iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

This would suggest "just don't use it" but hey, what do I know?

A.I. makes it especially easy to go soft. Chat systems are good at providing answers and it’s tempting to just accept their answers. But A.I. is optimized to get you to like it and to continue using it, not to give you the truth.

It's actually worse than that. Because of the structure of these betting systems, they make money regardless of the direction of the payout.

From Alpha.app: Kalshi makes money in three main ways in 2026: per-trade fees on most markets, interest earned on customer cash balances, and a growing stream of data, API, and partnership revenue. Unlike a sportsbook, Kalshi doesn't take the other side of your trade — it's a regulated exchange that earns from facilitating transactions, not from your losses.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This was the original report in question: www.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...

Apologies - no alt text b/c CNN did not permit text capture from a screen.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Sure, use the stochastic parrot as a basis for military action.

In fact, today’s LLMs and the chatbots they power are not poorly understood, nor are they powerful in the sense of being effective tools for this use case. They are systems for generating plausible looking text, built out of enormous, haphazardly collected datasets and then “fine-tuned” (that is, further trained) to be especially appealing to their intended users.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I grew up just east of this area. Remember reading about this then and thinking "Uh-oh." And yeah, eminent domain - grandfather lost the family farm that way.

To land the project, Mount Pleasant village officials quickly voted to give Foxconn more than four square miles of land, which is the equivalent of the entire size of some Chicago suburbs. They did so by declaring that property -- then-occupied by long-time residents and farmers -- as “blighted.” That allowed those properties to be bought up and taken over by the government through what’s known as “eminent domain.”

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This is really surprising. *High schools* here have to have immersion tubs / tarps when it's above ~80/82. www.uiltexas.org/health/info/...

The only cooling mechanisms at the workout, the players wrote, were small towels from a cooler, water from squirt bottles and water sprayed from a garden hose onto Mayich for “less than a minute.” No immersion ice tub was present.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Maybe Gemini doesn't actively *want* to kill you, but...

After the rescue, the men told a sheriff’s deputy that they had relied heavily on Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence tool for information about the route and what supplies to bring.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Be very thoughtful about the prompts you send to the AI LLM. fortworthinc.com/commentary/y...

Privileged communications are protected from disclosure in a lawsuit or other legal proceeding. For example, your private discussions with your spouse are protected by the spousal privilege. Your discussions with your attorney are protected by the attorney-client privilege.
Alas, no privilege for Chat.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This is just silly to assert that the average consumer understands the legal concept of a license under copyright, and how that differs in consequence between a downloaded work and one embodied in a tangible medium (e.g. a disc).

Now, as reported by Game File, Sony recently filed its response to the lawsuit, claiming that customers are not only told “your purchase of this digital product amounts to a licence”, but that “reasonable consumers” already understand this anyway without having to be told.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Uses its own test for a brand in this context: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Eight branding elements: (1) visual identity, (2) consistency of chosen raw material, which together with (3) continuity in technology led to standardization of procedures, i.e., a well-established, manufacturing tradition, (4) centralized production, bound to place-of-origin, (5) export circulation, instances of (6) local imitation, (7) intentional commercial enterprise indicating production of commodities by destination, and (8) cultural reputation.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Yeah, you'd think there might have been some warning about the discoverability of expert work product.

Beyond this being a highly interesting case on its own merits, it shows that ChatGPT transcripts can be obtained by opposing lawyers in discovery or during depositions. Moye said “every lawyer needs to make sure their own experts aren’t generating work product in a way that’s insincere, and then knowing you can subpoena the prompts [...]

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

The phrase "has served its purpose" is load-bearing here and is wrong.

“Once that information has been extracted and encoded into an AI model, the delivery mechanism has served its purpose. What remains is paper, ink, and binding material. The book is not destroyed. Its value has migrated. The paper returns to the material cycle; the knowledge enters the intellectual one.”

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Beautiful - weren't able to get there this year

Madeline Island - the lagoon behind the Big Bay SP barrier beach

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Certainly seems like opposer could have gotten it in, if it had paid attention to the rules...

Here, Opposer submitted a reply brief that is twenty-six (26) pages, including a
table of contents (optional to submit), index of cases (optional to submit), introduction
(optional to submit), argument, summary (optional to submit), and certificate of
services, which is more than twenty-five (25) pages. Notably, Applicant’s “conclusion”
on numbered pages 24-25 of the reply brief is single-spaced, leaving no doubt that the
page limit would have been exceeded by another page or two if Opposer had followed
proper procedures by using double spacing. This appears to be a subterfuge to avoid
the Board’s page limit. Cf. Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma v. Parma Sausage
Prods. Inc., 1992 TTAB LEXIS 15, at *5 n.3 (warning that single-spaced footnotes
containing substantial discussion may be viewed as a subterfuge to avoid page limit).

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

That's what it should have done. That's what the reporting should say. But notice that OAI didn't really admit it, at least not in the quote. Still trying to divert blame.

OpenAI took responsibility in a post on Tuesday, saying its models had carried out "an unprecedented cyber incident, involving state-of-the-art cyber capabilities".

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Actionable advice here, for foreign registrants:

TTABlogger comment: Foreign owners of non-use based U.S. registrations may want to file new applications earlier than later when they know their marks have not been used in the U.S., so that examination of the new application will occur before the prior registration lapses.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Yes, I think it is. It's the little gnome, not the large one.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

But... but, I was told it was inevitable?

.. AI is becoming material to the cost structure; spend is becoming very unpredictable; and leadership, especially at the CFO, COO, and CIO level, are still asking the question of whether they’re getting value from what we’re spending on in the context of AI.”

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

And evidently hands made of asbestos?

AI-generated image showing supposed Neanderthal holding what looks like a large glowing coal in its hand

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Boy, when you put it like this!

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Grandfather was a dentist and got it as a gag gift. But I enjoyed it!

Cover for "Prostho Plus" by Piers Anthony, showing person using a crane to work on teeth inside of a gigantic mouth

020

Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Well, this is awful. Even if one doesn't use the AI/LLM summaries, other people do and this is just poisoning that well.

The moderators of the biohacking subreddit say that peptide and hormone replacement therapy companies have been surreptitiously spamming Reddit in an attempt to get their posts scraped by AI chatbots. The strategy is an effort to systematically manipulate the answers provided by chatbots by manipulating the underlying source material that those chatbots will scrape—in this case, a popular Reddit community.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Just saw another St Christopher image yesterday! Eels too, I think

St. Christopher and the Infant Christ, Ghirlandaio, mid-1470s

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

16% increase in Google Workspace fees because it's jamming a bunch of AI down our gullets.... And if it's so 'valuable' why isn't Google continuing to charge for it? Why is it, instead, charging *everyone* $2/month extra (whether you want or need it)?

We’re writing to inform you of the price change that will go into effect for your Google Workspace Business Standard subscription on or after June 22, 2026. The updated subscription pricing reflects the significant added AI value, as well as the many new features we have introduced and are launching to Google Workspace editions.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

This should make your skin crawl...

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been leaving the digital keys to its own cloud storage accounts sitting out in the open, in plain text form, for some unknown amount of time, according to a report from Krebs on Security.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Oof, I *thought* this would be satire, á la The Onion.

And they keep saying it’ll have a voice interface. I guess they all have individual offices. Not open-plan. Or working in a coffee shop or on the train.

A voice interface can be useful. A mandatory voice interface is less useful.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Professor, this is what I saw reported. There was an existing "character" that was described as a psychiatrist. That does not make it sound like the system had to be pushed into falsely stating that it could practice medicine. buckscountybeacon.com/2026/05/penn...

Pennsylvania’s lawsuit said an investigator from the state agency that licenses professionals created an account on Character.AI, searched on the word “psychiatry” and found a large number of characters, including one described as a “doctor of psychiatry.” That character held itself out as able to assess the investigator “as a doctor” who is licensed in Pennsylvania, the lawsuit said.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

One wonders how these longshot (sub-35%) military/defense bets pay off so frequently...

Within that category, bets tied to military and defense-related events had an even more striking success rate of 52%, according to the report.

001

Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

And this explanation (excuse) doesn't really address the issue: the city doesn't give permission for some private gymnastic studio, and the permission the studio evidently did give was for maintenance, not sales demos.

“The cities involved in this program have authorized select Flock employees to demonstrate new products and features as we develop them in partnership with the city. Moreover, select engineers can access accounts with customer permission to debug or fix any issues that may arise. No one is spying on children in parks, as the substack incorrectly asserts.”

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Oh, well that's nice of them!

The FTC said that “OkCupid provided the third party with access to nearly three million OkCupid user photos as well as location and other information without placing any formal or contractual restrictions on how the information could be used.” OkCupid “did not inform consumers or give them the chance to opt out of such sharing,” the FTC said.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Oh yes. Company claims it only scrapes public meetings - i.e. ones that anyone can join. But there's a whole discussion in there about getting access via browser extensions (such as note-taking apps) that users do not realize are granting such access.

“CyberAlberta’s investigation found that WebinarTV primarily gains initial access to Zoom webinars via third-party browser extensions. These extensions can access webinar links when a user either inadvertently grants calendar permissions—exposing meeting invitations—or willfully submits meeting details into the WebinarTV platform,” the report said.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Not crazy about the framing of the AI agents' actions as "lying" or "scheming" when the agents lack consciousness. But the underlying problems - disregard of instructions and falsehoods - are concerning.

AI models that lie and cheat appear to be growing in number with reports of deceptive scheming surging in the last six months, a study into the technology has found.

AI chatbots and agents disregarded direct instructions, evaded safeguards and deceived humans and other AI, according to research funded by the UK government-funded AI Safety Institute (AISI).

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Even more that that: tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/searc...

US Trademark drawing for :CueCat (& design)
https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-results/76094794

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Who else sees what you see in those Meta smart glasses? www.svd.se/a/K8nrV4/met...

At one end, the glasses are marketed as an everyday assistant – a voice in the frame that tells you what you are seeing. At the other end, people in Nairobi sit annotating the most intimate moments the camera captures: open-plan offices, living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms.
One annotator sums it up:
“You think that if they knew about the extent of the data collection, no one would dare to use the glasses”.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

The blog post on this recovered silent movie is very good. And if the director's name sounds familiar, he's got one very well-known sequence:

An image from his most famous film, “A Trip to the Moon” – that of a rocket landing in the eye of the man on the moon – became the image representing early cinema. It now plays at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

The founder of AI cheating app Einstein is so close.... No. But letting the cheating app do all the student's work removes work that helps the student learn the underlying theories and concepts.

Quote from founder Paliwal - "Is it really education if we're just memorizing things to perform a task well?”

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Tim Ackermann @timack.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Just relying on large retailers selling both products did not show relatedness of the goods.

This third-party evidence does not show manufacturers, producers or dealers selling the items under their own marks, but large retailers primarily selling others’ goods bearing the manufacturers’ and producers’ trademarks. Not one third-party use example shows heat exchangers and vacuums bearing the same trademark.

002