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Comment What the dickens (Score 1) 39

Do people even use the stupid "smart" stuff on the telly?

I mean, our telly is technically smart, but the ethernet cable isn't plugged in. There's nothing on there that's actually useful anyway. I tried the built-in YouTube thing once, but it was too janky to be usable, so I didn't try it twice. The dongle stick things are better. The backlight's a bit fucked, anyway, and I don't really watch the telly myself.

Submission + - James Webb Space Telescope confirms 1st 'runaway' supermassive black hole (space.com) 1

schwit1 writes: Astronomers have made a truly mind-boggling discovery using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST): a runaway black hole 10 million times larger than the sun, rocketing through space at a staggering 2.2 million miles per hour (1,000 kilometers per second).

That not only makes this the first confirmed runaway supermassive black hole, but this object is also one of the fastest-moving bodies ever detected, rocketing through its home, a pair of galaxies named the "Cosmic Owl," at 3,000 times the speed of sound at sea level here on Earth. If that isn't astounding enough, the black hole is pushing forward a literal galaxy-sized "bow-shock" of matter in front of it, while simultaneously dragging a 200,000 light-year-long tail behind it, within which gas is accumulating and triggering star formation.

Submission + - Firefox Will Ship with an "AI Kill Switch" to Completely Disable all AI Features (9to5linux.com) 2

An anonymous reader writes: From a report on 9to5Linux.com:

"On Tuesday, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo was named the new CEO of Mozilla Corporation, the company behind the beloved Firefox web browser used by almost all GNU/Linux distributions as the default browser."

"In his message as new CEO, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo stated that Firefox will grow from a browser into a broader ecosystem of trusted software while remaining the company’s anchor, and that Firefox will evolve into a modern AI browser and support a portfolio of new and trusted software additions."

"What was not made clear is that Firefox will also ship with an AI kill switch that will let users completely disable all the AI features that are included in Firefox. Mozilla shared this important update earlier today to make it clear to everyone that Firefox will still be a trusted web browser."

Submission + - UK Actors Vote To Refuse To Be Digitally Scanned In Pushback Against AI (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Actors have voted to refuse digital scanning to prevent their likeness being used by artificial intelligence in a pushback against AI in the arts. Members of the performing arts union Equity were asked if they would refuse to be scanned while on set, a common practice in which actors’ likeness is captured for future use – with 99% voting in favor of the move.

The vote was an indicative ballot designed to demonstrate the strength of feeling on the issue, with more than 7,000 members polled on a 75% turnout. However, actors would not be legally protected if they refused to be scanned. The union said it would write to Pact, the trade body representing the majority of producers and production companies in the UK, to negotiate new minimum standards for pay, as well as terms and conditions for actors working in film and TV. Equity said it may hold a formal ballot depending on the outcome of the negotiations, which, if backed, would give actors legal protection if they were being pressed to accept digital scanning on set.

Submission + - White House Prepares Executive Order To Block State AI Laws (politico.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The White House is preparing to issue an executive order as soon as Friday that tells the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to prevent states from regulating artificial intelligence, according to four people familiar with the matter and a leaked draft of the order obtained by POLITICO. The draft document, confirmed as authentic by three people familiar with the matter, would create an “AI Litigation Task Force” at the DOJ whose “sole responsibility” would be to challenge state AI laws.

Government lawyers would be directed to challenge state laws on the grounds that they unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing federal regulations or otherwise at the attorney general’s discretion. The task force would consult with administration officials, including the special adviser for AI and crypto — a role currently occupied by tech investor David Sacks.

The executive order, in the draft obtained by POLITICO, would also empower Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to publish a review of “onerous” state AI laws within 90 days and restrict federal broadband funds to states whose AI laws are found to be objectionable. It would direct the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether state AI laws that “require alterations to the truthful outputs of AI models” are blocked by the FTC Act. And it would order the Federal Communications Commission to begin work on a reporting and disclosure standard for AI models that would preempt conflicting state laws.

Comment Re:Bad OpSec (Score 3, Insightful) 32

That's the thing, isn't it. Regular folks who don't really know how any of this (in the broadest sense) works will have no idea where anything that they type into the computer goes.

Quite frankly, with this sort of thing, it's absolutely the company's responsibility to ensure that their staff are being properly trained, if the company's information is that important. That means either actually investing in their employees, or ensuring that newkids are up to snuff on this sort of thing.

It's probably even worse with the people who've only ever poked a tablet or cellphone; a good number of those won't even know what a file is, let alone shit like sending network traffic to third party servers.

From my own company's "security" training, they do actually touch on this, but only with some very light detail.

Comment Re: Clearly the (human) author doesn't get AI at a (Score 1) 65

I was wondering about that⦠I suppose at some point these LLM dudes are going to need robots on the ground to ask insightful questions at press conferences, gauge the word on the street, and find out the opinions of people whoâ(TM)ve just been killed in war zones.

On the other hand, will the common scum even be able to tell if the newspapers simply use LLMs to make up any old bollocks, instead of using flesh reporters to gather news?

Comment Re: Expendable (Score 1) 232

Ahhhh, I remember seeing some of the news coverage back when that Clinton fella got his knob polished by Monica from Friends in their round office.

To be perfectly frank, it would be nice to only have to get outraged by simpler things like that these days. The guys there have definitely allowed their empire to degenerate a little too far :-(

Comment The silence of the sheep (Score 0, Offtopic) 144

Not American. At first glance, this looks like an effective method for pulling the wool over the eyes of the gormless proletariat. Presumably there would be corresponding suppression in the news with regards to unprofitable weather events.

However, will they also need to find an effective solution to prevent the common scum from discussing unprofitable weather events in public?

For example, people are definitely going to realise that somethingâ(TM)s awry when their home is destroyed. That sort of thing is hard to ignore.

Submission + - Censorship and fraud driving creators away from YouTube 1

NewtonsLaw writes: When YouTuber Bruce Simpson received notification of a community guidelines infringement on his xjet YouTube channel he wasn't happy. YouTube alleges that one of his videos constitutes "hate speech" and even after review, the platform stands by its allegations.

What was the video that risks inciting hate and violence to such an extent that it needed to be removed, even after "appeal"?

Well it wasn't anything political, ideological or even violent. It was a two minute video of a radio controlled model aircraft flying in the skies at his local airfield in Tokoroa, New Zealand.

Incensed by this baseless allegation, Simpson posted this video to YouTube and within a few hours it had already gathered tens of thousands of views and over a thousand comments. Those comments make for great reading and show just how "out of touch" YouTube has become with its target audience and its creators.

The hypocrisy is also highlighted, as Simpson points out just how YouTube is prepared to overlook or even support frauds being perpetrated on its audience by way of scam advertisements that continue to play weeks or even months after they've been reported by countless people, many of who have become victims of the scams.

Has YouTube lost its way? Has it forgotten its roots? Are many creators now turning to self-hosting in reaction to ridiculous levels of censorship?

Or do we have a reverse adpocalypse — where content creators are shunning YouTube because they do not want their content being run alongside fraudulent scammy ads placed by YouTube?

Comment Re: Wow (Score 1) 71

Hm, I recently had to go through old insurance and pension accounts, to get some things tidied up.

They all seem to have the âoeAIâ chatbox thing now.

Every question I asked of them was met with âoecall us.â

Itâ(TM)s bizarre. It would be simpler if they just put the phone number in the place where the little âoeHi! Call-Me-Kenneth, how may I destroy all fleshy ones I mean help you today?â speech bubble pops up.

Of course, then thereâ(TM)s the robot telephone receptionist that doesnâ(TM)t understand any questions either, and simply says to wait for a fleshy one to be let out of its cageâ¦

Comment What exactly are careers, anyway? (Score 1) 141

As the title. I'm in the exact age bracket that this is talking about, and still don't really understand what a "career" is.

I've been lucky enough to at least have had a job since the mid 90s, but it's always been that: a series of jobs.

I've always been in the position where it was too risky rocking the boat by trying to jump ship. Paying mortgage for parents' home, married with kids, etc.

Pay raises have pretty much always been science fiction (in the UK, and now Japan), and from what I can tell, "promotion" is either just a change in job title, or else is a result of the CEO saying something.

And what are these benefit things? The last company had a programme for selling it's own stock to employees, and the current one's been taken over by a private equity company with an offer to "invest" in the company; where the blazes do they think that money's supposed to come from, because they already know that we've not had pay reviews for ... well, there wasn't ever one.

Still, at least I've got a job. For now :-)

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