The News

Silicon Valley spends billions on AI and threatens the open web — so where’s the pay-off?

Why is Meta spending $22.7b to buy 49% of AI startup Scale AI (Reuters)? The owner of Facebook and Instagram says it’s to pursue “superintelligence”. I’m told that’s one step above another jargon term, “artificial general intelligence”. This move is at least partly prompted by the company’s recent embarrassing releases of subpar AI products covered in previous Sizzles. Think about that number — 22.7 BILLION — at the same time as you think about these other stories.

I’m not an AI hater, but like, why the rush? I know none of these companies want to be left behind but none of this really works or makes money yet at a consumer level (other than AI as a platform itself i.e. ChatGPT), but it’s roll-out threatens to kill the open web.

Everyone is falling for anti-EV bullshit

Most Australians — even many Australian EV owners — believe in myths and bullshit that have been spread about the vehicles, research has found (ABC News). Academics in countries, including Australia, found that “demonstrably false” claims about EVs are pervasive, including believing that EVs put out harmful EMG radiation, that they produce more carbon emissions than an ICE car, and that they are more likely to catch fire (Nature). Who’s to blame? The paper says “Conservative communication channels” have focused on EVs as a cultural war point. Which is why governments like Queensland’s LNP state government feel fine about dumping EV-friendly policies (ABC News).

Telegram is not encrypted and may even be a Russian honeypot

Telegram has become super popular with a billion users around the world using the largely unmoderated platform to follow people’s accounts, like on Twitter, or to take part in mass group chats. A weird thing is that Telegram claims to be “more secure” than WhatsApp despite admitting that most of its use isn’t encrypted by default (cryptographyengineering blog) which is so sketchy. That’s why I’m not surprised to see this investigative report that claims that one of Telegram’s top employees, its main network engineer, also has another company that works for the Russian Intelligence Agency (IStories). Now, why would Vladimir Putin want to pay someone who has access to all of Telegram’s unencrypted traffic…

Leftovers

Oh, Also

Do you want to rotate a 3D kangaroo skeleton?

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: if only there was an open-access collection of 3D scans of Australian vertebrate bones with rich metadata! Well, buddy, I’ve got just the news for you: Flinders University has released OzBoneviz, which has 1600+ specimens of bones belonging to Australian wildlife like the kangaroo and the emu, that you can peruse either on Morphosource or on the much more user-friendly Sketchfab.

Bargains

Electrical & electronics

Computing

Mobile

The End

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The Sizzle is created on Gadigal land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.