Discussion
RE: https://infosec.exchange/@halle/117252561423758768
This was an incredibly disturbing and dystopian moment in Apple’s presentation. It’s concerning that there wasn’t someone in a position of power to say, “This is antisocial and a bad idea. It will harm our customers and their relationships and our relationship to them”. It’s surveillance technology looking for a real problem to solve and failing
There was another product advertisement recently that was in a similar vein of the Siri Recap or whatever it’s called and it’s just like… this has to have been designed by a sociopath.
As someone who diligently takes notes of things the people I date say, so that I can for example give thoughtful gifts, no person who loves another person would wish to remove themselves from the equation entirely. I don’t want to not pay attention and have a computer maintain my relationships
@danirabbit was it when Sam Altman said something like "link ChatGPT to your family calendar and have it make a podcast about upcoming events you can listen to when you take your kids to school"
someone replied "or you could just talk to your children"
@COMPU73E yeah the “make it into a podcast” was like I’m sorry but is this cocomelon for tech bros like wtf
It feels like the tech industry is idealizing this Mad Men style secretary as a product, not realizing that the men depicted here are very clearly being shown as not having good relationships despite their secretaries doing all the right things and giving the right gifts and scheduling those dates etc
@danirabbit smarter people than me have spent a long time critiquing how much of this is all gender and about wanting a pliable always responsive "thing" to do people labor for them. I think the change is that now its both readily accessible for more people and misogony is very much in style for the very worst and most vocal part of the industry.
@McNeely @danirabbit Men will adopt any potentially genocidal technology rather than go to therapy.
@danirabbit they want to remove the humans so they can have their cyber future where AIs are faking human relationships and get converted to a machine, because apparently that's what is the next step of human evolution in their eyes
just have the AIs talk out all the issues, you get a summery of what happened at the end of the day, or when you are waking up so you are up to date with how things are going with your best friend!
@karolherbst you’re not joking. I’ve seen those pitches from dating app CEOs about how they want to have an agent date other agents for you and then you don’t have to date anymore. Like what is the fucking point of your life if you remove all the human connections from it??
@danirabbit @karolherbst “What if our Tamagotchis kissed instead of us so we could be totally focused on the grind”
Can we just have the Jetsons’ future already, because this one sucks.
@danirabbit @karolherbst lmao wat? They’re advertising that their service built on connecting people is now no longer connecting people?
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@danirabbit
When petrostate dictators invest in a corporation, the state surveillance is inevitable.
Corporations will take money from anybody, no matter how murderous.
https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-crown-prince-visits-apple-google-2018-4
https://www.al.com/news/2025/11/what-happened-to-you-tim-cook.html
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/10/13/khashoggi-apple-watch-unlikely-anderson-dnt-nr-vpx.cnn
https://www.newsweek.com/what-absher-google-approved-saudi-government-app-tracks-women-1350005
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/google-saudi-arabia-app-absher-control-women-apple-a8808361.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2019/2/13/apple-google-urged-to-remove-app-that-lets-saudi-men-track-wives
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-app-women.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-google-shameful-part-in-saudi-system-absher-2019-8
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47454598
Claim about journalist's Apple Watch 'unlikely'
CNN
Apple and Google should be ashamed of their part in an insidious Saudi Arabian app that even the Saudi government now admits has to change
Al Jazeera
The Independent
al.com
What Is Absher? Controversial Google-approved Saudi App
Apple and Google Urged to Dump Saudi App That Lets Men Track Women (Published 2019)
Saudi app used to track women 'not against' Google rules
Saudi Arabia's millennial crown prince got a rare tour inside Apple's new $5 billion campus