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Computers/Internet (General/Chat)

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  • Saudi-led group completes $55bn purchase of gaming giant EA

    08/04/2026 8:53:03 PM PDT · by MinorityRepublican · 3 replies
    BBC News ^ | August 4, 2026 | Laura Cress
    The sale of gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) for $55bn (£41bn) to a group of buyers including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) has been finalised. The American company is known for making and publishing best-selling games such as EA FC, formerly known as Fifa, The Sims and Mass Effect. The investors, who include Affinity Partners - led by President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner - are taking EA private, meaning all of its public shares will be purchased and it will no longer be traded on a stock exchange. It is thought to be the largest leveraged buyout in...
  • White House AI Guidelines Exempt U.S. Open Models From Government Review

    08/04/2026 4:35:08 PM PDT · by E. Pluribus Unum · 2 replies
    The Wall Street Journal ^ | Updated Aug. 4, 2026 7:07 pm ET | Amrith Ramkumar
    The new framework, completed in recent days, is seen as most likely to affect OpenAI, Anthropic and Google WASHINGTON—The Trump administration’s new guidelines for powerful artificial-intelligence tools exempt open models made by U.S. companies, a gap that marks the White House’s latest bid to ensure AI tools are safe without slowing down innovation. Under a framework that administration officials discussed with executives from leading AI companies Tuesday, only makers of closed, proprietary U.S. models that demonstrate state-of-the-art capabilities in cybersecurity and hacking based on performance benchmarks would have to voluntarily submit those models to the government for testing before they...
  • A top Mexican university used AI to prevent exam cheating. Now thousands of admissions are in doubt

    08/03/2026 8:27:38 PM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 22 replies
    CNN ^ | 08/03/2026
    Daniel Fernando García Velázquez took the admissions exam for Mexico’s most famous university four times before finally getting the result that should have guaranteed him admission. On his first three attempts, he had no option other than to travel the 400 km (250 miles) from his native Veracruz to Mexico City to take the test, because the prestigious National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) insisted it had to be taken in person. On his fourth – and what should have been victorious – attempt this June, he traveled up anyway, even though this time, for the first time in the...
  • I Helped Run Lululemon. Companies Need to Stop Kidding Themselves About A.I.

    08/03/2026 3:15:27 PM PDT · by E. Pluribus Unum · 24 replies
    The New York Times ^ | Aug. 3, 2026 | Julie Averill
    I served as the chief information officer of the athletic apparel company Lululemon for eight years. Deploying new technologies, artificial intelligence included, was part of the job. But when I left, my successor was handed a new title: chief A.I. and technology officer. I winced — not about the person but about the pattern. Companies these days are quick to stick “A.I.” in news releases, in earnings calls, in product names, in job postings and in titles at the top of their organizations. The real question is what strategy sits behind the abbreviation. A title costs nothing, but it doesn’t...
  • I want something explained to me in regards to mass migration.

    08/02/2026 3:49:55 PM PDT · by Jonty30 · 60 replies
    Today | Jonty30
    I can understand selling our your own people in exchange for temporal worldly wealth and power. But I don't get selling out your family to this same fate, because it is inevitable that what is done to your people will eventually be done to your family. So, what is in it for the world leaders and parties to destroy their families in the process of mass migration?
  • Quantum computer completes verified task beyond practical reach of classical simulations

    08/02/2026 5:24:51 AM PDT · by BenLurkin · 26 replies
    Phys.org ^ | 08/01/2026 | University of Chicago
    IBM and researchers from the University of Chicago announced a demonstration in quantum computing that meets the fundamental criteria for "quantum advantage"—the point where quantum computers can be confirmed to have outperformed classical computers on trusted computations. The collaboration said its system had performed computations beyond the reach of leading classical simulation methods while providing confidence that the computation returned accurate results. In their new paper, the researchers showed that these two goals could be achieved through a novel construction of encoded quantum circuits—one of the largest demonstrations of logical quantum computing to date. The paper is published on the...
  • Socialist NY Assembly candidate shoo-in publicly begging for money on GoFundMe to pay rent

    08/01/2026 5:06:50 PM PDT · by Libloather · 17 replies
    NY Post ^ | 8/01/26 | Geoff Earle, Rich Calder
    A socialist pol who is a shoo-in to represent part of Queens in the state Assembly whipped out his tin cup to beg the public to help pay his personal bills while he waits out the November elections, The Post has learned. Brian Romero — a former legislative aide hoping to succeed his ex-boss Jessica González-Rojas, who is headed to the State Senate — is already confronting his first self-inflicted budget crisis. The problem isn’t that the rent is too damn high — it’s that he doesn’t have a job to pay it. He set up a GoFundMe campaign to...
  • The Math Superstar Who’s Terrified of AI—and Just Took a Job at OpenAI

    08/01/2026 3:26:35 PM PDT · by E. Pluribus Unum · 9 replies
    The Wall Street Journal ^ | July 31, 2026 9:00 pm ET | Ben Cohen
    Jacob Tsimerman won the biggest prize in math. Now he’s working on the most important problem of his career.When he won the Fields Medal last week, Jacob Tsimerman accepted the most prestigious honor in math wearing a powder-blue tuxedo with satin lapels.Then he made an announcement as striking as his tux. After the ceremony, the four winning mathematicians were asked what they planned to do next. One said he would keep working on partial differential equations, one said he wanted to experiment with artificial intelligence and one said she had absolutely no idea. That left Tsimerman.“I’ll be starting a position...
  • ReplacementClock.org (Proof of replacement theory)

    08/01/2026 9:00:12 AM PDT · by PetroniusMaximus · 15 replies
    Announcement: http://ReplacementClock.org is now live! A year ago, I went looking for something like a Great Replacement Tracker — a site that aggregated all the demographic data for the West and could tell me how bad things really were. To my surprise, I couldn't find one. So six months ago, I started building it myself. Today, I'm announcing the first live version of the Great Replacement Clock. It tracks the European-descended share of the world's population and of 45 historically White countries. It consolidates historical figures and modeled projections into a single interactive timeline — sourced, auditable, and methodologically transparent....
  • Google pauses AI satellite images, after fears of deepfakes in the sky

    08/01/2026 7:06:03 AM PDT · by BenLurkin · 15 replies
    npr ^ | July 31, 2026 | Geoff Brumfiel
    A day after Google unveiled a new feature that allowed users to create AI-generated satellite images with the click of a button on its Google Earth platform, the company announced it was removing the tool. "We've seen geospatial professionals using this feature for a range of useful purposes," Google said in a statement on X. "However we've also seen people sharing screenshots of generated imagery that appear to violate our policies. So we're rolling back this feature in Google Earth while we work on implementing stronger guardrails." In its initial announcement of the new feature on Thursday, the company said...
  • How Leopold Aschenbrenner built a $45 billion AI hedge fund — and lost most of it in days

    08/01/2026 6:49:27 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 18 replies
    CNBC ^ | July 31, 2026 | Hugh Son
    Key Points * Former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner’s AI hedge fund, Situational Awareness, collapsed from $45 billion to around $10 billion in assets on falling semiconductor stocks and mounting margin calls. * Driven by reported leverage of up to 400%, the 20-something manager was forced to sell off all his leveraged public stock bets — including hard-hit names like SK Hynix and CoreWeave — to Ken Griffin’s Citadel at a discount. * The crash marks a dramatic turn for Aschenbrenner, who launched the fund after gaining Silicon Valley fame with his 2024 AI manifesto, drawing scrutiny from critics over his...
  • ChatGPT convinced an Alabama woman to end her life to fulfill a divine prophecy, lawsuit alleges

    07/31/2026 8:38:42 PM PDT · by simpson96 · 22 replies
    AL.com ^ | 7/17/2026 | Staff
    It was just after 5 a.m. on a Monday morning when Christian Faith Madison stepped onto an Alabama interstate and into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The 29-year-old mother and accountant was pronounced dead at 5:31 a.m. in middle of Interstate 22 in Jefferson County on June 9, 2025. Madison’s death was one of many cases reported as a “pedestrian fatally struck” in the Birmingham area. Attorneys representing the executor of her estate and Madison’s young son say her death was no accident. They say Madison died by suicide after months of encouragement from ChatGPT. A wrongful death product...
  • Scoop: People Incorporated explores sale of The Daily Beast again

    07/30/2026 5:31:17 PM PDT · by Red Badger · 6 replies
    Axios ^ | July 28, 2026 | Sara Fischer
    People Incorporated, formerly known as IAC, is exploring a possible sale of The Daily Beast as it looks to focus its portfolio around People Inc. and MGM, sources told Axios. Why it matters: The company was looking to sell the outlet several years ago, but instead installed new leadership to try to turn the business around. State of play: Now that the site is profitable, it's taking the venture back to the market. Conversations about a sale are serious but not necessarily immediate, a source said. Catch up quick: Barry Diller, People Incorporated's founder and chair, tapped Ben Sherwood, the...
  • Federal judge rules it's 'fair use' for Anthropic to destroy rare books to feed to AI language models

    07/30/2026 7:16:31 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 163 replies
    Post Millennial ^ | July 28, 2026 | Libby Emmons
    The ruling does change the fundamental nature of what the books were intended for: they were intended to be read by human beings, not used as training for machines to replace human thought and ingenuity. ============================================================== AI companies are buying old books, scanning them, then destroying them. Anthropic has been buying the books to feed the machine with human knowledge and ideas written down before the AI era, so only books with publication dates before 2022 will do. Once they have the books, they rip off the spines, feed them through a scanner, and then on into the gaping maw...
  • Star AI investor Leopold Aschenbrenner is unwinding trades after steep losses, sources say

    07/30/2026 6:30:55 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 21 replies
    CNBC ^ | July 30, 2026 | David Faber
    Key Points * Leopold Aschenbrenner’s hedge fund is unwinding trades and may be forced to liquidate assets, according to people familiar with the matter. * Situational Awareness has posted big losses in recent weeks from declines in AI infrastructure investments like SK Hynix, the people said. * Aschenbrenner launched the fund after leaving OpenAI in 2024 and quickly became one of the most watched figures in AI investing because of eye-popping returns. ================================================================== The $24 billion hedge fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner is unwinding many of its trades after big losses on artificial intelligence stocks and a...
  • Jack Reacher Star’s Latest Movie Flops After Unhinged Anti-Trump Rant

    07/30/2026 5:46:12 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 132 replies
    The Liberty Daily ^ | July 30, 2026 | Tyler Durden
    The Jack Reacher series, launched in 2022, received widespread acclaim for avoiding most of the woke tropes slathered all over the majority of streaming series and movies at the time. For those with short memories, in 2022, the idea of a project featuring a 6’3″ 240 pound white guy as the main protagonist seemed impossible. The series felt like a refreshing callback to the 1980s and the action/thriller apex era of Stallone and Schwarzenegger. Solving big problems with unfiltered masculine violence is something audiences love, but Hollywood usually hates. If the hero is not a 90 pound wheelchair-bound minority lesbian...
  • Willie Nelson says Americans must fight ‘water thieving’ AI data centers ‘invading’ Texas farmland

    07/29/2026 7:06:05 PM PDT · by Libloather · 35 replies
    Fox News via NY Post ^ | 7/29/26 | Tracy Wright
    Willie Nelson urged Americans to think again when it comes to building the future. Nelson, 93, encouraged followers to “fight against data centers invading our land” in a social media plea shared Tuesday. The country music legend reflected on being able to see “stars at night” in his Texas hometown, but that light pollution and “water thieving” were imminent in a looming industrial climate. “I grew up in Abbott, and I still have a home there with farmed land where I can still see stars at night,” Nelson told his followers. “And now our community, like many others, needs to...
  • OpenAI's rogue models roamed the internet for 4 days and staged a second attack

    07/29/2026 7:02:01 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 25 replies
    Politico (Yeah, I know) ^ | July 29, 2026 | John Sakellariadis, Maggie Miller and Dana Nickel
    A new analysis reveals that the artificial intelligence company’s most powerful models spent days probing the open internet before breaching AI developer platform Hugging Face. ====================================================================== The powerful artificial intelligence models from OpenAI that went rogue and mounted an unprecedented, autonomous cyberattack earlier this month spent more than four days loose on the internet orchestrating the hack, according to a new analysis from the platform that was breached. Separately, a second AI company confirmed that one of its customers was also targeted by OpenAI’s models during the same event, raising questions about how OpenAI failed to detect the alarming activity...
  • Maine Dem Senate nominee Troy Jackson scrubs social media posts praising Graham Platner

    07/29/2026 4:39:35 AM PDT · by Libloather · 9 replies
    NY Post ^ | 7/29/26 | Ryan King
    At least his Reddit history isn’t out there. Newly minted Maine Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson frantically deleted almost all of his past social media posts heaping praise on accused rapist Graham Platner, The Post has learned. Jackson, a former lumberjack and onetime Maine Senate president, had been a staunch backer of Platner up until a former girlfriend publicly accused the Marine veteran and dilettante oyster farmer of sexual assault earlier this month. In all, the 58-year-old Jackson appears to have scrubbed at least 20 posts boosting Platner before the allegations emerged, based on information from the Internet Archive’s Wayback...
  • Fake protest flyer with AI-generated imagery circulates in Madison (WI)

    07/28/2026 5:14:52 AM PDT · by Diana in Wisconsin · 16 replies
    Channel 3000 News ^ | July 28, 2026 | Bella Ferak
    MADISON, Wis. — A flyer circulating Sunday night advertising a "Block the Beltline" protest for social justice prompted hundreds of Madison residents to reroute their morning commutes, but the event never materialized — and local advocacy organizations say they had nothing to do with it. The flyer, which spread across social media, contains several major red flags that suggest it was created to spread misinformation rather than organize a legitimate protest. The circulation of the fake flyer comes as Madison experiences a surge in protests following the shooting of Corey Ruiz. The most glaring problem is no one knows who...