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The Los Angeles Public Library’s LA Made series is collaborating with 404 Media, for a discussion that explores the ways technology is shaping—and is shaped by—our world, is proud to present How AI is Changing (or threatening) the Future of Media.

Media executives across a host of different industries believe that the rise of inexpensive AI tools will revolutionize their businesses leading to a number of different results—from Hollywood now relying on AI for scriptwriting, special effects, and editing; to the publishing and podcast industries looking to create books and episodes at a torrential scale. But the rise of this non-stop content, at this unrelenting rate, is undermining business’ credibility, and it’s unclear whether their customers actually have much interest in AI-generated content (with much of it being labeled “slop.”)

AI has already flooded the internet, social media, libraries and schools. What will it mean for the future of media? Join @jasonkoebler and @samleecole at the Central Library on Sunday, May 31st at 2PM for How AI is Threatening the Future of Media.

The Los Angeles Public Library’s LA Made series is collaborating with 404 Media, for a discussion that explores the ways technology is shaping—and is shaped by—our world, is proud to present How AI is Changing (or threatening) the Future of Media.

Media executives across a host of different industries believe that the rise of inexpensive AI tools will revolutionize their businesses leading to a number of different results—from Hollywood now relying on AI for scriptwriting, special effects, and editing; to the publishing and podcast industries looking to create books and episodes at a torrential scale. But the rise of this non-stop content, at this unrelenting rate, is undermining business’ credibility, and it’s unclear whether their customers actually have much interest in AI-generated content (with much of it being labeled “slop.”)

AI has already flooded the internet, social media, libraries and schools. What will it mean for the future of media? Join @jasonkoebler and @samleecole at the Central Library on Sunday, May 31st at 2PM for How AI is Threatening the Future of Media.

The Los Angeles Public Library’s LA Made series is collaborating with 404 Media, for a discussion that explores the ways technology is shaping—and is shaped by—our world, is proud to present How AI is Changing (or threatening) the Future of Media.

Media executives across a host of different industries believe that the rise of inexpensive AI tools will revolutionize their businesses leading to a number of different results—from Hollywood now relying on AI for scriptwriting, special effects, and editing; to the publishing and podcast industries looking to create books and episodes at a torrential scale. But the rise of this non-stop content, at this unrelenting rate, is undermining business’ credibility, and it’s unclear whether their customers actually have much interest in AI-generated content (with much of it being labeled “slop.”)

AI has already flooded the internet, social media, libraries and schools. What will it mean for the future of media? Join @jasonkoebler and @samleecole at the Central Library on Sunday, May 31st at 2PM for How AI is Threatening the Future of Media.

Whalers buried in the Norwegian Arctic in the 1600s and 1700s are thawing out of the permafrost, underscoring the threat of climate change to archaeological sites around the world. Also, a trip to “where the snakes lost life,” an ur-moon in the ashes, and the facial recognition abilities of cows. On this week’s The Abstract with @beckyjferreria.

Read now at 404media.co

Most cities that have reconsidered their contracts have done so via city council meetings and public debate that have played out over the course of months, and both Dayton, Ohio and Evanston, Illinois city officials told residents that they were not sure whether they could immediately deactivate or remove the cameras under the terms of their contracts. And so both cities decided to physically block them as a stop-gap measure, showing that cities feel that they do not have the ability to unilaterally decide when to stop using Flock surveillance cameras. @Jasonkoebler explains.

Read now at 404media.co

“Fuck AI,” Emmy-award winning comedian @ronnychieng told Harvard graduates as they cheered in response. “Kill it.”

In his keynote graduation speech this week, @thedailyshow host joked about how stupid “artificial intelligence” was, but also warned students AI was taking away the beauty of the creation process. “The creating is the fun part,” Chieng said. “The reason shortcuts to skip to the end aren’t always good is because the journey isn’t just how we acquire skills. The journey is the point of all of this.”

BusPatrol, a company that has installed AI-powered cameras in tens of thousands of school buses around the U.S., now plans to turn those cameras into automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), capturing the location of every vehicle the buses drive past, and give that data to law enforcement, 404 Media has learned. The plan will essentially transform school buses into roaming surveillance vehicles, taking a technology that was originally designed to issue tickets to people illegally passing stopped buses and using it for much wider and general law enforcement, likely without a warrant. Joseph Cox breaks it down in our latest episode. Find 404 Media on YouTube or wherever you get your fave podcasts to listen now.

Opposition to the massive data centers that power AI is bipartisan and growing across the country. From Maine to California, more states and local communities are passing moratoriums and bans on construction of the noisy, power and water hungry buildings. People are getting arrested for speaking too long at town halls, legislators are receiving death threats, and it’s clear that the fight against these computer warehouses will shape American politics for years to come. @evystadium has more.

Read now at 404media.co

Five teen girls were targeted by AI-generated child sexual abuse material at Radnor Township High School in Pennsylvania. Now, the school has become a case study in how schools and police around the country grapple with how to response to deepfake crimes involving children. But what about the nudify apps that are still being pushed and even advertised on Google and Apple’s app stores? @samleecole and Emanuel Maiberg get into it.

Find 404 Media on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts to listen now.

BusPatrol, a company that has installed AI-powered cameras in tens of thousands of school buses around the U.S., now plans to turn those cameras into automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), capturing the location of every vehicle the buses drive past, and give that data to law enforcement, 404 Media has learned. The plan will essentially transform school buses into roaming surveillance vehicles, taking a technology that was originally designed to issue tickets to people illegally passing stopped buses and using it for much wider and general law enforcement, likely without a warrant.

“Who would have thought that school buses would be turned into the mass surveillance state?,” Michael Soyfer, an attorney from the Institute for Justice, which has various ongoing ALPR-related lawsuits, told 404 Media in a phone call. @evystadium has more.

Read the full story at 404media.co

Millions of people are downloading stalkerware apps on their partner’s phones to track them. This includes TheTruthSpy, which like many other spouseware apps, say they are a small business when in fact they’re basically pushing “cybercrime,” Zack Whittaker, editor at TechCrunch tells 404 Media.

Find 404 Media on YouTube to watch now or wherever you get your podcasts.

Neanderthals performed dental interventions at least 59,000 years ago, pushing the timeline of dentistry back by tens of thousands of years, according to a study about a molar from Chagyrskaya Cave in southwestern Siberia. The remnants of the Neanderthal tooth adds to a growing body of research that has overturned the stereotype of Neanderthals as cognitively inferior to Homo sapiens and hints at “cognitive convergence” between the two species, according to the study. Also in #TheAbstract this week, @beckyjferreria gets into a nuke-born crystal, a 60,000-pound herbivore, and life after the death of most species on the planet.

Read at 404media.co

Reality TV star Spencer Pratt is running on a MAGA-like platform for mayor of Los Angeles. And he’s using AI slop to effectively cause chaos and grab attention on social media platforms, specifically X. While many people believe that his run is somewhat of a joke, he’s using the current culture of the internet to bash his opponents in AI-generated videos that are receiving tens of millions of views across the internet. @evystadium has more.

Read our latest Behind the Blog on 404media.co

On Monday a man in Grapevine, Texas drove his Tesla Cybertruck into a lake to test the vehicle’s “wade mode.” Police arrested the Cybertruck’s owner, Jimmy Jack McDaniel, after he and his passengers fled the vehicle. He was arrested.

At one point, the owner tried to get back into the vehicle, and law enforcement responded by deploying jet skis and calling a tow truck to pull the Cybertruck from the water, according to hours of related footage 404 Media obtained. The passengers were German tourists, according to a conversation included in the bodycam footage.

404 Media obtained hours-long footage from the Grapevine Police Department through a public records request. Officials from the local fire department are also visible in the footage.

Read at 404media.co now.