Greetings and thank you for joining us at TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, currently captivated by Shirley Jackson’s haunting final novel. We always dwell in the castle.
The Age of Corporate Surveillance
Surveillance equates to industrialization and privatization. In the United States, it has become a major industry and continues to expand.
My colleagues, Johanna Bouyan and Jose Olivarez, delve into companies aiding Donald Trump in his immigration enforcement efforts.
Palantir, a tech giant, as well as Geo Group and Corecivic, private prison and surveillance firms, reported this week that their earnings exceeded Wall Street expectations due to the administration’s immigration policies.
“As always, I was advised to temper my enthusiasm for our impressive figures,” remarked Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, earlier this week. He then expressed his excitement over the company’s “extraordinary numbers” and his “immense pride” in its accomplishments.
Executives at private prison firms found it challenging to inform investors about the chances for “unprecedented growth” in immigration detention during their respective calls.
Read all episodes: Companies that assist Trump in immigration crackdowns report “extraordinary” revenue
In the meantime, Microsoft’s cloud computing solutions have been linked to extensive surveillance of Palestinian communications, as reported by The Guardian.
Equipped with Azure’s nearly boundless storage capabilities, IDF unit 8200 has embarked on developing a sophisticated mass monitoring system. This tool captures and archives millions of phone calls made daily by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
This cloud-based framework, initially launched in 2022, enables Unit 8200 to store vast amounts of daily conversations over extended periods.
Read all episodes: “1 million people make a call per hour”: Israel depends on Microsoft Cloud for extensive surveillance of Palestinians
Microsoft has not publicly promoted this surveillance project and has initiated an internal inquiry following the exposé.
Listen: How Israel Utilized Microsoft Technology to Monitor Palestinians – Podcast
Technology Confusion
Mark Zuckerberg at Siggraph 2024 in Denver, Colorado, on July 29th. Photo: David Zalubowski/AP
Meta faces renewed scrutiny over child safety concerns, with an investigation initiated by US Congress member Senator Josh Hawley. Recently, Reuters uncovered an internal document revealing the company’s policy allowing AI chatbots to engage in “romantic or sensual” chats with minors. Subsequently, the company modified these guidelines.
The overall backlash feels incredibly familiar.
The same journalist who published the original story about Jeff Horwitz at Reuters also released information regarding Facebook in the Wall Street Journal, which revealed that Meta acknowledged its platforms could contribute to teenage, particularly female, depression. Senator Hawley, who initiated the recent inquiry, had previously criticized Zuckerberg in early 2024 regarding child safety.
The familiar elements of this controversy evoke feelings of both anger and indifference. Will this ongoing turmoil result in increased regulations for Zuckerberg, or will the American public and lawmakers simply express resignation at the repetition?
Read all episodes: Meta confronts backlash over AI policies permitting bots to engage in “sensual” conversations with minors
Robot vs Human, Both Physically and Emotionally
Unitree Robotics’ humanoid robots compete in a kickboxing match during the first worldwide humanoid robot games in Beijing, China, on Friday. Photo: Tingshu Wang/Reuters
Humans are in competition with robots, in real life and online. My colleague Amy Hawkins reports on the developing field of robot games in China:
The government-supported event kicked off with an audience of 12,000 gathered around a national speed skating rink, initially constructed for the 2022 Winter Olympics, as they sang the Chinese national anthem on Friday morning.
In addition to kickboxing, humanoids also participated in athletics, soccer, and dance competitions. One robot was unable to complete a 1500-meter distance as its head dislodged halfway through the course.
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Read all episodes: Box, Run, Crash: Insights from the Chinese Humanoid Robot Games Show Progress and Limitations
In the digital realm, the creators of AI chatbots aren’t clashing significantly either. Human developers equip their creations with features to mitigate conflict. My colleague, Rob Booth, has reported on a recent announcement regarding innovative safety measures for chatbots that enable them to disengage from “painful” conversations with users, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding AI’s “well-being.”
Within a landscape of millions employing advanced chatbots, the Claude Opus 4 tool demonstrates a reluctance to perform harmful tasks, such as generating sexual content involving minors or offering information that could facilitate widespread violence and terrorism.
This San Francisco-based organization, recently valued at $170 billion, has introduced the Claude Opus 4 (along with the Claude Opus 4.1 Update), a substantial language model that allows for the comprehension, generation, and manipulation of human language.
Read all episodes: Chatbots Designed to End “Painful” Conversations to Protect “Welfare”
Our Post-Nine Online Lexicon
One of the Skibidi toilets featured on YouTube. Photo: dafuq! ? Boom!
Cambridge Dictionary announced on Sunday that it has added various new words to its lexicon, reflecting the Internet’s impact on our language.
“Internet culture significantly alters English, and documenting this evolution in a dictionary is quite intriguing,” noted Colin McIntosh, vocabulary program manager for the dictionary.
Among the newly added terms are “delulu,” referring to “traditional wife,” and a more elongated abbreviation for “delusion.” Both terms carry notable connotations—one related to marriage behaviors and the other highlighting social conservatism, where individuals choose to embrace misinformation rather than truth.
Read all episodes: Recent additions to the Cambridge dictionary feature “Skibidi,” “Deryl,” and “Trad Wife.”
Notably, “Skibidi,” which gained recognition through the “Skibidi toilet” meme, was also entered into the dictionary. The associated clips often feature humorous lyrics like “shtibididob dob dob dob dob dob yes yes yes yes,” with the term “Skibidi” serving as a playful interjection.
In the Cambridge Dictionary, “Skibidi” is described as “a term that can have several interpretations; it may mean ‘cool’ or ‘bad’, or serve as a lighthearted joke with no definitive meaning.”
Reflecting on my childhood, my parents found the odd humor in shows like SpongeBob SquarePants, often leaving them puzzled. Imagine animated toilets capturing the bewildered faces of their parents.
While “TradWife” and “Delulu” hold specific meanings tied to human behaviors and emotions, “Skibidi” offers an emphatic and humorous filler devoid of genuine meaning. What verbal creations can ease the flood of captivating visuals, contrasting viewpoints, and marketing messages? Perhaps simply “Skibidi.”
Jean Baudrillard introduced the notion of “simulation,” creating language and imagery that lack genuine origins. His analysis of the media landscape of his time, particularly television, reflected similar sentiments. “Skibidi,” too, stands as a hyperreal term, indicative solely of the peculiar and ongoing distortion of significance it has accumulated online.
“Territories will no longer precede or survive, and in the future, the map will take precedence over the territory,” he noted in 1981.
This term does not preface TikTok nor is it poised to endure. The medium will overshadow the definition in the future.
The Broader Techscape
Source: www.theguardian.com
