Mentioned in today’s edition: Wikipedia, Anthropic, the Samsung TriFold, ACMA, YouTube, PwC, Donald Trump, Liquid Glass and Windows. Plus, deals on DJI Osmo cameras, HP Omen laptops and Xiaomi Poco phones.

The News

Wikipedia doesn't want your AI slop writing, cheers!

The editors behind Wikipedia have decided on a rule outlawing AI-written contributions in all but a few circumstances (Verge). After months of debate, editors agreed on a short policy forbidding the use of LLMs to write or re-write articles (Wiki). The rationale is that LLMs tend to break Wikipedia's rules including — but not limited to — making shit up. The policy did leave some wiggle room for basic copy checks and limited translation, but is meant to address the slew of sloppy contributions being made to our most precious online resource.  

The Sizzle: This is close to my heart because my other love, Crikey, has just withdrawn an article that was written by a contributor who admitted later to using AI in the process (Crikey). It's getting harder to tell what's AI writing from form alone. Yes, the computers (and those prompting them to try not to sound like computers) know about the em-dashes and the "it's not X -- it's Y" giveaways. That doesn't mean AI is writing as well as a human can — it literally can't experience or know anything — it's just getting harder to easily tell.  

The obvious problem with Wikipedia's policy raised in its Talk page — as was raised with Crikey's — is how the fuck do you enforce this rule? The unsatisfying conclusion I've come to is that you can never know for sure, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. The only thing we can do is try to critique every contribution on its own merits, and use the process of peer review to stop slop slipping through. We might never know if The_Wiki_Pervert is using AI to write edits, is being paid to troll, or is secretly a dog on the internet trying to vandalise the Cat page, but we don't need to know in order to judge (and remove) their shitty edit. The only bulwark against AI slop is people, working together, and caring about things. 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

The Trump administration's Anthropic blacklisting delayed and looks like it'll get tossed

The Trump administration is flopping so hard in its legal defense of blacklisting Anthropic that a court has temporarily blocked the formal move (CNBC). In the latest twist of this case, a federal judge has granted an injunction to Anthropic that legally stops the US Department of Defense forcing companies to stop using its products because it's a threat to national security. While the actual verdict on whether it was unlawful may be months away, the fact that a judge blocked it temporarily is a strong sign that the US government's claim is likely to lose. 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Goodbye to the Trifold, we barely barely barely knew thee

Only a few months after release, Samsung has officially iced its frankly weird 3x foldable phone, the Galaxy Z TriFold.

The company wouldn't give the Verge a review unit when it first came out — not a huge sign of confidence — and the outlet's reviewer was only able to get their hands on one by buying it from "Taiwan" (probably China) after it was discontinued (The Verge). They said the AU$4,500~ phone was essentially too big and heavy to be a good mobile phone but, once unfolded, nerfed by still being limited to a phone's capabilities.

_{And despite all evidence to the contrary, doesn’t the Galaxy TriFold call to you? Should… I?}

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Leftovers

Australia:

Rest of World:

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Oh, Also

A tribute to the unintentionally funniest subreddit, r/antivirus

One of the funniest places on the internet is r/antivirus. The subreddit is filled with panicked posts from poor people who, thankfully, are typically freaked out by things that either aren't viruses or are pretty easily solved. 

Here are some good recent posts:

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Bargains

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.