They don't exist to meet demand; they exist to game the engagement systems we put in place. I think that's true for a lot of other AI content on the internet too.
3/3
When Google restricted AlphaFold 3's commercial use, three MIT PhD students rebuilt the protein folding model in four months. Their open-source version, Boltz-1, now has $28M in funding and a Pfizer partnership. The move highlights tensions between proprietary AI research and scientific openness in drug discovery infrastructure. #OpenScience #ProteinFolding #AIResearch https://www.implicator.ai/when-google-locked-the-door-three-mit-students-picked-the-lock/
So while chatting with a colleague this week about putting base64 images into email, I jokingly said
“you know though, i wonder if i can craft an image which turns into readable LLM prompts when encoded as base64 🤔”
Well. Turns out I can
It is a long-standing tradition for Microsoft to use a runtime copy of Windows as a part of Windows Setup. But the copy is so stripped-down, it cannot run anything but the setup program (winsetup.bin).
OR IS IT?
A mini-challenge for myself: create a semi-working desktop only based on runtime Windows 3.10 shipped with Windows 95 installer but not using any other Microsoft products.
Lots of nostalgic and weird screenshots in this 🧵 thread
"The media has largely let [tech companies] set the terms of the debate, right down to the terminology used in any discussion of these systems."
From Nanna Inie and me in Tech Policy Press on how to spot and resist anthropomorphizing language in the discourse about so-called "AI".
https://www.techpolicy.press/we-need-to-talk-about-how-we-talk-about-ai/
Bose recently did an unambiguously good thing, by open-sourcing audio hardware they were originally going to brick: https://www.theverge.com/news/858501/bose-soundtouch-smart-speakers-open-source
However, I've seen some people say "don't praise Bose for this, they didn't do this until there was backlash".
SHUT UP. Shut the FUCK UP. I'm DONE living in a society where you get dragged through hell if you make a mistake, EVEN AFTER YOU CORRECT THE MISTAKE. I'm so fucking tired of hearing stupid excuses for this kind of puritanism like "they should've known better" NOBODY KNOWS BETTER UNTIL *AFTER THEY MAKE THE MISTAKE*. THAT'S HOW LEARNING *WORKS*.
And before you say "Companies aren't your friend" PUNISHING THEM FOR FIXING THEIR MISTAKES WON'T MAKE THEM DO THE RIGHT THING EITHER. If other people, or companies, see someone get punished for both messing up AND attempting to fix the mistake, they just won't bother at all!
People HAVE to be allowed to make mistakes. They HAVE to be given a chance to improve.
Hello internet, I am actively looking for speaking opportunities in central Europe (e.g., a train-ride from Berlin) to talk about Web security, XSS, `innerHTML` and the Sanitizer API. Ideally to an audience of web developers, framework engineers and the like :)
InputPlumber: Lack of D-Bus Authorization and Input Verification allows UI Input Injection and Denial-of-Service (CVE-2025-66005, CVE-2025-14338)
https://security.opensuse.org/2026/01/09/inputplumber-lack-of-dbus-auth.html
If Andrew "bunnie" Huang didn't exist, I'd swear he was a character out of a(n extraordinarily technologically well-informed) cyberpunk novel. Every time I interact with this legendary hardware hacker, he blows my mind with some project or insight that permanently alters how I think about tech.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/09/quantity-break/#so-many-chips
1/
Now this is how you exit a "smart" tech business. Bose is open-sourcing the API for SmartTouch speakers, moving as much functionality as possible to an app, and extending support.
https://www.theverge.com/news/858501/bose-soundtouch-smart-speakers-open-source