Ministry of Intrigue

Last.fm announces that it has separated from CBS and is now an independent company.

Top AI labs have recently changed their policies on API usage and third-party tools — like Anthropic essentially banning the use of OpenClaw unless subscribers pay extra — due to the extra strain.

Ars Technica reports that an article touting the effectiveness of ChatGPT in education has been retracted by the original publisher due to questionable methodology.

Nilay Patel lays out a concept he calls “software brain”, an outlook that sees everything in terms of algorithms, databases, and loops.

To put it mildly, the “AI” industry is not built on a sound foundation.

Charlie Stross writing in response to a horrific exchange in the Epstein files that suggests Epstein asked of Bill Gates: “How do we get rid of poor people as a whole?”

From an excellent interview with Rob Perlman on his recent Fallout appearance: I’m about 15 seconds into my conversation with Ron Perlman when we get sidetracked.

Every single one of these problems comes down to one simple thing: growth.

After three lovely years with the team at NewCompliance, I’m now searching for new opportunities.

Glyph puts forward a strong argument for why the next innovations in technology will not be big flashy ones.

In a wide ranging, but compulsively readable essay, Erin Kissane discusses how information systems for knowledge can suddenly erode, and how easy it is for us to assume we understand something when we do not.

Warning: spoilers for Stranger Things season five are found below.

Glyph lays out his rules of engagement if you want to argue with him about AI.

You ever start writing a thread and realize it should be a blog post instead?

Ewan Croft’s thoughts on why his blog doesn’t focus on a niche category really resonated with me.

On my way out of the polls / Proof of life Did my civic duty and cast my vote this morning.

Alasdair Stuart writing on Sigourney Weaver’s performance in The Cabin in the Woods: Sigourney Weaver is one of modern western horror’s Patron Saints, and you relax when she shows up.

Comics writer and game designer Kieron Gillen has written a great post over at Old Men Running the World about what draws him to running a new game, and the things that turn him off.

Erin Kissane has written an insightful piece on the challenges facing Bluesky now that the Trump administration has begun the join the network, and what it means for the future of moderation.

This is a very cool tribute.

One of the not-funny ironies of the 21st century has been that everything we thought was social media is actually just mass media, except it’s terrible and broken.

Last week, I finished migrating my open source projects to Codeberg.

I recently moved all my personal/private projects from GitHub to a self-hosted Forgejo instance, and it’s been a great experience.

Last week, I finished migrating all my maintained projects away from GitHub.

Love this bit of world building.

OpenAI’s recent blog post on responding to self-harm conversations includes a surprising disclosure.

This kind of thing should make everybody stop and really think before deploying any AI agents.

Another huge fuckup in the AI space, apparently caused by the Paradox.ai’s team vibe coding an HR screening system for the McDonald’s.

The team at Brave has published a vulnerability related to Perplexity.ai’s AI-enabled Comet Browser.

The Glaze Project at the University of Chicago has released their previously announced AI poisoning tool for images, Nightshade.