Geek Stuff category archive

Linux Mint in a Virtualbox VM on Mageia v. 9 with the IceWM window manager.

A reliable source of news? If you think that possilbe, then read this report by Chron.com’s Gwen Howerton about how AI-managed “news” websites mangle reporting and fabricate facts can be less than accurate.

Gullible? El Reg reports that

Attackers are using a technique known as “text salting,” which hides benign-looking words intended to confuse some AI-powered email filters, says cybersecurity firm Barracuda.

Details at the link.

Threatening to accelerate the concentration of wealth in this new gilded age? Security maven Bruce Schneier argues that (emphasis added), (a)s for AI itself, the concentration of power and wealth in these tech companies is the greatest existential risk facing society today.

Follow the link to see why.

Slopping all over the internet? El Reg reports that

A study from AI detection platform Pangram suggests that social media posts are teeming with AI-generated slop, particularly if the posts are long and especially if they live on LinkedIn or X. If you’re sick of reading non-human prose, we’d recommend getting off the platforms altogether.

Much more at the link.

And, remember, “social” media isn’t.

A ghostwriter? At the Psychology Today website, Jim Taylor argues that “(p)eople shouldn’t take ownership of content they did not write.”

The EFF explains how, for Google, the days of “Don’t Be Evil” are very much a thing of the past.

Willing to betray secrets? Just be sure to ask it nicely.

A learning aid? At the Psychology Today website, Timothy Cook (no, not that Tim Cook) reports that “AI use can raise scores in the short term but worsen kids’ thinking abilities in the long term, studies find.”

Follow the link for mere.

The Dot-Com Bubble v 2.0? El Reg reports that

Businesses are rethinking their AI plans in the face of changing cost structures and rising fees. The research also found nearly half of organizations have rephased AI deployments when costs have outweighed the expected value. Lower-cost, high-fidelity models are the fastest-growing influence on AI strategy, up 7 percentage points from Q1.

“These actions do not signal reduced confidence in AI. Rather, they suggest a growing willingness to evaluate where AI creates meaningful value and where it does not. Organizations appear increasingly focused on concentrating investment where expected returns are strongest,” the report said.

Much more at the link.

Capable of kidnapping your data? El Reg reports that (s)mooth AI criminal drives ‘first’ end-to-end agentic ransomware attack. (To put that another way, once it got the prompt, an AI bot ran a rensomeware scam from start to finish all on its ownsome.)

AI doesn’t stand for “ariticial intelligence.” It stands “amoral instrumentation.”

Impartial? Only as impartial as the data they scrape train on.

At the Psychology Today website, Phil Reed reminds that “AI mirrors human cognitive biases, not just factual knowledge.” Follow the link for the evidence.

A competent couples counselor? Better have that divorce lawyeer’s number handy.