Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Alix Dunn

Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 4h

The real economy is already in a deep recession. The fake AI economy is a smokescreen. And now I'm afraid that the government will throw any amount of money at it to keep it from popping.

The AI bubble is the only thing keeping the US economy together, Deutsche Bank warns

According to a research note recently sent to clients by Deutsche Bank, the AI boom is currently helping the US economy avoid a recession but it cannot...

www.techspot.com

8 62 180

Reposted by Alix Dunn

Tim Newman @tnewmsblues.bsky.social · 5d

This is a great resource if folks haven’t seen it already and would like more background and context!

bsky.app/profile/alix...

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 8d

I don’t want AI companies to get a bailout. I said this to @smw.bsky.social of @ainowinstitute.bsky.social last week, and she said they already were being bailed out. We sat down to talk about it in our first full-form video interview here:
youtu.be/WvN1wQ_CBlY?...

Are AI Companies Cooking the Books? w/ Sarah Myers West

YouTube video by The Maybe

youtu.be

1 4

Reposted by Alix Dunn

Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 23d

AI is the wrong tool to tackle complex societal & systemic problems. AI4SG is more about PR victories, boosting AI adoption (regardless of merit/usefulness) & laundering accountability for harmful tech, extractive practices, abetting atrocities. yours truly
www.project-syndicate.org/magazine/ai-...

The False Promise of “AI for Social Good”

Abeba Birhane refutes industry claims about the technology's potential to solve complex social problems.

www.project-syndicate.org

10 150 310

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 4d

Sorry for slide-tackling your quote tweet with an edit!

bsky.app/profile/them...

The Maybe @themaybe.org · 4d

2/6
In the third episode of Gotcha!, our mini-series on scams, @alixdunn.com talks with @lanalanalana.bsky.social and @alicetiara.bsky.social about how generative AI is reshaping the fraud industry.

1

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 5d

It made my Friday that it made your Friday! I'm so glad it spoke to you. I felt so uplifted after.

1

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 5d

You're both lucky ladies!

Reposted by Alix Dunn

Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 5d

How is AI changing the nature of scams? @lanalanalana.bsky.social & @alicetiara.bsky.social spoke to @alixdunn.com on @themaybe.org to explain how AI automates & scales the work already being done in massive, exploitative “cybercrime compounds” around the world. www.themaybe.org/podcast/gotc...

The Maybe

www.themaybe.org

1 11 22

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 5d

Thank you so much for coming on the show!

The primer was really great reading on a sprawling subject and I feel both more and less disheartened about the state of the world of scams after speaking :)

1

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 5d

Did you!?

1

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 6d

If you are in the technology politics space this is one to listen to, but also to share. More people need to know their name and engage with their work.

→ Watch the show: www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1KS...
→ Listen to the episode: www.themaybe.org/podcast/nyc-...

Let Them Eat Compute: Computer Says Maybe LIVE from Climate Week

YouTube video by The Maybe

www.youtube.com

1 3 4

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 6d

On a personal note, KD and Keshaun come from places where I have family. It was incredibly moving to have my mom at the show, and to know that these amazing leaders are fighting for places and people I care about.

1 2

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 6d

@ambakak.bsky.social and I hosted a live show at Climate Week with 3 political leaders -- KeShaun Pearson of Memphis Community Against Pollution, KD Minor of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, and Marisol of No Desert Data Center -- fighting back against reckless & harmful expansion of AI infra.

1 1 2

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 6d

Just got home from a whirlwind 10 days in New York and Nebraska (don't ask). There were a lot of highs, but one still has me buzzing.

2 3

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 6d

🤣

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 7d

Just had my first experience with the now mandatory facial recognition at international departure out of the US.

I hate it so much.

3

Reposted by Alix Dunn

Sarah Myers West @smw.bsky.social · 7d

I've been feeling a little bit crazy reading the news lately about what's going on in the AI market and what it means for the economy at large. So I'm grateful I got to knit the threads together with @alixdunn.com last week.

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 8d

I don’t want AI companies to get a bailout. I said this to @smw.bsky.social of @ainowinstitute.bsky.social last week, and she said they already were being bailed out. We sat down to talk about it in our first full-form video interview here:
youtu.be/WvN1wQ_CBlY?...

Are AI Companies Cooking the Books? w/ Sarah Myers West

YouTube video by The Maybe

youtu.be

1 5 7

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 8d

I've started to read Musk quotes with a Napoleon Dynamite affect in my head. Recommended.

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 8d

Yeah ok, good luck with that.

So the problem is bias *from* Wikipedia (lol) messing up AI, and so the answer is... to use AI to build a new crappy Wikipedia clone?

Every time Musk talks confidently about things I know about, he reveals how clueless he is.

Elon Musk quote tweeting David Sacks whining about Wikipedia bias.

Sacks: Wikipedia is hopelessly biased. An army of left-wing activists maintain the bios and fight reasonable corrections. Magnifying the problem, Wikipedia often appears first in Google search results, and now it’s a trusted source for AI model training. This is a huge problem.

Musk: We are building Grokipedia
@xAI
.

Will be a massive improvement over Wikipedia.

Frankly, it is a necessary step towards the xAI goal of understanding the Universe.

1 2

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 8d

I don’t want AI companies to get a bailout. I said this to @smw.bsky.social of @ainowinstitute.bsky.social last week, and she said they already were being bailed out. We sat down to talk about it in our first full-form video interview here:
youtu.be/WvN1wQ_CBlY?...

Are AI Companies Cooking the Books? w/ Sarah Myers West

YouTube video by The Maybe

youtu.be

10 18

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 10d

Probably not unrelated to Tony Blair to simping for him to governments around the world.

www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

Inside the Tony Blair Institute

Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?

www.newstatesman.com

1 1 1

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 10d

I thought this was from the remarks he made last fall. Absolutely wild that with the benefit of several months as a nominally thinking person that he would say it again!

1 1

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 10d

Does not pass the smell test!

1

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 10d

Right?? Like we're adding a surcharge that we're saying is for our staff but we just keep it? They could just raise prices rather than implying it's for their employees?

1

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 10d

I don't understand how restaurant billing and tipping work in the US. What is this?

Picture of a receipt that says: A 3% Employee Benefits and Retention surcharge has been added to all guest checks.

This surcharge is not a gratuity payable directly to staff.

2 1

Reposted by Alix Dunn

The Maybe @themaybe.org · 11d

1/6

Want to be your own boss? Work from home and achieve financial freedom?

This week, we're talking about the original "innovation" that perfected that pitch: the Multi-Level Marketing scheme.

1 1 1