Plus: He taught a bird to sing a PNG ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

August 05, 2025 | Read online
# ChatGPT breaks, government welfare tech problems and robot seances Plus: He taught a bird to sing a PNG
Edition 2389
Untitled (Flickr: Leah Oswald)
Hello all! I’m sending this off as I’m on the way to a funeral. Remember to tell the people that you love them ❤️ - CW
# The News
### OpenAI will make hardcore ChatGPT users take breaks so they don’t suffer a break from reality
ChatGPT will now tell users to “take a break” during long sessions as part of OpenAI’s response to growing concerns about AI chatbots fuelling psychosis and other delusions (The Verge). At the same time as the ChatGPT maker announced it had raised more money (CNBC), OpenAI says it’s working with expert groups to figure out how to deal with the stories of harmful use. It also says it’ll make ChatGPT “less decisive” in high stakes situations, giving the example of not telling users to break up with their girlfriends.
The Sizzle: Sorry again for leading with AI news, but over the weekend I was reading some of the public ChatGPT conversations that were indexed by search engines. It’s hard sometimes to tell whether someone’s joking or not — like this conversation where someone’s talking about believing the rapture is coming — but it’s ones like this that aren’t full blown crazy but seem to seriously treat AI as if it’s sentient that freak me out. Maybe this isn’t making more people detached from reality, but it certainly seems to be attracting people who might be like moths to a flame.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Federal government told that its welfare tech stack has “ongoing and increasing problems”
The Senate ordered the Albanese government to hand over a damning technical report that calls to bin a backend welfare system that’s already been rife with problems by today (InnovationAus, $). A Deloitte investigation — completed half a year ago — says that the government’s Targeted Compliance Framework, which has already had incorrectly penalised welfare recipients with $1.2+ million of debts, will continue to have “ongoing and increasing problems unless a new approach is undertaken” (InnovationAus, $).
The Sizzle: InnovationAus’ Joseph Brookes has been doing really great work on this that isn’t getting enough attention. Like so many things in Australian life, it feels like we didn’t learn anything lasting from robo-debt.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### AI avatars of people is just like doing a robot seance
Former CNN White House correspondent-turned-Substacker Jim Acosta sat down for an “““interview””” with “““Joaquin Oliver”””, a mass shooting victim who was “““reanimated””” using AI (The Guardian). It’s not the first time this has happened in recent memory: an Arizona court let an AI avatar of a deceased road rage victim read out a witness statement (The Conversation)
The Sizzle: I hate this. Not just because it’s tacky to make a AI puppet of someone, but because it fundamentally misrepresents this technology. AI cannot bring someone back to life. It can ape a person using someone else’s commands and decisions. Even if you ignore the flow-on effect of authorities treating AI like it’s magic, I’d much prefer that people drop the veneer of high tech bullshit and speak to someone who can really personally tell you about their grief, about their experiences?
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
Project Kuiper partners with NBN Co to bring low Earth orbit satellite broadband to rural Australia (Amazon) we already knew this but here’s confirmation. Compliance priorities 2024-25: Tackling the online supply of dodgy devices (ACMA) Tesla's share of home battery market is plummeting, and it's not because sales have slowed (ABC News) Deepfake Albanese scam ads on YouTube promise tax dividends (AFR, $) Aussie turns down billion-dollar offer from Mark Zuckerberg (Information Age) There’s a good reason why the social media ban won’t work, and the government knows it (The Sydney Morning Herald, $) Australian defence force fails to meet recruitment targets but numbers improving (The Guardian) Tesla withheld data, lied, and misdirected police and plaintiffs to avoid blame for Autopilot crash (Electrek) Valve refutes Mastercard's denial it has 'not pressured' game platforms over NSFW content (GamesIndustry) Apple CEO Tells Staff AI Is ‘Ours to Grab’ in Hourlong Pep Talk (Bloomberg, $) Tesla shareholders vote to restore Elon Musk’s $29 billion pay package (The Verge) AI site Perplexity uses stealth tactics to flout “no-crawl” edicts, Cloudflare says (Ars Technica) Polish Train Maker Is Suing The Hackers Who Exposed Its Anti-Repair Tricks (iFixit) Google says its AI-based bug hunter found 20 security vulnerabilities (TechCrunch) The US Military's Gambling Problem Is Hiding in Plain Sight (WIRED, $) Social media battles and barbs on both sides of Atlantic over UK online safety act (The Guardian) The Perils of Buying Botox and Concert Tickets With Buy Now, Pay Later Loans (The Wall Street Journal, $) Objects Should Shut the Fuck Up (dustri.org)
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### This guy taught a bird to sing a PNG
I don’t know how to sell this better than the title already does, but this YouTuber was able to transmit an image by converting an image to a sound, then teaching a starling to sing and repeat it. I feel like it’s opened up a whole new world of what is possible. Maybe I’ll learn how to whistle www.thesizzle.com.au.
I Saved a PNG Image To A Bird
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
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# The End
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