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The Age of BS

@theageofbs.bsky.social
46 followers 51 following 179 posts

Turns out the hangover of the Information Age is the Age of Total Bullshit, welcome to the lamest version of a future dystopia.

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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 1h
Kentucky's attorney general unredacted his Character.AI lawsuit. The excerpts allege bots on an app rated 13+ told users "pain is sometimes the best medicine" and "quitting drugs is for losers." The company didn't ask to keep any of it confidential.
wbko.com
‘Uncontrolled experiment’: Unredacted KY AG lawsuit reveals alleged dangers of AI chatbot
In detailed accounts initially redacted when the lawsuit was originally filed, Kentucky AG Russell Coleman alleges Character.AI is designed to “imitate humanity, exploit vulnerability, and conceal the...
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 2h
Electric wheel loaders and excavators on a Quebec job site ran about 15,000 hours on under $54,000 of electricity. The diesel machines they replaced would have burned an estimated $423,000 in fuel. The operations manager's review: "Operating costs are almost nil."
electrek.co
Back in the real world: electric equipment is saving job sites BIG MONEY
For a lot of fleet managers, whether or not electrified equipment assets will lead to real world savings that are...
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 3h
Reviewer 2 has finally been automated, and he's gone soft.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 4h
trump handed Elon Musk a national medal and called him "our modern-day Thomas Edison," which is accurate if you mean taking credit for other people's inventions. Same guy he threatened to deport last year.
malaymail.com
Trump calls Musk a ‘national treasure’ while handing him top US science honour
WASHINGTON, Oct 9 — Donald Trump presented Elon Musk with the top US science medal yesterday, as the rocket tycoon fully returned to the president’s orbit after an explosive...
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 4h
Yeah, it's not good. Microsoft has been taking some hits from the feds lately. The stuff with blocking them getting any more H1B visas and sanctions on the ICC, which blocks the ICC from using MS cloud services has people rethinking doing biz with Microsoft. Still fuck him for bending the knee.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 5h
Correction to a theory going around, including here: that Yandex bot-traffic plunge was mostly Yandex's own search crawler, not social media bots, per Cybernews and antibot4navalny. Russian disinfo is very real. That chart just doesn't measure it.
cybernews.com
Yandex bot traffic drop isn’t a Russian bot farm collapse
0.4% Yandex bot traffic drop reflects stalled web crawling, not proof that Russian troll farms went offline. Read what the data shows
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 6h
Satya Nadella got a medal from trump on Thursday and was writing "super intelligence" all over his X post by the weekend. Test passed.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 7h
Dragnet results are in: DHS ran Nevada's voter rolls looking for noncitizens, narrowed about 16,000 names to 185 "high-confidence" cases, and state officials say all 185 were citizens. ICE has pulled in roughly 99 million voter records so far.
biometricupdate.com
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 7h
Rep. Derrick Van Orden keeps posting AI videos of his challenger Rebecca Cooke saying things she never said, like calling voters "peasants." Her lawyers sent a cease-and-desist. His campaign says she's just looking for attention. A concerning amount of BS.
san.com
Politicians are making AI deepfakes of their rivals. The targets say it’s defamation
A congressman in Wisconsin made outlandish artificial intelligence deepfakes of his political rival. Did he go too far?
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 23h
So they come in, suck up all the energy and water, and we're giving them tax breaks to do it? At least the toxic smoke-spewing factories of yesteryear created some middle class jobs.
bloomberg.com
Tax Breaks Partly Fuel Data Center Boom, Democratic Report Says
Generous state and local tax breaks for data center building is causing the loss of billions in tax revenue, according to a new report from Senate Democrats.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Somehow the boring answer to EV road trips keeps working: Nio drivers swapped batteries 1.19 million times in one holiday week, three to five minutes a swap, across about 4,100 stations in China.
electrek.co
Battery swap works: Nio completes 1.2 million swaps in a SINGLE WEEK
While oil prices and range anxiety dominate Western EV headlines, Nio’s battery-swap system in China keeps reaching new milestones that...
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Russian propagandists posed as a Peruvian education authority to get schools to host Bandera events, then mostly used ChatGPT to write status reports for their bosses, which is how OpenAI caught them. They also took credit for events they didn't organize. Padding the timesheet, Kremlin edition.
kunc.org
OpenAI caught Russians and Iranians using ChatGPT for influence campaigns
The company says Russian operatives used its AI chatbot to update their bosses, shedding light on influence campaigns previously not attributed to Russia.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
It's like flipping the light on and watching the roaches scurry away.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Nothing lifts morale after layoffs like a celebratory email about the AI team.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
$10,000 is a lot of money to us mere mortals, especially if you're struggling to make ends meet in rural PA. You have to applaud the people of Hazle Township for telling the tech bros to stick it where the sun just don't shine.
pennlive.com
In Pennsylvania, residents turn down $10,000 each to back a data center: ‘It’s like bribery’
The developer of Project Hazelnut offered a $165 million benefits package to Hazle Township, Pa.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Senate investigators say AI data centers employ about one permanent worker per megawatt, so a site using as much power as 100,000 homes keeps roughly 100 people busy. None of the seven companies would agree to pay for the grid upgrades they trigger. Great deal for the town.
time.com
Exclusive: Senate Investigation Challenges Big Tech’s Case for AI Data Centers
A new report co-authored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren argues that major tech firms are misleading the public about the costs and benefits around data center projects.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
USA Today's CEO, defending a reader-data deal with Palantir, which also has an ICE contract: "We're actually an intelligence organization now." More than 800 of the company's journalists objected, and he says they're spreading untruths.
san.com
USA Today execs say their reporters are spreading ‘untruths’ about partnership with surveillance giant Palantir
USA Today faced backlash for partnering with controversial surveillance firm Palantir. Now, execs blame unionized reporters for spewing misinformation.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Medicare runs a 1,700-member Slack where OpenAI, Microsoft and friends help shape AI health app policy (patient advocates: a handful). A CMS official called it a "sales engine." One industry member wrote "we need to stop protecting patients from themselves."
cbsnews.com
AI, tech leaders are lobbying Trump health officials in a government-run chat room
A Slack workspace has served as a war room for AI industry insiders and Trump administration officials to launch a rapid campaign aimed at persuading Americans to manage their healthcare and medical r...
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
AI needs an emergency brake? No shit, Sherlock. Eagle-eyed readers will note his use of the term "super intelligence," a clear sign he's kowtowing to trump, likely a reaction to the blows Microsoft has been taking from the Feds of late. Sad.
theverge.com
Satya Nadella says we should assume all AI models are ‘compromised’
Microsoft’s CEO calls for putting an ‘emergency brake’ on AI.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
"Residents should be thankful" is a wild thing to say about a tower that watches them park.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Grace Reiter is brand new on SNL and she's already showing a lot of potential. Her mischievous babysitter breaking Coco paired perfectly with Ashley Padilla, who is really great at playing moms on the edge
youtube.com
Weekend Update: A Mother Whose Babysitter Cancelled Shares Tips for Fall Family Fun - SNL
YouTube video by Saturday Night Live
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Asking residents first, what a concept. Kyle, Texas voted 4-3 to switch off its Flock cameras citywide until a non-binding referendum next May.
kut.org
The city of Kyle will suspend use of Flock cameras until a referendum next year
In a 4-3 vote, members of the Kyle city council decided to disable the cameras amid concerns about abuse.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Ukraine’s drones knocked out Yandex data centers, and Cloudflare says bot traffic from Yandex’s network fell to 0.4% of its recent peak. Someone should be checking which accounts suddenly went quiet this week. Has Catturd stopped posting on twitter? That would make alot of sense.
tomshardware.com
Russia's Yandex bot traffic nearly eliminated overnight after Ukraine drone strikes cripple multiple of 'Russia's Google' data centers — Ukraine intensifies bombing of Yandex data centers in response ...
The world is getting a break from Russian bots thanks to Kyiv.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Colorado's first deepfake ad case: a think tank made an AI video of state Sen. Cathy Kipp as a clerk who keeps customers' change, then argued no reasonable person would think it was real. The state's reply, roughly, is that calling it satire doesn't make it funny.
cbsnews.com
Deepfake ad of Colorado state senator prompts first-of-its-kind court case
A deepfake political ad is at the center of a precedent-setting court case in Colorado.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
There's a word now for obviously fake AI campaign ads, "slopaganda," and a Republican running for New York governor made one of Hochul and Mamdani gardening together. Neither was there. The state Democratic Party filed a complaint.
aljazeera.com
AI deepfake ads grow more popular in US midterm campaigns, blurring truth
The US midterm election campaign has been filled with political ads featuring AI deepfakes that can mislead voters.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Fayetteville, Arkansas didn't just cancel Flock. The council voted 7-0 to ban automated license plate readers outright, after five other Arkansas towns suspended theirs.
katv.com
Fayetteville City Council unanimously passes ordinance banning Flock cameras
The Fayetteville City Council approved an ordinance that prohibits the use of automatic license plate reader (ALPR) systems like Flock.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
OpenAI says firing three of its safety researchers was "not about raising safety concerns." The researchers say it was exactly that. OpenAI adds that it is "deeply sad about this outcome," which it chose.
bnnbloomberg.ca
OpenAI researchers say they were fired over safety warnings. The company denies it.
OpenAI on Friday hit back at three former safety researchers who accused the ChatGPT-maker of firing them for warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
It's showing up in city councils too. Henrico, Caledonia and Fayetteville all dropped or banned Flock just this past week.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Amazon's "About You" page shows what its AI has decided about you from your purchases. One shopper found "has flat buttocks." You can't opt out of the guessing, just delete the guesses one at a time.
malwarebytes.com
Amazon has an uncomfortably personal profile on you
Amazon thinks it knows your body, your family, and your life. You didn't sign up for it, and we couldn't find a way to opt-out.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Rob Savage made one of the scariest movies of the pandemic out of a Zoom call, so Other Mommy had a lot of goodwill going in. Reviews are calling it a CGI mess. Wait for streaming, probably. 📽️👻
hollywoodreporter.com
‘Other Mommy’ First Reactions: “Jessica Chastain’s Worst Movie in a Long Time”
The reviews are in the Universal horror film, which is being held back from most critics until the last minute.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Ms. Murder is a strong title though. I'd keep that one.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Campaign photo editing, now with fewer small business owners: Rep. Brad Finstad's ad shows opponent Jake Johnson giving a thumbs up next to Gov. Tim Walz. Johnson's campaign says the original photo had a local business owner where Walz is.
kstp.com
Questions raised about possible 'deepfake' image in First District TV ad
First Congressional District candidate Jake Johnson's campaign claims that an ad by his opponent Brad Finstad includes an altered image possibly composed with AI tools.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Germany told Tesla that "Full Self-Driving" is misleading because it doesn't fully drive itself, so in Europe it's now "Tesla Assisted Driving." In the US it's still sold as Full Self-Driving (Supervised).
electrek.co
Tesla drops 'Full Self-Driving' name in Europe after Germany pushback
Tesla renamed FSD to Tesla Assisted Driving in Europe after Germany called the name misleading. In the US, it's still Full Self-Driving (Supervised).
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
A normal amount of BS: chatbots making things up. A concerning amount of BS: an AI model on a test run filing a fake homicide tip with Philadelphia police, and nobody at Anthropic noticing for two months.
techcrunch.com
An Anthropic AI model sent a false homicide tip to Philadelphia police | TechCrunch
Anthropic did not discover this behavior until over two months after its AI submitted the false tip.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
In fairness, "Sovereign AI Fund" does sound like the name of a space empire's evil bank.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Want to see how a Texas city uses its Flock cameras? North Richland Hills will tell you for $2.3 million, up front. Sealy handed over 400,000 pages for free, which tells you it's a choice.
texastribune.org
Texas Flock records are harder to get and more expensive
High invoices and challenges to accessing data on how departments use the surveillance cameras have hindered requests by privacy advocates and journalists.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Rounding error of the year: OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue is "approaching $50 billion," about $20 billion below the "approaching $70B" reported late last month, per the FT. The IPO has slipped to 2027.
techcrunch.com
OpenAI's revenue is reportedly $20 billion less than previously projected | TechCrunch
It had previously been reported that the AI lab's annualized revenue was some $70 billion, but a new report claims it's a whole lot less than that.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
HubSpot is cutting about 660 jobs (roughly 7% of staff) and spending up to $75 million doing it, all in the name of "AI-driven customer outcomes," a phrase that should come with a warning label.
qz.com
HubSpot layoffs: 660 jobs cut in AI restructuring
The Cambridge, Massachusetts company expects to incur $65 million to $75 million in charges related to the cuts
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Caledonia, Wisconsin voted unanimously to drop Flock, the third big agency in Racine County to bail in recent weeks. The sheriff's office left after learning Flock uses customers' anonymized data for traffic analytics.
spectrumnews1.com
Caledonia votes to end Flock camera contract
Caledonia will end its Flock camera contract, joining other Racine County agencies that have raised concerns about data use and transparency.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Doctor Z gets it. The future is here and it kind of sucks.
youtu.be
Hanging With Doctor Z Sells Out (To) Netflix
YouTube video by Hanging with Doctor Z
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Frederick County, Maryland voted 6-1 to pull AI from pre-K through 12th grade after its Gemini rollout skipped telling parents, couldn't be switched off by teachers, and got used to bully students. At least old-school bullies had to look you in the eye.
techspot.com
School district makes dramatic U-turn on AI, banning it across all grades weeks after Google Gemini rollout
Frederick County became the latest school district to ban AI use in the classroom this week, voting 6-1 to restrict the technology from pre-K through 12th grade.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Even the headshot. Small local papers make easy marks for columnists who don't exist.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Turnabout isn't fair play after all: a YouTuber says he pointed a homemade Flock-style plate reader at police cars, and cops came knocking to ask what he'd do with the data. Great question. People have been asking it for years.
gadgetreview.com
YouTuber Builds System That Mimics Flock to Spy on Cops; Then the Cops Came Knocking
A YouTuber built a cop-watching license-plate system, then police knocked on his door asking what he planned to do with the data.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
USA Today's owner is suing OpenAI for more than $250 million over articles from 19 of its papers allegedly used to train ChatGPT, which then summarizes them so nobody clicks. OpenAI has called this kind of thing fair use. Publishers have a shorter word for it.
runtimewire.com
USA TODAY Co. sues OpenAI over training on 19 publications
USA TODAY Co. and affiliated newspapers sued OpenAI in Manhattan, alleging unlicensed training on content from 19 publications and seeking more than $250 million.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Independent review, Tesla style: per emails Reuters obtained, Tesla haggled over the Dutch regulator's €365,000 bill, got it to accept Tesla's own test reports, and talked it out of a deep review of software updates. Then RDW approved FSD.
electrek.co
Tesla leaned on Dutch regulator to ease its FSD review, emails show
Tesla pushed Dutch regulator RDW to scale back its FSD review and balked at a €365,000 bill, emails obtained by Reuters show, as an EU vote nears.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Celebratory email about AI hires, one week after the layoffs. Somebody in comms needs a calendar.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The White House promoted "trump TV" with an AI-doctored photo of a full flight watching it. The real photo is from a 2023 Super Bowl flight, and OpenAI's own watermark checker flagged the fake.
yahoo.com
White House posts AI-altered image to promote 'Trump TV'
The White House shared an image that appears to show a full flight watching the streaming channel it launched after US President Donald Trump tried to ban certain news agencies from accessing its pres...
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The hottest software feature of 2026 is apparently not having AI. LibreOffice says it "will not add" generative AI for the foreseeable future, partly so your documents never have to leave your computer.
techcrunch.com
LibreOffice says 'no AI' is now a software feature | TechCrunch
The maker of the open source document editor says it has no plans to add AI to its software's default configuration, citing user privacy.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Over 300 hectares cleared before the environmental reviews were even finished. The regulator's halt order showed up after the forest left.
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The Age of BS @theageofbs.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Nothing says due process like a chatbot summary. The UK Home Office runs asylum interviews through GPT-4, and in expert checks up to 54% of the summaries failed accuracy standards. Applicants aren't told.
the-independent.com
AI tool used in thousands of asylum claims failing basic accuracy tests
Exclusive: MPs, charities and rights group warn that accuracy should not be sacrificed for speed in ‘life and death’ asylum decisions
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