Brian Penny 🍿
@brianpenny.bsky.social
Alaska government officials hope to depend on an AI system called AVA (Alaska Virtual Assistant) for its probate courts.
But the project already took more than 4x longer than it should’ve, and they still don’t know how well it’ll work in the real world.
But the project already took more than 4x longer than it should’ve, and they still don’t know how well it’ll work in the real world.
Alaska's court system built an AI chatbot. It didn’t go smoothly.
A yearlong effort to build an AI probate assistant reveals the limits of government chatbot development.
www.nbcnews.com
January 3, 2026 at 12:25 PM
Alaska government officials hope to depend on an AI system called AVA (Alaska Virtual Assistant) for its probate courts.
But the project already took more than 4x longer than it should’ve, and they still don’t know how well it’ll work in the real world.
But the project already took more than 4x longer than it should’ve, and they still don’t know how well it’ll work in the real world.
In public domain as of 2026:
The Maltese Falcon and detective Sam Spade
William Faulkner-As I Lay Dying
several Nancy Drew books by Mildred Wirt Benson (Carolyn Keene)
Animal Crackers ft the Marx Brothers
Soup to Nuts by Rube Goldberg
George Gershwin-I Got Rhythm
Who can ask for anything more?
The Maltese Falcon and detective Sam Spade
William Faulkner-As I Lay Dying
several Nancy Drew books by Mildred Wirt Benson (Carolyn Keene)
Animal Crackers ft the Marx Brothers
Soup to Nuts by Rube Goldberg
George Gershwin-I Got Rhythm
Who can ask for anything more?
December 31, 2025 at 5:33 PM
In public domain as of 2026:
The Maltese Falcon and detective Sam Spade
William Faulkner-As I Lay Dying
several Nancy Drew books by Mildred Wirt Benson (Carolyn Keene)
Animal Crackers ft the Marx Brothers
Soup to Nuts by Rube Goldberg
George Gershwin-I Got Rhythm
Who can ask for anything more?
The Maltese Falcon and detective Sam Spade
William Faulkner-As I Lay Dying
several Nancy Drew books by Mildred Wirt Benson (Carolyn Keene)
Animal Crackers ft the Marx Brothers
Soup to Nuts by Rube Goldberg
George Gershwin-I Got Rhythm
Who can ask for anything more?
Something interesting to look into, @jasonkoebler.bsky.social @josephcox.bsky.social
Amazon previously blocked AI browser agents from accessing its site. Now it appears they have a beta where they are using their own Amazon agents to pull products from other sites to sell through their storefront.
Amazon previously blocked AI browser agents from accessing its site. Now it appears they have a beta where they are using their own Amazon agents to pull products from other sites to sell through their storefront.
December 30, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Something interesting to look into, @jasonkoebler.bsky.social @josephcox.bsky.social
Amazon previously blocked AI browser agents from accessing its site. Now it appears they have a beta where they are using their own Amazon agents to pull products from other sites to sell through their storefront.
Amazon previously blocked AI browser agents from accessing its site. Now it appears they have a beta where they are using their own Amazon agents to pull products from other sites to sell through their storefront.
A Canadian fiddler had a show cancelled after Google’s AI overview blended his biography with that of a sex offender who shares the same name and attributed the crimes to him
Fiddler Ashley MacIsaac has show cancelled over Google AI-generated misinformation
Cape Breton musician was set to perform in Nova Scotia before a search summary incorrectly described him as a sex offender
www.theglobeandmail.com
December 28, 2025 at 6:34 PM
A Canadian fiddler had a show cancelled after Google’s AI overview blended his biography with that of a sex offender who shares the same name and attributed the crimes to him
AI bros will generate an image of someone having fun on a beach and with all sincerity post it on social media with the caption “RIP vacations”
December 28, 2025 at 1:12 AM
AI bros will generate an image of someone having fun on a beach and with all sincerity post it on social media with the caption “RIP vacations”
Mozilla’s Firefox has long been the browser of choice for users who don’t like massive corporations like Microsoft and Google. They lost that goodwill chasing the AI dragon, and now they’re backpedaling and trying their hardest to play both sides.
After Outcry, Firefox Promises "Kill Switch" That Turns Off All AI Features
Mozilla's new CEO announced that Firefox would become a "modern AI broswer." Its most diehard fans are revolting.
futurism.com
December 27, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Mozilla’s Firefox has long been the browser of choice for users who don’t like massive corporations like Microsoft and Google. They lost that goodwill chasing the AI dragon, and now they’re backpedaling and trying their hardest to play both sides.
OpenAI is already dabbling with letting advertisers pay for prioritized placement in ChatGPT answers. You will be brainwashed by whomever has the most money until a government agency grows balls and regulates them.
OpenAI’s Ads Push Starts Taking Shape
OpenAI executives have kept a tight lid on how the company could show advertisements to users of its popular ChatGPT chatbot, leaving the broader digital ad industry eager for clues. Behind the scenes...
www.theinformation.com
December 27, 2025 at 6:18 PM
OpenAI is already dabbling with letting advertisers pay for prioritized placement in ChatGPT answers. You will be brainwashed by whomever has the most money until a government agency grows balls and regulates them.
More than one in five YouTube videos shown to new users is AI slop, and they’re raking in about $117 million this year
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
More than 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are ‘AI slop’, study finds
Low-quality AI-generated content is now saturating social media – and generating about $117m a year, data shows
www.theguardian.com
December 27, 2025 at 6:16 PM
More than one in five YouTube videos shown to new users is AI slop, and they’re raking in about $117 million this year
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Christmas is a time to buy your family a shitty AI mug
December 26, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Christmas is a time to buy your family a shitty AI mug
We already lived through a plague. It may be time to admit we’ve left the modern Age of Enlightenment and entered the modern Dark Ages
Our king, priest and feudal lord – how AI is taking us back to the dark ages | Joseph de Weck
Since the Enlightenment, we’ve been making our own decisions. But now AI may be about to change that, says Joseph de Weck, a fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute
www.theguardian.com
December 26, 2025 at 2:16 PM
We already lived through a plague. It may be time to admit we’ve left the modern Age of Enlightenment and entered the modern Dark Ages
Using AI to make a profile pic on social media can cause you to lose opportunities.
December 25, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Using AI to make a profile pic on social media can cause you to lose opportunities.
This administration made it clear it’s going to support whomever gives them the most money, and Big Tech has deep pockets.
2026 is going to be a long year fighting local datacenter builds.
2026 is going to be a long year fighting local datacenter builds.
Chasing an Economic Boom, White House Dismisses Risks of A.I.
www.nytimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 3:19 PM
This administration made it clear it’s going to support whomever gives them the most money, and Big Tech has deep pockets.
2026 is going to be a long year fighting local datacenter builds.
2026 is going to be a long year fighting local datacenter builds.
“What people call ‘vibe coding’…is clearly dangerous for production work. Shipping code you didn’t write yourself in a production environment is risky because it could introduce security issues or other bugs or begin gathering technical debt that could snowball over time.”
How AI coding agents work—and what to remember if you use them
From compression tricks to multi-agent teamwork, here's what makes them tick.
arstechnica.com
December 24, 2025 at 1:57 PM
“What people call ‘vibe coding’…is clearly dangerous for production work. Shipping code you didn’t write yourself in a production environment is risky because it could introduce security issues or other bugs or begin gathering technical debt that could snowball over time.”
This entire article makes me laugh. TL;DR—don’t use AI agents or AI browsers because they’re even easier to fool than your grandpa, and their only solution so far is stacking more AI
OpenAI's Outlook on AI Browser Security Is Bleak, but Maybe a Little More AI Can Fix It
The company behind ChatGPT says prompt injection vulnerabilities will likely never be fully ‘solved.’
gizmodo.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:53 PM
This entire article makes me laugh. TL;DR—don’t use AI agents or AI browsers because they’re even easier to fool than your grandpa, and their only solution so far is stacking more AI
While the art world debates authentication for real art, AI bros are committing fraud by creating fake authentication documents for fake art using AI.
Fraudsters use AI to fake artwork authenticity and ownership
Chatbots forge convincing sales invoices and other documents, say industry figures
www.ft.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:25 PM
While the art world debates authentication for real art, AI bros are committing fraud by creating fake authentication documents for fake art using AI.
Reposted by Brian Penny 🍿
Wildly different things, tasks, techniques, subspecialties being lumped into "AI" and then being conflated with each other, doesn't help. Different types of models vs the techniques to train them vs the tasks they are supposed to accomplish, all under "AI".
December 22, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Wildly different things, tasks, techniques, subspecialties being lumped into "AI" and then being conflated with each other, doesn't help. Different types of models vs the techniques to train them vs the tasks they are supposed to accomplish, all under "AI".
Bullying works
Ending Item Price Tests on Instacart | Instacart
Over the past couple weeks, there’s been a lot written about Instacart and how pricing works on our platform . Some of that coverage raised fair questions. Much of it included misconceptions and misin...
www.instacart.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Bullying works
“The hope was that automating knowledge work would leave space for reflective, creative work. The emerging reality is that this proliferation simply creates noise that crowds out the very conditions essential for learning: calm, reflection, and the space to think deeply.”
AI Is Changing How We Learn at Work
As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the workplace, it is also reshaping how people learn, develop expertise, and form their professional identities. Although gen AI promises to accelerate le...
hbr.org
December 22, 2025 at 2:28 PM
“The hope was that automating knowledge work would leave space for reflective, creative work. The emerging reality is that this proliferation simply creates noise that crowds out the very conditions essential for learning: calm, reflection, and the space to think deeply.”
Threads gets a bad rap. There’s some great advice in the pile of corporate slop
December 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Threads gets a bad rap. There’s some great advice in the pile of corporate slop
Are Google search results publicly available tho?
Google sues web scraper for sucking up search results ‘at an astonishing scale’
Scraper no scraping.
www.theverge.com
December 19, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Are Google search results publicly available tho?
AI data centers used more water this year than Bitcoin mining. Their water usage is equal to the volume of bottled water consumed on the entire planet. And this is based on conservative estimates.
AI’s water and electricity use soars in 2025
It’s guzzling up even more water than expected.
www.theverge.com
December 18, 2025 at 3:46 PM
AI data centers used more water this year than Bitcoin mining. Their water usage is equal to the volume of bottled water consumed on the entire planet. And this is based on conservative estimates.
Kyrie Irving demolishing the Unitree G1 robot with one push is the perfect metaphor for what happens when tech bro’s expensive toys meet a trained professional
December 18, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Kyrie Irving demolishing the Unitree G1 robot with one push is the perfect metaphor for what happens when tech bro’s expensive toys meet a trained professional
Opinion | STFU, The Washington Post
December 17, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Opinion | STFU, The Washington Post
I’ll concede whatever AI is doing counts as a legitimate tool when one of these silly agents can reach Six Sigma standards.
We are nowhere near that yet.
We are nowhere near that yet.
AI agents fail 63% of the time on complex tasks. Patronus AI says its new 'living' training worlds can fix that.
Patronus AI unveiled “Generative Simulators,” adaptive “practice worlds” that replace static benchmarks with dynamic reinforcement-learning environments to train more reliable AI agents for complex, multi-step enterprise workflows—and claims 15x revenue growth as demand surges.
venturebeat.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:40 PM
I’ll concede whatever AI is doing counts as a legitimate tool when one of these silly agents can reach Six Sigma standards.
We are nowhere near that yet.
We are nowhere near that yet.
AI isn’t just used to spy on you and make up whatever facts you’re meant to believe. It’s also used to change prices and trick you to spend as much money as possible for everything.
AI Isn’t Just Spying on You. It’s Tricking You Into Spending More.
Recent reports reveal how companies are using artificial intelligence to harvest customers’ data and even secretly target them with higher prices.
newrepublic.com
December 17, 2025 at 12:46 PM
AI isn’t just used to spy on you and make up whatever facts you’re meant to believe. It’s also used to change prices and trick you to spend as much money as possible for everything.