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4.6.0-nightly.2026-03-19
404media.co
Artist Sam Lavigne created ‘Slow LLM’ to make people question their dependence on tools like Claude and ChatGPT. Or at least, make them super annoying to use.
https://www.404media.co/this-web-tool-sabotages-ai-chatbots-by-making-them-really-really-slow/
Scientists have narrowed the hunt for alien life to 45 rocky worlds where liquid water could make life possible.
https://www.404media.co/scientists-narrow-down-the-hunt-for-aliens-to-45-planets/
This week, we discuss unfortunately checking Twitter for news, the closure of the metaverse, and being vulnerable in Marathon.
https://www.404media.co/behind-the-blog-marathon-and-the-metaverse/
The attorney for the city of Ypsilanti, Michigan, said the construction of the data center puts “a big bulls eye target on this entire township."
Who could have possibly predicted this, besides everyone?
https://www.404media.co/rip-metaverse-an-80-billion-dumpster-fire-nobody-wanted/
In a feature the dating app says is set to roll out in the U.S. later this spring, Tinder plans to access users' camera rolls to pick photos and determine what they're into.
https://www.404media.co/tinder-plans-to-let-ai-scan-your-camera-roll/
There is no associated website yet, but the move comes after Trump ordered the release of files related to UFOs.
https://www.404media.co/government-registers-aliens-gov-domain/
This week we talk about the disappearing (and reappearing) DOGE depositions; how AI is African Intelligence; and what AI job loss reports are missing.
https://www.404media.co/podcast-the-disappearing-doge-depositions/
“Organic molecules delivered from extraterrestrial materials may have played a key role in supplying building blocks for life on Earth,” said one scientist.
Widely cited AI labor research ignores the most important thing AI is doing: Killing the human internet.
https://www.404media.co/ai-job-loss-research-ignores-how-ai-is-utterly-destroying-the-internet/
Widely cited AI labor research ignores the most important thing AI is doing: Killing the human internet.
https://www.404media.co/ai-job-loss-research-ignores-how-ai-is-utterly-destroying-the-internet/
The CEO of Krafton used ChatGPT to push out the head of the studio developing Subnautica 2 against the advice of his own legal team and failed miserably.
The CEO of Krafton used ChatGPT to push out the head of the studio developing Subnautica 2 against the advice of his own legal team and failed miserably.
A newly published study of how college students interact with chatbots and human strangers showed talking to a random person offers more connection than an LLM.
https://www.404media.co/chatgpt-loneliness-study-college-students-random-strangers-texting/
A judge in London tossed out witness testimony after discovering the man was receiving coaching through a pair of smartglasses.
https://www.404media.co/witness-caught-using-smartglasses-in-court-blames-it-all-on-chatgpt/
Pulling a bet like this is unusual and the company did not respond to 404 Media’s request for an explanation as to why. Word of the nuke bet drew wide attention online from critics already upset about Polymarket for its place in the depravity economy.
https://www.404media.co/polymarket-pulls-bet-on-nuclear-detonation-in-2026/
From Flock's nationwide surveillance to ICE tools, we are being watched. Is there anyway to go back now? A 404 Media guide to surveillance in 2026:
https://www.404media.co/flock-ice-surveillance-technology-reddit-ama/
A couple of 20-year-old developers make $500,000 a month promising to help men to stop watching porn, but exposed their private porn watching habits.
https://www.404media.co/viral-quittr-porn-addiction-app-exposed-the-masturbation-habits-of-hundreds-of-thousands-of-users/
“AI can never be AI without humans. It is not artificial intelligence. It’s African intelligence...We are training our own death. We train ChatGPT and it’s killing us slowly.”
https://www.404media.co/ai-is-african-intelligence-the-workers-who-train-ai-are-fighting-back/
An internal DHS document obtained by 404 Media shows for the first time CBP used location data sourced from the online advertising industry to track phone locations. ICE has bought access to similar tools.
https://www.404media.co/cbp-tapped-into-the-online-advertising-ecosystem-to-track-peoples-movements/
“Genuinely, I felt like I was talking to a cult member.”
https://www.404media.co/ai-psychosis-help-gemini-chatgpt-claude-chatbot-delusions/
A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the FBI.
https://www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/
On Friday a judge ordered those who uploaded the videos to YouTube to remove them. By Saturday, a backup of the videos was available online as a torrent and on the Internet Archive.
In one example about a documentary concerning Black civil rights, the DOGE bro said he agreed with ChatGPT’s assessment that this was DEI because it “focused on a singular race.” After a pause, he added: “it is not for the benefit of humankind."
https://www.404media.co/i-watched-6-hours-of-doge-bro-testimony-heres-what-they-had-to-say-for-themselves/
The hours of videos provide fascinating, or perhaps horrifying, insight into the thinking of someone inside DOGE.
A new hobbyist developed app warns if people nearby may be wearing smart glasses, such as Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses, which stalkers and harassers have repeatedly used to film people without their knowledge or consent. https://www.404media.co/this-app-warns-you-if-someone-is-wearing-smart-glasses-nearby/
Low paid workers in the global south are using AI translation to generate Wikipedia articles that, surprising no one, include errors and hallucinations.
https://404media.co/ai-translations-are-adding-hallucinations-to-wikipedia-articles/
A NASA spacecraft into a small asteroid in 2022 moved its orbit around the Sun, according to a study that presents the “first-ever measurement of human-caused change in the heliocentric orbit of a celestial body.”
https://www.404media.co/humanity-has-altered-an-asteroids-orbit-around-the-sun/
A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the FBI.
https://www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/
A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the FBI.
https://www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/
AI translated articles swapped sources or added unsourced sentences with no explanation, while others added paragraphs sourced from completely unrelated material.
https://www.404media.co/ai-translations-are-adding-hallucinations-to-wikipedia-articles/
An internal DHS document obtained by 404 Media shows for the first time CBP used location data sourced from the online advertising industry to track phone locations. ICE has bought access to similar tools.
https://www.404media.co/cbp-tapped-into-the-online-advertising-ecosystem-to-track-peoples-movements/
A new genetic analysis reveals that human females and Neanderthal males interbred far more than the reverse, for reasons that remain mysterious.
https://www.404media.co/scientists-reveal-the-surprising-sex-lives-of-neanderthals-and-early-humans/
The creator of Nearby Glasses made the app after reading 404 Media's coverage of how people are using Meta's Ray-Bans smartglasses to film people without their knowledge or consent. How it works:
https://www.404media.co/this-app-warns-you-if-someone-is-wearing-smart-glasses-nearby/
Amazon is allowing gift senders to choose items from third-party sellers, which could open recipients up to new privacy risks.
https://www.404media.co/amazon-wishlist-address-private-third-party/
The creator of Nearby Glasses made the app after reading 404 Media's coverage of how people are using Meta's Ray-Bans smartglasses to film people without their knowledge or consent. “I consider it to be a tiny part of resistance against surveillance tech.”
https://www.404media.co/this-app-warns-you-if-someone-is-wearing-smart-glasses-nearby/
Meta Superintelligence Labs’ director of alignment called it a “rookie mistake.”
https://www.404media.co/meta-director-of-ai-safety-allows-ai-agent-to-accidentally-delete-her-inbox/
404 Media found multiple users of Zello, an app previously used by January 6 insurrectionists, linked to ICE officials. An officer at the scene of an CBP official shooting a U.S. citizen also used the app.
https://www.404media.co/how-ice-and-cbp-use-free-walkie-talkie-app-zello-to-power-their-operations/
The Conde Nast-owned tech publication Ars Technica has retracted an article that contained fabricated, AI-generated quotes, according to an editor’s note posted to its website.
There is an inherent irony in Palantir listing the immigration crackdown that it is powering as being a potential risk for the company.
https://www.404media.co/palantir-which-is-powering-ice-says-immigration-crackdown-may-hurt-hiring/
Yeah so that Ring ad that aired at the Super Bowl about 'Search Party?" 404 Media now has proof that it won't just be used to locate dogs...
https://www.404media.co/leaked-email-suggests-ring-plans-to-expand-search-party-surveillance-beyond-dogs/
Don't do this at home. Please.
https://www.404media.co/rfk-jrs-nutrition-chatbot-recommends-best-foods-to-insert-into-your-rectum/
From earlier this month, the DOJ published unredacted nudes of women and girls in their latest Epstein dump. Here's how 404 Media got them to take those documents down.
https://www.404media.co/doj-released-unredacted-nude-images-in-epstein-files/
Mainstream media and the Trump administration praised Alpha School, an "AI-powered private school" that can cost up to $65,000 a year. 404 Media has learned that the school is AI-generating faulty lesson plans.
https://www.404media.co/students-are-being-treated-like-guinea-pigs-inside-an-ai-powered-private-school/
“This is really a turning point and we’re in a historical transition at present.”
https://www.404media.co/at-the-worlds-largest-general-science-meeting-surviving-trump-is-the-topic/
Porn performer Siri Dahl’s personal information, including her full legal name and birthday, was publicly exposed earlier this month by Grok. Dahl told 404 Media she wanted to reclaim the situation, and her name, and asked that it be published in this piece.
https://www.404media.co/grok-doxing-real-names-birthdates-siri-dahl/
