A Massive Breach Reveals the Truth Behind 'Secret Desires AI'
We start this week with Sam's piece about a massive leak of an AI chatbot, and how it showed that people were taking ordinary women’s yearbook photos and using them to make AI porn. After the break, Jason explains how a recent change on X exposed a bunch of grifters all around the world. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about how our reporting contributed to the shut down of a warrantless surveillance program.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/UgOtR_bDft4
Timestamps:
1:23 - Intro: Please, please do our reader survey
3:57 - Story 1: Massive Leak Shows Erotic Chatbot Users Turned Women’s Yearbook Pictures Into AI Porn
34:42 - Story 2: America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle
SUBSCRIBER'S STORY: Airlines Will Shut Down Program That Sold Your Flights Records to Government
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Luxury Surveillance (With Chris Gilliard)
Jason talks to Chris Gilliard, the author of the upcoming book Luxury Surveillance. Gilliard has studied the rise of companies like Ring and Flock, as well as the dynamics that lead people to surveil themselves and each other.
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/4kBgnjn5cC0
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The Epstein Email Dump Is a Mess
We start this week with a rant from Jason about how the latest dump of Epstein emails were released. It would be a lot easier to cover them if they were published differently! After the break, we talk about Joseph’s piece about a contractor hiring essentially randos off LinkedIn to physically track immigrants for $300. In the subscribers-only section, Sam tells us about a new adult industry code of conduct that has been a long time coming.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
3:08 - First Segment
34:23 - Second Segment
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/_6tVI4jh__Y
Our New FOIA Forum! 11/19, 1PM ET
Contractor Recruiting People on LinkedIn to Physically Track Immigrants for ICE, Will Pay $300
Major Porn Studios Join Forces to Establish Industry ‘Code of Conduct’
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The Video Game Industry’s Existential Crisis (with Jason Schreier)
The video game industry has had a turbulent few years. The pandemic made people play more and caused a small boom, which then subsided, resulting in wave after wave of massive layoffs. Microsoft, one of the major console manufacturers, is shifting its strategy for Xbox as the company shifts its focus to AI. And now, Electronic Arts, once a load-bearing publisher for the industry with brands like The Sims and Madden, is going private via a leveraged buyout in a deal involving Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner.
Video games are more popular than ever, but many of the biggest companies in the business seem like they are struggling to adapt and convert that popularity into stability and sustainability. To try and understand what the hell is going on, this week we have a conversation between Emanuel and Jason Schreier, who reports about video games for Bloomberg and one of the best journalists on this beat.
Jason helps us unpack why Microsoft is now aiming for higher-than-average profit margins at Xbox and why the company is seemingly bowing out of the console business despite a massive acquisition spree. We also talk about what the EA deal tells us about other game publishers, and what all these problems tell us about changing player habits and the future of big budget video games.
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/6ydF7hD6cFI
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Microsoft Pushes Xbox Division to Hit Higher Profit Margins
EA's Deal to Go Private Could Be Good for Investors, Bad for Employees
EA Buyout Highlights Gaming Struggles as Growth Slows
The Video-Game Industry Has a Problem: There Are Too Many Games
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Inside a Small Town's Fight Against a $1.2 Billion AI Datacenter
We start with Matthew Gault’s dive into a battle between a small town and the construction of a massive datacenter for America’s nuclear weapon scientists. After the break, Joseph explains why people are 3D-printing whistles in Chicago. In the subscribers-only section, Jason zooms out and tells us what librarians are seeing with AI and tech, and how that is impacting their work and knowledge more broadly.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/rHk580uKwHw
6:03 - Our New FOIA Forum! 11/19, 1PM ET7:50 - A Small Town Is Fighting a $1.2 Billion AI Datacenter for America's Nuclear Weapon Scientists12:27 - 'A Black Hole of Energy Use': Meta's Massive AI Data Center Is Stressing Out a Louisiana Community21:09 - 'House of Dynamite' Is About the Zoom Call that Ends the World30:35 - The Latest Defense Against ICE: 3D-Printed Whistles
SUBSCRIBER'S STORY: AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
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Welcome to the podcast from 404 Media where Joseph, Sam, Emanuel, and Jason catch you up on the stories we published this week. 404 Media is a journalist-owned digital media company exploring the way technology is shaping–and is shaped by–our world. We bring you unparalleled access to hidden worlds both online and IRL through investigative reporting, smart blogging, and breaking news. At 404 Media you’ll read, and hear, stories you can’t find anywhere else written by journalists who are leading experts on their beats. Subscribe to 404 Media at 404media.co to gain access to an ad-free version of this podcast, as well as a bonus podcast episodes. Subscribers are the bedrock of building a sustainable business for our journalism.
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