05 Jul 2025 Search

The Force-Feeding of AI on an Unwilling Public by Ted Giola. Before proceeding let me ask a simple question: Has there ever been a major innovation that helped society, but only 8% of the public would pay for it? That’s never happened before in human history. Everybody wanted electricity in their homes. Everybody wanted a radio. Everybody wanted a phone. Everybody wanted a refrigerator. Everybody wanted a TV set. Everybody wanted the Internet.

Only 3%* of US AI users are willing to pay a penny for it by David Gerard. What happens when the venture subsidy stops flowing and the chatbots suddenly have to pay their way? (Related: generative ai antimoats)

I’m Getting Real Tired Of Not Being Able To Trust That A Video Game Doesn’t Have AI Crap In It by Luke Plunkett. Some video games have been trying to use generative AI for years now, and for the most part people simply have not been having it. Why would we? It’s lazy, it’s ugly, it’s an ethical black hole and it’s being driven by an executive class desperate to lay off even more workers. While earlier and more brazen attempts at employing the tech were obvious, lately it’s becoming more common for studios to slide a little AI-generated content in without drawing attention to it. (Maybe I should go for the (delayed) Cutting Edge buying plan for video games, to let the early players spot the slop for me?)

Indepth Look at How Mamdani Beat the Corporate Media by Ari Paul. But the onslaught from the more centrist outlets is telling: Like the business establishment, they fear progressive economic policies when it comes to housing, education, transit and public safety, despite all overtures to the contrary. (Two interesting effects here. First of all, the DMV effect. Because of incremental improvements in service in the public sector, along with dramatic cuts in staffing and hours in the private sector, a typical voter’s worst service experience is no longer at the DMV or the post office, but at a private business such as a cable company or big retailer. So the answer to the old threat of would you want that to be run like the DMV? is now, yes, please. The other issue is that even ad-supported media that are run honestly enough not to favor a particular advertiser tend to stay aligned with the business interests of the advertisers they want. Back in the Linux Journal days, we tried to stay as fair as possible to the advertisers, but we were definitely on board with the concept of ordering hardware and running Linux on it. Today, the newspapers of New York City might not favor a particular landlord or realtor, but they’re the kind of people they need to appeal to.) Related: Yes, establishment Democrats of New York, “vote blue no matter who” still applies by Solarbird.

Meta, TikTok can’t toss wrongful death suit from mom of “subway surfing” teen by Ashley Belanger. In a decision Monday, New York State Supreme Court Judge Paul Goetz largely denied social media companies’ motions to dismiss claims they argued should be barred under Section 230 and the First Amendment. Goetz said that the mother, Norma Nazario, had adequately alleged that subway surfing content was purposefully fed to her son Zackery because of his age and not because of any user inputs that indicated he was interested in seeing such content. (related: Supreme Court files confusing bug report)

The first American ‘scientific refugees’ arrive in France by Victor Goury-Laffont. Aix-Marseille University last week introduced eight U.S.-based researchers who were in the final stage of joining the institution’s “Safe Place for Science” program, which aims to woo researchers who have experienced or fear funding cuts under the Trump administration.

Vulgar, horny and threatening by Iris Meredith. I’ve written quite a lot on this website of mine about the tech industry and its many, many defects, but comparatively little about the resistance to it….So, in the spirit of said commitments, this article examines what effective opposition to the tech industry has thus far looked like.