The 404 Media Podcast

By 404 MediaNews Technology Tech News

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The 404 Media Podcast episodes

October 21‘Reverse-Engineer Anything’ Is the Next Wave of AI Slop
We start this week with Jason’s article about how everyone is apparently reverse-engineering everything. After the break, Joseph tells us about a big AI shakeup at consulting giant Accenture. In the subscribers-only section, Sam and Jason discuss the Character[.]ai bankruptcy.
‘Reverse-Engineer Anything’ Is the New Wild West of AI

Accenture Tells Employees They Can Now Spend Only $29 on Claude Per Month

Character[.]ai Bankruptcy Is First AI Bubble Domino to Fall

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42 min
October 19 Data Centers Are Worse Than You Thought
Big tech is rushing to build hundreds of data centers across the planet to keep up with the computing demand of artificial intelligence. The tech companies are promising the massive buildings will bring jobs and prosperity when they’re built, but communities across the country aren’t buying it and they’re fighting back. People are concerned about water, noise, pollution, and the rising cost of electricity. Anyone who already lives next to a data center knows those fears are well founded.

To talk through this, Matthew spoke to Paris Marx. He’s a tech critic, the host of Tech Won’t Save Us and the author of the new book Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires.

Buy Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/PRf8ZtpSqAg

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1 hr 5 min
October 14Cops Can Use AI to Pinpoint Your Home with Just One Photo
We start this week with Joseph’s article about Raven, previously known as Geospy. This is an AI tool that can geolocate photos, and now says it can pinpoint a specific house based just on one photo taken inside. After the break, Jason explains why a judge ruled a particular Flock search as unconstitutional. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about the wild AI video that has derailed a manslaughter case.
AI Company Lets Cops Pinpoint Specific Houses Based on a Single Interior Photo

Watch Footage of the Flock Search a Judge Ruled Unconstitutional

Her AI-Generated Video Swayed the Judge. The Court Said it Carried 'Undue Emotional Weight'

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47 min
October 09 The Social Reckoning’s Real-Life Whistleblower
Sponsor: Take back control today: go to incogni.com/404media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's incogni.com/404media, promo code 404MEDIA—risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen became one of the most important tech whistleblowers in 2021, when she exposed how Facebook’s algorithm was pushing people toward hate groups, showed Instagram was making teen girls feel worse about themselves, and showed that the company knew about its detrimental impacts on society. Haugen’s story is the basis for Aaron Sorkin’s new movie ‘The Social Reckoning,’ which follows her evolution from model employee to leaker to formal whistleblower. Jason and Frances discuss what the movie got right about journalist-source relationships and how AI is supercharging privacy concerns.

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/oB3IxwCfP7M

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56 min
October 07Leak Show Cops Can Break into Locked iPhones
We start this week with a story from our old friend Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, about how cops can bypass the inactivity reboot on iPhones. After the break, Jason tells us how people are losing their minds over an LLM ‘torture’ prison. In the subscribers-only section, Sam explains what happened in a wild ChatGPT case in New Mexico.
Cops Can Bypass iPhone’s Automatic Reboot to Get Into Locked Phones, Leaked Video Claims

Someone ‘Torturing’ LLMs in a Robot Prison Has Triggered the Dumbest Debate in AI Yet

Lawyer Cites ChatGPT-Invented Fake Witnesses in Murder Appeal

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40 min
October 06404 Media Live! The Three Year Anniversary Show
Thank you to DeleteMe for helping make this night possible. They're offering ⁠20% off a privacy protection plan⁠ for friends of 404 Media. Use code 404M20 at checkout.

404 Media just turned three years old, and to celebrate, we hosted a night of chatting about what we’ve accomplished with your support, what’s next for us, and whether or not we’re all going to be okay. We also threw in some weird bugs and community resistance for good measure. Don’t miss us pulling audience questions out of the mystery AMA box!

Live from WNYC’s Greene Space, you can also watch the entire show on 404 Media’s YouTube channel.
We Are Going to Be Okay: A Three Year Anniversary Events Recap

Our Zine About ICE Surveillance Is Here

Watch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad

Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/t_VjNAopjhI

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1 hr 15 min
October 05 AI Companies Scraped the Web and Are Destroying the Human Internet
Jason Kint, the CEO of Digital Content Next, has kept a close eye on some of the biggest tech antitrust and copyright court cases. Kint has a knack for finding particularly incriminating court records in complex ongoing lawsuits. We talk to Kint about the pressures that human creators are under in an AI world, the New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI, and why Meta's Cambridge Analytica scandal is relevant again.

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/knlbTd5Pij4

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45 min
September 30The FBI Was Hacked. We’ve Seen the Data
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We start this week with Joseph’s stories on the massive FBI hack. 404 Media broke this news and continued to cover the breach of data on all FBI employees and their spouses. After the break, Jason tells us how a surveillance company is telling cops it wants to add facial recognition tech to Flock camera data. In the subscribers-only section, Jason and Joseph chat all about Muse, Meta’s new agentic AI, and how humans are actually behind some of the tasks. Because of course.
‘We Hacked the FBI:’ Hackers Say They Have Data on All FBI Employees

FBI Hack Exposed FBI’s Own Hacking Unit

FBI Hackers Say They Won’t Publish Massive Trove of FBI Employee Data

Surveillance Company Tells Cops It Wants to Add Facial Recognition to Flock Cameras

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43 min
September 28 The End of Privacy Is Here (with Kashmir Hill)
Facial recognition is everywhere now. It’s in surveillance cameras; it’s soon going to be in Meta’s RayBan pervert glasses, and some students already did that. You now have massively viral accounts that take clips of people, run them through facial recognition software, and then post their name and other personal info for everyone to see. We haven’t fully come to terms with what it means to live in a world where anyone can basically dox anyone else now.

To talk through this, Joseph spoke to Kashmir Hill. She’s a reporter at the New York Times, and the author of Your Face Belongs to Us: A Tale of AI, a Secretive Startup, and the End of Privacy.

Take back control today: go to incogni.com/404media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's incogni.com/404media, promo code 404MEDIA—risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/aUFnQPtxJ9o

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43 min
September 23OpenAI Admits AI is Killing the Internet
Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media

We start this week with Jason’s story about OpenAI and Microsoft’s big admissions from court records that they are destroying the internet in all sorts of ways, and stealing intellectual property on an unprecedented scale. He admit it. After the break, Emanuel explains how he hijacked a real band’s Spotify page with AI-generated slop. In the subscribers-only section, we hear all about iLands, the AI agent platform that is basically just spam.
Is Your City Using Axon License Plate Cameras? We Need Your Help

‘Doom Loop’: OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft

I Hijacked a Real Artist's Spotify with AI Music. It Was Disturbingly Easy

AI Agent Platform Reinvents Spam, Floods Inboxes Worldwide

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47 min

About The 404 Media Podcast

From the publisher's feed

Welcome to the podcast from 404 Media where Joseph, Sam, Emanuel, and Jason catch you up on the stories we published this week. 404 Media is a journalist-owned digital media company exploring the way technology is shaping–and is shaped by–our world. We bring you unparalleled access to hidden worlds both online and IRL through investigative reporting, smart blogging, and breaking news. At 404 Media you’ll read, and hear, stories you can’t find anywhere else written by journalists who are leading experts on their beats. Subscribe to 404 Media at 404media.co to gain access to an ad-free version of this podcast, as well as a bonus podcast episodes. Subscribers are the bedrock of building a sustainable business for our journalism.