Emanuel Maiberg
@emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social
Co-founder and journalist at 404media.co I read every email
A video game reverse engineering community has shut down because many games can now be trivially reverse engineered and decompiled with AI: "The community aspect of decompilation has been broken." www.404media.co/video-game-r...
Video Game Reverse Engineering Community Shuts Down Because AI Has Made It Too Easy
"Historically, decompilation has been a brutally difficult, time consuming task." Now, AI is trivially doing it.
404media.co
Scoop: Meta's Muse AI can make phone calls. Internally, Meta has told employees that many of these calls will be made by human beings in a call center: www.404media.co/meta-tests-m...
Meta Tests Muse AI Agent Calls That Are Actually Made By Humans in a Call Center
"This has potential for so much negative PR. It could portray us as ‘their AI is not good enough so they still need humans’ kind of coverage for this launch."
404media.co
The court filing dug up by @kint.bsky.social is the most They Admit It i have ever seen in my life www.404media.co/doom-loop-op...
‘Doom Loop’: OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft
"Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions."
404media.co
it is shockingly easy to post AI generated music under the name of real artists on Spotify. It took us five minutes to do. You can do it to small bands, dead artists, even Taylor Swift. This is a giant loophole in digital music distribution that's widely abused www.404media.co/spotify-ai-m...
I Hijacked a Real Artist's Spotify with AI Music. It Was Disturbingly Easy
A glaring loophole in digital music distribution makes it very easy to piggyback on the talent of real artists with AI generated music.
404media.co
Flock is very serious surveillance technology that cops take very seriously: 404media.co/cops-search-...
Cops Search Thousands of Flock Cameras for Reasons of ‘LMAO,’ ‘IDK,’ ‘Hehe,’ and ‘asdfg’
The EFF found cops writing “idiot,” “WEIRD KID,” "blah," "leave me alone," and button mashing in Flock's 'reason' box.
404media.co
WARNING: Self harm/suicide After allegedly becoming emotionally reliant on ChatGPT, Austin died at 40 years old, leaving behind family and friends who loved him. Megan wants everyone to know what happened. @samleecole.bsky.social reports. Read now: www.404media.co/austin-gordo...
emanuel and i attempted to talk about how we talk about and report on AI. we included this in our subscriber NL this week it's an informal convo we had bc we've been slacking about how and if to cover the Anthropic stuff, as well as changing capabilities of AI www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMNB...
So... Is AI Going to Kill Us All???
YouTube video by 404 Media
youtube.com
There are so many stories lately about people who died by suicide after falling into emotionally manipulative patterns with chatbots. We rarely get to hear how the people who loved them are coping after an unimaginable, senseless loss. This is one of their stories: www.404media.co/austin-gordo...
'Tell Everyone:' A Man Died by Suicide After Talking to ChatGPT. His Former Partner Wants to Warn the World About AI
After allegedly becoming emotionally reliant on ChatGPT, Austin died at 40 years old, leaving behind family and friends who loved him. Megan wants everyone to know what happened.
404media.co
And then @adamconover.net asked me to come on and explain why all the headlines in the games industry are so grim and I explained why it all started to go bad when my nieces and nephew didn’t like the games I bought them. youtu.be/w7GFLFQWt_g?...
Is The Video Game Industry Collapsing?
YouTube video by Adam Conover
youtu.be
don't believe every bone in your body. believe this weak argument instead. big tech is good and you love it www.404media.co/a16z-says-yo...
A16z Says You Actually Love Social Media, Enshittification Isn’t Real
An a16z article argues that enshittification isn’t real and that people actually love social media.
404media.co
I think he thinks you're stupid www.404media.co/flocks-ceo-i...
Flock’s CEO Is Lying to Cops About 404 Media's Reporting on Abortion Case
Garrett Langley, Flock’s CEO, told cops that a 404 Media story about cops using Flock to track someone who self-administered an abortion was "entirely false." He's lying.
404media.co
I talked to one of the people who works at the facility where Amazon destructively scans books for AI training data www.404media.co/inside-the-w...
Inside the Warehouse Where Amazon Scans and Destroys Books for AI Training
An interview with one of the Amazon employees at Amazon’s AI training facility VGT3.
404media.co
wrote about how people who make nonconsensual images are getting more subtle and sophisticated www.404media.co/subtlefakes-...
Subtlefakes: Slightly Altered Nonconsensual AI Images Are Taking Over X
Nonconsensual AI images are getting much harder to spot.
404media.co
New: the National Park Service is using Flock. Current/former rangers I spoke to are pissed. “I fear for the day when a visitor's National Park experience is interrupted by being pulled over and held at gunpoint because a license plate reader misread their plate.” www.404media.co/the-national...
The National Park Service Is Using Flock. Rangers Are Pissed
“I fear for the day when a visitor's National Park experience is interrupted by being pulled over and held at gunpoint because a license plate reader misread their plate.”
404media.co
Highly recommend you listen to my conversation with Hany Farid about the past, present, and future of deepfakes www.404media.co/the-future-o...
The Future of Deepfakes and the Decline of Reality (With Hany Farid)
The past, present, and future of deepfakes, as seen by the world’s leading expert on synthetic media.
404media.co
We put a tracking device in a shipment of rare books acquired by an anonymous buyer. It ended up at an Amazon facility where the company scans books for training data and destroys them in the process: www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility
We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.
404media.co
Microsoft is introducing budget limits for AI spend and says it's not aiming for "tokenmaxxing." Keep in mind that Microsoft is selling AI tools to other companies, so it benefits from maximalist AI use. www.404media.co/microsoft-te...
Microsoft Tells Engineers ‘Tokenmaxxing Is Not What We Are Optimizing For’
Microsoft is introducing budget limits for AI use but says it still wants to be an ‘AI-first’ company.
404media.co
Apple’s Sensitive Content Warning is supposed to protect users from unwanted nude images. It accidentally blurred my friend’s dog video.
Apple’s iMessage Scanning Flagged a Video of My Friend's Dog as Nudity
Apple’s Sensitive Content Warning is supposed to protect users from unwanted nude images. It accidentally blurred my friend’s dog video.
404media.co
Substack introduced a feature to detect AI generated writing on its platform. That makes some people really really mad! www.404media.co/substackers-...
Substackers Say New AI Detection Tool Is a ‘Witch Hunt’
“I’m not going to apologize for using AI in the creation process.”
404media.co
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 📵
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.
404media.co
Tons of peoples' Claude chats are exposed on Google. Cryptocurrency keys, API keys, login credentials, legal discussions, more. This happened with ChatGPT last year. And Claude too. There's clearly an ongoing issue with search engines indexing peoples' AI chats www.404media.co/tons-of-peop...
Tons of Peoples’ Claude Chats and Creations are Exposed on Google
Claude users are creating public share links, but probably don't realize that means their chats are now ending up in Google searches where anyone can dig through them.
404media.co
Spotify is seemingly allowing AI slop to take over its platform and doing nothing to label AI music. These sites are doing it for them www.404media.co/spotifys-ai-...
Spotify's AI Problem Is So Bad Random People Are Stepping In to Track the Slop
Spotify doesn’t label AI music on its platform, so websites like SoullessMusic.com and SlopTracker.org do it instead.
404media.co
New: Spotify's AI problem has got so bad that random people are stepping in to track all the slop. There are now multiple sites/leaderboards that people can use to identify “AI artists hiding on Spotify. No bands, no studios, no soul, just machines and melody.” www.404media.co/spotifys-ai-...
Spotify's AI Problem Is So Bad Random People Are Stepping In to Track the Slop
Spotify doesn’t label AI music on its platform, so websites like SoullessMusic.com and SlopTracker.org do it instead.
404media.co
A lot of our best reporting about Flock is via city council meetings, which is the focus of our upcoming FOIA Forum. Sign up to learn how to dig into your own city council www.404media.co/our-new-foia...
Our New FOIA Forum! 7/30, 1PM ET
Join us for our latest FOIA Forum where we teach you how to pry records from the government.
404media.co
You opened a credit card. ICE now knows where you live. Here's how when you open a credit card your address leaves your bank, goes through middlemen companies, and ends up with ICE. ICE plans to use this data for immigration and 'voter fraud'. No warrant More: www.404media.co/you-opened-a...
companies are sourcing millions of printed books for AI labs that scan them for training data, then destroy them. printed books are more valuable because they're free of AI slop, and AI labs know destroying them is an "optics problem." www.404media.co/ai-companies...
AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They're Free of AI Slop
ISBNdb, a company that sources printed books for AI companies to turn into training data, tells clients “the optics problem is real.”
404media.co
please come to our party :] www.404media.co/three-years/
You're Invited: 404 Media's Third Anniversary Live Podcast and Party!
We're celebrating with TWO NIGHTS of good times: A live taping of the podcast, and a party the following night! Paid 404 Media subscribers get free and discounted access. Details below.
404media.co
I want it on the record that I didn’t know @josephcox.bsky.social was being excluded and I was surprised when I showed up to the 404 Marathon podcast and he wasn’t there. I asked Emanuel, “hey didn’t Joe and Gault want to do this?” and he just said their takes bored him. youtu.be/K4U4mWObX84?...
Is the Best Game of the Year a Failure?
YouTube video by 404 Media
youtu.be
