Researchers have discovered AI’s weakness: bad grammar ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

August 28, 2025 | Read online
# Chinese hackers down under, Deloitte report slop and the web is local Researchers have discovered AI’s weakness: bad grammar
Edition 2406
"Reimaging desk where I reimage computers, the lksd district office" (Flickr: Ryan Vanasse)
Apologies again for fanging yesterday’s edition down the wrong pipe. I also crossed my wires and didn’t properly link to this very important story from our friends at PC Mag, so here it is: Melania Trump Dubs Herself First Lady of Technology.
# The News
### China’s Salt Typhoon had a poke around Australia’s networks
Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon has been “observed” active in Australia, according to a new Five Eyes+ report detailing their tactics (Cyber dot gov dot au). After making headlines for an enormous, long-running hack of US telco and government organisations, the FBI now says Salt Typhoon hit “at least 200 American organisations and 80 countries” that went “beyond traditional spying” (Washington Post, free link). Security agencies from 14 countries have published a joint document that includes specific details about how the group carried out their cyberattacks.
The Sizzle: Salt Typhoon’s hacking operation has been one of the most successful spy operations in modern history. It’s hard to even conceptualise how much the West has been pwned, and the sheer breadth of information accessed by China.
Ah well, what can ya bloody do, ey?
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Looks like Deloitte used AI to write a government report on its automated system problems
More errors seemingly caused by AI have been found in a $439,000 Deloitte report about Australia’s automated welfare systems (AFR, gift link). On top of the initial reporting that the government-commissioned report had half a dozen fabricated references that I linked to earlier in the week (AFR, $), further review of Deloitte’s report for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations on welfare compliance systems shows that the report also includes a fabricated quote from a judge and other errors. Deloitte initially defended its report, saying that it stood by its conclusions despite referencing errors.
The Sizzle: Let me just check that I understood this correctly. You’re telling me that the government has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for hallucination-riddled vibeconsulting on a dodgy automated system that has historically denied people’s welfare claims? It’s almost too on the nose.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Dispatch from India: the internet is more local than I thought
One of the little delights of travelling is seeing how everything changes around you, even the internet! As soon as I touched down in India and activated my eSIM — god’s gift to travellers btw — many platforms and services immediately changed based on my location. There were obvious changes like being served Indian-local pages in search and local ads. Even still, I was surprised by some subtler changes. Like, I was unfortunately looking at X while monitoring the Victorian shooting and I noticed that its algorithm was picking (almost hilariously stereotypical) content seemingly based on me being in India. The internet, while inherently global, is being shaped by your location more than we sometimes think.
It’s so funny that X was like: this guy is in India… show him the masala robot now now now
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
OpenAI makes landfall in Australia as ChatGPT booms (The Sydney Morning Herald, $) AWS’s Canberra mega-deal surges past $400m (InnovationAus, $) WhatsApp enables AI Writing help and message summaries for Aussie users (EFTM) Nio Firefly, Australia’s first EV with battery swapping capabilities, now approved for sale (The Driven) Tech war: DeepSeek’s V3.1 model emerges as key pillar in China’s chip self-sufficiency (South China Morning Post, $) Fed up with X, scientists find a new home for intellectual exchange on Bluesky (Ars Technica) On screen and now IRL: FSU researchers find evidence suggesting ChatGPT influences how we speak (FSU News) Grieving loved ones are using AI to create videos and chatbots of the dead (NPR) House Republicans launch probe into Wikipedia’s ‘editorial bias’ (The Hill) 4chan and Kiwi Farms are being sued by the UK’s internet regulator (The Verge) Elon Musk Appears to Be Completely Addicted to Anime Gooner AI Slop (Rolling Stone, $) India’s informal e-waste economy is being squeezed out (Rest of World) Mark Zuckerberg is gifting his Palo Alto neighbors with custom noise-canceling headphones to apologize for his compound’s construction that has lasted more than a decade (Fortune) Google Pixel 10 Pro XL review (The Shortcut) Uncomfortable Questions and Android Developer Verification (CommonsWare) Windows 95 running natively on a Ryzen 9 9900X with 64GB RAM (1.7GB usable) and a 2TB Gen 5 NVMe (Reddit) My wife asked ChatGPT for a system diagram. It sent her this (Reddit)
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### Researchers have discovered AI’s weakness: bad grammar
Sorry I know there’s been a lot of AI content but I came across this blog from security researchers who found that you can jailbreak AI by using bad grammar and typing your prompts all in one sentence because the lack of a break or gap means that the safety guardrails don’t have an opportunity to kick in and honestly i find it really amusing that we’ve invented a computer that you can overpower by refusing to use a full stop (The Register)
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
TP-Link Tapo Smart Light Strip L920 (5M) - $24.50 at Mobileciti eBay Meross Mini Smart Plug w/ Energy Monitor at AliExpress 2-Pack for $25.49 4-Pack for $44 Google Pixel Watch 1 (Matte Black Stainless Steel) - $104 at Mobileciti eBay Kogan 32" LED Smart Roku TV - R95T - $130 at Kogan eBay Samsung Galaxy Watch7 44mm - $278 at JB Hi-Fi Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (2024, 12th gen, latest) 32GB Black/Jade - $279 at Amazon AU OnePlus Watch 3 (Green) - $285 at hongkong willvast Store AliExpress Amazon Kindle Colorsoft at Amazon AU 16GB for $329 32GB for $379 Dreame H12 Pro Cordless Wet Dry Vacuum - $382 at dreameofficialau eBay Google Pixel Watch 3 LTE 45mm - $419 at Telstra JBL Bar 800 720W 5.1.2 Channel True Atmos Soundbar - $699 at JB Hi-Fi TCL 75" C7K Mini LED TV (2025) + $200 VideoPro gift card - $1570 at VideoPro Sennheiser HD800s - $1899 at Sennheiser AU TCL 75C8K 4K QD-Mini LED Google TV (2025) - $2330 at Videopro TCL 85 Inch C7K 4K Premium QD-Mini LED Google TV 85C7K [2025] - $2437
Computing
Dahua 305m Ethernet Cable at CCTV Masters CAT5e for $129 CAT6 for $175 Lenovo Xiaoxin Pad Pro 2025 12.7'' 8GB 256GB MTD 8300 144Hz 2.9K with Flipcase - $285 at Goldway Store AliExpress Ubiquiti UX7 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router with 30% cashback - $400 at Mobileciti via Woolworths Everyday Marketplace Asus Prime X870-P WIFI-CSM & US$40 Steam Voucher with 30% cashback - $417 at Umart Woolworths Everyday Market ASUS RT-BE88U Dual-Band AiMesh Wi-Fi 7 8-Port Router - $438 at Amazon AU MSI Modern MD342CQPW 34" VA 120Hz Ultrawide Curved USB-C Business Monitor - $503 at PB Tech Apple iPad Mini (A17 Pro) 8.3" Wi-Fi 128GB (All Colours) - $687 at Officeworks Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX 9070 XT Gaming 16GB GDDR6 Graphics Video Card - $1189 at Futu Online eBay
Mobile
OnePass Mobile 365-Day 200GB Prepaid Mobile Plan - $149 at OnePass Mobile via Finder (Down from $200) Samsung Galaxy A16 6.7" FHD+ 4GB 128GB 4G LTE 50MP - $199 at Centre Com Motorola Moto G86 Power 5G 8GB RAM/128GB Storage - $339 at Mobileciti Samsung Galaxy S25, S25+, S25 Ultra Amazon AU Galaxy S25 for $985 Galaxy S25 Ultra 256GB for $1635 Galaxy S25 Ultra 512GB for $1787 Galaxy S25 Ultra 1TB for $2187
# The End
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