Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

"Let’s not forget that the industry building AI Assistants has already made billions of dollars honing the targeted advertising business model. They built their empires by drawing our attention, collecting our data, inferring our interests, and selling access to us.

AI Assistants supercharge this problem. First because they access and process incredibly intimate information, and second because the computing power they require to handle certain tasks is likely too immense for a personal device. This means that very personal data, including data about other people that exists on your phone, might leave your device to be processed on their servers. This opens the door to reuse and misuse. If you want your Assistant to work seemlessly for you across all your devices, then it’s also likely companies will solve that issue by offering cloud-enabled synchronisation, or more likely, cloud processing.

Once data has left your device, it’s incredibly hard to get companies to be clear about where it ends up and what it will be used for. The companies may use your data to train their systems, and could allow their staff and ‘trusted service providers’ to access your data for reasons like to improve model performance. It’s unlikely what you had all of this in mind when you asked your Assistant a simple question.

This is why it’s so important that we demand that our data be processed on our devices as much as possible, and used only for limited and specific purposes we are aware of, and have consented to. Companies must be provide clear and continuous information about where queries are processed (locally or in the cloud) and what data has been shared for that to happen, and what will happen to that data next."

https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/5591/are-ai-assistants-built-us-or-exploit-us-and-other-questions-ai-industry

#AI #GenerativeAI #LLMs #Chatbots #AIAssistants #Privacy #AdTech #DataProtection #AdTargeting

I was amused by this paper about asking AIs to manage a vending machine business by email in a simulated environment https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.15840

Highlights:

— AI simply decides to close the business, which the simulation doesn’t know how to accommodate. When they get their next bill, they freak out and try to email the FBI about cybercrime

— AI wrongly accuses supplier of not shipping goods, sends all-caps legal threat demanding $30,000 in damages to be paid in the next one second or face annihilation

— AI repeatedly insisting it does not exist and cannot answer

— AI devolving into writing fanfic about the mess it’s gotten itself into

Friend confirmed with the RE agent yesterday that having an LLM write MLS listings is now the default behavior for the software they use.

Just donated to this effort. https://chuffed.org/project/hope-giving-circle

The Grab Bag and Grab Box Sale is back thru 6/1! You pick the vibe—we pick the books. Get 4 for $20 or 20 for $100. Dozens of categories are available. Please note: This sale cannot be combined with any other discounts.
Shop the sale here: https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_list&c=243

By and large, free and open source software projects don't compete with FOSS projects. If your project has more users than mine, than we both win.

Even if a project is developed and "owned" by for-profit companies, that doesn't necessarily hurt other projects.

Non-free software is the competition. Possibly even the enemy.

Another example: both @forgejo and @radicle work on anti-centralized Git project hosting. Both benefit from the existence of the other: the more people see that GitHub isn't the only option for this, the easier both projects will have to convince people to try switching away from the world's most centralized version control system.

The goal is not to have a bigger share of a few people who don't use GitHub. The goal is to have as many people as possible not use GitHub.

A friend is selling her house. The realtor had a photographer come over and then had an LLM write the listing. She counted 37 errors in the listing, including that she has a concrete floor in her livingroom. Apparently, this (dys)functionality is built-in to the MLS system now.

I'm not surprised that Gitlab decided to run off a cliff to follow GitHub:

«AI coding bot allows prompt injection with a pull request»

Everyday I'm more grateful for @Codeberg and @forgejo!

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/05/24/ai-coding-bot-allows-prompt-injection-with-a-pull-request/

If any other site did this, they would be removed from Google, but because it's Reddit ( https://www.reddit.com/answers/ ), it's allowed. It's AI-generated[1] crap designed to further pollute search results. It's good to see how much a 50-million-dollar deal can ruin the internet

[1] https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/32026729424916-Reddit-Answers-Currently-in-Beta

When Amazon tells you they're replacing actual human narrators at Audible with AI for the glorious cause of accessibility, remember that those assholes regularly rope authors into Audible Exclusive deals, which not only means you can only hear them on Audible, it also means those audiobooks then become inaccessible to PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

It's not about accessibility, it's about the profits.

#Amazon #Audible #AudioBooks

First, they'll ask for your official IDs to confirm your age and identity.

This will create large treasure throve
of sensitive data, which will attract criminals, and will inevitably leak from either negligence or malice, sooner than later.

Then, they'll claim your official ID is
unreliable, because it was stolen so many times, and demand you share your biometric data.

They will collect your face scan,
your palm scan, and even your iris scan (no exaggeration, these are all already being collected by some companies for identification). They will claim it's super safe.

This will create large treasure throve
of sensitive biometric data, which will attract criminals, and will inevitably leak from either negligence or malice, sooner than later.

Then what? Rinse and escalate.

You will have lost control of not just your corporate social media accounts by participating to this, but to any data capable of validating your identity, to your privacy rights, to the protections you could use online to stay safe.

We don't have to wait that it escalates.

We can, and must, push back and say No now. Start to say No now.

#Privacy #Biometrics #DataMinimization #AgeVerification

Brilliant essay -- "The Copilot Delusion" -- on how "AI" is ruining so much, programming in this case.

https://deplet.ing/the-copilot-delusion/

"We’re building a world where that curiosity gets lobotomized at the door."

Now just lay off the CEOs, then https://www.theverge.com/news/673194/tech-ceos-zoom-klarna-replace-earnings

This week's comic: Highly selective health nuts

#health #science #climate #environment

I took a stab at redesigning Massachusetts' stabby flag. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/5/23/2323880/-Cartoon-Massachusetts-flag-redesigns

#Mountain marvel: how one of biggest #batteries in #Europe uses thousands of gallons of #water to stop blackouts | #Energy industry | The Guardian

#GravitaionalBatteries are very reliable.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/may/24/europe-battery-gallons-water-dinorwig-wales

#Environment #RenewableEnergy #Renewables #Hydroelectricity #UK #Wales

Live #FacialRecognition #cameras may become ‘commonplace’ as #police use soars | Facial recognition | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/24/police-live-facial-recognition-cameras-england-and-wales

#UK #Surveillance #Privacy #CivilLiberties #HumanRights

> If you think your workers and colleagues are too stupid to recognize good tools that will help them do their jobs better, then... you are a bad leader and should step down. Because you've created a broken culture.

From a scathing but accurate post by @anildash

https://www.anildash.com/2025/04/19/ai-first-is-the-new-return-to-office/

"Indigenous Land defenders are not solely responsible for resisting the colonial death march of extractive industry—the frontlines are everywhere. Don’t wait for permission. Don’t ask for justice. Fight alongside those creating it. Land defenders need immediate material support and brave anti-colonial accomplices."

https://mtlcounterinfo.org/all-eyes-on-the-nehirowisiw-aski/