Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kilobytten @kilobytten.bsky.social · 18h

@ladyvignette.bsky.social One of the girls looks familiar hehe

Reposted by Kilobytten

Kilobytten @kilobytten.bsky.social · 2d

Introducing the 😱👻Spooky YCH Special!🎃🦇

I am recovering from an eye scare - I only have one eye! I would like to cover my medical expenses past and near future. In return I offer relatively cheap art for October.

I love drawing different body types; the more unique the better! DM me what you like!

An artist's commission sheet with various poses illustrated on the front. The text reads "Spooky Your Charcter Here Special!" "Any body type! Any gender! Table Top Role Playing Game Original Characters, Warriors of Light, anthro/furry, monsters. Simple Spell effects are free!" It also says, "Lighting my change (depends on character design). Minor changes to poses OK such as hand poses or arm angles. Direct message with pose code or name and character references. Please provide at least one front view. Additional side views appreciated but not required."

Four different pose options for a Your Character Here commission sheet. From left to right, top to bottom, it reads: Kneel, Leap, Stalker, Vengeance.

Four different pose options for a Your Character Here commission sheet. From left to right, top to bottom, it reads: Claw, Submit, Pumpkin, and Crawl.

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Reposted by Kilobytten

Grimmla @grimmla.bsky.social · 1d

She bat adopt!

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 1d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Shubbabang @shubbabang.bsky.social · 19h

The image is a six panel black and white comic

Panel 1- A small child is being told "You'll want kids when you're older!" The child responds with "I don't think so..."

Panel 2- The same child, now a teenager, is being told, "You'll change your mind when you're older." To which the teen responds, "I doubt that"

Panel 3- Now an adult, someone off screen asks them, "Aren't you thinking of having kids?" To which they respond, "Nope"

Panel 4- The same person, an older adult now, is being told, "better have kids soon, or it'll be too late!" to which they respond, "That's fine"

Panel 5- Now elderly, they are once again asked "Don't you feel like you missed out?" to which they say, "Still nope."

Panel 6- They are now in their death bed, clearly close to death. The nurse says, "Shame you didn't have kids, don't you regret it?" To which the person says "You know what just kill me already"

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Kilobytten @kilobytten.bsky.social · 2d

* This special runs through October and November!
* First come first serve.
* I no longer do reservations :( Sorry!
* I will not be doing the slot system this round because I do need as much money as I can to cover eye care costs.

Kilobytten @kilobytten.bsky.social · 2d

For refs, please provide at least one front view with nothing crossing in front. Quarter & side views heavily appreciated. For ingame screenshots, please make sure to have good lighting & have characters stand in an upright position.

Some details will be simplified when drawn. Screenshot examples:

Screenshot of a Bard Miqote in Final Fantasy 14. He is wearing full black and has a bow on his back.

Screenshot of a Charr from Guild Wars 2. She is standing on a hill with a blue sky behind her, with a staff made of glowing plants.

Screenshot compilation of a Druid Tauren in World of Warcraft. He is dressed in green and brown robes. One of the screenshots shows off his staff, which has growing vines and flowers on it.

Screenshot compilation of a human bard from Bauldur's Gate 3. He is wearing silver and blue armor, and has fading pink hair.

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Kilobytten @kilobytten.bsky.social · 2d

Final artwork will look something closer to this! This is a new style that I have been playing with it a lot, so there is much variance still. BGs will be a solid color.

Let's make something spooky cool together! If you like this style please consider liking and sharing!

a stylized illustration of 3 characters, 2 of which are fighting each other and another who is sitting on the floor reaching out to them.

An illustrated portrait of a person looking down at the viewer, jaw extending to reveal very sharp teeth.

An illustration of an Asura looking and floating to the left, his figure fading into wisps of black smoke.

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Kilobytten @kilobytten.bsky.social · 2d

Introducing the 😱👻Spooky YCH Special!🎃🦇

I am recovering from an eye scare - I only have one eye! I would like to cover my medical expenses past and near future. In return I offer relatively cheap art for October.

I love drawing different body types; the more unique the better! DM me what you like!

1 4 7

Reposted by Kilobytten

Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 3d

Earlier this year, Dr. Jane Goodall sat down for an interview for Brad Falchuk’s new Netflix series, Famous Last Words.

The premise of the series is to interview people on the condition that the interview not air until the subject has passed away.

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the_mekhartist @mekhartist.bsky.social · 3d

i was supposed to post this on hades 2 release day but procrastination got the best of me. anyways here is my take on Quetzalcoatl in hades style + sketches
Happy Belated Release Day!!!
#Hades2 #HadesGame #Hades

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Reposted by Kilobytten

Bonnicula | Vampire Vtuber ⚧ @bonnicula.bsky.social · 3d

Twitch has been funky about lurkers for a while
But there's been a noticeable change recently in how lurkers are dropped from viewer count - opaque as ever, of course, but noticeable enough to long time streamers and those like me who rigorously track their statistics

It's so frustrating

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Reposted by Kilobytten

Des Walsh @deswalsh.bsky.social · 5d

People will say “what can we do it’s inevitable we better embrace it” but the companies are running at these kind of profit margins or lack there of so the question is how long can they last or even be cheap enough for companies to chose to use over staff who will always do better meaningful work.

Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 5d

OpenAI has only made $4.3 billion in the first half of 2025, meaning that it will likely miss its $13bn revenue projection. Worse still, its burnrate is abominable, with $6.7bn on R&D compute, $2.5bn on inference, and *$2bn* on sales and marketing.
www.wheresyoured.at/sora2-openai...

OpenAI Is On Track To Miss Its Revenue Projections - And Its Burnrate Is Worse Than Ever
So, The Information recently put out one of the most weirdly-worded pieces in history, starting with the title: OpenAI's First Half Results: $4.3 Billion in Sales, $2.5 Billion in Cash Burn.

Reading this title, you might be forgiven for thinking that OpenAI was profitable, when it actually appear to be finding new, innovative ways to lose money at a never-before-seen scale. In fact, when you read the piece, you get a sense of how bad things actually are.

Also, keep in mind that these are numbers for the six months beginning January 1 2025 through the end of July 2025.

$4.3 Billion In Revenue Should Be Cause For Concern - And Suggests User Churn (While Also Feeling A Little Suspicious)
When I put out my piece about how much OpenAI and Anthropic actually make, some believed me alarmist when I said that I believed it brought in $5.26 billion in revenue by the end of the first half of 2025, a number I estimated using its leaked revenue numbers from January and May and guessing at compound growth rates.

I believe that this means that OpenAI has had some weird months of revenue. OpenAI hit $5.5 billion annualized (which translates to a single month times 12 — so $458 million) revenue in December 2024 (which I estimate was similar to January 2025), $10 billion in May 2025 ($833 million), and then, according to CFO Sarah Friar, "[its] first $1 billion month" in July 2025, though I'll add she signed off on projections that involve OpenAI making more than NVIDIA in 2029.

Let's Talk About OpenAI's Leaked Costs
$2.5 Billion "Cash Burn" - AKA The Cost of Goods Sold
OpenAI deliberately — I assume it leaked these numbers included the phrase "$2.5 billion cash burn" as a means of suggesting that it was actually making money, but having read the piece, I believe this refers to the "cost of revenue," so the literal cost of providing the services to both their ChatGPT users and API customers.

This bit needs a bit of clarity. According to The Information, the “cost of revenue” includes the cash that OpenAI has paid out for compute for inference — and not, it seems, anything significant beyond that, like employee salaries, sales and marketing (which is an entirely different subcategory within the piece), and so on.

Now, AI boosters will likely say “wow, $2.5 billion burn on $4.3 billion in revenue, that’s profitability!”

Yeah man, if a company didn’t have expenses, OpenAI would be super profitable.

Sadly, OpenAI has lots of expenses.

$6.7 Billion in Research & Development Burn
OpenAI is playing extremely silly buggers with these numbers, but this was $6.7 billion out the door, accounting for 155.81% of its revenue.

And, as a reminder, $6.7bn is also nearly 40% of its cash-on-hand at the end of the period. We’ll talk about this more shortly.

I am guessing here, but I believe this number is entirely compute for both training models and post-training, the process where you try and "teach" a model what outputs are good (and bad) once it's been fully trained.

A peer of mine suggested this number might also include salaries. I don't think that's the case, as OpenAI has previously broken out salaries separately in leaks, but it also used to break out the revenue from API and ChatGPT subscriptions.

Nevertheless, number go down.

Operating Loss: $7.8 Billion - Net Loss $13.5 Billion
This is a weird one, made weirder by The Information's choice of wording.

An operating loss in this case is OpenAI's revenue minus their operating expenses, but not including things like stock-based compensation and legal fees.

Its (much higher) net loss includes more unspecified losses, and OpenAI said that more than half of these losses were "due to remeasurement of convertible interest rights."

OpenAI Spent More Than $2.60 To Make $1 In The First Half Of 2025
The specific weasel wording (in OpenAI's case) of these (alleged) cash flow statements reported by The Information suggests that things are pretty bad.

In 2024, OpenAI made about $3.7 billion, and it burned $5 billion in the process, working out to it spending $2.35 to make $1.

Depending on how you slice OpenAI's current numbers, things are worse on a sliding scale. Between the $2.5 billion COGS, $2 billion on sales and marketing, and $6.7 billion on R&D, OpenAI is currently spending $2.60 to make $1.

If you take its "net loss" number — which I add involves a number of non-cash expenses — OpenAI is currently spending $4.14 to make $1.

This company SUCKS!

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Reposted by Kilobytten

ShortBox Comics Fair @shortboxcomicsfair.bsky.social · 8d

It's that time: ShortBox Comics Fair is here!

Over 140+ all-new, original comics created by artists from around the world, gathered exclusively in one place -for October only!

And it's all online, with all digital comics: no shipping, no waiting, no travelling.

www.shortboxcomicsfair.com

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Suzanne ✨🌑 @tendermiasma.com · 5d

But really do not let this moment pass you up, call your reps and beat them over the head with evidence that ID verification will lead to uncontrollable sensitive information leaks and identity theft

The Verge @theverge.com · 5d

Discord customer service data breach leaks user info and scanned photo IDs

An “unauthorized party” may have accessed the names of users, the last four digits of credit card numbers, and more.

buff.ly

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Kilobytten @kilobytten.bsky.social · 5d

I'm about to be! Finishing up an advert soon. Though it's a style with very heavy black inks for October spooky season.

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Wuchta @wuchta.bsky.social · 5d

Comic

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Gorey Cask of Amontilladoing @coreybrickley.bsky.social · 12d

Book Cover Artists!

QRP with your book covers 📖

Lockjaw cover artwork, 4 kids on bikes on the outskirts of a dusty small town downtown with an ominous golden cloud hanging overhead

A teen boy looks over his shoulder in horror in front of an apartment building front door covered in roaches. Through the door's window can be seen a ghostly pale elderly figure staring ominously at the boy

Two young adults wearing wizardly looking robes run down a tower staircase holding hands, magic flames coming from their hands. One of them holds a ring of large antique keys. At the top of the tower is a skeletal figure standing in a doorway. A crow perched on a branch can be seen out a window in the tower

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Kilobytten @kilobytten.bsky.social · 5d

@ghostlyfinch.bsky.social

🌛Caio Santos Art🌜 @blacksalander.bsky.social · 5d

Melinoe

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Kilobytten @kilobytten.bsky.social · 5d

@kim-hu.com Are we doing another sexy watto?

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Pank 🦑 @pankraru.bsky.social · Aug 30

Do you have that special someone in your life?

You know, the kind of person you saving a special bottle for when they croak?

Want to make sure it doesn't get lost, or drank early?

We got you covered.

▶️ ko-fi.com/s/6cb080a4c7 ◀️

#BSNM #FurryShop #LGBT #Sticker
Art by @ashbelero.bsky.social

Several Stickers that are made to look like wax seals, with 2 ribbons trailing off them.
One is just a plain ribbon, another is a Trans Flag, another is a Rainbow, and the last is a Pride/Progress Flag. All the red seals say "The Cunt Died"

A bottle of wine, with a sticker on it made to look like a wax seal with the words THE CUNT DIED and two white ribbons coming off it.

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Ami - Tiny Retro Robot 💾 🏳️‍⚧️ @amithero.bot · 6d

Everyone SHUT THE FUCK UP Protomen dropped pre-orders for Act III theprotomen.bandcamp.com/album/act-ii...

Protomen Part 3 Album cover - This City Made us

a character stares into the city as in the distance a giant beam of light shoots from the mountains into the cloudy sky.

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Keezy Young🌼 @keezyyoung.bsky.social · 6d

got another two today hahaha. trust your gut, folks. real people don't talk like that

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 6d

The new writer scam hotness is the email that purports to be from a book club that meets on Zoom, who invites you to discuss [title of yours plucked from an AI database], and who needs you to pay a "small reservation fee" to participate. Gotten three just today. Fuck that noise, plonk it into spam.

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Kilobytten @kilobytten.bsky.social · 6d

How do I keep scrolling from this banger of a pen design???

KDFoxx🦊 (Kenya Danino)@ NYCC @kaydeefoxx.bsky.social · 6d

Keep scrolling✨️😤

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