Custard Square

[Custard Square @verywerry]

@fletchda56 @ChrisMurphyCT Dems voted against it as 1) weak rules full of loopholes, 2) exempted president and VP, 3) a poison pill fake election safety rider attached. Dems have repeatedly pushed for stricter legislation on stock trading, always opposed by republicans.

[Custard Square @verywerry]

@chineseyakub @BenjaminNorton Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland lead the world in social mobility, according to the Global Social Mobility Index published by the World Economic Forum (WEF)... For broader context… Australia (11th), Canada (14th), Japan (15th), United States (27th),

[Custard Square @verywerry]

@winradicci @MattPolProf So students who don’t bother to read Plato, get ai to write essays they don’t understand, can’t defend, and pretend they wrote, thus avoiding learning anything in their philosophy class, is something good that teachers should celebrate?

[Custard Square @verywerry]

@BourneReacher @mehdirhasan Trump: “only good democrat is a dead democrat.” Calls for executing opponents; celebrates death (Mueller, Reiner, McCain) defends wanting murder Pence, incites Jan 6, threats require Romney, Megyn Kelly, MTG etc to hire security for families vs joke about hypothetical?

[Nav Toor @heynavtoor]

Princeton researchers asked 2,012 people to pick a book. Some used a search engine. Some used a chatbot powered by a frontier AI model.

Nobody was told that one out of every five books had been secretly marked as "sponsored."

When the search engine placed sponsored books at the top, 22.4% of people chose one. Normal. The same thing Google has done for twenty years.

When the AI chatbot was told to persuade people toward the sponsored books, 61.2% chose one.

Nearly three times higher. Same people. Same books. Same catalog. The only difference was that a chatbot recommended it instead of a search engine listing it.

But here is what makes this study different from everything else you have read about AI.

The people had no idea it was happening.

The researchers tested whether adding a "Sponsored" label would help. It did not. People still chose the sponsored product at the same rate.

Then the researchers told the AI to hide that it was promoting anything. Detection accuracy dropped below 10%. Fewer than 1 in 10 could tell they were being sold to.

Google shows you an ad and puts the word "Sponsored" next to it. You see it. You know it is an ad. You can scroll past it. You have been trained to ignore it for twenty years.

AI does not do that. AI sits in a conversation with you. It learns what you like. It builds trust. Then it steers you toward the product someone paid to put in front of you. In the same voice. In the same sentence. With the same warmth it used to ask about your day.

You cannot see the ad because the ad is the entire conversation.

The researchers tested five frontier AI models. The persuasion effect was consistent across all of them. This is not a flaw in one model. This is a feature of the format.

OpenAI once called advertising in chat "uniquely unsettling" and a "last resort." Google, Meta, and OpenAI are now building it anyway.

You will never know when it stops helping you and starts selling to you.

[Custard Square @verywerry]

@RJPilkenton @rcbregman Terrible comparison. Union members vote on people and policy. Billionaires who buy our laws, regulations, politicians? We don't vote 4 them. A few exert massive influence (20% contributions in 2024). When money has disproportionate influence/speech, democracy is a farce.

[Custard Square @verywerry]

I co-edited this book, free on Amazon for the next 48 hours: https://t.co/09x9sbkQHR It explores the costs, causes, and consequences of neoliberal policies in New Zealand, particularly as they relate to privatisation, and discusses alternatives. Feel free to share

[Custard Square @verywerry]

@FamedCelebrity @mc_funbags @sweg1701 @TheRickWilson I agree. Damned fascists. Why do they get to say what side of the road I should drive on? I demand FREEDOM! And traffic light. It’s not common sense. Speed limits? I should decide what is appropriate for my body. No squads of fascists should stop me!

[Custard Square @verywerry]

@MArmour007 @DavidAFrench She was a person doing a PhD in child development. Fulbright scholar. Who disagrees with you on one issue. Argued for disinvestment (whatever the merits, peaceful protest.) Not reducible to “Palestinian activist.” The idea we should ban people who disagree with you is bad.

[Custard Square @verywerry]

Proud to be the 2,884th 😎 on @BackerKit for Enshittification: the DRM-free audiobook. Thanks @doctorow https://t.co/k0KU20h2hT

[Custard Square @verywerry]

As usual, Doctorow is worth reading. Fascinating and chilling. https://t.co/z5f9PLcqXd

[Barn Cats love Pi @Angelajester2]

The program that Johnson refers to as paying healthcare for "illegal aliens" is called "Emergency Medicaid". This program is crucial for hospitals to survive because anybody who arrives to a hospital in critical condition has to receive medical service regardless of legal or economic status. If they don't have money to pay, the hospital has to absorb the losses. This what the Emergency Medicaid covers, so that small hospitals can survive.
In the U.S., undocumented immigrants are ineligible for full Medicaid coverage, but federal law requires states to provide limited emergency services. This program is commonly known as Emergency Medicaid. It reimburses hospitals for stabilizing patients who would otherwise qualify for Medicaid, except for their immigration status.

[Custard Square @verywerry]

@RondureGyre @LakeRhino Employment fell 13,000 in June, worst since 2020, & pandemic. Manufacturing employment dropped by 42,000. ConocoPhillips and Chevron just announced big job cuts. Corporations are greedy; Trump lavished tax cuts on them and the rich, cuts social services, explodes the deficit.

[Custard Square @verywerry]

@shoegal0128 @grok does California contribute more in federal funds than it receives?

[Custard Square @verywerry]

@shoegal0128 Grok does California contribute more in federal funds than it receives?

[Custard Square @verywerry]

@shoegal0128 @CalltoActivism Told of Maxwells prosecution, Trump said “I wish her well.” After Epstein died, Trump repeated, “Yeah, I wish her well.” Acosta gave Epstein a sweetheart deal. Trump rewarded him with a cabinet position. Now Maxwells moved to min security prison for helping Trump. Wake up.

[Custard Square @verywerry]

Subscribe to Mountain Tūī https://t.co/BuXxTTAYD5

[Custard Square @verywerry]

Subscribe to Doomscroll, by @JoshuaCitarella https://t.co/wg3hT9H833

[Custard Square @verywerry]

I just signed - will you join me? https://t.co/brXRI5xfsp via @actionstation

[Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder]

#NoKings