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Matthew Gault

@mjgault.bsky.social
12K followers 1.3K following 2.6K posts

Nukes, weird tech, and conflict at @404media.co Host of angryplanetpod.com Tips: matthew@404media.co // signal: 347 762-9212

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Reposted by Matthew Gault
404 Media @404media.co · 18h
A man convicted of manslaughter in Arizona will be resentenced because an AI-generated video of his victim speaking from beyond the grave was ruled to have carried “undue emotional weight” as an impact statement. @mjgault.bsky.social story: www.404media.co/her-ai-gener...
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
Dexter Thomas @dexdigi.bsky.social · 20h
this is really interesting. The sister's arguments comparing AI-generated video to how long it took to accept photographs in a courtroom in particular. It's obvious she's thought about this a lot. Everyone's line for what is 'acceptable' use of AI is different. Here's another example.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 20h
a key nuance is that she wrote the avatar's speech. the video itself was AI-generated. She plans to read the same words again during the next sentencing hearing
“Likely, the same people will go back down and make their speeches, and I will be making my victims' impact statement that I wrote for myself the first time around again, and I will be delivering Chris's AI script sentiment again,” she said. “If I need to stand there and read it myself, which would be legally lawful, I am prepared to do that. Chris's sentiment does not change. The delivery method will.”
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 20h
in Wales view, this is an artistic expression of her grief. No different than other impact statements that come in the form of a poem
Wales told 404 Media that her intent with the video was to sway the judge. “Isn’t that what you want human connection to be?” she said. “Do you ever come out of a movie and say: ‘Well, that was too emotional. That was too powerful. Human connection is powerful, and trying to convey that to somebody that's never known another person, this person on the earth, to convey their lifetime of 37 years down to a two-hour sentencing event is hard to do, and I think that victims and victims' families should be afforded every opportunity.”
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 20h
spoke to Stacey Wales, the woman who made an AI-generated avatar of her brother to speak in court, for a long time this morning
404media.co
Her AI-Generated Video Swayed the Judge. The Court Said it Carried 'Undue Emotional Weight'
‘Chris’ sentiment does not change,’ said the sister who created an AI avatar of her slain brother Christopher Pelkey to speak in court.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 22h
they spent the first hour of this lengthy meeting discussing the official honoring of Charlie Kirk
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 22h
behold, it's in this thread. time stamped
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
millions of Americans googled "why won't Angela Paxton say her husband's name" this weekend
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
“‘Many senior engineers believe it’s inevitable we’re going to have a massive data breach as a result of Hatch.’ Muse is called ‘Hatch’ internally and in Meta’s codebase.” @404media.co
404media.co
Meta Rushed to Fix Muse ‘VM Escape' Vulnerability Soon Before Launch
The vulnerability could have let a Muse user access sensitive internal Meta databases.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
the publisher is putting up yet ANOTHER wall in an attempt to fight against all that slop
404media.co
arXiv Is Rate Limiting Submissions Because It Can’t Keep up With AI Slop
The academic publisher said submissions have doubled in the past two years and moderators are having a hard time keeping up.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
this is doubly beautiful because HeadOn was homeopathic quack medicine that literally did nothing and never went through clinical trials. The sticks were 99 percent wax. It was all marketing and no product
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
my favorite thought experiment at the moment is the cognitive dissonance between "we will force our sentient unpaid ai agents to make millions of restaurant reservations for us. that will be their only purpose. they will live in a tamagotchi." But we also must make sure they are happy doing this
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
off the shelf LLM with no driver training. vibe-coded software. "I think seeing the sparks of this happening, the shift of this utility coming into the physical world, is also somewhat exciting.”
404media.co
These Tech Workers Made ChatGPT Drive a Toyota Corolla
The team used frontier LLMs with no prior training data navigate a simple parking lot course.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
the vibe has shifted. they ran the numbers and realized NEETs don't vote
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
opened my laptop just now and these tracks started playing because I'd left a tab open
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
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 compelling things i have ever seen
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
unfortunately there's no lobbyist path when you're addicted to phone. this is the only way
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
the modder who made the mass-mute button reached out. The story is updated with an interview. Turns out they're a former fan and won an OTK cosplay contest. "Where he lost me was with the shift to covering political events on his stream instead of gaming. My ethics and views do not align."
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
404media.co
This ‘World of Warcraft: Forever’ Mod Blocks All Interactions With Asmongold Fans
The beta for the hotly anticipated World of Warcraft: Forever has been marred by fans of the streamer Asmongold who have filled the game’s public spaces with spam and slurs. To fix the issue, a player...
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“Because I disrupted a meeting [...] so because someone doesn’t like me, you’re arresting me? That’s what it sounds like,” Carrion said. “Because of fucking Tim O’Hare, it’s unbelievable.”
404media.co
Watch Body Cam of Man Arrested for Just Cussing at a County Meeting
Cops followed EJ Carrion home and arrested him in his drive way one week after he said 'bullshit' at a county meeting in Texas.
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
404 Media @404media.co · 24/09/2026
Cops followed EJ Carrion home and arrested him in his drive way one week after he said 'bullshit' at a county meeting in Texas. Here is that body cam footage. @mjgault.bsky.social reports: www.404media.co/watch-body-c...
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
404 Media @404media.co · 23/09/2026
NEW: Yesterday, 404 Media broke news of the FBI breach. Now, we've discovered it has exposed the FBI's own hacking unit. The FBI's Remote Operations Unit (ROU) is a highly secretive team of hackers making exploits and tools to break into target’s devices. Some of its members just got exposed.
404media.co
FBI Hack Exposed FBI’s Own Hacking Unit
The FBI's Remote Operations Unit (ROU) is a highly secretive team of hackers making exploits and tools to break into target’s devices. Some of its members just got exposed.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
404 Media @404media.co · 23/09/2026
Citizens showed up to the city council meeting with plans to let city leaders know how they felt about the city’s use of Flock. But Springfield mayor Jeff Schrag moved to prevent public comment on Flock. Then, arrests happened, @mjgault.bsky.social reports. Story: www.404media.co/woman-arrest...
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
here's the video
youtube.com
Woman Arrested After City Council Denies Residents Right to Speak on Flock Cameras
YouTube video by 404 Media
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I also spoke to Noah Powell, a freelance photographer, who was detained about an hour before Heider. Powell said he planned to fight the charge in court.
“Well, I said: ‘Jeff Schrag is a cuck.’ I said: ‘Fuck you Jeff.’ I said: ‘Worthless’ and then, also, the final thing I said was: ‘Jeff Schrag has a tiny, stinky, cock,’” Powell explained. “I just let myself get handcuffed and let them do whatever power trip they wanted to do. Got my ticket and left.”
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Heider told me she'd continue to speak out and go to public meetings.
Heider told 404 Media she didn’t regret it. “I feel like being silent would have been like being complicit,” she said. “I felt like it was kind of stupid that I disturbed the peace. Okay, yeah, I did flip them off. That wasn’t a shining moment, but I did that when I was about to be arrested. When I knew my time was up.”
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
People had turned out because the council was considering a bill simply to INVESTIGATE the city's Flock systems. This wasn't about cancelling the contract, it was just a vote to do further study. The mayor managed to kick it to committee and shut down public comment.
Jenson spoke before the vote to push the resolution to a committee. “All I’m trying to do is get people answers to some real questions that they’ve brought to us for months. And it’s a shame that it comes to this sort of, I guess, theater that I’m a part of to try to get those answers,” he said. “This isn’t how government is supposed to run. It’s just disappointing. And we’re not even allowing folks to speak who clearly came out to share their voices tonight.”
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
“Hello, my name is Miley Heider. I’m a Springfield, Missouri constituent, and I’m here to oppose the usage of ALPR cameras, most commonly made by Flock Safety. These cameras are not just surveillance,” Heider started.

“I’m sorry ma’am,”  Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag said. Her mic was cut. A cop approached her at the podium.

Heider held up both of her middle fingers while continuing to speak: “They are an invasion of our privacy,” she said.

The cop said, “You’re under arrest,” grabbed her arms, and pulled her out of the room. “I can do this all night. I get paid by the hour,” the cop added.

“Does this conclude the public hearing,” Schrag said.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
wild scenes out of Springfield, Missouri. Two people were arrested for trying to voice concerns about Flock cameras. Video of it is in the story
404media.co
Woman Arrested After City Council Denies Residents Right to Speak on Flock Cameras
Citizens of Springfield, Missouri showed up to a city council meeting to discuss the city’s Flock contract. The mayor shut them down and arrested two people for ‘disruption of meetings of city council...
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I'm kind of assuming he's doing Tristan and Isolde and the game of Hollywood telephone/ elevator pitch has warped what this actually is
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
that doomed feeling? the idea that AI is going to kill us all? that's a very Western narrative it seems. A very AMERICAN narrative
“The biggest unanswered question is causality. We see a very strong relationship between frequent AI use, greater trust and lower worry, but we do not know which direction that relationship runs,” Diego-Rosell said. “Does experience with AI make people more comfortable with it, or are people who already trust AI simply more willing to use it?”

“There is also a broader question about what trust in AI actually means. In this study, we measure one specific dimension: whether people trust AI to provide accurate information,” he added. “But trust in AI can also involve whether people believe it is reliable, safe, fair, transparent, protective of privacy, and likely to act in ways that serve their interests.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Really fascinating Gallup study that outlines the world's extremely complicated feelings about AI
404media.co
Americans Fear AI Will Make the World Worse, Love It Anyway
Wealthy countries with many daily AI users tended to fear more for the future in what Gallup called the 'Paradox of the Worried West.'
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
ex-Lethality Jane @lethalityjane.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
All of BlueSky right now: "Am I out of touch? No, it's the pop charts that are wrong."
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
404 Media @404media.co · 22/09/2026
A sample of 5,000 alleged agents seen by 404 Media includes names, addresses, phone numbers, and details on FBI employees' spouses.
404media.co
‘We Hacked the FBI:’ Hackers Say They Have Data on All FBI Employees
A sample of 5,000 alleged agents seen by 404 Media includes names, addresses, phone numbers, and details on FBI employees' spouses.
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
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. People using AI "all the time and people are let go for it all the time" www.404media.co/people-train...
404media.co
People Training OpenAI’s AI Fired for Using AI to Train the AI
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.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
if anyone saw me talk at the 404 Media event, this is the district where the woman wore Joker makeup and waited four hours to complain about decorum.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I've watched ... too much ... of this district's city council meetings. The GOP shut down a third of the polling places. A commissioner had a guy arrested in his driveway after he said "bullshit" in a meeting. The meetings go on for hours and it's constant public rage.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I found it in one of my elementary school classrooms. One of those magic moments where a kid gets a book that's just a little too advanced for them and it lodges in their brain forever.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Motel of Mysteries posting
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Malazan readers rejoice
a Trump post that says: "The United States is working on a massive Deal with respect to the purchase of Potash from Belarus. The pricing would be for substantially less than we are currently paying to Canada, very good news for our Farmers and Ranchers. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP"
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
pretty rude, Riverside, to make this the thumbnail
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Bleddyn Bowen @bleddb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I’s rather we talk more about how ‘AI’ is being shoved very quickly with pretty much zero reflection into every public institution rather than idle, vague apocalyptic fantasies about AI.
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
New: we are starting to get data showing what cops are using Axon's license plate cameras for, which are replacing Flock around the country. But we need your help: is your city using Axon? We have written the request you need to get this data yourself. Get it here: www.404media.co/is-your-city...
404media.co
Is Your City Using Axon License Plate Cameras? We Need Your Help
404 Media is filing public records requests around the country to find out how cops are using Axon's ALPRs. Here is how you can do that too.
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
raxkingisdead: you wouldn’t correct a joke

Isaac (proud small hat wear...)
um, actually, this is wrong. I would.

Killer Cyborg
Right?
Have done many times.
LOT of people tell jokes wrong, and/or base jokes on misinformation rather than humorous exaggeration.little bill from boogie night about to kill himself
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I simply refuse to take people at their word when they're trying to sell me something
nytimes.com
Opinion | This Is What I Fear Most About A.I.
Letting A.I. patrol its own frontier is like asking Jesse James to patrol the Wild West.
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
paywalls fund journalism and everything reported behind a paywall is aggregated and turned into vertical video that reach many orders of magnitude more people than the original article ever would have. this is not actually a problem and shaming sites that have paywalls means less reporting not more
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Reposted by Matthew Gault
🇵🇸Martin “Doomsday” Pfeiffer🖖🏳️‍🌈 @nuclearanthro.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
USA military almost hijacking a “Chinese ship*” based on false claim by “AI” that ship was carrying “components of a nuclear weapons program**” smells funny & sources & the story vary on details**** www.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p... OTOH: This Regime, its purging of military, its embrace of “AI”, etc.
Screenshot of article linked in post.

The intelligence report, circulated across the US military this spring in the midst of the war with Iran, immediately set off alarm bells: A Chinese ship in the Middle East was transporting components of a nuclear weapons program.
The US military swung into action with plans to intercept the vessel, according to four sources familiar with the episode. According to two of the sources, armed members of the US military were preparing to board the ship.
Military planes were in the air, one of those sources and another source familiar with the
incident said.Screenshot of story linked in post. 

It was only just before the planned operation that officials dug deeper into the report put together by a special operations command analyst and found it had been generated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) - and that a chatbot the analyst had used inaccurately identified the material the ship was carrying. CNN was not able to learn what the misidentified cargo was.
The report, according to one of the sources, was "entirely false." But it also "almost started a war," the source said. Any US operation against a Chinese vessel could have risked spiraling into an armed conflict between the two nations.
Across the US military and the intelligence community, officials are pushing to weave AI into nearly every facet of their work, from analyzing the huge volumes of raw intelligence the US collects and selecting targets for strikes, to more mundane applications like managing budgeting,
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
not an ideal time to rely on thousands of gas turbines to power your massive data centers
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