Archive for the 'Outsourced' Category
Is OpenAI’s o3 Model AGI?
December 21st, 2024I doubt it’s actually AGI, but it looks impressive. If it’s any consolation, they let it use a very nontrivial amount of compute to pull this off. If/when this thing gets the ability to iterate on itself… Well, that’s probably not going to go well for humanity. In the demo, they show it generating and […]
Ghost Music: Spotify Playlists Contain “Anonymous, Low-Cost Playlist Filler” to Avoid Paying Royalties to Real Musicians
December 20th, 2024Give ’em what they want… Via: Harper’s Magazine: According to a source close to the company, Spotify’s own internal research showed that many users were not coming to the platform to listen to specific artists or albums; they just needed something to serve as a soundtrack for their days, like a study playlist or maybe […]
Blinken Admits Past 20 Years Of U.S. Regime Change Efforts Abroad Basically A Failure
December 20th, 2024Via: ZeroHedge: Now with just weeks to go before the Trump administration takes over the White House, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has issued some interesting and surprising admissions. He told an audience of the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday that Biden’s policy on Iran hasn’t been more muscular because Washington’s regime change efforts […]
Syria: Al-Assad Regime Overthrown
December 8th, 2024Via: Al Jazeera: Syria’s armed opposition says its fighters have captured the capital, Damascus, and that President Bashar al-Assad has fled the country. The commander of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, says all state institutions will remain under the supervision of al-Assad’s prime minister until they are handed over officially. Related: CIA Activities in […]
Trying to Solve Fusion Power Generation with AI
November 26th, 2024Via: The Chemical Engineer: FUSION energy development is locked in step with artificial intelligence (AI), according to the findings of a new survey into how companies are using it to rapidly iterate their technology. There’s a well-worn putdown that nuclear fusion has struggled to shake: that the technology is only 30 years from commercial application, […]
The CIA, NSA, and Pokémon Go
November 25th, 2024From 2012, Using Mobile Phone User Location Data for ‘Crowd (Soft) Control’: “We can rely on good luck to get the data that we need, or we can ‘soft control’ users with gaming or social network incentives to drive them where we want them,” Bustamante said. In the paper, “Crowd Soft Control: Moving beyond the […]
AI Now Writes Over 25% of Code at Google
October 31st, 2024Via: PC Magazine: Google is now using AI to write more than a quarter of its new code, according to Google and parent company Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who shared the news during the firm’s most recent earnings call. Google is “using AI internally to improve our coding processes, which is boosting productivity and efficiency,” […]
California May Lose Two More Refineries That Produce 14% of Gasoline in the State
October 27th, 2024Via: Just the News: Short on the heels of another major refinery closure, Valero signaled it is considering closing its two California refineries that produce over 14% of the state’s gasoline. Refinery closures already have the state importing 8% of its gasoline supply, which means the state could soon have to significantly increase its imports […]
TD Bank Hit with Record US$3 Billion Fine Over Drug Cartel Money Laundering
October 16th, 2024Just another day at the office. Via: CTV News: TD Bank will pay US$3 billion to settle charges that it failed to properly monitor money laundering by drug cartels, regulators announced Thursday. The fine includes a US$1.3 billion penalty that will be paid to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a record fine […]
Feds Find Million In Cash While Investigating Staffing Firm Supplying Haitians To Charleroi, PA Food Factory
October 12th, 2024Via: ZeroHedge: Many of Fourth Street’s workers are actually employed by a contractor, Prosperity Services. Prosperity also transports workers in vans, which can be seen throughout Charleroi. In court records, federal investigators said Prosperity “knowingly paid undocumented non-citizen employees with cash” and “transported and housed undocumented non-citizens for employment purposes.” Earlier this year, the feds […]
