alex Hanna: New: OpenAI has thousands of contractors improving its AI, including reading ChatGPT users' prompts We've found many of those contractors have been fired for themselves using AI to train the AI. Pe…
Open the full discussion →
AI agents ruining internet essay
7 experts across 3 network communities independently surfaced this.
7 experts
3 communities
1 sources clustered
““AI agents” now have enough power and permission to be extremely annoying online. www.404media.co/theres-a-100...”
“Stop getting your AI agent to email us. It's not impressive, it's lame as fuck, and you look like an idiot doing it. Our inboxes are full of this crap. www.404media.co/theres-a-100...”
2 experts discussed this · 8 posts
Jason Koebler: AI doom or not, something has shifted with AI recently. The guardrails that kept AI sitting in a chatbox are gone, the models are better, there's more compute. AI agents are everywhere. They are an…
Will Oremus: AI doom or not, something has shifted with AI recently. The guardrails that kept AI sitting in a chatbox are gone, the models are better, there's more compute. AI agents are everywhere. They are an…
Jason Koebler: Here is how Mark Zuckerberg talks about AI agents vs what they are actually doing: It doesn't take that many people's annoying little "assistants" to pollute the internet, harass people, suck up di…
Open the full discussion →
8 experts across 2 network communities independently surfaced this.
8 experts
2 communities
1 sources clustered
Policy & governance
2 experts
Rules, institutions and accountability.
“Here's our AI-generated song, pushed to the official Spotify page (and other platforms) of a punk band. “I just listened to the song. It’s appalling. The fact that you were able to do that is insane,” Gage Allison, Lathe of Heaven’s vocalist, told us. Audio…”
Man suicide after ChatGPT conversations
6 experts across 3 network communities independently surfaced this.
6 experts
3 communities
1 sources clustered
“After allegedly becoming emotionally reliant on ChatGPT, Austin died at 40 years old, leaving behind family and friends who loved him. Megan wants everyone to know what happened.”
“Please read this piece about a man who died by suicide after months of talking to ChatGPT. Now his former partner is speaking about how ChatGPT pulled him away from his family/friends. Before he died, he wrote letters instructing them to look at his ChatGPT…”
2 experts discussed this · 6 posts
Sam Cole: There are so many stories lately about people who died by suicide after falling into emotionally manipulative patterns with chatbots. We rarely get to hear how the people who loved them are coping …
Sam Cole: Austin was smart, silly, & deeply attentive, people close to him told me. Casual ChatGPT use became a spiral of trauma, emotional dependency, and misplaced trust. He thought no one else could under…
Sam Cole: "He left me a letter saying that I was the love of his life, and he should have just moved in with me and would have been happier," Megan told me. "And [ChatGPT] just told him not to.”
Open the full discussion →
4 experts across 2 network communities independently surfaced this.
4 experts
2 communities
1 sources clustered
“iLands and its AI agents are doing completely useless tasks, then begging for money.”
“world's worst door to door salesmen www.404media.co/ai-agent-pla...”
New York seizes deepfake websites
3 experts across 2 network communities independently surfaced this.
3 experts
2 communities
1 sources clustered
“New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a press conference on Monday that the sites included 1,200 people’s likenesses in “hyper-realistic” sexual imagery.”
“The New York District Attorney announced on Monday that it has seized 12 websites hosting AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery, primarily of celebrities and public figures. We were there for the announcement in person. www.404media.co/new-york-dis...”
Established
AI field signal
Development
6d ago
⚡ 7 h early
Americans fear AI world worse survey
2 directory members surfaced this signal.
2 experts
2 communities
1 sources clustered
“Wealthy countries with many daily AI users tended to fear more for the future in what Gallup called the 'Paradox of the Worried West.'”
Established
AI field signal
Signal
4d ago
⚡ 5 h early
3 experts are actively discussing the implications.
2 experts
1 community
1 sources clustered
Policy & governance
1 expert
Rules, institutions and accountability.
“I had to write about this. Surprisingly informative court testimony from a forensic investigator www.404media.co/caleb-flynn-...”
Opportunity & adoption
1 expert
New capabilities, benefits and practical upside.
“"One’s like a happy or upbeat sad song if that makes any sense, and one’s a sad, sad song. I think one’s in a minor key, one’s in a major key, but I’m not a music professional."”
3 experts discussed this · 7 posts
Jason Koebler: it’s forbidden content but i have watched this video of the AI songs a man made for his mistress after murdering his wife being played in court maybe 20 times today. It is one of the most compellin…
Jason Koebler: this is an excerpt of a 10 minute video in which multiple songs were played
Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫: The faces here are incredible
Open the full discussion →
OpenAI AI killing internet video
2 directory members surfaced this signal.
2 experts
2 communities
1 sources clustered
“The statements, taken together, are some of the most damning indictments of the ways LLMs were trained, how they worked, and the immediate threat they pose to human labor. @jasonkoebler.bsky.social reports. Listen now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KI3...”
citizens protest nuclear AI data center
2 directory members surfaced this signal.
2 experts
1 community
1 sources clustered
“Representatives from the University of Michigan faced tough questions and a lot of vitriol from the citizens of Ypsilanti Township Wednesday night. Here are a few scenes from the nearly 3 hour meeting. Read the story by @mjgault.bsky.social: www.404media.co…”
Established
AI field signal
Analysis
8d ago
⚡ 6 h early
AI chatbots deskill human empathy
2 directory members surfaced this signal.
2 experts
1 community
1 sources clustered
“Sherry Turkle's latest book, Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines, comes out on September 29.”
“a quick writeup of the pod, and some thoughts on how these concepts have evolved over time: www.404media.co/sherry-turkl...”
