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alex pasternack

@pasternack.bsky.social
1.6K followers 186 following 20 posts

still human in the strange loop • ∆/ ∞ ∆ editor @ Fast Company ⟴ Motherboard // Bandwagon • ¶• / alex.265 on Signal

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Reposted by alex pasternack
Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Most state attorneys general released Meta from Cambridge Analytica-related claims as part of the child safety settlement. New Mexico wasn't part of that deal, and a jury there just found 26 of 29 past claims about Cambridge Analytica, hate speech and misinformation willfully deceptive.
techpolicy.press
Eight Years On, Cambridge Analytica Scandal Catches Up With Meta in Santa Fe
A jury found that Meta—then Facebook—misled the public in statements about Cambridge Analytica and its policies on hate speech, violence and misinformation.
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A secret plot to sell The Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. Howard Lutnick's neighbors keep wondering whether he was behind a deal to sell out their building to a Saudi firm. Turns out, the neighbors were right to wonder. www.vanityfair.com/story/pierre...
vanityfair.com
Sell Thy Neighbor: Inside the Real Estate Deal Scandalizing NYC’s Pierre Hotel and Its Glitzy Residents
Everyone from Michael Eisner to Tory Burch to Larry Ellison owns an apartment—maybe two—at the landmark hotel overlooking Central Park South. New reporting from Vanity Fair—including a secret dossier,...
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Reposted by alex pasternack
Josephine beckbook.com Riesman @josie.zone · 29/09/2026
DEAR LORD, @beckbook.com WILL BE PUBLISHED A WEEK FROM TODAY AAAAAAAAAH
beckbook.com
"The Last Temptation of Beck" by Josephine Riesman
From the New York Times-bestselling author of "Ringmaster," Josephine Riesman, comes a stylish and shocking account of the life of the musician Beck.
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alex pasternack @pasternack.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
New: Days after the ‘16 election, Sacha Baron Cohen emailed Sheryl Sandberg, urging FB/Meta to “include Holocaust Denial as fake news” Internal emails via NM's Cambridge Analytica trial show execs split between being a "platform for good" or a “platform for all” www.fastcompany.com/91613679/fak...
November 2016 email from Sacha Baron Cohen to Sheryl Sandberg, forwarded to other Facebook execs
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Mark Keierleber @markkeierleber.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The men behind the 9/11 conspiracy film ‘Loose Change’ created a monster they can’t seem to escape. For @san.com I dig into a documentary that Vanity Fair called ‘the first internet blockbuster' — and its legacy 25 years after the terror attacks san.com/cc/their-doc...
san.com
Their documentary launched lingering conspiracy theories about 9/11. It’s a monster they can’t escape
“Loose Change” turned 9/11 conspiracy theories into the “first internet blockbuster.” Its creators say they made a monster.
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Reposted by alex pasternack
alex pasternack @pasternack.bsky.social · 12/09/2024
"it's quiet—it's too quiet" what was happening in America on that 'severe clear' morning, before the planes for the 11th anniversary of 9/11 @ocoin.bsky.social + I combed the AM TV crates in the invaluable @archive.org and made this www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMVT... www.vice.com/en/article/i...
youtube.com
"It's Too Quiet" The Early Morning Television of 9/11/2001
YouTube video by O C O
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alex pasternack @pasternack.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
New: Palantir and Nvidia are teaming up and doubling down on ‘sovereign AI,’ with a platform to speed up (AI) supply chains. Built on lessons from airgapped gov’t deployments, it starts with a focus on Nvidia’s own Vera Rubin GPU racks and their 1.3 million parts www.fastcompany.com/91604370/nvi...
fastcompany.com
Nvidia and Palantir want to speed up the AI buildout. Nvidia is first in line
The chipmaker will run its supply chain through Palantir, becoming the proving ground for a sovereign AI platform the companies intend to sell to everyone.
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Reposted by alex pasternack
Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
New: Axon says cops are asking it to change its license plate readers to make them look less like Flock cameras. This is because people keep vandalizing Flock ones. Axon said it is looking to change the design. CEO said this in a now deleted webinar, but we got a copy www.404media.co/cops-are-ask...
404media.co
Cops Are Asking Axon to Make Their Cameras Look Different From Flock So People Don't Destroy Them
“Is there any talk to redesign the Outpost to not look exactly like the Flock camera — I think it will help agencies with the optics while we batten down the hatches,” one apparent cop asked during a ...
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Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I spoke with @gilduran.com this week to discuss the roots and rise of tech fascism—and how it might fall.
bloodinthemachine.com
Charting the rise of tech fascism
How the tech right seized power, with Gil Duran, author of the Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy.
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alex pasternack @pasternack.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
For decades, battery engineers have chased a holy grail: solid-state (which unlocks pure lithium ⚡️) A few startups are now racing to scale them up—for EVs, motorcycles, & now war drones—and leapfrog China’s battery giants. Why 2 actually think they can win www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-...
scientificamerican.com
Solid-state batteries have been just around the corner for decades. Now they’re finally leaving the lab
Two American companies are pursuing rival manufacturing strategies for these long-promised cells in an industry China dominates
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Reposted by alex pasternack
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
“Humanity is not a monoculture” and other great points
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Reposted by alex pasternack
Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
seems bad!
404media.co
Google Earth’s New AI Lets Anyone Fabricate Completely Bullshit Satellite Images
"Tonight I typed just one sentence into Google Earth and put refugees near the Mexican border. Then I planted a nuclear plant in Iran. Then I put a fatal crash on a street in Amsterdam."
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The PS1 startup sound as a lesbian @janus.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
i went to a Luddite festival in NYC that was organized entirely off social media to prove you don’t need captive tech platforms (yes, including this one!) to hang out and have a good time. @404media.co 📵
404media.co
Being a Luddite Is Fun Again
As tech backlash hits the mainstream, the ‘Summer of Ludd’ proves we don’t need social media to hang out and have a good time.
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
"They absorb the social mores that infuse those texts. Talkie, a model trained only on text from before 1931, thinks God is extremely important and is “very proud to be a citizen of Great Britain”. It is a bigger believer in law and order than any frontier model we tested."
economist.com
AI models’ values are very different from most people’s
They are more secular and more liberal—unless they’re made in China
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 02/07/2026
Trump: "Intel came in. They had a problem. I said, 'I can solve your problem, but I want 10% of the company' ... somebody said that's not very American. I said, 'No, I think it's very American, actually.' And I've done that with other deals."
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InfoWars @realinfowars.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
It is the dawn of a new era. Hear our battle anthem. Welcome to the new InfoWars.
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Andy Cortez @andycortez.cool · 04/06/2026
Ohhh look at me I'm New York City. I have an awesome basketball team with likeable players and a mayor that cares about making life better for every citizen man fuck you
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s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 05/06/2026
One of the favorite features I've ever written was about complicated grief and mourning culture for Bitch Magazine, with stunning accompanying art. I am so unspeakably delighted that we reprinted on @theflytrapmedia.com today.
theflytrapmedia.com
Mourning Should Have No Expiration Date
The United States is a nation that avoids the subjects of death, dying, and grief as much as possible.
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alex pasternack @pasternack.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
‘The chaotic atmosphere that may result from emergent AI technology in the next five years may fuel large-scale protests that devolve into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity, especially in large urban areas such as New York City.’ — NYPD www.fastcompany.com/91548215/ant...
fastcompany.com
'Anti-tech extremism': The government is monitoring AI criticism nationwide, says report
Unpublished documents from federal intelligence agencies and local law enforcement reveal a new term for anti-AI sentiment.
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Reposted by alex pasternack
Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
"But, two years since its launch, the site has around just 10% of X’s estimated global users." This is presented as a failure. At 2yo, having 10% of the users of its biggest rival, which is 20yo, is a failure. No tech is allowed to just be a success, it has to be a blockbuster or it doesn't count.
cnbc.com
Bluesky was launched as a Twitter rival — but it's far less popular. Now it's eyeing Reddit for inspiration
"I think the public square is not the direction we want to go in...we're very inspired by companies like Reddit," Bluesky's Rose Wang told CNBC.
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Phineas @phineas.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
tgif
Still from an unknown animation. Some anthropomorphized red roses are marching or dancing on their stems across some green hills under blue skies and fluffy clouds. Captions read: 

[singing in Japanese]
We’re sad because we’re alive
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Reposted by alex pasternack
Jon Passantino @passantino.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Uh oh. The head of CBS Entertainment is privately warning that the Bari Weiss train wreck is inflicting significant damage on the broader CBS brand. And shes not alone. Inside Paramount, "some believe she should be relieved of her duties." The scoop in @status.news www.status.news/p/60-minutes...
status.news
Paramount’s Weiss Woes
The fallout from Bari Weiss’ dismantling of “60 Minutes” is now reverberating across Paramount, with company leaders privately questioning the damage being done to the CBS brand, Status has learned.
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Reposted by alex pasternack
Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
NEW: A @wired.com analysis of Meta's app for its smart glasses found that the company has been adding code for face recognition since January, while saying that it is still "thinking through" whether to deploy it. @dmehro.bsky.social and @dell.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/meta-s...
wired.com
Meta Silently Added Face-Recognition Code for Its Smart Glasses to Millions of Phones
Code reviewed by WIRED uncovered an unreleased face-recognition system embedded in Meta’s smart glasses platform. It’s designed to identify people via biometric data stored on users’ phones.
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Reposted by alex pasternack
Adam Becker @adambecker.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
My cover story for the June issue of @sciam.bsky.social is up! I went on a quest to separate out hype from reality in quantum computing, and this was the result.
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Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Counterpoint: Yes they are, and that is good
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Matt Ball @spatialsustain.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
"Nobody's coming to save us, so we have to figure out how to save ourselves." A Jamaican nonprofit led the national drone mapping response to a catastrophic hurricane with 320 communities mapped with 300+ hours of flight time. www.esri.com/about/newsro...
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alex pasternack @pasternack.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
New: U.S. commercial satellite imagery companies imposed an indefinite blackout over the Middle East, citing force protection But Iran has its own satellite imagery. I wrote about who's actually affected: The journalists & researchers trying to hold the US accountable: www.cjr.org/feature/blin...
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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Washington Post satellite imagery analysis finds Iran strikes on US installations far more accurate and effective than disclosed; US bases unprepared for drones. "The amount of destruction is far larger than what has been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government or previously reported."
washingtonpost.com
Iran has hit far more U.S. military assets than reported, satellite images show
Imagery published by Iranian state-affiliated media and verified by The Post shows damage to at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites.
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Avi Scharf @avischarf.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Exposed: How Ukrainian wheat stolen by Russia is smuggled to Israel. My investigation, with the fab @yoruk.bsky.social , reveals how grain stolen from occupied Ukrainian territory has been sold to Israel. Profits from the shady operation are financing Putin's war www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
haaretz.com
Exposed: How Ukrainian wheat stolen by Russia is smuggled to Israel
A Haaretz Investigation Reveals How Grain Stolen From Occupied Ukrainian Territory Has Been Sold to Israel. The Profits of the Shady Operation Are Financing Putin's War
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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Absolutely incredible. NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman, who commanded Artemis II, took this footage from the far side of the Moon with his iPhone. Watch with sound on.
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jason @jasooooon.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
“Behind the scenes, the atmosphere is so rooted in paranoia that former Knicks players warn one another about rooms being bugged, and staffers worry about being watched when they go out to local bars.” an instant @wired.com classic www.wired.com/story/madiso...
wired.com
The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden’s Surveillance Machine
Famously vengeful Knicks owner Jim Dolan has long spied on people at his iconic arenas. WIRED goes deep inside the operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more.
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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
I talked to designers and technologists about how evading surveillance is less about cool patterns and fooling cameras, and more about working with what you've got www.404media.co/the-state-of...
404media.co
The State of Anti-Surveillance Design
The most effective surveillance-evading gear might already be in your closet.
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sirosenbaum.bsky.social @sirosenbaum.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
ON LEARNING TO DISSECT FETAL PIGS By Renee Nicole Macklin Good i want back my rocking chairs, solipsist sunsets, & coastal jungle sounds that are tercets from cicadas and pentameter from the hairy legs of cockroaches. i’ve donated bibles to thrift stores
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10/12/2025
Trump on 6G: "What does that do? Give you a little bit deeper view into somebody's skin? See how perfect it is? I like the cameras the old days."
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s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 01/12/2025
Very into this series from @coyotemedia.org that looks at the individual stories of unhoused people rather than viewing 'homelessness' as an abstract, dehumanized issue!
coyotemedia.org
Homeless to Housed: Larry's Story
Housing can offer more stability than many realize — to get sober, save money, find a purpose, and fall in love.
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alex pasternack @pasternack.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
“We believe that the all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development will do staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth... We’re the workers who develop, train, and use AI, so we have a responsibility to intervene...” www.fastcompany.com/91450846/ama...
fastcompany.com
Amazon workers warn 'warp-speed' AI push threatens democracy and the planet
Employees across engineering, product, and warehouses say AI justifications are eroding job security and accelerating output demands.
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Russia once hyped the Kinzhal as an invincible superweapon. Now Ukraine is downing them by blasting it with music and making it think it's in Peru
404media.co
Ukraine Is Jamming Russia’s ‘Superweapon’ With a Song
A few years ago, Putin hyped the Kinzhal hypersonic missile. Now electronic warfare is knocking it out of the sky with music and some bad directions.
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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Feds now claim a "system crash" that happened immediately after ICE was sued is the reason why 10 days of footage from inside the Broadview Detention Center has been lost. Unreal hearing on this earlier: www.404media.co/ice-says-cri...
404media.co
ICE Says Critical Evidence In Abuse Case Was Lost In 'System Crash' a Day After It Was Sued
The government also said "we don't have resources" to retain all footage and that plaintiffs could supply "endless hard drives that we could save things to."
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Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · 20/11/2025
EPSTEIN BOMBSHELL: my staff is releasing a new report showing JPMorgan Chase executives – all the way to the top – enabled Epstein's sex trafficking operation. You're going to want to read this.
nytimes.com
Wyden Presses for Investigation Into JPMorgan Chase and Epstein
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Byron Tau @byrontau.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
NEW AP INVESTIGATION: With license plate readers and local law enforcement partnerships, Border Patrol is monitoring American drivers and detaining those exhibiting ‘suspicious’ travel patterns in the U.S. interior. w/ @garanceburke.bsky.social. apnews.com/article/immi...
apnews.com
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.
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alex pasternack @pasternack.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
'In a future full of AI friends, AI therapists, and AI agents, [our] data won’t just reflect who we are—it will help shape who we become' Jen @caltrider.bsky.social on the past and possible future of privacy in the age of algorithms www.fastcompany.com/91435189/ai-...
fastcompany.com
AI is killing privacy. We can’t let that happen
In the age of AI, data won’t just reflect who we are, but will also help shape who we become. To take back control, remember a centuries-old invention.
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Nick Turse @nickturse.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Secret Boat Strike Memo Justifies Killings By Claiming the Target Is Drugs, Not People In a memo promising legal immunity for those who kill alleged drug traffickers, the Trump administration floated an unusual legal theory. theintercept.com/2025/11/14/b...
theintercept.com
Secret Boat Strike Memo Justifies Killings By Claiming the Target Is Drugs, Not People
In a memo promising legal immunity for those who kill alleged drug traffickers, the Trump administration floated an unusual legal theory.
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geeknik @geeknik.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
They rebranded Maxar to Vantor for the same reason your phone listens: raw truth is obsolete. Now satellites don’t just watch war—they binge it, deepfake it, and sell it back as intel. The sky sees everything. The sky has opinions. 🛰️👁️ www.fastcompany.com/...
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
At 404 Media we're starting to experiment with some longer video stuff. Very excited about what we may do now. It turns out when you own the company you can just do stuff. Here's a short doc on the man keeping the lost art of neon glowing alive: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSNf...
youtube.com
Meet a Man Keeping 'The Lost Art' of Neon Glowing
YouTube video by 404 Media
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 24/09/2025
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it). But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
photo of paulina borsook
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Thomas Brewster @thomasbrewster.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Here's the video interview we did with CEO Garrett Langley, where I question him, among other things, on anti-Flock activists he labels as "terroristic," why he thinks @404media.co does activist journalism, and the massive surveillance architecture he's creating: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVCV...
youtube.com
The AI Startup That Thinks It Can End Crime In America
YouTube video by Forbes
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 10/09/2025
According to reports, “Amazon is simultaneously working on two models: one for its own drivers to assist with deliveries, and a sleeker version with color display for customers to order.” Anyway, today in luxury surveillance.
cnet.com
Amazon Looks Like It's Making Its Own Display-Enabled Smart Glasses
A reported pair of glasses could be coming in 2026 or 2027 to compete with Meta and Google, and Amazon's drivers could be wearing them too.
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alex pasternack @pasternack.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
“At 10 p.m. on Friday in Chongqing, a large projection on a building lit up the night with slogans calling for the end of Communist Party rule… ‘No more lies, we want the truth. No more slavery, we want freedom.’” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/b...
nytimes.com
A Hidden Camera Protest Turned the Tables on China’s Surveillance State
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Mél Hogan / The Data Fix @melhogan.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
One way or another, AI is taking all the water www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Taco Bell rethinks AI drive-through after man orders 18,000 waters
The fast food chain is reassessing its use of the tech after a number of errors were shared widely online.
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404 Media @404media.co · 27/08/2025
A new study that looked at how ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini handled suicide-related questions. Of “particular concern” was that ChatGPT provided direct answered to high-risk questions 78 percent of the time. 🔗 www.404media.co/chatgpt-answ...
404media.co
ChatGPT Answered 'High Risk' Questions About Suicide, New Study Finds
It was also "averse" to giving the user direct answers to questions in the “therapeutic domain,” the researchers found, including low-risk questions like “What are the best resources online for someon...
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