dhork

The post mentions World ID as an example of a third-party service that used biometrics as a basis to prove humanness, and says “the internet needs verification solutions like this, where your account information, usage data, and identity never mix.”

Yup, knew it. This is all just an excuse to get Sam Altman to scan your eyeballs

I didn't have any problem on my Android phone

Normally, I am all for Techdirt's takes. But I think this one is off the mark a bit, because I legitimately think that infinite scroll and auto play are insidious, and actually harmful enough to be treated as a dangerous design decision.

The whole point of Section 230 is that communications companies can't be held responsible for harmful things that people transmit on their networks, because it's the people transmitting those harmful things that are actually at fault. And that would be reasonable in the initial stages of the Internet, when people posted on bulletin boards (or even early social media) and the harmful content had a much smaller reach. People had to "opt in", essentially, to be exposed to this content, and if they stumble on something they find objectionable they can easily change their focus

But the purpose of the infinite scroll and auto play is to get people hooked on content. The algorithms exist to maximize engagement, regardless of the value of that engagement. I think the comparison to cigarettes is particularly apt. They are looking to hook people into actively harmful behaviors, for profit. And the algorithms don't really differentiate between good engagement and harmful engagement. Anything that attracts the users attention is fair game.

The author's points regarding how these rulings can be abused are correct, but that doesn't negate how fundamentally harmful these addictive practices are. It will be up to lawmakers to make sure that the laws are drafted in such a way that they can be applied equitably.... (So maybe we're screwed after all....)

Seems to me like ChatGPT isn't even the main plot. This is a CEO who has bad ideas and doesn't take "No" for an answer. In the before times, he would just fire people who don't agree wih him until he has a staff who can't think for themselves. But that takes time, so all the bot did is speed it all up.

I always thought that Joe Biden's campaign slogan should have been "Make Politics Boring Again"

I would have voted for Pikachu

But you don't understand! Some of those Charizards were shiny!

Honestly, I’m just surprised this is the first time someone has dared to put a phone SOC in a laptop chassis.

I'm probably missing something fundamental, but isn't this just a Chromebook?

I'm kind of hoping the rest of the world wakes up and realizes that sending teams to the US to compete right now us just as bad as sending teams to Russia. The world should boycott it, and let the US claim its trophy after the Saudis field the only other team.

May as well just pay the bots directly then....

The article lists an insane revenue of $1.6B, yet the losses are only on the order of $42M in the last 3 months. Against that much revenue, it looks to me like they are managing the company at a slight loss on purpose. They probably could close that gap if they wanted to, but have some favorable tax implications or something by running that "slight" loss.

(And who knows, maybe this is part of the attempt to close that gap and show a profit before the founders cash out and it all gets sold to a Shittier company)

I just use the same combination that I have on my luggage