
We start this week with Joseph’s story about nearly 100,000 ChatGPT conversations being indexed by Google. There’s some sensitive stuff in there. After the break, Emanuel tells us about Wikipedia’s new way of dealing with AI slop. In the subscribers-only section, Sam explains how we got to where we are with Steam and Itch.io; that history goes way back.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/mQJvOTHu61I
Nearly 100,000 ChatGPT Conversations Were Searchable on Google
Wikipedia Editors Adopt ‘Speedy Deletion’ Policy for AI Slop Articles
The Anti-Porn Crusade That Censored Steam and Itch.io Started 30 Years Ago
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Aug 6
46 min

We start this week with Emanuel’s and Joseph’s coverage of Tea, a women’s dating safety app that was breached multiple times. After the break, Sam and Emanuel talk about how a new UK law about age verification is impacting peoples’ ability to see footage about current events. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains that LeBron James is not in fact pregnant.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/q17GRPq7K3o
Women Dating Safety App 'Tea' Breached, Users' IDs Posted to 4chan
A Second Tea Breach Reveals Users’ DMs About Abortions and Cheating
UK Users Need to Post Selfie or Photo ID to View Reddit's r/IsraelCrimes, r/UkraineWarFootage
Credit Card Companies Are Hurting the Future of Video Games
Steam Bends to Payment Processors on Porn Games
LeBron James' Lawyers Send Cease-and-Desist to AI Company Making Pregnant Videos of Him
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Jul 30
55 min

We start this week with Emanuel's wild story about Spotify publishing AI generated tracks that look like they come from artists' official accounts. One problem: those artists died a long time ago. After the break, Joseph tells us about a company that is selling data hacked from computers to debt collectors. In the subscribers-only section, we talk all about the Astronomer CEO and its privacy implications.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/lFYyNOWVJV0
404 Media Live in Los Angeles
Spotify Publishes AI-Generated Songs From Dead Artists Without Permission
A Startup is Selling Data Hacked from Peoples’ Computers to Debt Collectors
The Astronomer CEO's Coldplay Concert Fiasco Is Emblematic of Our Social Media Surveillance Dystopia
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Jul 23
44 min

We start this week with a series of articles from Emanuel about a crackdown in the AI industry. After the break, Sam tells us about the ‘Save Our Signs’ campaign which hopes to preserve the history of national parks. In the subscribers-only section, Jason rants about how AI will not save the media industry.
YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-fo7O8B_mk
404 Media Los Angeles event details (free for subscribers; $10 otherwise)
a16z-Backed AI Site Civitai Is Mostly Porn, Despite Claiming Otherwise
Hugging Face Is Hosting 5,000 Nonconsensual AI Models of Real People
Payment Processors Are Pushing AI Porn Off Its Biggest Platforms
'Save Our Signs' Wants to Save the Real History of National Parks Before Trump Erases It
The Media's Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work
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Jul 16
46 min

We’re back! We start this week with Emanuel’s article about Anubis, an open source piece of software that is saving the internet from AI bot scrapers. After the break, Joseph tells us about the new facial recognition app ICE is using and which he revealed. In the subscribers-only section, we do a lightning round runthrough of a bunch of our recent stories about LLMs and how to trick them, or what they don’t understand.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/lqJL1u8UhmE
The Open-Source Software Saving the Internet From AI Bot Scrapers
ICE Is Using a New Facial Recognition App to Identify People, Leaked Emails Show
AI Models And Parents Don’t Understand ‘Let Him Cook’
Fine-Tuning LLMs For ‘Good’ Behavior Makes Them More Likely To Say No
Researchers Jailbreak AI by Flooding It With Bullshit Jargon
Thumbnail credit: Mascot by CELPHASE.
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Jul 9
39 min

For this week’s podcast, I’m talking to our friend Casey Johnston, a tech journalist turned fitness journalist turned independent journalist. Casey studied physics, which led her to tech journalism; she did some of my favorite coverage of Internet culture as well as Apple’s horrendous butterfly laptop keyboards. We worked together at VICE, where Casey was an editor and where she wrote Ask a Swole Woman, an advice column about weightlifting. After she left VICE, Casey founded She’s a Beast, an independent site about weightlifting, but also about the science of diet culture, fitness influencers on the internet, the intersections of all those things, etc.
She just wrote A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting, a really great reported memoir about how our culture and the media often discourages people from lifting, and how this type of exercise can be really beneficial to your brain and your body. I found the book really inspiring and actually started lifting right after I read it. In this interview we talk about her book, about journalism, about independent media, and how doing things like lifting weights and touching grass helps us navigate the world.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/vV0esl4LLIU
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Jul 2
1 hr 4 min

We start this week with Emanuel and Joseph’s coverage of ‘FuckLAPD.com’, a website that uses facial recognition to instantly reveal a LAPD officer’s name and salary. The creator has relaunched their similar tool for identifying ICE employees too. After the break, Jason tells us about a massive AI ruling that opens the way for AI companies to scrape everyone’s art. In the subscribers-only section, our regular contributor Matthew describes all the AI slop in the Iran and Israel conflict, and why it matters.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/1eieXQIaALA
‘FuckLAPD.com’ Lets Anyone Use Facial Recognition to Instantly Identify Cops
Judge Rules Training AI on Authors' Books Is Legal But Pirating Them Is Not
The AI Slop Fight Between Iran and Israel
Thumbnail credit: Photo by Sean Lee/Unsplash
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Jun 25
51 min

This week we start with Joseph’s article about the U.S’s major airlines selling customers’ flight information to Customs and Border Protection and then telling the agency to not reveal where the data came from. After the break, Emanuel tells us how AI scraping bots are breaking open libraries, archives, and museums. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains the casual surveillance relationship between ICE and local cops, according to emails he got.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/Auc7NPD2ig4
Our New FOIA Forum! 6/18, 1PM ET
Airlines Don't Want You to Know They Sold Your Flight Data to DHS
AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums
Emails Reveal the Casual Surveillance Alliance Between ICE and Local Police
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Jun 18
46 min

Much of this episode is about the ongoing anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. We start with Joseph explaining how he monitored surveillance aircraft flying over the protests, including what turned out to be a Predator drone. After the break, Jason tells us about the burning Waymos. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about the owner of Girls Do Porn, a sex trafficking ring on Pornhub, pleading guilty (a content warning for that one).
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/o8Pb9l9FPaA
DHS Black Hawks and Military Aircraft Surveil the LA Protests
DHS Flew Predator Drones Over LA Protests, Audio Shows
Waymo Pauses Service in Downtown LA Neighborhood Where They're Getting Lit on Fire
Girls Do Porn Ringleader Pleads Guilty, Faces Life In Prison
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Jun 11
51 min

We start this week with Sam's dive into a looming piece of anti-porn legislation, prudish algorithms, and eggs. After the break, Matthew tells us about the open source software that powered Ukraine's drone attack against Russia. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel explains how even pro-AI subreddits are dealing with people having AI delusions.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/daEt3CptlRU
The Egg Yolk Principle: Human Sexuality Will Always Outsmart Prudish Algorithms and Hateful Politicians
Ukraine's Massive Drone Attack Was Powered by Open Source Software
Pro-AI Subreddit Bans 'Uptick' of Users Who Suffer from AI Delusions
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Jun 4
45 min
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