#Tag
@lightweight
> that's a defensive fund
Given that Ed Zitron and others are expecting the #MOLE Training bubble to pop as soon as next year, and extent to which tech companies are exposed, and the huge chunk of sharemarket valuation they currently make up, defensive is probably a wise investment posture right now.
@strypey @pluralistic whaaaaa! Mind blown, is this true? Attribution please.
@gwilymgj
> Attribution please
"... the outputs of generative AI can be protected by copyright only where a human author has determined sufficient expressive elements. This can include situations where a human-authored work is perceptible in an AI output, or a human makes creative arrangements or modifications of the output, but not the mere provision of prompts."
#USCopyrightOffice, Jan 2025
@strypey pathfinder is great! It has an ethics clause by which it adheres to. Animal testing, war, fossil fuels are all excluded from investing. For questionable assets that don’t strictly adhere to the policy, they will often send out a surgery to their customers. After the special rapporteur to Gaza released a statement condemning Microsoft and others I got sent an email about it. We’re still waiting on the outcome for that. https://pathfinder.kiwi/
@karel
> pathfinder is great! It has an ethics clause by which it adheres to
Their funds invest in BorgSoft, NVidious, grApple, BroadCon, and Digital Realty Trust Inc, which invests in datacentres;
https://mindfulmoney.nz/kiwisaver/FND14930/pathfinder-kiwisaver-growth-fund/
https://mindfulmoney.nz/kiwisaver/FND56085/pathfinder-kiwisaver-high-growth-fund/
Not only do I not want to help fund the activities of tech companies like this, any fund exposed to them will tank when the #MOLE Training bubble bursts. Not a great investment right now.
The enshittification of YouTub continues. They're now applying Trained #MOLE filters to some videos - without the knowledge or consent of video creators - creating glitching that can cause seizures in people with epilepsy and other visual sensitivities;
Word of the moment: "regret"
https://www.computerworld.com/article/4084372/analysts-companies-will-face-setbacks-after-ai-layoffs.html
“Many companies claim they are laying off staff because of AI. Some of these ventures lead to spectacular failures…. Other times, AI doesn’t actually replace human workers at all. Too often, company management lays off employees based on the future promise of AI.”
#Forrester, quoted by #ViktorEriksson, 2025
Well surprise, surprise.
@ernie o think the problem in this reasoning is it assumes the non power users you want to make money from (not a bad idea) want AO, but then the post itself later admits it's investors who want AI.
Experience suggests to me that a product which makes investors happy without making objective economic sense is a product with a ticking death clock.
@mcc
> it assumes the non power users you want to make money from (not a bad idea) want AO, but then the post itself later admits it's investors who want AI
"AI" is the new micropayments, DRM, crypto, metaverse, etc. The latest in a long line of white elephant technologies that everyone hates, except the techbro and VC extractors who think they'll make money from it.
Spoilers: most of them are won't, because every product based on #MOLE Training will eventually bomb spectacularly.
@thenewoil
> NordVPN embraces Open Source by releasing its Linux GUI on GitHub
Great start. Next I want to see them embrace software freedom by releasing it on a community-hosted code forge not controlled by BorgSoft, and infested by Trained #MOLE.
It's so disappointing to notice how much TimBL's ability to understand and articulate tech concepts has declined, and especially his lack of awareness of it.
No disrespect intended, age takes the edge off us all eventually, and the guy is about 80 now. But as a globally known tech celebrity, his opinion still carries a lot of weight. So when he waxes woolly on #MOLE Training as if it's capable of creating superintelligence, with Trained MOLEs taking over the world, people take it seriously. 🤦♂️
But if you're trying to understand the me-too-ism that's making EU governments to flush millions of dollars of tech investment down the #MOLE Training toilet, along with the this interview with US and China, this TimBL interview on Leading is illuminating;
https://alastaircampbell.org/2025/09/153-the-man-who-invented-the-internet-tim-berners-lee/
Oh the irony. An interview with TimBL about the difference between the "good internet" and the "bad internet", preceded by an ad for HP. One of leading proponents of the cancerous cartel style of corporate growth that led to the "bad internet";
https://alastaircampbell.org/2025/09/153-the-man-who-invented-the-internet-tim-berners-lee/
Frustrating too that all TimBL seems to want to criticise about the DataFarmers is the addictiveness of their platform. Not surveillance advertising, or anticompetitive tactics, etc.
It's so disappointing to notice how much TimBL's ability to understand and articulate tech concepts has declined, and especially his lack of awareness of it.
No disrespect intended, age takes the edge off us all eventually, and the guy is about 80 now. But as a globally known tech celebrity, his opinion still carries a lot of weight. So when he waxes woolly on #MOLE Training as if it's capable of creating superintelligence, with Trained MOLEs taking over the world, people take it seriously. 🤦♂️
I've been a Roald Dahl fan since childhood, and I narrated and juggled in a performance of The Twits one summer. So I was excited to sit down with my grandkids and watch the movie adaptation of The Twits released this year on NetFix.
What a steaming pile of hot garbage. Was the movie script written by a Trained #MOLE? I broadly agree with the social messages and I still hated it.
If Dahl was still alive, I doubt he would have allowed his story to be butchered like this.
"We then used machine learning algorithms, training an artificial intelligence on the acoustic properties of these thousands of cries to see if it could learn to identify the cause. If there was a distinct “hunger cry” or “discomfort cry”, the AI should have been able to detect it."
#NicolasMathevon, 2025
Hold up, because a Trained #MOLE can't learn to recognise patterns in a deeply emotional form of communication, they aren't there? 😳
(1/3)
"To ensure this wasn’t just a limitation of technology, we repeated the experiment with human listeners. We had parents and nonparents first “train” on the cries of a specific baby, just as a parent would in real life, and then asked them to identify the cause of new cries from that same baby. They fared no better, scoring just 35 percent."
#NicolasMathevon, 2025
Ok, this seems a bit more scientific. But it begs the question, why involve a Trained #MOLE at all?
(2/3)
"We then used machine learning algorithms, training an artificial intelligence on the acoustic properties of these thousands of cries to see if it could learn to identify the cause. If there was a distinct “hunger cry” or “discomfort cry”, the AI should have been able to detect it."
#NicolasMathevon, 2025
Hold up, because a Trained #MOLE can't learn to recognise patterns in a deeply emotional form of communication, they aren't there? 😳
(1/3)
"University of Auckland assistant professor of finance Gertjan Verdickt said there were multiple layers to it.
...
Verdickt said AI was difficult to value, but the average company was profitable and there seemed to be sustainable business ideas behind them."
#SusanEdmunds, 2025
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/575935/is-the-share-market-about-to-crash
Aaaaaahahahaha. It's like the DotCom bubble all over again. The financial experts have no idea how empty of real value #MOLE Training is.
"Someone once told me art is like emotional nutrition.
That made sense to me. Art feeds my feelings.
And if that's the case, consuming AI art is like eating styrofoam."
https://theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art
#HatTip to @lightweight for the link.
I’ve noticed at least one app installed via F-Droid that asked me to opt-in to on-device “AI”. Which made me curious about whether the F-Droid team has formulated a policy on this.
I scratched this brain itch here, please consider weighing in!
https://forum.f-droid.org/t/f-droid-policy-on-libre-ai/33279
"If you think about how quickly AI has ... taken over society, the advent of email took about 20 years to ... become what it is. Smartphones about 10 years. AI has ... ballooned in 2 years time."
#DanielBohan, Director, Layer3 Solutions, 2025
This comes across like timewave zero woo to me.
(1/?)
"If you think about how quickly AI has ... taken over society, the advent of email took about 20 years to ... become what it is. Smartphones about 10 years. AI has ... ballooned in 2 years time."
#DanielBohan, Director, Layer3 Solutions, 2025
This comes across like timewave zero woo to me.
(1/?)
"During his tenure, OSI expanded its global partnerships and strengthened its role as a trusted voice in public policy, licensing and AI governance.
Maffulli helped transform OSI from a primarily volunteer-run organization into a globally respected, professionally managed nonprofit ..."
*shudder*
Coming back to the 2025 OSI roadmap ...
" We’ve heard the concerns raised by different stakeholders around the Open Source AI Definition v1.0
...
By the end of 2025, we’ll provide clear, actionable recommendations for the OSI board to develop an updated version of the Open Source AI Definition. You can rest assured that we are working diligently to keep the Open Source relevant."
#StefanoMaffulli, 2025
WTF is this supposed to mean?
BTW most effort is going into agents, as that is where the profits will be (tools are much more generic, and not enough money there) the problems may get solved. But if we see nothing better by 2027 I am right.
I want agents. Particularly I want an agent that can drive my car. Mēh!
(1/3)
@worik
> Uses of AI as tool are looking good.
> Uses of AI as an agent, not so much
That's more or less where I'm coming down on it. @pluralistic has a few good pieces exploring the distinction between "centaurs" and "reverse-centaurs", including;
https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/11/vulgar-thatcherism/#there-is-an-alternative
... and ...
https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/17/revenge-of-the-chickenized-reverse-centaurs/
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